Second, "and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit." Let us work together while there is time and much work to do. This is what Bible study and prayer are all about. And if you are truly loving him, you can ask whatever you will. There is a spiritual principle here. We do not have to agonize and struggle to produce these qualities or characteristics; they are brought about naturally by the vine. Jesus tells us in Verse3: "You are already made clean [pruned] by the word which I have spoken to you." Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers XX. What Is the Significance of Not the Letter but of the Spirit? Bible Meaning and Text. We must decide to do things which expose ourselves to him and keep ourselves in contact with him. WebJesus, by the parable of the laborers in the vineyard, shows that God is debtor unto no man; 17. foretells his passion; 20. by answering the mother of Zebedee's children, teaches his disciples to be humble; 29. and gives two blind men their sight. Caring for Gods Vineyard: My Sermon on Matthew 21:33-46. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. The fruit here is not others won to Christ. Though it is wonderful when one has the privilege of leading many to Christ, and any of us perhaps can do this on one occasion or another, it is no indication of fruitlessness if you never have had this experience. We also have a day in which to work for the Lord - look up 2 Corinthians 6:2 - the Day of Grace. Your heart may go out to those workers who labored the whole day only to receive the same wage as those who worked for only one hour. He did not abide in Christ, and Christ did not abide in him. So the vine includes the branches, and Jesus says, "I am that vine; you are the branches.". It was then that the Landowner said, You also go (verse 7). (LogOut/ As you venture out on that basis you expect him to support you and to carry you through. (5) stewards of the Lords money, seeking to extend His work. Do you love Jesus? That is, it will be fruitlessness again. How could they be otherwise until the Landowner had commissioned them to work? But the vinedressers beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. We must make choices, we must determine to expose ourselves to him, we must seek his face in the Word and in prayer and in fellowship with others. (Isaiah 5:7 RSV). When that happens, there will come these additional benefits: answered prayer, a glorifying of the Father through the demonstration of discipleship, a deepening of the experience of love, and joy made full. There might be those that were offered the gospel at the third hour, the sixth hour, and the ninth hour yet denied the call. Web8 This is to my Fathers glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. From then on there are still no meetings, but invariably every week there are those guests who come and say, "I want to know more about this." If you put in a certain amount of time and effort it only seems right to be fairly compensated for it. Your whole family had done it; it had been a family characteristic. For permission to use this content, please review And then we must rest on him, count on him to see us through, to supply that enabling power which makes us able to love and forgive and rejoice and give thanks, even when everything is going wrong. That person may not have done anything of importance within the church but look at the rewards he or she may have. He said, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Cultivating the vineyard of the Lord includes cultivating the lives of those who toil in the vineyard. In the second parable, Jesus teaches that all are equal in Gods kingdom. Therefore, while Jesus acknowledged that His followers, particularly the Twelve Disciples, would receive a hundredfold reward and will inherit eternal life, He goes on to explain the nature of Gods reward. (1) Some early in the morning (verse 1) - the Apostles? 2023 Words of Life Ministries - an independent evangelical Registered Charitable Trust (no.269381) Cookie Policy | Privacy Policy Website by: TEKOA Creative, Study 1 THE FARMER, THE SEED, AND THE SOILS, Study 2 THE PHARISEE AND THE TAX COLLECTOR. Whatever work you do, do it as unto the Lord (because you are!) You can make it run well. Many religious leaders are more interested in their fame and fortune than they are at leading people to the truth. Because the field is so great, the variety of workers needed is also great. When we understand ourselves as all workers in Gods vineyard (Mt 20:1-14), we cannot help but join the fight for our fellow workers who are being mistreated. Linking is encouraged, but content may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed including, but not limited to such means as framing or other digital copying and/or distribution method, in whole or in part without the publisher's written consent. Notice that Jesus says here to the disciples, "You are already made clean." Almighty God, you have so linked our lives one with another that all we do affects, for good or ill, all other lives: So guide us in the work we do, that we may do it not for self alone, but for the common good; and, as we seek a proper return for our own labor, make us mindful of the rightful aspirations of other workers, and arouse our conc Open Jobs. On some, Lord, you see sucker shoots which need to be pruned away. The denarius represents eternal life. For example, the Lord needs: To all of us the Lord says - Revelation 3:8! Here in remarkable imagery he captures the work which goes on in our lives as the Father employs the circumstances in which we are found, the situations of our lives, to make us heed and hear the Word which corrects and changes. Probably everyone feels that a person ought to be compensated fairly for his or her work. You can raise your family without Christ. No, it simply stays in the vine and lets the life of the vine produce the fruit. But it must be preceded by that vital phrase, "Love God." The leaders of Israel did not see it that way. Choose from news (Monday), leisure (Thursday) or worship (Saturday) or get all three! This anecdote is not about remunerations, yet it is about salvation. Judas was a paramount example of this. First, "If you abide in me, and my words abide in you [this is the way we let him abide in us -- by his word], ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you." And when they had received it, they complained against the landowner, saying, These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day. But he answered one of them and said, Friend, I am doing you no wrong. The point was to not hang on to your possessions too tightly. (John 15:4-5 RSV). It brings GOD glory it shows we are disciples. Just come to Him and place your trust in Jesus Christ. The traditional site of the Upper Room in Jerusalem is on the western side of the Old City, on the slopes of Mount Zion. That is what joy is -- this sense of our unity with Jesus, the sense of his power, his adequacy, his ability to handle the problems which are thrust upon us. The Jews would grumble when salvation is provided to gentiles as well. Why Did Pharaoh Tell Joseph to Enjoy the 'Fat of the Land'? So the question arises at this point, "What does this fruit stand for in our life?" Fruit, here, is that which is produced by the vine and is the natural outflow of the life of the