Matthew 20 | The Upward Way | Bible Study with A. Z. Adams — Transcript

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1. 0:00I'm just going to remind us right here
2. 0:03that Matthew's entire theme through the
3. 0:05entire book is telling the Jews what the
4. 0:08kingdom of God really is. And it's
5. 0:11always telling them [music] it's
6. 0:13spiritual, it's internal, it's
7. 0:15invisible, but it's real. And it's for
8. 0:18now.
9. 0:20Matthew 20:1
10. 0:23For the kingdom of heaven is like a
11. 0:25landowner who went out early in the
12. 0:27morning to hire laborers for his
13. 0:29vineyard.
14. 0:31When he had agreed with the laborers for
15. 0:33a dinarius for the day, he sent them
16. 0:36into the vineyard.
17. 0:38And he went out about the third hour and
18. 0:40saw others standing idle [music] in the
19. 0:42marketplace.
20. 0:44And to those he said, "You also go into
21. 0:48the vineyard and whatever is right I
22. 0:51will give you."
23. 0:52And so they went again. He went out
24. 0:56about the sixth and the 9th [music] hour
25. 0:58and did the same thing.
26. 1:00And about the 11th hour he went out and
27. 1:03found others standing around. And he
28. 1:06said to them, "Why have you been
29. 1:08standing here idle all day long?"
30. 1:11They said to him, "Because no one hired
31. 1:13us," he said to them, "Go into the
32. 1:16vineyard, too."
33. 1:18When evening came, the owner of the
34. 1:20vineyard said to his foremen, "Call the
35. 1:23laborers and pay them their wages,
36. 1:27beginning with the last group to the
37. 1:29first."
38. 1:31When those hired about the 11th hour
39. 1:33came, each one received a dinarius.
40. 1:38When those hired first came, they
41. 1:40thought they would receive more. But
42. 1:43each of them also received a dinarius.
43. 1:47When they received it, they grumbled at
44. 1:49the landowner,
45. 1:50saying, "These last men have worked only
46. 1:54one hour, and you have made them equal
47. 1:57to us, who have borne the burden and the
48. 2:01scorching heat of the day." But he
49. 2:04answered and said to one of them,
50. 2:06"Friend,
51. 2:08I am doing you no wrong.
52. 2:12Did you not agree with me for a
53. 2:14dinenarius?
54. 2:17Take what is yours and go? But I wish to
55. 2:20give to this last man the same as to
56. 2:24you.
57. 2:26Is it not lawful for me to do what I
58. 2:29wish with what is my own?
59. 2:32Or is your eye envious because I am
60. 2:37generous?
61. 2:39So the last shall be first and the first
62. 2:43shall be last.
63. 2:46This is a parable that is specifically
64. 2:48directed toward the Jewish community,
65. 2:50but it applies to all of us.
66. 2:53But in his day, he was preparing the
67. 2:55Jews. He was saying, "You all have been
68. 2:58in the field of God's purpose for
69. 3:00generations,
70. 3:02keeping the law, adhering to the
71. 3:04Sabbath,
72. 3:06knowing and reading and writing the
73. 3:08word. And now all of a sudden, these
74. 3:11Gentiles are going to come in and
75. 3:13they're going to get the exact same
76. 3:15inheritance as you." And you're going to
77. 3:18say, "How is that fair?"
78. 3:20And he's saying, you can't think that
79. 3:23way because God is giving to each one
80. 3:27exactly what he promised to give. And
81. 3:30he's saying to the Gentiles, we're going
82. 3:32to get the same reward. There isn't
83. 3:34going to be a higher pay and a lower pay
84. 3:37in heaven. If we made it, we received
85. 3:40more than we deserved.
86. 3:43As Jesus was about to go up to
87. 3:45Jerusalem, he took the 12 disciples
88. 3:48aside by themselves. On the way, he said
89. 3:51to them, "Behold, we are going to
90. 3:54Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be
91. 3:56delivered to the chief priests and
92. 3:58scribes, and they will condemn him to
93. 4:00death,
94. 4:03and will hand him over to the Gentiles
95. 4:06to mock and scourge and crucify him. and
96. 4:10on the third day he will be raised up.
97. 4:14Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee
98. 4:16came to Jesus with her sons, bowing down
99. 4:18and making a request of him. And he said
100. 4:22to her, "What do you wish?" She said to
101. 4:25him, "Command that in your kingdom these
102. 4:29two sons of mine may sit one on your
103. 4:32right and one on your left."
104. 4:35But Jesus answered, "You do not know
105. 4:38what you are asking.
106. 4:40Are you able to drink the cup that I am
107. 4:44about to drink?"
108. 4:46They said to him, "We are able."
109. 4:50He said to them, "My cup you shall
110. 4:53drink, but to sit on my right and on my
111. 4:57left, this is not mine to give, but it
112. 5:00is for those for whom it has been
113. 5:03prepared by my father." And hearing
114. 5:06this, the 10 became indignant with the
115. 5:09two brothers.
116. 5:11But Jesus called them to himself and
117. 5:13said, "You know, the rulers of the
118. 5:16Gentiles lorded over them, and
119. 5:19[clears throat] their great men exercise
120. 5:21authority over them.
121. 5:24It is not this way among you.
