Laborers in the Vineyard - Impossible to Possible - Matthew S5E10

Amen and amen. Hey, if you got your Bibles, grab them. We're gonna be in Matthew chapter 20. As we turn there, I wanna comment on that video, man. What an incredible opportunity that we have to partner with God Behind Bars and the Pando app. Because of your generosity, every single time we bring our first and our best here, then what we do, we're doing it to the glory and honor of God. God is first, God loves first, God went first, and our response is to bring back to him our first and best, and then we, as a local church, we leverage it to do what we say we're gonna do, because we're a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus. And all means all, and there is no asterisk by that all. And so, when we filmed that thing, it was a few months ago, me and my buddy, Matt Chandler, were preaching at a prison in Dallas, Texas, and I think like 50-something men got saved over those two days. We baptized about 60 men, and in the video, it said 3,899 people have been saved by watching 1122 through the Pando app. Well, just in the last couple of months, add another 101, and today, the 4,000th prisoner came to Christ, and that's because of your generosity. Praise God for that. And all also means all in regards to ages, too,

and I'm coming off a week of high school camp, praise God. And it was awesome, man, thank you so much for trusting us with your kids to send them. Some of you don't even trust us, you don't even care, you're like, just get them out of my house. I understand. But in doing so, we had, I think it was 65 students surrendered their life to Christ, and we baptized 79 students at a pond in Talladega, Alabama, the slimmiest pond I've ever been in in my whole life. Praise God for all of that. Also, tomorrow night starts a very exciting part of our church. We begin Neighborhood Nights starting tomorrow night. Me and a team of folks are gonna come to every single campus. We're going on tour to all of our campuses, and you need to be there. Tomorrow night, we will be at Mandarin, Tuesday night at Palatka, Wednesday night at Ponte Vedra. Eventually, we will be at every single campus, and we need to know that you're coming. The tickets are free, but we've just gotta be prepared for you, so if you plan on showing up, I need you to text the word neighborhood to 441122. And historically, 1122, you're not really good at telling us you're gonna be there. So far, we have over 20,000 people registered. That means about 700,000 people are gonna show up, okay?

So we just need to know so that we can be prepared. We got food and coffee and all this kind of stuff, and I'll be at every campus, and so I plan to get there very early and stay very late. We need you to show up very early. I would love to meet you, greet you, pray for you, get to know you, and just let's get excited about what God is taking us to. If you haven't found Matthew chapter 20 by now, ask your neighbor to help find you, okay? We've been in the same book the whole year, so put a bookmark, we'll be back there next week, too. And we're starting out in verse one, and Matthew starts with, this way, he says four. And the reason he says four has to do with what came before that. And so what Jesus is gonna do, he's gonna share this parable called the laborers in the vineyard. Oftentimes, for many people, it can be very confusing, and especially if you ever read something out of context, that's the first step in him becoming a heretic. So you gotta understand why Jesus is gonna tell this parable about work and laborers and all of this stuff. And what he's doing, the four is there, because he's actually answering a question that the apostle Peter asked in the chapter before. Now, Pastor One preached on this last week. By the way, do you love Pastor One? Let's go. You're welcome, I did that for you.

Okay, so, like Pastor One talked about last week, this rich, young ruler comes up to Jesus, and he's kind of full of himself. He's all about himself. And he comes up to Jesus, and he says this, Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Well, that's the wrong question. You see, the question's all wrapped around himself. The right question is what must be done, because there's nothing we can do to save ourselves. In fact, he kind of realizes this, I guess, embedded in the question, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Well, how do you get an inheritance? There's nothing you can do to earn it. You have to be the son of the person, or the daughter of the person leaving the inheritance. And Jesus is like, okay, well, you wanna know what you gotta do? There is one thing you can do to earn the kingdom of heaven. And this is it, ready? Be perfect. That's it, just keep all the commandments. And this kid has the audacity to go, nailing it, got him. Are you sure? And he runs through four or five of them. He's like, how about, honor your father and mother. He's like, you should text them, ask them. Every one of them.

And Jesus is like, okay, well, then there's just one thing that you lack, since you're so perfect. There's one thing that you love more than me and it's your riches. And so here's all you gotta do. You just gotta love me the most. You gotta love me first and best. And so just sell all that you have and give to the poor and come and follow me. This is a sweet invitation of Jesus. And then the Bible says that this man goes away sad. Why, because he already has all that this world has to offer and he realizes there must be more or he wouldn't be asking this question of Jesus. But he's not willing to take the idol of riches off the throne of his heart and follow after Jesus and he goes away sad. And so then, you know, one of the disciples, you can guess who, is gonna be like, oh, well, I got a question, Jesus. It's gonna be Peter. He always sells first and most. And he's like, all right, Jesus, well, this rich guy can't get saved because in the first century, they believe that wealth was a blessing of God. And so if you were rich, you had God's favor. So if God's favored can't be saved, then who in the heck can go to heaven?