vine. This is a picture of those church members who, despite attending church, never have any manifestation of truth, never have any sign in their lives of that quality of love and forgiveness and understanding and compassion which is born of the Holy Spirit, but are rigid and narrow and hard and harsh and condemning and difficult -- even though they say and do the "right" thing. But this man seems to have had a large vineyard that was supposed to make him a lot of money. Does it seem fair to our standards that this is the case? If you open your Bible and begin to read it without the conscious expectation that it is going to tell you something about him, you will read in vain. A. He committed suicide within a few days, and he was burned -- eternally lost. You are to rest upon his ability to see you through, to work it out. Given the circumstances, we should center around God's benevolence toward us, and be grateful for what we have. The parable is about a master calling people to work for Him. Notice that our Lord divides it into two sections. People come and spend a lot of money, staying a week or so at a time. He is really praying in his own name, and God will not hear our prayers when we approach Him in that way. It becomes a continuing sense and experience of his love for us. We are laborers in His vineyard and He is calling the shots. and do it wholeheartedly. Another way to state this and illustrate the unfairness is that those who worked the whole day received the same compensation that they agreed to receive as those who worked for only one hour. How that can be deduced from this parable is difficult to understand, because there is nothing in it which suggests that at all. We thereby are He does not mean that without him you remain just an immobile blob. I am always amazed to find people who read this as though the fruit were others won to Christ. If you love somebody, and reach out toward them, you can go only so far unless they respond to that love. He not only does this, but he does it repeatedly. Christianity.com is a member of the Salem Web Network of sites including: Copyright 2023, Christianity.com. (LogOut/ The fruit, in other words, is Christ-likeness. Many church people take issue with this. St. Augustine once gathered up this very truth in a beautiful way: That frightens some people. When you love God, then all that you do is touched and controlled by love, and love is the fulfilling of the Law. The laborers in this parable were hired to do a work for the master of the vineyard. The third result is the deeper experience of Christ's love: "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love. Those who focus on that are really focusing on the material reward for their efforts whats in it for them. You see, you can do many things without depending on Christ. Its a place where to keep you from being idle, to ensure you dont live a Fruitfulness brings glory to GOD. Gods desire is that we are all saved and that we are all filled with joy. Millions live and die in Europe without a true knowledge of the love of God and of the way of salvation. In that unique way which was his, our Lord took what lay at hand and made it unfold spiritual truth. God came looking for justice and righteousness; instead he found oppression, cruelty, exploitation, and indifference to the needs of others. See how many times the Landowner went out to appoint workers - verses 1, 3, 5, 6. Thus, this parable flies at the heart of that assumption. You cannot tell him when to answer your prayers. Should we not celebrate the grace extended to them? WebMatthew Chapter 20. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle, and said to them, Why have you been standing here idle all day? They said to him, Because no one hired us. He said to them, You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right you will receive., So when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first. And when those came who were hired about the eleventh hour, they each received a denarius. Needless to say, such behavior doesnt impress God at all. Is God using the sharp knife of circumstances to cut off the "sucker shoot" of an old habit or attitude in your life, confronting you with that word of truth which corrects and cleanses, causing you to see it and feel it and hear it and give heed to it? Here is the case our Lord mentioned earlier when he said, of one aspect of the Father's work, "every branch of mine that bears no fruit, he takes away." Now he adds this note of responsibility -- there is something which you must do. He was a threat to the religious leaders power and prestige. This fact leaves us all without excuse, because there is some valuable job of work we can all do. 5"I am the vine; you are the branches. Instead there will be a shabby sham, a phony imitation of the real thing, which will drive people away from Christ and will produce nothing but a dull, mechanical religiosity which is piousness without God. You suddenly were confronted with what you were doing to yourself and to others -- you felt it and heard it and saw it. Probably they will respect him when they see him. But when the vinedressers saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, This is the heir. Many people have a problem with this. Gods grace is there for anyone at any time? Did you not agree with me for a denarius? What Does it Mean That We Are Co-Workers with God? Then, "Do you love people, do you like to be with people and relate to them?" Copyright 2023 Catholic News Service, Inc. All rights reserved. If you are not feeling the depth of love you would like to experience, one of the reasons may be that you are not responding to the love which is already reaching out to you. This is the STONE WHICH WAS REJECTED BY YOU BUILDERS, WHICH HAS BECOME THE CHIEF CORNERSTONE. Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.. Take what is yours and go your way. Whoever falls on that stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.. He does not even owe us a denarius. Stand Up Nashville, a grassroots organization supported by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, also in Nashville, has fought for a community benefits agreement around the new soccer stadium construction project to ensure that local residents benefit from living wage employment opportunities. In closing, the principle of this parable is that it is foolish to demand fairness from God. There is no other way to salvation but by faith in Jesus Christ. 3 And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, (2) Others at the third hour (verse 3) - the first and second century Christians? What a wonderful relationship our Lord taught us here by this lesson of the vine! Then God the Father sent His only Son. Jesus needs laborers (Matthew 9:38) who know how to function and manage individuals' concerns. (John 15:2b RSV). -It involves sowing seed, and watering and cultivating, and maintaining and protecting the vineyard, and reaping the harvest. If you are called to lead, be the shepherd God has called you to be and follow what the Holy Spirit tells you. What Is the Meaning of Psalm 91 and Why Is it Popular? 1. But it is an encouragement for any Christian worker to be reminded that he or she is working in a part of the Lords vast vineyard. We are to each be sowing seed in His field. 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