BIBLE 7

ALEXIS JOHN B. BENEDICTO

A Weird and
Wonderful
Way to Run
the World

Matthew 20:1-16
 Matthew 7:24

Matthew 20:1

For the kingdom of heaven is like

a landowner who went out early
in the morning to hire men to
work in his vineyard.
 Matthew 7:24

Matthew 20:2

He agreed to pay them a

denarius for the day and sent
them into his vineyard.
 Matthew 7:24

Matthew 20:3

About the third hour he went out

and saw others standing in the
marketplace doing nothing.
 Matthew 7:24

Matthew 20:4

He told them, “You also go and

work in my vineyard, and I will
pay you whatever is right.”
 Matthew 7:24

Matthew 20:5

So they went. He went out again

about the sixth hour and the ninth
hour and did the same thing.
 Matthew 7:24

Matthew 20:6

About the eleventh hour he went out

and found still others standing around.
He asked them, “Why have you been
standing here all day long doing
nothing?”
 Matthew 7:24

Matthew 20:7

"Because no one has hired us,”

they answered. He said to them,
“You also go and work in my
vineyard.”
 Matthew 7:24

Matthew 20:8

When evening came, the owner of the

vineyard said to his foreman, “Call the
workers and pay them their wages,
beginning with the last ones hired and
going on to the first.”
 Matthew 7:24

Matthew 20:9

The workers who were hired

about the eleventh hour came and
each received a denarius.
 Matthew 7:24

Matthew 20:10

So when those came who were

hired first, they expected to receive
more. But each one of them also
received a denarius.
 Matthew 7:24

Matthew 20:11

When they received it, they began

to grumble against the landowner.
 Matthew 7:24

Matthew 20:12

“These men who were hired last worked

only one hour,” they said, “and you
have made them equal to us who have
borne the burden of the work and the
heat of the day.”
 Matthew 7:24

Matthew 20:13

But he answered one of them,

“Friend, I am not being unfair to
you. Didn’t you agree to work for
a denarius?”
 Matthew 7:24

Matthew 20:14

“Take your pay and go. I want to

give the man who was hired last
the same as I gave you.”
 Matthew 7:24

Matthew 20:15

“Don’t I have the right to do what

I want with my own money? Or
are you envious because I am
generous?”
 Matthew 7:24

Matthew 20:16

So the last will be first, and the

first will be last.
A Weird and
Wonderful
Way to Run
the World

Matthew 20:1-16
 Isaiah 55:8

“ For My thoughts are not

your thoughts, neither are
your ways My ways,"
declares the Lord.
 God does it differently!
He gives strength in weakness (2
Corinthians 12:7)
He gives gigantic results from small things
(Mark 4:31-32)
He gives wealth in poverty (Matthew 5:3)
He gives greatness in servanthood (Matthew
23:11)
He gives life for those who lose it (Matthew
16:25)
 The Parable of
the Vineyard Workers
 Matthew 7:24

Matthew 19:30

But many who are first will be

last, and many who are last will be
first.
 Matthew 7:24

Matthew 20:16

So the last will be first, and the

first will be last.
How does God run the
world?
three characteristics
of God’s operational
plan for the world.
I. God runs the world
with justice
verses 9-15
1. God’s justice is not
based on rank

“those … hired first”

 Matthew 7:24

Matthew 20:10

So when those came who were

hired first, they expected to receive
more. But each one of them also
received a denarius.
 Matthew 7:24

Matthew 20:11

When they received it, they began

to grumble against the landowner.
 Matthew 7:24

Matthew 20:13

But he answered one of them,

“Friend, I am not being unfair to
you. Didn’t you agree to work for
a denarius?”
 Mark 2:17

It is not the healthy who

need a doctor, but the sick.
I have not come to call the
righteous, but sinners.
2. God’s justice is not
based on comparisons

“them equal to us”

 Matthew 7:24

Matthew 20:12

“These men who were hired last worked

only one hour,” they said, “and you
have made them equal to us who have
borne the burden of the work and the
heat of the day.”
In 1947, Jackie Robinson broke the color
barrier in Major League Baseball.
Ben Chapman
Jackie Robinson
 Chapman was forced to pose
in a photograph with Robinson
in May of 1947.
September 22, 1947
 Acts 10: 34-35

I now realize how true it is

that God does not show
favoritism but accepts men
from every nation who fear
Him and do what is right.
II. God runs the
world with
sovereignty
verses 13-15
1. God’s sovereignty is
based on His goodness

“I want to give”
 Matthew 7:24

Matthew 20:14

“Take your pay and go. I want to

give the man who was hired last
the same as I gave you.”
2. God’s sovereignty is
based on His will

“the right to do as I want”

 Matthew 7:24

Matthew 20:15

“Don’t I have the right to do what

I want with my own money? Or
are you envious because I am
generous?”
III. God runs the world
by grace
verses 15-16
 Romans 3:10

There is no one righteous,

not even one.
 “Grace is not only
undeserved favor,
but it is favor
shown to the one
who has deserved
Harry Ironside
the very
opposite.”
1. God shows grace with
His generosity

“because I am generous”
 Matthew 7:24

Matthew 20:15

“Don’t I have the right to do what

I want with my own money? Or
are you envious because I am
generous?”
 Luke 23:43

“I tell you the truth, today

you will be with me in
paradise."
 Titus 3:5

He saved us, not because

of righteous things we had
done, but because of His
mercy.
2. God shows grace with
His salvation

“the first will be last”

 Matthew 7:24

Matthew 20:16

So the last will be first, and the

first will be last.
 Why Grace Matters
Works Grace

1. produces pride 1.produces humility

2. produces anger 2.produces gratitude
3. produces rigidity 3.produces faith
4. can never save 4.gives eternal life
 Ephesians 2:8-9

For it is by grace you have been

saved, through faith — and this
not from yourselves, it is the
gift of God — not by works, so
that no one can boast.