And Jesus says, he goes, well, first of all, it's hard for rich people to go to heaven. And you should look at that and go, uh-oh, because you're rich. And you're like, I don't feel rich. Well, rich ain't a feeling. You realize if your combined annual household income is $35,000 a year, $35,000 a year, you're in the top 1% of richest people in the world. At one year, I'm gonna say this, somebody's gonna jump up and be like, I'm rich! All right? And so Peter says, so all right, so who can be saved? And Jesus says, with man, this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible. This is where we got our title for this series. And then Peter goes, all right, he's gonna turn it on himself. Well, what about us? Because that guy wouldn't sell anything, but we gave up everything. Peter says, see, we have left everything and we followed you. Then what do we get? What will we have? He makes it all about himself. And so Jesus replies, truly, I say to you, in the new world, that Greek word means regenerated world, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne,

you who have followed me will also sit on 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel. You who have houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. And he throws this last little phrase in there. But many who are first will be last and the last first. And then Jesus tells this parable. For, and here's why I think he's doing this, okay? Because Peter says, all right, well, the rich guy's dumb, but I'm smart. I gave up everything to follow after you, so what do I get? And what Jesus wants Peter to know, first and foremost, he wants, he says, Peter, but what are you actually looking for? I mean, are you looking for stuff or a savior? You looking for cash and prizes or are you looking for the Christ? You see, because I will bless you, but the blessing is me, the blessing is a relationship with Jesus. And in my opinion, the reason that he shares this parable is because he wants to make sure that Peter does not become entitled over time to what God has for him, but he wants him to understand that everything we have is a blood-bought grace gift from God. And the real prize is the relationship with Jesus.

For the kingdom of heaven. Now, when we say kingdom of heaven this year, all the lights on your dashboard ought to go off. Remember in Matthew chapter four, the beginning of the teaching ministry of Jesus? From that day forward, Jesus began to preach. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And 32 times in the gospel of Matthew, he uses the phrase kingdom of heaven. Four times he uses the kingdom of God. It's the same kingdom. But remember, Matthew is writing to a Jewish audience and the Jewish people were so afraid that they would use the Lord's name in vain. They didn't even use God's name very much. So they called it the kingdom of heaven. He says, the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. Whose vineyard? Sorry to wake you up. Whose vineyard? He goes out to hire laborers for his vineyard. Here's what Jesus wants us to fundamentally know before we keep going in the parable. That there's a master and there's laborers. The master owns the vineyard. Do not get the two confused. There is creator and there is created. God is the creator, you are the created.

In other words, don't get that confused. He's God, you're not. For some of you, you can just stop right there. You just need to know that. He's in charge and you are not. So the master goes out and he's gonna start hiring people. And after agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, that's a day's wage. He sent them into his venue. So he comes rolling up on the street corner, there's a bunch of day laborers. He's like, hey bro, you wanna work all day? I do, here's what I'll pay you. You good with that? I'm good with that. All right, cool, cool. And by the way, in the first century, a day's work was not eight hours. A day's work was from sunup to sundown. Some of you need to hear that, okay? The 40 hour work week is something some politician made up somewhere, all right? You'd be like, I work all day. You work a half a day, all right? I mean, I'm telling you, a week's work in the Bible is like 72 hours. So pray by that for a little while, you cupcake. All right, so anyway, I don't have time for that. So he's gonna work from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. They agree on this, all is well.

Verse three, and going out, again, about the third hour, this would be 9 a.m., he, the master, saw others standing idle in the marketplace and he said to them, you go into the vineyard too and whatever is right, I will give you. He didn't say whatever was fair, but whatever is right, I will give you. Now why does he keep going out to get more laborers? Because the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few, that's why. And one of the good things about our master is that he continuously, relentlessly pursues his rebellious kids. So I got some really good news for you, man. Maybe you heard the gospel when you were a kid and you heard the gospel when you were in college and you heard the gospel last week, and you're yet to receive the gospel. Well, we serve the kind of master that continuously pursues and pursues and pursues, but I will say this, you better not presume upon tomorrow. Because one day the day is over and the master's not coming back with an invitation but judgment. Today is the day of salvation. And he says to him, I will give you whatever is right, not fair, but right. And the reason that he does this is because God is a righteous God and what he does is always right.

It's all his to begin with. In fact, the best picture of this on the planet, a lot of time when we talk about the cross, we talk about the grace of God as we should, but that song that we sang that our team wrote is it, man. The cross said it all. The cross in and of itself as a structure, when Jesus hung on it, is the gospel. That it shows us the righteousness of God and the grace of God. If you think about that vertical beam on a cross, it is to remind us of the justice of God and the reason that all sin must be paid for is because God is a just judge and for him to overlook sin would make him an unjust judge and he will not do that because he is just. And so God poured out his wrath on all of sin and sinners of all humanity and Jesus endures the full wrath of God on the cross. And yet on that same cross, I mean a cross is an intersection and the cross of Jesus Christ is the intersection of the justice of God and the grace of God. And as you look at the cross, you see the arms of the son of God spread out wide for all who would believe. It is an invitation that if anyone would believe in him, would put their faith in him, then what he did on the cross would count for you and that is the grace of God.

