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Chapter 54 The Last First and the First Last
For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is
an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. And when he had agreed with
the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into
his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing
idle in the marketplace, And said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard,
and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way. Again he
went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. And about the
eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto
them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? They say unto him, Because no man
hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and
whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive. So when even was come, the
lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers,
and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. And
when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received
every man a penny. But when the first came, they supposed that they should
have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny. And when
they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house,
Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them
equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day. But he
answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou
agree with me for a penny? Take that thine is,
and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. Is it not
lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine
eye evil, because I am good? So the last shall be first, and the first last:
for many be called, but few chosen. (Matthew 20:1-16) This parable was given by our Lord
in response to the disciples’ question in the latter part of chapter 19,
verses 27-30. In fact, it appears to be a continuation of our Lord’s
conversation with them. In chapter 19, verse 30, he says, “Many that are
first shall be last; and the last shall be first.” There is no need for
us to guess what that means. This parable is the Savior’s explanation and
illustration of that statement. Our
Lord’s parables are earthly stories, or illustrations, by which he
demonstrated his doctrine. Always look at the parables as you would the use
of an illustration in a sermon. The illustration is not the sermon. It is an
illustration of the sermon, or of some point in the sermon. Even so, our
Lord’s parables are not the basis of our doctrine. We do not build our
doctrine upon parables. We build our doctrine upon the plain statements of
Holy Scripture. The parables are earthly illustrations of spiritual, heavenly
truths. We do not need to search for hidden meanings in the parables. Instead
of doing that, we must look for the obvious. When we have discovered the
obvious message of a parable, we have discovered all that it is intended to
reveal. We should not look for more. The obvious
message of this parable has to do with following Christ, serving him, and the
reward of doing so. That is what our Lord is dealing with in the context. The
message of the parable is this – “The last shall be first, and the first
shall be last.” That simply and obviously means that all true believers
are the servants of Christ, all are equal in the eyes of God, and all shall
have an equal, infinite fulness of reward in heaven. The Laborers
First, the parable describes
all who follow Christ as “laborers.” — “For the kingdom of heaven
is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the
morning to hire labourers into his vineyard”
(v. 1). The
parable is about the kingdom of heaven, or the The place of labor
is “his vineyard,” the The whole affair
of serving Christ, as it is set forth in this parable, is a manifestation of
God’s free and sovereign grace. Wholehearted devotion in the service of the
Lord Jesus Christ is a very reasonable thing ( Having said that, we must never forget
that any gifts, talents, and abilities we have, with which to serve God, are
the gifts of his free grace (Eph. 4:7). If one person has greater mental
abilities than another, he has them by the gift of God. If any man is gifted
for the work of the ministry, the gift is God’s. If one has greater means to
support the work of the gospel than another, it is God who gave him the
means. There is no room for boasting or for envy in the So, too, every opportunity to serve God by
serving men is the gift of his grace, arranged by special providence. Even
the length of our labor and service in the “What a beautiful similitude is here, of the kingdom of
grace! Such is the Church of Jesus, as a vineyard gathered out of the world’s
wide wilderness; chosen (as scripture expresseth
it) by God the Father; purchased by God the Son; and set apart in the
regenerating and purifying grace of God the Holy Ghost. At what age are you
standing? Hath the Lord called you at the early morning of life, the mid-day,
the afternoon, or evening? Are you in the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts? or
are you still idle in the market-place? Oh! the unspeakable blessedness of
knowing, under divine teaching, that we are ‘saved and called with an holy
calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and
grace given us in Christ Jesus before the world began’ (2 Tim.