122. 5:28But whoever wishes to become great among
123. 5:30you shall be your servant, and whoever
124. 5:33wishes to be first among you shall be
125. 5:36your slave.
126. 5:37Just as the Son of Man did not come to
127. 5:40be served, but to serve and to give his
128. 5:43life a ransom for many,
129. 5:47Jesus has just finished telling them
130. 5:49that he's going to be crucified.
131. 5:52And there is no comment about that, that
132. 5:55he's going to be mocked, scourged, and
133. 5:59crucified,
134. 6:00and that he's going to rise on the third
135. 6:02day. It goes right over their head.
136. 6:05But immediately the mother of two of his
137. 6:08disciples comes and says, "Please
138. 6:11command that in your kingdom my boys get
139. 6:14a place of real big recognition."
140. 6:17And he says, "You don't know what you're
141. 6:20asking." And he says, "Do are you able
142. 6:23to drink the cup that I'm going to
143. 6:24drink?" And the cup was the cup of total
144. 6:27surrender,
145. 6:28the complete yieldedness of his will
146. 6:31unto death.
147. 6:32Father, let this cup pass from me. he
148. 6:35would pray but not my will but your will
149. 6:38be done. So that's the cup, the death to
150. 6:40our will. And then he tells him, you
151. 6:43will drink the cup. But what's
152. 6:45interesting is the mother comes and asks
153. 6:47him, but the disciples get mad at the
154. 6:51boys that she was asking for.
155. 6:54And he tells them, "This is a different
156. 6:57sort of kingdom. We're not going to be
157. 6:59set up like that. We're not going to
158. 7:01lord it over each other. We're not going
159. 7:03to have that kind of authority. This is
160. 7:06going to be servant leadership. We're
161. 7:09going to care for one another. Greatest
162. 7:12describes how much grace flows through
163. 7:14you in service to others. And they don't
164. 7:18understand that yet.
165. 7:20And he finishes this conversation where
166. 7:22he started by saying, "For this reason,
167. 7:25the son of man did not come to be
168. 7:27served, but to serve and to give his
169. 7:29life a ransom for many."
170. 7:33He's saying, "I want to free people from
171. 7:35that kind of political power. I want to
172. 7:38free people from that desire to control
173. 7:40each other. They're held in bondage to
174. 7:44that way of thinking. And I'm going to
175. 7:46disarm principalities and powers and pay
176. 7:48the ransom that lets them go free from
177. 7:51that kidnapper of fear and death." As
178. 7:55they were leaving Jericho, a large crowd
179. 7:57followed him. And two blind men sitting
180. 8:00by the road hearing that Jesus was
181. 8:02passing by cried out, "Lord, have mercy
182. 8:05on us, son of David." The crowd sternly
183. 8:09told them to be quiet. But they cried
184. 8:12out all the more, "Lord,
185. 8:15son of David, have mercy on us."
186. 8:19And Jesus stopped and called them and
187. 8:21said, "What do you want me to do for
188. 8:24you?" They said to him, 'Lord, we want
189. 8:29our eyes to be opened.
190. 8:33Moved with compassion,
191. 8:35Jesus touched their eyes and immediately
192. 8:39they regained their sight and followed
193. 8:42him.
194. 8:44He's leaving Jericho
195. 8:46and these two blind guys
196. 8:49just hear the crowd approaching and they
197. 8:52know that Jesus is passing by.
198. 8:55What is it? They must have asked someone
199. 8:57and someone must have told them it's
200. 9:00Yeshua. And so they start screaming,
201. 9:04son of David.
202. 9:07And they're reminding him as they call
203. 9:09him son of David, they are reminding him
204. 9:12that he is the compassionate king, that
205. 9:15he is the shepherd king, that he is the
206. 9:18one who [music] looks after the lambs
207. 9:21who are lost like they. And when they
208. 9:24come to him, their situation was very
209. 9:27apparent. Matthew says right off the bat
210. 9:30that they were two blind men. Everybody
211. 9:32would have known what their problem was.
212. 9:35But Jesus asks them, "What do you want?"
213. 9:38Because they could have said, "We need a
214. 9:40little more money to manage our
215. 9:42condition."
216. 9:44But that's not what they said. They
217. 9:46said, "Lord,
218. 9:49son of David, have mercy on us. We want
219. 9:52our eyes to be opened.
220. 9:56And it says that he is moved with
221. 9:58compassion.
222. 10:00Something of grace is activated through
223. 10:04this faith and this humility
224. 10:07and he touches them and they immediately
225. 10:09see. Sometimes we come to God and our
226. 10:13need is completely known to him but he
227. 10:17needs us to call it out. Not as a
228. 10:21statement of condemnation over oursel,
229. 10:24but as a statement of faith that this is
230. 10:27what we're really believing for. Lord, I
231. 10:30want my blind eyes to [music] be opened.
232. 10:33Lord, I want this problem in my life to
233. 10:36be changed. And he wants us to enumerate
234. 10:38it, to declare it.
235. 10:41And that [music] humility, that faith is
236. 10:45going to move God on our behalf. He's
237. 10:49going to be moved with compassion. And
238. 10:52the movement is going to cause him to
239. 10:54reach out and touch us. And in his
240. 10:56touch, we will be healed.
241. 11:01[music]