Verse five, and so they went. And going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. He's still recruiting. He goes out at 12 o'clock, three o'clock, he's still gonna go out at five o'clock. Verse six, and about the 11th hour. You ever heard that phrase? We're in the 11th hour. That came from the Bible. This would be like 5 p.m. They work 12 hour days. This is with like only an hour left in the day to work and about the 11th hour, he went out and he found others standing and he said to them, why do you stand here idle all day? First and foremost, let me say this. At a church our size with a number of people at all of our campuses and watching online, for some of you, it's your 11th hour. I mean, you don't know it, but tragedy never schedules. Do you ever notice that? Some of you right now, this is it. This is the last time you will ever hear the gospel. Do not wait. Today is the day of salvation. Put your faith in him today. And so he rolls up. There's an hour left in the day. They think that they've been left out.

They haven't been left out. And he says, why do you stand here idle all day? And they say to him, because nobody's hired us. Now, he's talking about salvation. This parable is about salvation. He's like, we can't hire ourselves. Here's the thing that you need to know. You can't save yourself. There's no thing that you can do on your own to pay the debt that you have incurred against an almighty, righteous, and holy God. This salvation is not achieved. It is received, and it is a free gift. Well, they say, because nobody's hired us. And so he says to them, you go into the vineyard, too. And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, call the laborers and pay them their wages, underline the word wages, beginning with the last up to the first. Remember the last thing he said to Peter when Peter says, what do we get? So he tells him, hey, whoever's left all these things, it's gonna be awesome for you. But he says, the first will be last and the last will be first. So right here, he throws in this little first and last language, because he's trying to key Peter up. He's like, hey, Peter, wink, wink, I'm talking, I'm answering your question. And so two things are gonna happen this day, okay?

It's gonna happen in the parable, but even more importantly, it's going to happen on the day of judgment. There will be two kind of payments that are handed out on the day of judgment. There'll be wages and there'll be gifts. Those are the two things. You'll either get a wage or you'll get a gift. And the Bible says, Paul says in Romans chapter three that the wages of sin is death. So you don't want your wage because what every single one of us have earned based on our activity, our thoughts, every single time we have rejected God and done life our way, what we earn is death. And some people will get the wages of sin, which is death. But Paul says, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. And for anybody that believes that when Jesus died on the cross, somehow that counted for me, then what we will receive is this gift of eternal life. And so this is a picture of what's happening here. He says, line them all up. And I want you to start with the people that got there last and you work your way all the way up to the first. Verse nine, and when those hired, about the 11th hour came, each of them received a denarius. Now, when Jesus was telling this,

I mean, you just stare at me blankly, but I'm used to it. I do this every week. But when they were there, they would have been like, ooh, they got a whole day's wage, but they only worked just a little bit. Why? Here's why, because of the generosity of the master. That's it, because of the generosity of the master. Here's what I need you to get your head around. Everything that we have is a blood-bought grace gift from God. Everything that we have. The life we have, the family that we have, if you got a job, the fact that we're American, praise God, the fact that we're Southern, even better. The abilities, the finances you have, the health you have, everything you have. And occasionally, I'll run into some idiot and he'll be like, I'm a self-made man. What'd you make yourself with, bro? Do you remember when you were a kid and you had to go to school to be a self-made man? Do you remember knitting yourself together in your mother's womb? Do you remember picking your parents and picking your birthday and picking where you would be born? Do you remember picking the educational opportunities that were afforded to you? I mean, even the time period in which we live,

it is a grace gift from us. Listen, man, if I was born 200 years ago, I'd be dead, because about 20 years ago, I had appendicitis. I was doing a wedding down in St. Augustine and my appendix tried to kill me. My brother picked me up, he's a cop, took me to the ER. Later that day, they cut me open, some kind of miracle, God-inspired science, they pulled that thing out. Two days later, I'm watching the Bulldogs on TV. Do you realize what a grace gift that is from God? Every good and perfect gift is from above, including appendectomies. 200 years ago, they'd have called it a miracle. If we didn't have that kind of medicine, you know what would happen? They'd have been like, Pastor Joe, we caught a demon and he died in St. Augustine. And here I am, everything we have. You haven't earned anything. I know you work hard, you're a good steward with what God has given you, but he is the one that has given you everything you have. That's where he starts, okay? So those in the 11th hour came and each of them received a denarius, simply because of the generosity of the master. Now, where those hired first came, they thought they would receive more. Right, they're in the back of the line

and they'd be like, bro, he just gave Ted a whole day's wage and he only been here an hour. The finance bros are like getting out there and they're like, bro, we gonna get like eight denarius today we about to get hooked up. They think they're about to get paid and then they get to the front of the line and it's their turn. Now, when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. And here's the thing, man. They're disappointed, they're bummed. But here's the thing. They agreed to work for that. Let me tell you, let me put this on the bottom shelf. So many people try to hold God accountable to a promise he never made to you. God is a promise keeping God. He always makes his. He always keeps his promises. But some of us kind of make up our own rules and then try to hold God to what we made up. Verse 11, and on receiving it, they grumbled. In Greek, this is an onomatopoeia. It sounds like people grumbling, you know. And on receiving it, they grumbled at the master of the house saying, these last work only one hour and you have made them equal to us