1:9).” — Robert Hawker The Reward Second, this parable is
intended to teach us about the reward of God’s saints, the reward of those
who labor in the Master’s vineyard (vv. 8-12). This was a real problem with
our Lord’s disciples. They judged, by carnal reason, that since they had
sacrificed more than others and had done more than others (at least in their
opinion), they deserved a greater reward (Matt. 18:1; The God of Glory does not measure things the way we do. He will reward
every laborer in his vineyard, but not as men judge that he should. He will
reward his people in a way that will exalt his grace, exalt his Son, and give
no room for the flesh to boast. He has no regard to the time of our service,
or the amount of ground covered. God does not measure out reward according to
the abilities of his servants. Heaven’s reward will not be given according to
the judgment and estimation of men. God will not be impressed with the impressions
we make upon men. He will not deal out his reward according to the measure of
our apparent success. God will not reward us according to the measure of our
gifts, neither our gifts of grace and usefulness, nor our monetary gifts for
the cause of Christ.[1]
God will not even reward us according to the measure of our faithfulness. The reward that God gives to his servants at the end of the day, in
heaven’s glory, will be a matter of pure grace, and will be one that makes
all his people equal. Those servants who had labored the whole day “murmured
against the goodman of the house, saying, saying,
these last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us,
which have borne the burden and heat of the day.” And the Lord Jesus replied “the last shall be
first, and the first last” (vv. 11, 12, 16). And so it shall be
(Rom. “The equality of wages, is a beautiful illustration of the
free and sovereign grace of God; because, strictly and properly speaking, it
is all free: no merit, no pretensions of merit, in one more than another,
making the smallest claim to favor. The Vineyard, the Church, and the
laborers in the Church, all the gift of God the Father, the purchase of God
the Son, and the whole cultivation from the work of God the Holy Ghost. And
however different the measures of grace, and strength, and ability given; yet
the whole is the Lord’s not theirs; and every thing speaks aloud that the
whole efficiency is of him. ‘Not by might, nor by power, but by my
Spirit, said the Lord of hosts’ (Zech. 4:6).” Degrees of Reward
Will there be degrees of reward in heaven? If we read this parable in
its context (Matt. The
issue by which this question must be settled is very clear. – Is God’s
salvation, in its’ entirety, the work of his free grace in Christ, or is it
not? If, as the Scriptures everywhere assert, our salvation is altogether the
work of God’s free grace, if our works have nothing to do with it, and
heavenly glory is but the consummation of that salvation, then there can be
no degrees of reward in heaven[2]. Without
question, salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.
No part of salvation can be, in any measure, attributed to the will, worth,
or works of man (2 Tim. 1:9; Eph. 2:8-9; The Doctrine What is the doctrine of those who teach degrees of reward in heaven? I
realize that some who teach that there are degrees of reward in heaven may
have slightly different opinions than others; but basically their doctrine is
the same. I do not wish to put words into the mouths of others. So, I will
give you the doctrine in the words of one of its leading proponents, Merrill
F. Unger. “Rewards are
offered by God to a believer on the basis of faithful service rendered after
salvation. It is clear from Scripture that God offers to the lost salvation
and for the faithful service of the saved, rewards. Often in theological
thinking salvation and rewards are confused. However, these two terms must be
carefully distinguished. Salvation is a free gift (John Here are five things involved in the
teaching that there will be degrees of reward in heaven, as stated by Mr.
Unger. 1. Salvation
is limited to the initial experience of conversion. — In the Word of God
salvation is presented as the work of God’s free grace in bringing sinners
into heavenly glory, and includes election, redemption, justification,
sanctification, preservation, and glorification in and with Christ (Matt.
10:22; Rom. 8:28-30; 13:11; 2 Cor. 2:10; 2 Tim. 1:9; 1 Pet. 2:4). 2.
It is possible for a person to be saved and
not be a faithful servant of Christ. — Nothing can be more contrary to the
words of our Lord (See Luke 3.
Men and women, by their service to God, put
God under obligation to reward them. — What an atrocious statement! Is it
possible for a sinful man or woman to do anything to merit God’s favor, to
earn God’s blessing? Can a mere man oblige the Almighty? We are debtors to
God. He is not, and cannot be made to be, a debtor to us![3] 4. There will be two judgment days, one for
believers and another for unbelievers. — The Word of God never hints at the
idea that Christ will come again twice, once in secret and then in
open, or that there will be two distinct resurrection days, or that there
will be two separate days of judgment. Such fabrications are but the
inventions of men, in an attempt to make the Word of God fit into their
theological systems. 5.
Believers
will yet have to suffer for their sins! — The doctrine of degrees of reward
in heaven unashamedly declares that those for whom Christ has suffered all
the wrath of God, whose sins he put away, will yet suffer in heaven for their
sins after God saved them, that they will suffer the everlasting shame of
heaven’s loss in the presence of those who earned a greater measure of
glory, those who by their great goodness obliged God to give them a
greater inheritance! The Lord God says otherwise. He declares that he will
never charge his people with sin (Rom. 4:8; Implications
Such doctrine is not without unavoidable implications. If the doctrine
of degrees of reward in heaven is accepted, then it must be acknowledged that
heaven’s glory is not the reward of grace, but the payment of a debt. It must
also be acknowledged that heaven is not a place of unmingled joy, as the
Scriptures assert (Rev. 7:15-17; 21:1-5; 22:2-5), but a place of mingled joy
and grief. If the doctrine of degrees of reward is accepted, it must also be
accepted, contrary to the plainest statements of divine Revelation, that God
does withhold some good things from them that walk uprightly, and some evil
shall fall upon the just (Psa. 84:11; Prov. 12:21). Again, if the doctrine of degrees of reward
in heaven were accepted, then we would be forced to conclude, in direct opposition
to the universal teaching of Holy Scripture, that the blood and righteousness
of Christ will not alone be sufficient for our acceptance with God, — that
some part of God’s favor, some of the blessings of God, must be earned by us,
— that salvation is partly a matter of works and not altogether the gift of
God’s free grace in Christ. These implications are inescapable, as well as
utterly blasphemous. Yet, they must be accepted, if we accept the doctrine of
degrees of reward in heaven. Why has this issue
been stated so dogmatically? Why have I dealt with this so pointedly? It
could have been passed over with little or no notice. Few, if any, would have
realized its omission. Here are five reasons for my decision to write as I
have on this matter. 1.
