St Matthew, Chapter 20, verse: 1, The Kingdom of Heaven and the House-holder.

Our paragraph topic is: (Parable of the laborers in the vineyard) Part 1.  


Christ told his disciples what hinders anyone from entering the kingdom of heaven.  He gave them examples and details so that everyone would know what to do and what not to do.  In this new chapter he gives another example of the kingdom of heaven.  He compares the kingdom of heaven to a house-holder.

He tells his disciples:  FOR the kingdom of heaven is like a house-holder who went out early in themorning to hire laborers for his vineyard .   It is in this comparison that Christ tells his disciples that the kingdom of heaven is like a person who owns property and needs help to maintain it.  The house-holder hires laborers to maintain his vineyards and the kingdom of heaven hires laborers to maintain its children.  The kingdom of heaven is a living entity.  It is God's creation.  It has needs that must be met in order for its crop to flourish.

Christ uses this example to further illustrate to his disciples and to us how the kingdom works.  He wants us understand.  He wants us to know.  The kingdom is seeking laborers.  The kingdom wants you and me.  The kingdom owns the property of God and is looking for those who would work the property for a reward.  The doors are open and the laborers are few.  The work is plentiful and the harvest is ripe and ready for the picking.  Are we willing?  Are we ready?  Do we have the skills to get the job done?  Christ is calling us to come and work with him to get the job done.

Can you go?  Can you work?  Are you willing to work for the reward that is open to you?  We work here on earth for the rewards that are given to us.  We are given money that we use to buy the things that we want.  Christ calls us to the work in his vineyard.  The kingdom of heaven calls us to work in its vineyard.  What will be our reward for the work that we do?  Will we be given paper money that we can use in the here and now?  Will we be given something else that is more precious than paper money?  What will that be?  What will we receive?  What is more precious than the money we get today?

Is life everlasting more precious than paper money?  Is life everlasting more valuable than gold, or silver, or diamonds, or any other thing that we hold in high esteem today?  The kingdom of heaven calls us, just as the world calls us.  Which one will we choose?  Some know of the call.  Some don't.  Some are lost and do not know that they have a choice.  Some know that they have the choice and choose not.  That decision is ours and ours alone to make.  But the call is still there.  The kingdom calls,  will you answer.  The kingdom calls, do you hear.  The kingdom calls, will you ignore the call.  Christ is waiting.  Come!  Heed the call and come work in the vineyard for the kingdom of heaven.  The reward is greater than anything that you will receive here on earth. 

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ. The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you.  Open the door and let him in. 

St Matthew, Chapter 19, verse: 18e, The commandments: Thou shalt not bear false witness.

Our paragraph topic is:  (The rich young man speaks to Jesus) Part 8.

The rich young man had come to Christ with a question on his mind.  He wanted to know what to do to enter into the kingdom.  He was serious.  He had come a long way to hear the truth for he believed that Christ would tell him the truth and not falsehood.  So he found Christ and asked the question of what he must do.  Christ told him in simple terms what he must do.  He must keep the commandments.  The young man knew the commandments as anyone who was a member of Israel knew. 

The commandments were the rules by which the Jews lived and thrived and believed.  Some of the people kept the commandments completely, some partially, some knew them but did not keep them at all.  This was what the young man saw and knew but was puzzled about.  So Christ told him the commandments to keep: Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not commit adultery, and Thou shalt not steal.  And Jesus said:"Thou shalt not bear false witness." 

This is another commandment given to the young man seeking the kingdom.  Why did Christ tell him this commandment?  Why did Christ tell him the any of the commandments that he already knew?  Why did the young man want to know what to do?  Why do we want to know what to do?  Do we believe in what we must do to gain the kingdom?  In our day and time, it seems as if we live in a world where there is no knowledge of the kingdom, no knowledge of a God, no knowledge of the commandments he has given us to live by.  We go to church on Sundays, fulfill our religious obligations, and return to the world and live by the norms of the world and not by those given us by Christ.

We are the sheep that he left behind and they are the shepherds left behind to guide us in our daily lives.  Do we have guidance?  Are we led in the right direction?  There is the world and then there is the church.  There are our jobs, our homes, our children, our rest, our play, our hopes and our dreams.  Then there is our beliefs, our practices, our thoughts, our knowledge, and our beings, which define who we are.  The two are separate.  The two are not one.  Should they be one and the same?  Should we be one person, one being, one love, one knowledge, one spirit, one job, one home, one parent, one rest, one play?  Or should we be true in one area and false in another? 

We are witnesses to our beliefs.  We are spirits in our lives.  We are truth in our thoughts and our beings.  But are we true or are we false?  Do we bear witness truly to who we are or do we bear witness falsely?  To live separately bears witness to who we are.  To live as two contradicts what we believe.  To bear falsely in one area and truly in another shows the split in the person that we claim to be.  The world drives us to be false.  The world reinforces us each and every day to be separate, to not be one.  The world would divide us, create conflict, lead us away from who we are.  The world would have us bear false witness even to ourselves. 

We are children of God our Father who created us in his image.  We are spirits housed in the flesh, eternal beings given new life through the sacrifice of Christ our Lord.  Live true to the nature that is within you and falsely according to the world.  Be the spirit that is within you and seek to know who you are in Christ.  For he came that we would know.  He is that we will see.  He loves that we will love with the love that is given to us.  And he guides us that we will not be lost in the world.  To know is to seek.  To find is to understand.  To understand is to see the truth of who you are.  Be the truth that is within you and the Holy Spirit will come and be with you always.

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ. The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you.  Open the door and let him in.