Andrew Isbell
April 4, 2021
Note: The transcript below is automatically generated and will contain errors.
Transcript:
This morning the topic of my talk this morning is going to be about the kingdom. And God is master god is King and God sitting on the throne and our place in this world in relation to that. We’re going to begin this morning and Matthew 20 Matthew chapter 20 and verse 1
Matthew 20 and verse 14 the Kingdom of Heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire labourers for the vineyard after agreeing with the laborers for a Denarius a day. He sent them into his Vineyard and going out about the third hour. He saw others standing idle in the marketplace and to them. He said you go into the vineyard to and whatever is right. I will give you so they went going out again about the six hour and the ninth hour he
Did the same and about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing and he said to them. Why do you stand here idle all day. They said to him because no one has hired us. He said to them you go into the vineyard to and when he evening came the owner of the vineyard said to his Foreman call up the laborers and pay them their wages beginning with the last up to the first and when those hired about the eleventh hour came each of them received a Denarius.
Now when those hard first came, they thought they would receive more but each of them also received a Denarius and on receiving it they grumbled at the Master of the House saying these last worked only one hour and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden.
Who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat, but he replied to one of them friend. I am doing you know wrong. Did you not agree with me for the narus take what belongs to you and go I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Now listen to this the last the last portion of this reading am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me.
Are do you begrudge me my generosity? So the last will be first and the first last.
So a couple of things in this first selection of versus not to pass it by and I know we’ve all probably read this several times but not to pass it by one of the things I think that I want to take note of here is that the that the master here continues to go out and find people in idleness.
Continues to find people standing around doing nothing and when he asked them in the middle of this selection, he asked him. Why do you stand here idle all day. The response is something I think we should take notice up because no one has hired us right their words are not doing anything because they don’t have any purpose nobody set them to a work. Nobody sent them to a purpose. There’s a lot of people in the world right now standing.
Around with no purpose waiting on someone to show up and offer them a job offer him something to do right that’s true in a lot of places, but spiritually that’s very true. There are a lot of people standing around spiritually doing nothing idle because no one’s ever come to them and told them the gospel explain to them that there’s someone hiring and that there’s a job for them to do. There’s a master who seeking servants.
I didn’t want to pass that up. That’s not the focus of what I want to talk about here. But I don’t want to pass that up. It never dawned on me and all the times. I read this that there’s God has a little something to say right there about one of our jobs as Christians, which is to go out and find these idle and make sure that they know that there is someone who’s seeking to bring them in.
I want to focus Instead at the last section of this reading where it where he says am. I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me our do you begrudge my generosity? So the first thing I want to talk about here is that God is Master consider this statement thoroughly at the very end. What belongs to God so here it says I’m an odd do with choose what belongs to me. Let’s think about what belongs to God.
Everything the world Our Lives, it’s God choices that might the that matter in our choices are not his choices. It seemed right to these men that the workers should receive less than the first
But it wasn’t their choice to make.
The we begrudge God’s choices the second question do we try to replace them with our own judgments is these workers did so these workers that work for the master didn’t recognize their role. They weren’t the master, but they were judging the master. They were judging the master and what belong to him.
Everything was his The Vineyard was his the wages were his all of that was his.
And yet when they came to partake in it then they wanted to set their judgment of what was right and wrong about his Judgment of what was right and wrong and so he quickly at the end points out to them but they had no right to do that he has a right to do as he chooses what belongs to him so I would bring us back to the Lord everything Belongs to the Lord this world Our Lives the truth they all belong to the lord it’s God choices that matter in our choices are not his choices
Seems again right to them just like many things seem right to us that they’d be done other than God’s way.
But at the end of the day we need to remember who the master is. Second thing is as a servant.
You you don’t have this right to begrudge the choices that the master makes we have to worry about ourselves. Do we begrudge God’s choices. God gives us truth. We have all truth that we need in the scriptures. Do we try to replace them with our own judgments? Like these workers did write the workers judged at the master was unfair
And they had no right to do it and many times. I think we judge God is unfair and we have no right to do it. We don’t like the way he’s done things the way he said things up. They don’t they don’t they’re not palatable to us and the last how we replaced gratefulness and respect which is the attitude that these all these people had when they first took the job, right? They were grateful and they had respect for him as the master to go in and do the work that he assigned and they were all grateful to take the work.
They began that way and then they finished with this attitude of entitlement and wanted to dictate the terms of their service after the service was done as Christians. So warning to us. Do we say to the master? I deserve more than what you’re giving me.
We hear a lot of people in this world Grumble about their circumstance what’s happening to them the miseries of life and ask yourself this question just as these grumbled about the amount that they were being paid. They felt like they should been paid more than what they were originally told. They didn’t value at the end the way they valued the Denarius at the beginning at the beginning. They valued it. They said the sounds great. Good job. I’m in right they worked all day in the hot sun because he felt the
Of what he had offered them was a good value on what on their service here. We have to ask the same question in our service to God do we do we really want to be the people that say the god I deserve more than Eternal salvation.
All right, you’re giving me eternal salvation. But some things in my life are not going the way I want them to go. So I’m kind of mad at you, right? I don’t think that’s who we want to be. I don’t think at the end of the day want to be the ones grumbling about our wages any more than these men had a right to Grumble about there’s do we say to the master. I have a better way than you listen to me and I’ll tell you what to do with what belongs to you again. We have to be very careful that we realize our place and that we are not master.
Oh that God is master.
Ria’s second selection of verses in Matthew 24 Matthew 24 and 36 Matthew 24 and 36 but concerning that day and hour. No one knows not even the angels of Heaven nor the son but the father only or as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the son of man for his in those days before the flood. They were eating and drinking marrying and giving in marriage until the day when Noah entered the Ark and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away. So will be the coming.