The
doctrine of degrees of reward in heaven is totally without foundation in the
Word of God. Not one passage referred to in support of this doctrine
even hints that some saints will have more and some have less in heaven. Not
one of the crowns mentioned in the Bible are said to be given only to certain
believers. All the saints before the throne have the same golden crowns,
crowns which they gladly cast before the feet of the Lamb (Rev. 4:10). 2. It is totally contrary to the plain
statements of Holy Scripture (Rom. 8:17, 29; Eph. 1:3; 5:25-27; 1 John 3:1-2;
Jude 1:24-25). Can there be degrees of holiness, degrees of
perfection, degrees of faultlessness, degrees of glorification? Nonsense! 3.
The
doctrine of degrees of reward, of heavenly rewards earned by personal
obedience, makes service to Christ a legal, mercenary thing. Such doctrine
promotes pride. If one person could obtain a bigger crown, a higher rank, or
a greater nearness to God by his works than another, he would have every
reason to pop his suspenders, strut around heaven, and have those poor,
crownless people, living in the back street slums of the New Jerusalem, bow
and scrape before him. Not
only does the doctrine promote pride, it threatens punishment. It attempts to
put God’s people upon a legal footing before him, threatening the loss of
reward and everlasting shame, if we do not do what is expected of us. This
horrendous doctrine would make all God’s saints mercenaries, inspiring
obedience and faithfulness by either the threat of punishment or by the
promise of reward. I challenge anyone to find a single example of such base,
carnal threats against redeemed sinners in the New Testament. Such doctrine
is as offensive as it is unscriptural, because it both dishonors our God and
assumes that God’s people do not really love Christ, that they are not
motivated, inspired, and governed by that love, and by their hearts’ concern
for the will and glory of God. 4. This base, carnal doctrine of earned reward
in heaven robs Christ of the glory of his grace and makes room for human
flesh to boast before God. If
you and I do something that puts God almighty in obligation to reward us,
then we have a right to boast in his presence. If we do something by which we
merit a higher standing than others in glory, why shouldn’t we boast about
it? 5.
The doctrine of degrees in glory has the
obnoxious odor of works about it; and there is no room for works in the
kingdom of grace. — The God of Glory will not be worshipped upon an altar of
hewn stone (Ex. No Tears There is one
text of Scripture which both destroys the doctrine of
degrees of reward and assures every believer of an
everlasting fulness of
joy in glory. The text to which I refer is Revelation
21:4. — “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there
shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be
any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” There will be no
tears in heaven! Without question,
there is much weeping in the way to heaven. Faith in Christ brings
deliverance from all curse and condemnation, but not from pain and sorrow. There are many things that believers suffer
in this world along with other men. Because the world is a world of
sin, it is a world of sorrow. God’s saints suffer physical pain and sickness,
domestic troubles, financial losses, and bereavement, just like all other
people in this world. Added to these earthly
sorrows, there are many things that bring tears to our eyes, about which the
world knows nothing. We struggle incessantly with inward sin and unbelief.
