Observations From Mt. 20:1-16

1. The Lord recruits workers into a covenant, not a contract.
2. The highest motivation for working for the Lord is the pleasure of selection, not the promise of reward.
3. Getting what you don't deserve is more exciting than getting what you do deserve.  Grace always invokes a reaction.  Either you will be infatuated by it or you will be infuriated by it.
4. Beware that what starts out sweet doesn't end sour.  Why do many workers end up bitter?  They are bitter because they view service as fulfillment of a contract instead of privilege within a covenant.  They are bitter because they don't understand the behavior of grace.  (Grace isn't fair, logical, earned, deserved, bought, exchanged, cheap, or theoretical.  Grace is demonstrated (Rom. 5:6-8), extended (Rom. 10:21), extravagant (Eph. 1:8), greater than all your sin, higher than your best alternative, stronger than your fiercest doubt, deeper than our wildest imagination, everything.)  They are bitter because it's easier to blame than to take responsibility.
5. Just because you are working in the church doesn't mean you are working in the harvest field. The harvest field is the place where sinners are gathered.  The church is the place where saints are gathered.
6. Harvest isn't automatic.  The crop would be either wasted or harvested, depending on the amount of workers and the quality of their work.
7. One worker shouldn't compare his work with another person's work. The standard isn't the amount of a person's work; the standard is the amount of the unharvested crop.  See also 2 Cor. 10:12.
8. There is something worse than perceived injustice.  The greater calamity was to not be selected to work, thus not getting paid at all.
9. Remember what you "got yourself into."  The call to serve is always on Jesus's terms, not your own.
10. Notice the progression.  The 6:00 A.M. workers were hired at a set amount.  The 9:00 A.M., 2:00 P.M. and 3:00 P.M. workers were hired with the promise of “what is right.”  The 5:00 P.M. workers were hired with no mention of pay.