who have borne the burden of the day of the scorching heat. Again, man, these guys thought they deserved more, not because the master promised it, but because they thought they had earned it. They thought they had done more. Here's the part of the fundamental problem, man. You see, they did not see the opportunity to work as a blessing, but as a burden. Think about it, before the day started, they're probably praying, dear God, please let him pick me to work. And then he says, hey, you wanna work? They're like, oh, you've answered my prayers. And what was a prayer request eventually becomes a complaint. You ever complained about things you prayed for? Parents, dear God, give us a baby. Then they hit their teenage years and like, maybe a different one, you know what I mean? Like, what are we doing? Now again, this is a parable, it's to lay alongside. It's not just to make things clear, it's to conceal and reveal. And so when it comes to salvation, because this is what he's talking about, he's like, don't be the kind of person that thinks because I got saved early, I deserve more than the people that got saved late. Because you're not seeing it right. If you think the opportunity to work

is a burden and not a blessing, then everything's twisted. And here's the way it plays out in the Christian life. There are some people that see a prison video and see a guy that gets saved after doing horrendous things and they should be in prison, but now they are set free eternally because they put their faith in Jesus. And you look at that and you're like, wait, that's not fair. I mean, I've served you all this time and he gets to do whatever he wants and still goes to heaven. If you think following after Jesus is a burden, you might not know Jesus. The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. Listen, I feel sorry for the guy that gets saved late. You know why? You know why? Because he missed out on a lifetime of the abundant life that Christ has for him. The best thing you could do is to get saved early, but it's never too late. And the reason these guys are grumbling is because they immediately, they fall into the comparison game. Dude, don't grumble. I'm coming off of high school camp, so it reminds me of a verse when I used to do student ministry. Before we would go on any, especially mission trip,

I made every high school kid memorize Philippians 2.14. And it says, do everything without complaining or arguing. Do everything without complaining or arguing. And so I would tell them, hey, so the moment you wanna complain or argue about something, see if it falls in the everything category and then shut up. Do everything without complaining or arguing because what begins to happen is these guys, they were fine with their pay until they begin to compare their pay to somebody else. And here's the thing, man. Comparison is the thief of joy. Because when you compare, when you compare, it's always a lose-lose situation. It's always a lose. Because if you compare yourself to somebody and you think you're better than them, the Bible says you'll not think too highly of yourself. You'll get puffed up with pride. And God opposes the proud. You don't want God opposing you. Or you'll compare yourself to somebody else and feel beaten down with condemnation. And the Bible says, therefore, now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Listen, God knew exactly what he was doing when he created you and you're the only you he's ever created. And the best way that you can glorify God

is being the you that he had in mind when he created you. You see, comparison is a trap, man. Because we compare what we know about ourselves to what we don't know about other people. And we compare our B-roll to everybody else's highlight reel. And we live in a world that just feeds off of comparison. We should know this better than anybody else because we live at the beach. You ever scroll through Instagram and see a family beach photo? What do you see? Happy, happy people. You ever go to the actual beach? I love the beach. Because my kids are old enough, we ain't gotta take care of them. You ever seen a happy family at the beach? No, no. They're sand in places that it ought not to be. Dad's sitting over there by himself abdicating all of his responsibility. Mom's pulling her hair out just trying to keep everybody alive. You blessed people from Ohio are feeding the seagulls. They're scooping on everywhere. What are we doing here? But then what happens, man, after you've yelled at your kids? and almost got a divorce and you got a suntan and a rash and all the things, what happens?

Right before you leave, mama's like, come on, we about to get a picture before we go back to Ohio. And you gather, get over here, husband, you know, get over here and quit touching your sister. And then right at the last minute, you take a little, take a little picture and then you run it through your filter. And you wake up in the morning, you look at me, look at this beautiful family from Ohio. They have seagulls in the background. Look at the happy children. And the crystal blue water in Jacksonville Beach, that's amazing. Then you look at your family, you're like, my family ain't that good. Look at, it's no good, man. You see, because the moment you begin to do that, it is almost impossible to appreciate what you do have if all your focus is on what you don't have. That's what happened to these guys. And again, what they did not understand is that the opportunity to work was not a punishment. It was provision, that work is sacred. The parable is not primarily about work, but what he's saying is true here. Work is sacred. Work was God's idea before the fall. That God puts Adam and Eve in the gardens to do and cultivate it.

That what their job was to join with the creator, to be co-creators, to rearrange the raw goods of this world for human flourishing under the glory of God. And there is no sacred, secular divide. There's no such thing, man. It's not like what I do is holy because I teach the Bible for a living, but what you do is not because you build houses. Dude, you're not simply building houses. You are rearranging sticks and bricks to create the kind of environment where God can raise up a family, where children can be discipled, where fellowship can happen under the glory of God. A few years ago, or many, many times, we've had John Tyson here to preach. You all know John Tyson? He's one of the preeminent voices in this generation. He's a big-time preacher up in New York. You know what he did before that? He was a butcher in Australia. That's why he talks cool. And before God ever entrusted him with a voice to this generation, he was a butcher, and he walked in every day to his butcher shop, dead cows and knives. And you know what he would do, if you remember him sharing this story? He would lay out his knives, and he would dedicate every cut to the glory of God.

