St Matthew, Chapter 20, verse: 5, So they went.

Our paragraph topic is: (Parable of the laborers in the vineyard) Part 5.  

What is just?  What is fair?  What is honest?  What is good?  What is right or wrong?  We see and ask these questions on a daily basis.  Christ told his disciples a parable that raised all of these questions.  Why did he do this?  He wanted them to have an understanding that was not openly available to everyone.  Theirs was the understanding of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.  Theirs was the knowledge that was not available to wise men.  Theirs was the vision of the Christ in his full glory.  Theirs was the insight given them by God our Father.

They did not yet posses all that was given to them, but the seeds were planted.  They would witness the coming forth of the fruit.  Christ spoke of a house-holder who needed workers in his vineyard.  He spoke to his disciples in plain terms that they could understand.  And yet underlying those plain term was the fruit that would later blossom into the understanding and insight given to them by the grace of God.  So the house-holder hired workers and agreed to pay them what was just.  "So they went.  And again he went out about the sixth, and about the ninth hour, and did as before."  

The house-holder called his workers, even in the middle of the day.  He saw them standing idle in the market place and he called them to work.  Christ calls his workers.  He calls them at all times of the day.  And he agrees to pay them what is just.  He does this again and again and again.  No matter what the time of day he calls workers to come and work in his vineyard.  Are you a worker?  Are you a weed?  Are you the fruit that needs to be harvested?  How do you fit into the kingdom of heaven?

The door is open to all who want to come.  The requirements are easy.  Anyone can qualify.  The choice is yours to make if you understand the offer.  There is another offer also, the offer of the world.  It is the one we are born into.  It is the one we live with.  It is the one that surrounds us daily.  But one must rise above what is seen.  One must view beyond what is obvious.  One must change the perspective to see what is hidden.  We have a choice.  Some understand that choice early on.  Some find that choice later in life.  And some struggle with that choice only to not understand.  And then there are those who see the choice, know the choice, but cannot make the choice.

Can you make the choice?  Can you choose to be the one?  Can you accept the choice of who you are in Christ?  The world will blind you.  The world will deceive you.  The world will seek to turn you away from your choice.  But the spirit cries out in you.  The spirit burns in you for fulfillment.  The spirit within you knows the truth of who you are.  Can you seek it?  Can you find it?  Can you know the truth of who you are in Christ?  The choice is yours to make.  The thief is out there seeking to steal your choice.  Be careful!  He will not announce himself to you.  He will not knock at your door.  He will come and take you away without your having a choice.  And then you will know.

Christ calls you.  Christ loves you.  Christ gave his life for you that you would have life.  Seek him and know.  Know him and love.  Be with him and be fulfilled.  The spirit cries out for you.  The spirit awaits for you.  The spirit is within you waiting for you to open the door and say: "Come in!"

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 20, verse: 4, The Just payment.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Parable of the laborers in the vineyard) Part 4.  

The house-holder has need of workers in his vineyard and he goes to the market place and finds workers standing idle.  He tells them to go to work in his vineyard so that they will have something to do to earn their wages and provide for their families.  He had need of work and they had need of someone to hire them to work.  This is the parable that Christ tells his disciples that relates to the kingdom of heaven.  

The laborers were standing idle without any work to do.  The house-holder was looking for laborers to work.  The kingdom of heaven is seeking workers.  The believers on earth are seeking work to do but are standing idle with no one to hire them.  God is seeking workers so Christ tells his disciples that the house-holder told the workers:  "And he said to them, 'Go you also into the vineyard, and I will give you whatever is just.' "

So the laborers are sent to work in the vineyard with the promise that they will be paid whatever is just.  What is just for a days labor?  What is just for the work that they will do?  What is just for the skill that is required for the work they are required to do?  We live in a world where we are in the same situation of determining what is just for us.  Is it fair and just that we work honestly and fairly and others do not?  Is it fair and honest that we follow the rules and others cut corners and get by?  Is it honest and fair that we are slighted and passed over for promotions and perks and others get the all benefits?

What is just?  What is fair?  What is right?  And what is wrong?  In this day and time it seems that it does not pay to be honest and to be fair.  It seems that it does not pay to be upright and straightforward.  It seems that we are the ones who get the unfair and unjust treatment.  Can we not stand by and accept this?  Can we not allow this to happen to us?  Are we compelled to  change our position and do what is necessary to advance our own cause?  Are we driven to bring about a change for ourselves?  What is just for us?

We compare what is just to what is before us.  We feel what is unjust by what others are doing.  We see the results of what others are doing and how they are rewarded.  We hurt for what is right and what is wrong, what is just and what is unjust, what we want and what we do not have.  These are our passions.  These are our motivations.  These are the things that tempt us to turn from who we are in Christ.  For God is our Father.  He is right and he is just.  He is patient and he is forgiving.  He is the final judge and we must trust in his wisdom and glorify his justice even when it seems that it is unjust.  The just payment is what we should seek.  The just payment is what we should believe.  The just payment is what we should know because God is our Father and he will provide for us.  He will care for us.  And he will be the ultimate judge of what is just.  Seek not the ways of the world but seek the kingdom of heaven and all else will be provided to you. 

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 20, verse: 3, The Idle workers.

Our paragraph topic is: (Parable of the laborers in the vineyard) Part 3. 

So Christ continues to tell the story of the workers as they are hired for the work in the vineyard.  He has compared this parable to the kingdom of heaven that his disciples may have some understanding of the kingdom.  For in the kingdom they will rule.  In the kingdom they will judge.  In the kingdom of heaven they will sit on the twelve thrones that oversee the twelve tribes of Israel.  And Christ will be with them in the regeneration.

But, now, he had to give them some understanding that they will know.  He had to enlighten them.  He had to teach them the ways of the spiritual world.  So he continued to tell them this parable about the laborers in the vineyard.  He said to them:  "And about the third hour, he went out and saw others standing in the market place idle." 

He saw idle workers in the market place waiting for someone to hire them to work.  He saw men wanting to have something to do.  He saw men needing to make money to support themselves.  He saw opportunity.  And he opened the door for them to enter.  Are we idle workers?  Are we in need of something to do?  Do we have a need to be employed by someone else to provide for our needs?  Reading this parable gives us some view into what the story is telling us today.

The kingdom of heaven is like a house-holder, a property owner, who is in need of workers to assist him with the work at hand.  The property owners owns property where he has planted seeds that are in need of harvest.  He has planted grape vines that are reaching their ripe state and are ready to be picked.  The property owner has wealth and he wants to pay workers to help him bring in the harvest.  Are we ready to work?  Are we ready to assist?  Are we ready to receive the rewards for working in the vineyard of God our Father?

He created us.  He provided for us.  He gave us everything that we needed to grow and prosper.  Yet we lost our way.  We were deceived.  We were blinded.  And we are scattered and lost in the darkness, afraid and alone.  And then Christ came.  He opened the door and pushed back the darkness that all may see.  He touched us and gives us new life that our eyes may be opened to the truth of who we are in him.  But there are many who are lost.  There are many who do not know.  There are many who are still in the darkness. 

The light of life is opened to the lost if they accept, if they believe.  But the darkness and death holds them.  The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  Are you a believer?  Are you a worker?  Do you carry the light of Christ within you?  Do you know the truth of who you are in him?  Let us not be idle workers!  Let us go and become workers for the kingdom of heaven. 

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.