There is a warfare in our souls, a warfare between the flesh and the spirit,
a warfare from which there will never be a moment’s truce, until we have left
this world. There are even some precious tears that we
shed here that will be dried on the other side of Even now, our heavenly
Father does much to dry our tears. The believer’s life is not a
morbid, sorrow-filled existence. Not at all! But we do have our sorrows. Yet,
even in the midst of sorrow, our Lord gives us great comfort (Isa. 43:1-6). As our days require, he gives us grace
sufficient to meet our every need. He gives us a measure of resignation to
his will. He teaches us to trust his providence. He reminds us of his
gracious purpose. He causes us to remember his promises. He blesses us with
the sense of his presence. He floods our hearts with the knowledge of his
love (Eph. Yet, in heaven’s glory
our God will wipe all tears from our eyes. Impossible as it is for us
to imagine, there is a time coming when we shall weep no more, when we shall
have no cause to weep. Heaven is a place of sure, eternal, ever-increasing
bliss; and the cause of that bliss is our God. Heaven is a place of joy
without sorrow, laughter without weeping, pleasantness without pain. In
heaven there are no regrets, no remorseful tears, no second thoughts, no lost
causes, no sorrows of any kind! Without question, if
our God did not wipe away all tears from our eyes, there would be much
weeping in heaven. We would forever weep over our past sins, over unconverted
souls forever lost in hell, over all our wasted opportunities, over our
unkindness and lack of love to our brethren here, and over the terrible price
of our redemption. These things and many others would cause us to weep
forever. But God will wipe away all tears from our eyes. It is written, “There shall be no more death, neither
sorrow, nor crying; neither shall there be any more pain, for the former
things are passed away!” Our great God shall in
heaven’s glory remove us from all sin, remove all sin from us, and remove us
from all the evil consequences of sin. He will remove us from every
cause of grief. He will bring us at last into the perfection of complete
salvation, and every desire of our hearts will be completely gratified. — We
will be like Christ! – We will be with Christ! — We will see Christ! — We
will love Christ perfectly! — We will serve Christ unceasingly! — We will
worship Christ without sin! — We will rest in Christ completely! — We will
enjoy Christ fully! — We will have Christ entirely! Will
you be among the blessed company of the redeemed? Will you be with Christ in
glory? You will only enter into glory if you are worthy of heaven. You can
only be made worthy by the merits of Christ. If you are worthy of everlasting
glory, you shall have all the glory of heaven itself, without degrees,
perfectly. The very glory that God the Father gave to the God-man Mediator,
that great Mediator has given to his people (John 17:5; 22). Trust Christ and
all the glory of Christ in heaven is yours. All who believe on the Son of God
are heirs of God, and more. – We are joint heirs with Christ! In Christ we
are one. Christ is our Reward. — “In that day shall the LORD of hosts be
for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty” (Isa.
28:5). The Master Third, this parable reveals
much about the character of our God and Savior represented by “the
householder.” He is just in everything he does (vv. 7, 13). He is
faithful (v. 13). And he is sovereign in all things, doing with his own what
he will, especially in the exercise of his grace (v. 15). Every blessing and
privilege of grace is God’s free gift. He bestows his gifts upon whom he
will. And it is right for him to do so. Free Election Fourth,
in verse 16 our Savior once more declares one of his choice themes, the free
and sovereign grace of God in election. — “So
the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few
chosen.” He first asserts emphatically
that he has, indeed, made all his servants equal. When we stand before him in
glory, “the last shall be first, and the first last.” There shall be
no distinction of honor, place, or reward among the glorified. The reason for
this is clearly stated. — “For many be called, but few chosen.”
Salvation is, in its entirety, the result of God’s eternal, electing love. “Many are called”
by the
preaching of the gospel. But being called by the preaching of the gospel, and
being chosen by God’s eternal purpose of grace are very distinct
things. When the gospel is preached to sinners, every one within the sound of
the preacher’s voice and all who hear are called by the gracious sound. All
are, by the authority of God’s Word, commanded of the sovereign God to hear
and obey. But this outward call that is issued to all in the preaching
of the gospel differs greatly from the inward work of grace, wrought by God
the Holy Spirit in the hearts of the chosen. That effectual call of the
Spirit, wrought in the redeemed, comes “not in word only, but also in
power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance” (1 Thess. 1:5). That call is the result of God’s
election. As the Apostle Paul puts it, “We are bound to give thanks alway
to God, for you brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath, from the
beginning, chosen you to salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit and
belief of the truth, where unto he called you, by our gospel, to the
obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thess.
2:13-14; Eph. 1:3-4; 2 Tim. 1:9). The whole work of grace, from regeneration
to glorification, is the result of God’s everlasting love for his elect in
Christ (Jer. 31:3; Rom. |
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[1] Men applaud and honor very
wealthy people who make large gifts out of their abundance to churches and
charitable causes, while poorer people who give far greater gifts (though
utterly insignificant in the eyes of men) out of their meager supply are
ignored. The Lord Jesus measured the gifts of those who “cast money into the
treasury” not by the amount they gave, but by the amount they kept for
themselves (Mark
[2] Salvation involves all that
is required to bring a sinner from the ruins of the fall into the glory of
heaven.
[3] Let the reader ask himself:
“What have I ever done, or even thought, that is worthy even of God’s
acceptance?” – If, as every child of God humbly acknowledges, sin is mixed with
all we are and do (1 John 1:8-10), and our very righteousnesses are filthy rags
in the sight of the infinitely holy Lord God (Isa.
64:6), we certainly cannot “oblige” the Almighty by our deeds!