And he would ask God, help me see that I'm not just slicing up dead cow, but I will provide meals whereby families will gather around, children will be escorted into the kingdom of God, families will flourish, and cultures will be blessed. You cannot convince me that there's not a one-to-one correlation between that attitude that he had in the butcher shop and the way God has blessed that man's ministry. And by the way, when you read this parable, let me make something very clear. Jesus is not a socialist or a communist. This is why I miss Amen Frank so bad. If he was still here, he'd have said, amen. Y'all, somebody's gotta step it up in here, all right? Jesus is not a socialist or a communist. The Bible says, if you don't work, you don't eat. This is what it says. Paul tells Timothy, the man that does not take care of his family is worse than an unbeliever. I don't even know what that means. Unbelievers go to hell. You don't take care of your family, and you get to hell, you go, this is terrible, that's worse for you. We got like some basement down here that you go to. And then somebody that's never read past Acts 2 will be like, yeah, but hold on, but what about in Acts 2? Because all the believers sold their belongings

and they shared them together. Yeah, they sold personal property because they have personal property. It wasn't owned by the government. And all of them didn't do it because they met in the temple courts and house to house, which means some people had houses. That's where the churches started. And the reason that they did this is the early church freely sold their personal property to share it with one another. It was not taken away from them by threat of force by the government. Listen, you go to work. You don't just sit on your couch and vote for people to pay you to not go to work. First Corinthians 15, 58 says it this way. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. Secular means without God. If God is in you, if you put your faith in Jesus Christ, he's put the spirit of God in you. So there is no thing that you can do as long as it's for the betterment of humanity to the glory of God where God is not present. Listen, some of you are like public school teachers and there's some serious limits on the things you can and can't do. That's not secular work.

Because guess what, man, you're like an undercover agent. Every time you walk into that place, the spirit of God walks into your classroom because the spirit of God lives in you. Where do you think God is? He's not in a temple. In the Middle East, there's not even a temple left. The temple is where the spirit lives and he lives inside of you. And so as you raise up that next generation, do it as unto the Lord. But these guys don't think about any of that stuff. They just begin to grumble. They go, that's not fair. Because all those guys got a full day's wage and they hadn't worked hard like us. Comparison will rob you of the joy that you should have. Every single one of us live on a continuum between entitlement and gratitude. And entitlement means this is what I deserve. And gratitude is thank you for what you have given me. Listen, man. And we live in a world that just feeds entitlement. Feeds entitlement. And it's almost impossible to see in yourself. Because you think, I deserve. You deserve to die and go to hell. There's an AT&T commercial that I used to play. And for my own health's sake, thank God that I think they took it off.

Because I thought I was gonna have a stroke every time this thing would come on, man. And it would make me so mad. Gretchen's like, baby, you need to calm down. You need to calm down. And I'm preaching to the TV, man. I don't know if y'all remember this commercial. They were trying to get people to switch over to AT&T. And this family walked in and that same lady that's always there gives this little girl, she's like, how about I give you a sucker? And she gives the little girl a sucker. First and foremost, what did that little girl do to deserve the sucker? Nothing. She ain't got an AT&T contract. She ain't paying no bills. The only thing she did is she's the daughter of the husband and wife that, that'll preach by itself right there, you understand? She's under the covering of the blessing of mom and dad. And she is fully satisfied with the sucker that she has until the lady goes to the little brother and says, what if we give you a bigger sucker? And she gives him a sucker the size of his head. Now all of a sudden, the little girl can't enjoy the free gift that she got because her brother got a better one. And what did she say? That's not fair.

And she says it in this little whiny, spoiled brat little girl, that's not fair. And then you know what they do? Dumb AT&T lady gives her a bigger sucker because she complains. And I thought, that's the problem with our whole society right there. Let me tell you what would happen in my house. If we rolled in there and Reagan got a big sucker and JP got a little one and JP, that's not fair. You ain't get no suckers then. Reagan, you get two suckers, you better shut your mouth. You want fair? How about pay rent, boy? That's fair. How about sew your own clothes? How about farm your own food? Bro, I'm telling you, you don't want fair. Fair is the judgment of God that we deserve. Everything else that we have been given is by grace. So let me ask you. It's easy to pick on the AT&T girl. You ever act like that? You ever have that little spoiled brat rise up in you? And you compare and your ego begins to tell you you need more. You got insecurity about what other people have and you don't have it. What other ministries have and you don't have it. You get envious.

You know what the real sin of covetousness is? That made the top 10 list. That's the 10th commandment, don't covet. It's actually, it's an affront against God. You're like, God, you didn't do this right. You ever go online and you see your brother-in-law and you're like, how they going on another international trip? I can barely get to Fernandina Beach for two nights at the Holiday Inn Express and this dude's just go. What you're doing is you're like, God, you owe me. It will rob you of everything. So how do you ward against it? How do you war against it when that idol of self begins to creep up in your life and you're like the full day worker that doesn't appreciate a day's work but you begin to compare yourself to what everybody has and what you don't. How do you try to fight against the idol of self? I'm gonna give you four things. I usually don't do the four step thing. I just unpack the verses. I made all these up but I think they all came from the Bible somewhere. But I want you to be able to practically do these things. If you wanna fight against entitlement, number one, celebrate someone else. Celebrate someone else that's not connected to you. Celebrate what they're doing that's not connected to you.

