Matthew 20:1–5 (NLT) “For the Kingdom of Heaven is like the landowner who went out early one morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay the normal daily wage and sent them out to work.

3 “At nine o’clock in the morning he was passing through the marketplace and saw some people standing around doing nothing. 4 So he hired them, telling them he would pay them whatever was right at the end of the day. 5 So they went to work in the vineyard. At noon and again at three o’clock he did the same thing.

God does not punish anyone more than they deserve

Romans 2:5–8 (NLT) 5 But because you are stubborn and refuse to turn from your sin, you are storing up terrible punishment for yourself. For a day of anger is coming, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 He will judge everyone according to what they have done. 7 He will give eternal life to those who keep on doing good, seeking after the glory and honor and immortality that God offers. 8 But he will pour out his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves, who refuse to obey the truth and instead live lives of wickedness.

God does not reward anyone less than they deserve

Hebrews 6:10 (GNB) 10God is not unfair. He will not forget the work you did or the love you showed for him in the help you gave and are still giving to your fellow-Christians.

Hebrews 6:10 (ASV) 10for God is not unrighteous to forget your work and the love which ye showed toward his name, in that ye ministered unto the saints, and still do minister.

Hebrews 6:10 (NLT) 10 For God is not unjust. He will not forget how hard you have worked for him and how you have shown your love to him by caring for other believers, as you still do.

God will never short-change you

Matthew 20:6–7 (NLT)6 “At five o’clock that afternoon he was in town again and saw some more people standing around. He asked them, ‘Why haven’t you been working today?’

7 “They replied, ‘Because no one hired us.’

“The landowner told them, ‘Then go out and join the others in my vineyard.’

God takes account of our humble estate, He sees & knows & loves and cares

Psalm 103:13–14 (NLT) 13 The LORD is like a father to his children,

tender and compassionate to those who fear him.

14 For he knows how weak we are;

he remembers we are only dust.

God does not treat us as our sins deserve

Psalm 103:10 (NLT) 10 He does not punish us for all our sins;

he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.

You might wonder, how can God do that?

Romans 3:25–26 (NLT) 25 For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, 26 for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.

He loves us even when we can do little for Him

Matthew 20:8–16 (NLT) 8 “That evening he told the foreman to call the workers in and pay them, beginning with the last workers first. 9 When those hired at five o’clock were paid, each received a full day’s wage. 10 When those hired first came to get their pay, they assumed they would receive more. But they, too, were paid a day’s wage. 11 When they received their pay, they protested to the owner, 12 ‘Those people worked only one hour, and yet you’ve paid them just as much as you paid us who worked all day in the scorching heat.’

13 “He answered one of them, ‘Friend, I haven’t been unfair! Didn’t you agree to work all day for the usual wage? 14 Take your money and go. I wanted to pay this last worker the same as you. 15 Is it against the law for me to do what I want with my money? Should you be jealous because I am kind to others?’

16 “So those who are last now will be first then, and those who are first will be last.”

God is not unfair to you when he is generous to someone else

Matthew 5:45 (NLT) 45 In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike.

Matthew 19:29 (NLT) 29 And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or property, for my sake, will receive a hundred times as much in return and will inherit eternal life.

God generously saves those who put their faith in Jesus

Ephesians 2:8–9 (NLT) 8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.

Be grateful & humble when it is for your benefit

Celebrate God’s goodness when it is for others.

What the parable tells us about God

•   God will never short-change you, cheat you

•   He loves us even when we can do little for Him

•   Be grateful & humble when it’s to your benefit

They Grumbled: they protested to the owner

Philippians 2:14 Do all things without grumbling or questioning,

Exodus 16:7-8 And in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against the Lord. For what are we, that you grumble against us? And Moses said, “When the Lord gives you in the evening meat to eat and in the morning bread to the full, because the Lord has heard your grumbling that you grumble against him—what are we? Your grumbling is not against us but against the Lord.”

James 5:9 Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door.

John 6:41-43 So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves.”

Numbers 14:27 How long shall this wicked congregation grumble against me? I have heard the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against me.

They Were Jealous – “Should you be jealous”

1 Corinthians 3:3 - For you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?

Galatians 5:19-21 - Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

James 3:16 - For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.

1 Corinthians 13:4-5 - Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;

“So the last will be first, and the first will be last.” (Matthew 20:16)