The Laborers in the Vineyard

20 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius[a] for the day and sent them into his vineyard. 3 “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5 So they went. “He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. 6 About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ 7 “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. “He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’ 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.’ 9 “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. 10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12 ‘These 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.’ 13 “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ 16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
Matthew 20:1-16 NIV

The definition of a mercenary:
1) a professional soldier who works for a foreign government.
2) a person whose primary concern is to profit themselves at the expense of others.

The Laborers:
The first workers represent the first disciples, but also all those who have spent many years of their life serving Jesus.

The other workers represent those who have become followers of Jesus, after the first disciples, and at various times.

I. Jesus is telling us that no one has the right to question the generosity of God.

II. Those of us who have served long and hard have no right or justification to be upset when God rewards the newcomer in the same way, He rewards us.

III. Some respond to the gospel early, others later in life, but as laborers in the vineyard we all should work diligently in whatever time we may have left to serve Jesus.

There is no room in the Kingdom for those with either a mercenary or jealous heart.