That's not like bragging on your kids. You're actually bragging on the last name. You know what I mean? I love a dad brag as much as anybody. But when I brag on mine, I want y'all to think I'm a good dad. But at work tomorrow, when somebody else gets the attaboy and you know he's not as smart as you, celebrate him out loud because your mouth needs to say it so your ears hear it, your brain believes it and your heart feels it. Listen, man, a few months ago when we did beach baptism and we baptized 2,552. Two people? Yeah, we celebrate that, and a lot of people said very nice things to me. Some people started reaching out to me, and they say, we think that's the largest number of people baptized by a single church in a single day. And I started being like, okay, look at that. Maybe there's a plaque or something, you know what I mean? And then Fox News called me, and they're asking me about it. I'm like, look at, you know, I called my dad today, I was on Fox News. I thought you was gonna be on the news, but I didn't think it was about baptism anyway. I'm still waiting on that call from CNN and MSNBC, but they hadn't called, it's weird. And you know what, I started going, uh-oh, uh-oh.

So here's what I did, man. I just, I've still been doing it, is I just go on Instagram, and I just find other ministries and other churches baptizing people all over the world, and just publicly comment and celebrate. Praise God for what he's doing in Brazil, and in California, and in Tupelo, Mississippi, and the three people in Richmond, Virginia, and the 3,000 in East Africa, whatever it is, because just celebrate what God's doing no matter where he does, that's one. Number two, this will help you war against entitlement. Thank somebody for doing something that you've been taking for granted. When's the last time you said thank you? Husbands, we should be thanking our wives every day, man, for all the things that they do. Listen, I get it, wives, some of you work, some of you stay home and work, all the things, but whatever, I'm just telling you, I know you boys. Without your wife, your house would fall apart. I know that to be true at my house. Gretchen does everything, man. I mean, I don't know if you know this, I have a magic basket at my house. I just throw clothes in it. Two days later, they're just folded up in my drawer, it's magic. I got a magic box in my kitchen.

I open it up, all the food I like's always in there. Every single day of my life, I need to say thank you, thank you, thank you for the Monday. Wives, you should say thank you to your husband. Like, when's the last time you just looked at him and said thank you for taking care of us? You have no idea the burden that brother bears every single day with the responsibility of taking care of a family. Because here's the thing, wives. In the heart of every man, there's a king and there's a jester. You're just gonna get the one you talk to. And so, say thank you. Kids, kids, thank your parents for everything. Everything you have is because they have given it to you. Remember years ago, my son, he was about eight years old or something, he was buying fidget spinners. Remember, you remember fidget spinners? These things were created to make us dumber and he had like 100 of them. I thought, you and me, the dumbest kid on the planet, what are we doing? Quit wasting our money on fidget spinners. And he looked at me and goes, I bought it with my money. What you mean your money? You ain't got money, you're eight. Everything you have is mine. In fact, you don't even have a room. I have a lot of rooms and you get to live in one

for a little while. Say thank you to your parents. Say thank you to somebody that you have been taken for granted. The third one is this. This will be impossible. But if the tomb is empty, anything is possible. Next time you want to complain and grumble, don't, withhold a complaint, withhold a complaint, withhold an argument. I mean, some of you can't go on Twitter because that's all it is, right? You know what one of the names of the devil is? The accuser of the brethren. Some people have called that ministry. That ain't ministry, man. The devil does not need an advocate, all right? We're supposed to be on team Jesus, not team devil. And so then like tomorrow when you at work and everybody's bashing Tammy, all right? I mean, can you believe Tammy? And I get it, nobody likes Tammy. And if your name's Tammy, I love you so much. I know two Tammys, they're the best Tammys I've ever met, but that's the name I'm using, okay? And so listen, man, and you want, see, you've got this insecurity because you want them to like you and you want to, you're like a middle schooler. You want to do what everybody else in the office is doing so you'll be included.

And so just don't, the next time you have a complaint, just don't. The Bible says that gossip is like gangrene in the life of the church. Dude, Google gangrene, but you better put your safe search on because it attacks the appendages and not just the head, shoulders, knees, and toes, Baptists. I mean, it gets the good stuff, bro. It is nasty and that's what it is like. Here's what's crazy. I quoted to you Philippians 2.14, do everything without complaining or arguing. You know what the promise is if you do that? Do everything without complaining or arguing that you might shine like stars in a crooked and depraved generation. You know one of the greatest testimonies for Jesus that you could give is when everybody else is grumbling and arguing and complaining. We don't because we live on the side of God. of gratitude and non-entitlement. And then the last one is make a gratitude list. I've talked about this before. Years ago, I'm sitting in the woods feeling sorry for myself. So dumb, I'm the most blessed man on the planet and I'm just all in my feels. Like, this old cupcake, it's so hard being me, you know. Somebody's probably mad at me.

I can't even remember what it was. And I just started writing down things that I was grateful to God for. So I just call it my gratitude list. I just made it up, I don't have a Bible verse for it, but listen, I just write down one thing for every year I've been alive. So I have 52 things on my gratitude list. And when I begin to feel myself leaning into entitlement, like I deserve something, I just pull out this list and I begin to work my way through it. Because it's almost impossible to appreciate the gift that you do have if all you do is focus on what you don't have. And some of these things are theologically rich, like the sovereignty of God, the grace of Jesus, the fact that God would preserve the word of God and that we could have it so accessible. Some of them are just, you know, wouldn't be that big a deal to you, but it matters to me, like back-to-back national championships. That's on my list, man. Thank God for that. Being American, thank God for that. Again, being Southern, even better. Praise God for that. Some of them are very personal. Like number 50 is my brother Russ. So proud of him, man. He's one of our deacons at our St. John's campus.

