Welcome to the “But first, Bible” daily devotional podcast with Dave Miers.
Our Old Testament reading today is from Exodus 19-21 – a significant section where God gives the Law to Moses. And our New Testament reading is from Matthew 20:1-16.
Let me begin by reading the whole passage from Matthew 20:1–16
[1] “For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. [2] After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. [3] And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, [4] and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ [5] So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. [6] 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?’ [7] They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ [8] And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ [9] And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. [10] Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. [11] And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, [12] saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ [13] But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? [14] Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. [15] Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ [16] So the last will be first, and the first last.” (ESV)
I want to spend a few moments reflecting on verse 15 and begrudging the generosity of God. There are at least 3 situations where people might begrudge God’s generosity.
First, Jesus’ regular inclusion of tax collectors and sinners would have been begrudged by the religious establishment – the Pharisees and Scribes and so on regularly begrudge Jesus’ kindness.
Second, Gentiles being included in with God’s people may have been begrudged by believers with a Jewish background, examples of this can be found in the New Testament.
Third, is for us today. Perhaps there are still times when we begrudge others that are welcomed into our church communities. Maybe there is someone you think is not as deserving as you to be in God’s family, or perhaps someone else is in a similar ministry role that hasn’t trained as hard as you’ve trained, or just someone you don’t like who has started following Jesus.
Any time that we begin to see a begrudging heart within us, we need to see and remember that God is generous. If he dealt with us by justice alone, that wouldn’t end well. In the words of Lecrae, “If we fought for our rights we’d be in hell tonight.” Anyone who is a member of the kingdom of heaven – gets in there by mercy! God is gracious that he would forgive anyone of their sin, and welcome anyone into his family.
Praise God that in his generosity he has included you!
Until tomorrow, keep trusting Jesus.