Any of the son of man, then two men will be in the field and one will be taken and one left two women will be grinding at the Mill and one will be taken and one left. Therefore stay awake for you. Do not know on what day your lord is coming. But you know this that if the Master of the House had known in what part of the night the thief was coming he would have stayed awake and would not have left his house be broken. Let his house be broken into therefore. You also must be ready for the son of man is coming at an hour.
You do not expect who then is the faithful and wise servant whom the master has said over his household to give them their food at the proper time blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes truly. I say to you he will set him over all his possessions. But if that Wicked servant says to himself, my master is delayed and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards the master of the icer the master of that servant.
Oh come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour when he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the Hypocrites and that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
So I want to point out all of this, but I want to point out right here in the middle of this reading.
It says blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes again a servant is about his master’s business. Right a servant is looking to his master’s work or her master’s work a servants not seeking their own way tells you that when the Masters delayed. What did the servant what did the bad servant do the bad servant started seeking something for himself pleasures.
In the world, right the that messages to us that message is not to a servant 2000 years ago in a in a specific situation. This message is written in the scriptures is a warning to all the servants who seek to serve God and what it says to us is that we have to be very careful that we’re about his work and not our own work. We have to be very careful that we’re about what he wants done and not worrying about.
Elves all the time and trying to seek out the pleasures of the world and leaving his work undone a servant’s not about his master’s business a service not seeking his own way a good servant does not delay a servant does not replace his Masters wishes with his own.
So I want to move on to talking about the throne and the fact that God is on the throne Matthew 5 and 34.
Matthew 5 and 34 but I say to you do not take an oath at all either by heaven for it is the Throne of God.
And Revelations 7 15 through 17. Therefore. They are Before the Throne of God and serve him day and night in his Temple and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. They shall hunger no more. Neither thirst any more the sun shall not strike him nor any scorching heat for the lamb in the midst of the throne will be their Shepherd and he will guide them to the springs of Living Water and God will wipe away every tear from their eye.
God sits on the throne not us we are his heirs and his benefactors, but we do not dare put ourselves on the throne of God.
Nor as you can see here in these scriptures, are we even allowed to swear by it?
Because we do not own it and we do not control it. We are to serve him every night and every day with everything that we have.
Third God is King.
1st Timothy 1 and 17
1st Timothy 1 and 17 to the king of the ages Immortal invisible the only God be honor and Glory forever and ever. Amen.
First Timothy 6 and 13 verse Timothy 6 and 13 I charge you in the presence of God who gives life to all things and of Christ Jesus who is his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will display at the proper time. He was blessed in the only Sovereign the King of Kings. The Lord of lords will alone as a mortality who dwells in unapproachable.
Chable light whom no one has ever seen or can see to him be honor and eternal Dominion. Amen as Christians. We are in the Kingdom.
We are subjects to the king. We are tempted often to act as if we are Kings not servants.
There’s a there’s a lot in this world that pushes you to act as the king.
Pride pushes you to act as the king.
All people have some pride and pride can push you in a way that makes you think of yourself and act as that you are the king. I think all of us have experienced it at some point when we get indignant about maybe a treatment that somebody treats us a certain way and we feel like we should have been truck treated better. So all these kinds of things that push us to act walk around and act like we’re the king in this world to try to carve out our own kingdom in the world.
We must not we must speak as servants as we walk through this world almost walk his servants who must not try to become the master must not try to become the king.
Philippians 3:19
Philippians 3:19 says their end is destruction. Their God is their belly and they glory in their shame with Minds set on Earthly things.
This is saying here is that when you allow yourself to think of yourself as the king and not as the servant then it’s your belly that matters. It’s your wants and desires as a worldly man or woman that become rise to the top and they direct your life.
And you become one of these belly worshippers. You become a person who seeks in their day only their own Sikhs in the day their pleasure seeks in the day what they can get out of it for themselves. So using their day to amass more wealth. So using the day to build their life here in this earth.
That’s not God’s way. That’s not the way.
In the end what we have to remember is something.
Very important rather you find yourself working worshipping teaching preaching or serving any other part of life.
This is the critical point.
That our goal in life should not be to put ourself on the throne.
But to serve and honor the Throne of God.
We too often fight can find ourselves in this world. We’re surrounded by it or surrounded by everyone’s scrabbling to get on top. We’re surrounded by people always seeking their own and we fill this need to compete with that when fill a need to seek our own just like they seek their own to seek what’s best for me and mine.
We fill this need to build our kingdom.
Our real work should be building his kingdom should be working in his kingdom should be taking up and and and every day taking up his cause and serving him whatever we do in life. Our goal should be to serve and honor the Throne of God.
He is our King and we do not have our own ways or our own kingdoms.
But we should choose instead to serve him and to be his subjects.
That’s what the church is. That’s who we are. That’s what binds us together is we all serve the same Master. We are not a collection of Kings who all leave here and go search seek our own paths in this world.
We’re not some people that meet together once a week.
Shake hands and then go about our own business for the rest of the week.
We are Christians. We are people that all week seek to serve the same master. And so then when we gather we get great comfort we get Gary satisfaction and meeting with his other servants talking to them about how they’re serving him what they’re doing and it’s encouraging.
So I would beg us to continue to remember this that he is King that he is master.
He’s on his throne.
And then our goal in life is not to build our own kingdom not to be our own master and not to sit on our own throne but to serve and honor God.
That’s the lesson I appreciate your time. If you have any questions about it or anything that you’d like to talk to me about you feel like I’ve missed stuffed or mislaid the truth in any way me my friend to come and talk to me and let me know so I can correct it posthaste. I would encourage all of you and you’ve all been a great encouragement to me to continue to serve and to try to remember that we’re his servants not our own.
As we stand and sing.