He's a big deal in the St. John's County Sheriff's Department. He works directly for the sheriff. I'm so proud of him. And not just that, if you saw the encouraging text that he sends me, there's never comparison. There's always celebration of what God's doing in my life. Number 52, last year I wrote Gretchen's Smile. So thank you, God, for that. Because when you do these things, it's almost impossible to complain and grumble when you're saying thank you for what God has given me. And so these guys are all grumbling and complaining. And I want you to see how good God is here, verse 13. But he, the master, replied to one of them. Friend? I'm just gonna tell you, if you work for me and you complain, I ain't calling you friend. There's another name. I can't say right now, I'd have to fire myself. I'd have other names for you. But he's so gracious, he says, friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? He's like, that's the deal that we made. Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Notice what he does. He does not placate the whiner's feelings. He doesn't say, oh, I'm so sorry.

Did that hurt your feelings? Let me give you more. No, no, no, no, no. What he does is he simply resets perspective to what is true. The Bible says in the book of Proverbs that the wise overlook an offense. You know what we do? We overreact to every offense. And here's how he resets it. He says, am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity? Listen, the fact that I gave the guys that only worked one hour a full day's wage, that doesn't impact you at all. That it is legit. And again, he's not even talking about work. He's just using it as a parable. He's talking about salvation. So if you look at the guy that gets saved on his deathbed, you're like, whoa, wait a minute. Listen, it is the generosity of the master that any of us know him. And here's what's crazy. He wants to be generous to you. Luke 12, 32 says it this way. Fear not, little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

So why in the world would we have some kind of negative reaction when he gives the kingdom to somebody else and not us? You know what happens when we do that? When you're like, yeah, but I deserve more. I mean, I've been a Christian a long time and I see all these hellions getting saved and they get the same kingdom. And you're like, I haven't had multiple partners except in spades. And look at that freak. You know, only shrooms I've done are on a pizza. Immediately, you become like the older brother in the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15. It's the story about a kid goes to dad. It's like, you're dead to me, give me my inheritance. The dad does and he goes off and he goes after all of his desires and he's spiritually and financially and relationally bankrupt. And when he comes home, he comes home to grace. And the father runs to him, covers him with kisses, wraps the robe of righteousness around him, re-adopts him back into his family and throws a party for him. And instead of celebrating it, the older brother's like, whoa, that's not fair. And he goes. to his dad, and he's like, this son of yours squandered everything away on reckless living,

and you don't do anything for me. Dad's like, what are you talking about? Everything I have has always been yours, and the dad still invites him into the party, and this guy is miserable, because he cannot appreciate what God is doing in somebody else, and he just compares himself to it. It's because he doesn't know the kiss of the Father. Jesus is saying, I'm the boss, and my grace and generosity to someone else is no wrong to you. See, here's the fundamental problem, is we think what we want for us is better than what God has for us. That's what it is. God, I could run my life better than you could run my life. Verse 16, so the last will be first, and the first last. This is all the way back to the beginning when he responded to Peter. In my kingdom, the first will be last, and the last will be first. So ask yourself, you think you deserve more? Because if you do, man, you'll be a crotchety church person. We ain't got no time for crotchety church people. You see, we've always gotta be people that are on the welcome committee. We got too many people in the church nationwide that are like the bouncers, trying to keep people in and keep people out. God don't need any bouncers, man.

It's by his invitation, that's how we get into this party. So please don't be like the little spoiled brat in the AT&T commercial. Don't be the HOA of the kingdom of heaven, just walking around with your clipboard trying to tell everybody what they're doing wrong. Be the kind of people that celebrate anybody that experiences the generosity of Jesus Christ. And here's how we know this is what Jesus is talking about, because he ends the parable by just clearly articulating the gospel. He says, and as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the 12 disciples aside, and on the way he said to them, see, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man, which means he is claiming divinity, the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests, the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day. Here's what he's saying, man. God's economy is not like our economy. That the kingdom of God does not operate on the currency of merit and who deserves it, but on the currency of grace, that Jesus himself, he's the true worker who bore our burden in the heat of the day for us, and at the cross, he received what we deserve

so that we could receive what we've never earned. The generosity of the master is not injustice. It is the overflow of divine grace, and the gospel frees us from the comparison because our standing before God rests entirely on the generosity of Christ, not on our performance. Yeah, let's go to Golgotha. Jesus said, I'm gonna be crucified on a cross, and Jesus was crucified between two thieves. Was God on his left and God on his right, and I don't know if you've ever thought about this, but every single one of us come to Jesus with either the attitude of the one on the left or the one on the right, and one of them is just thinking about himself, and one of them says, if you are who you say you are, then save yourself and save us with you. You know how many people show up to church like this? All right, God, if you are who you say you are, then this is what I demand of you. Heal my body, fix my finances, save my marriage, and then if you do that, maybe I will follow you. You know what the problem there is? You're not surrendering to the lordship of Christ. You're demanding that Jesus do it your way. That's not how it works. Then there's a guy on the other side, we talk about him all the time, and he's like, bro,

