The Madisonian. (Richmond, Ky.) 1913-1914, 1914-06-30
LESSON FOR JULY 5
THE LABoRERs IN THE VINE
YARD.

LESSON TExTLMatt. 2o:1-16.
GOLDEN TEXT-"Ee maketh his sun
to rise on the evil and on the good and
sendeth rain on the just and on the I'M
just" Matt. 5:45
This is another lesson connected
with our Lords Perean ministry
I. The Calls to Service, w. III.
To get correct setting we must re-
turn to Peters question, 1917, which
in turn grew out of our Lords deal
ings with the rich young ruler (see
lesson of June 21s). and which called
from Jesus the exclamation, 1T is
hard for a rich man to enter the king
dom of heaven" 1929. At this the
disciples were exceedingly surprised
and exclaimed, who then can be
saved?" ". 25). Jesus replied, with
God all things are possible" There
all and followed thee; what then shall
we have?" The young man refused
to leave his ali and follow, whereas
the disciples had and Peter seems to
desire to know what advantage had
accrued to them, what reward they
were to have
Jesus Answers Peter.
Jesus closed his answer to Peter by
saying, Many that are first shall be
last; and the last shall be first" ".
30) and illustrates his reply by the
parable which is our lesson. Many
who do not stipulate reward shall
be first, while many who work and
work long, but work only for a re
ward, will be last. Preceding this
Jesus definitely told Peter that the
| twelve should be associated with him
| judging the twelve tribes of Israel
low him should receive an hundred
| fold and would inherit eternal life
(see chapter 1928, 29), that is, they
would gain what the young ruler
sought by doing what he failed to do
Historically this is illustrated by the
Jew and Gentle, Matt. 8;11, IL; Luke
13:28-30; Rom. 9:30-33.
Parable of the Kingdom.
Jesus says this is "a parable of the
kingdom, hence the householder repre-
sents God (cf. 1927; 1888, 49,; the
vineyard is the kingdom, see lisa. 81;
Matt. 21:33. The king is seeking
laborers to labor in his vineyard. He
began in the early morning ". u
and with those whom he employed he
made a definite agreement. The
| penny had a value of about seventeen
cents and represents an average days
God without a fair wage, Eph. SIS;
T Heb. 6:10. Notice, before they were
set to their task God called them
| The call was to service, Mark 1:17
He goes out again at the third and
the sixth and the ninth hour, finds
other laborers, making no definite
agreement with them but sends then
into his vineyard to work. He lee
| them into the work and they trusted
him for wages. AT the eleventh hour
he found idlers and asked them the
reason ". 81, they replied that NJ
one had employed them and them too
he sendsinto the vineyard without an!
bargain as to wages. None excep
those at the third hour had any in
timation as to their wage and the!
were to receive whatsoever is right.
Those called at the first may put il
longer hours but produce poorer
quality of service than others called
at later time. The character of thu
service is of greater value than the
amount rendered and the higher thu
service the greater the proportionatt
reward. We get in this life abou
what we work for.
II. The Reward OF Service, w. Bis
At the end of the day the Lords
steward rewards each man, beginning
with the last and ending with thu
first ". 81. The first one is paid &C
cording to the strict letter of thu
agreement and the last is ikewis'
paid in strict justice but in a mos
liberal manner. He, too, was worth!
for he worked throughout all thu
time that was for him available
Giving an equal reward to all was
test of the character of those mel
who entered the vineyard in the earl.
morning. The Lords answer (vv
1879 is a four-fold one "a Il dit
thee no wrong" the contract had BEEF
lived up to to the very letter. e.
ct is my will to give, even as unit
thee;" the Lord has right to b.
generous if he so desires. (3) "It i
lawful for me to do what l will witt
mine own" God has a right to exe1
else such a prerogative and man ha
no right to complain, Rom. 9:15,21
ca rs thine eye evil because ar
good?" The ground of this complain
was that of envy.
lIi.--The Teaching. We must be
ware of trying to make this parabl
teach more than is written. To right
. fully understand our Lords dealing
with those who serve him we mus
consider others of his parallels. Thi
one has two chief lessons; first, tina
priority of time OF even length c
service is not the all-essential requ
site; and second, that our fidelity t
and use OF our opportunity is tn
, chief desideratum. Along with thi
there are of course other lessons.
/. answer to Peters question our Lor