do you even know who you're talking to here? This man has done no thing wrong, and yet we are here because we deserve it. See, this man comes to Jesus poor in spirit, broken. He knows that there's nothing he could do to repay the debt, that he is getting the just due that he deserves, and he's hanging on a cross, and he simply asks Jesus for a favor. You realize, if you're a Christian, that's what happened. If you've put your faith in Jesus, you just asked God to do something for you that you didn't earn, you didn't deserve, there's nothing you could do to pay him back. He's like, Jesus, will you do me a favor? Will you remember me when you go before your Father in heaven? And notice, he doesn't try to make a deal. There's no quid pro quo. There's not like, I'll follow you all the days of my life. Jesus is like, bro, you don't even have a day. Hey, he's not gonna bring money, he's not gonna lead a disciple group, can't sponsor a kid, he can't do anything good with his entire life. His life will be over that day. And he simply says, will you remember me? Because here's what happened, this guy, I don't know how he was raised,

the Bible doesn't give us a lot of commentary here, but I feel pretty good to say that this guy probably cannot explain all the theological realities that are happening in that moment. If you were to ask this guy, can you explain to me penal substitutionary atonement, the guy'd be like, I have no idea what you're talking about. But here's what I know, somehow, this man dying on the cross, if I believe that, then somehow I can stand before the Father with him. Did this man simply believe that when Jesus died on the cross, somehow it counted for him? And you know what Jesus doesn't say? He doesn't say, no, you're too late. You're too far gone, you screwed it up. You broke too many laws, that's not what he says. He says, truly, truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise. If anybody in the New Testament ever made it to heaven, we know that we know that we know that this brother made it into heaven. Not because of all the theological realities that he knew, and doctrine matters, all doctrine matters. You can't rightly love God without right thoughts about God, but right doctrine won't save you. Surrendering your life to what Jesus did for you on the cross does. For the gifted class, you want a little extra homework? When you get home today, go to YouTube and put in Alistair Begg, the man on the middle cross,

and you're gonna see the best sermon that I've ever seen preached in my whole life. And it's simply this, Alistair Begg walks through when that dude on the cross gets to heaven, and they say, why should we let you into heaven? His only response is, the man on the middle cross said I could come. And that is his grace offered to every single one of us. And if you've been saved by grace, the Bible says it's better to be a door holder in the kingdom of heaven than have a seat of authority in this world. So Church of 1122, may we always be door holders for all people that God is calling unto himself to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus. And so today, I wanna hold open the door. And maybe you've never trusted Jesus as your Savior. Whether you've been to church your whole life or this is your very first time here, and you know that you know that he's calling you, and you would be willing to say, Jesus, will you do me a favor? I admit it, I'm not just a bad person that needs to do better. I'm not just an irreligious person that needs to learn some religious activity. I am a sinner and I need a Savior. And I believe that when you died on the cross, somehow that counted for me. And if that's you, there's a prayer in the Bible

that gets answered 100% of the time. It's Romans 10, 13. It says, for all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved. Not might be saved, not will see at the end of your life, but all who call on the name of the Lord. And to call on the name of the Lord means, all right, Jesus, I am surrendering my life to you. And I'm believing when you died on the cross, somehow that counted for me. And the Bible says, you will be saved. Would you bow your heads? Would you close your eyes? And if today, that's you. And for the very first time, you were ready to put your faith in Jesus Christ for your salvation. Even if you can't explain all the theological realities, but you know that when Jesus died on the cross, it counted for you. And you were ready to trust him as your Lord and Savior. Then I would ask you to call on the name of the Lord. You don't have to repeat after me. We don't do incantations here. I would simply invite you, would you just lift your hand as high as you can and just simply say, Jesus, save me. I surrender my life to you. And he will do it every single time. Our good and gracious heavenly Father God,

we love you more than anything because you first loved us and you sent your son as the full and final payment to pay for our sin and for everyone who would believe we would receive the right to be adopted into your family forever and ever and ever. God, I thank you that there is salvation in your family this day. And God, I pray for us that those of us have been walking with you for a minute. And Lord, we've got this disease of self and ego and grumbling and comparison and complaining. God, would you help us consistently fix our eyes on you, the author and the perfecter of our faith. God, would you fill. our hearts with gratitude for who you are and what you've done. And that we may not live the entitled life of the grumbler, but may we be door holders in your kingdom for all who you would call unto yourself. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Church, would you please stand as we respond? We're gonna respond the way we always respond. We're gonna sing, and we're gonna sing the gospel and save people out to sing like it. There is a direct correlation between worship and gratitude because that's what we're doing. All of us together are giving glory to God and saying thank you for what he has done for us. And we're gonna bring our tithes and our offerings. We're gonna say, I'm not gonna be ruled

by what this world says to do, but God, you gave your first and best in Jesus, so I gladly, as an act of worship, bring my first and best that we as a church together would be door holders in the kingdom of heaven for all who you would call unto yourself. And we're gonna pray. And if you're anything like me, God help you if you are, a bunch of us need to sprint down here and get on our face and say, God, I repent. I'm so selfish, I'm such a complainer. I compare myself all the time, and God, I need your help to overcome these things. So let's sing, let's bring, let's pray. Let's respond.