Equal Pay In The Vineyard? That’s Not “Fair” And That’s The Point

What if the most liberating truth also stings the most? We walk through Jesus’ teaching on the rich young ruler and the parable of the vineyard workers to confront our instinct for merit, fairness, and control. When latecomers receive a full day’s wage, it feels wrong to those who carried the heat, and that discomfort exposes how easily we turn discipleship into a scoreboard. The kingdom’s economy doesn’t bend to our ledgers; it runs on the shocking freedom of a generous God.

We talk candidly about why transformation hurts like training muscles—tearing before strengthening—and why offense isn’t the problem so much as our refusal to endure growth. Peter’s “What about us?” echoes our own inner accountant, and Jesus answers by recentering everything on grace. We challenge the habits that elevate spiritual status, confuse platform with holiness, and quietly resent mercy when it lands on people we don’t prefer. Jonah’s anger becomes a mirror: are we envious because God is generous?

By the end, we anchor in hope. You didn’t earn the kingdom; Jesus opened it. Real change follows gift, not grind, and that frees the exhausted striver and welcomes the five‑o’clock hire with nothing to bring but need. If grace truly rescued you, it’s also for the neighbor who frustrates you and the stranger you’d rather ignore. Lean in with us, rethink “fair,” and let generosity reset your vision. If this conversation challenged or encouraged you, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs relief from striving, and leave a review so others can find this message of grace.

Transcript

Parables Reveal What We Avoid

The Rich Young Ruler Confronted

Peter’s Merit Question Exposed

The Vineyard Workers Parable

“That’s Not Fair” Meets Generosity

Grace Over Status And Platform

You Didn’t Earn It, Jesus Did

Jonah’s Anger And God’s Mercy

Sharing Grace And Trusting Change

SPEAKER_00 1:05

You know, someone asked me this week, there's a valid question. And then if you've been paying attention, how I've been praying, there, you know, their question was, like, who are you worried about offending? I was like, what do you mean? Well, you just did you did you offend someone? Someone in the church mad at you? I was like, I don't know, probably. And and the question's valid, right? And and I and I and so I kind of walked away from the conversation. I thought about it, and the answer to me for me is no. I don't care if I offend people. Not that I'm being mean. And I definitely don't care so much if the what I preach on Sunday mornings offends people because it's not me, it's the Word of God. But but the question's valid because what I understand about humanity is the transformation is hard. It is. And he's like, you know how you get stronger? I was like, you rip the muscle and then it grows back together stronger, and he's like, why? I'm like, I don't know. I didn't make this body. I was like, but God designed it. He's like, that's why working out hurts, because as you tear muscles and they come back together, they grow stronger. That's inevitable. That's why a lot of people don't work out. Because it hurts. Yeah, it's supposed to. And so what I've learned about the humanity and even my own personal transformation is sometimes the things that God is trying to show me are hard for me. It's not because I'm weak, but it's because genuine transformation, genuine growth comes with pain. And so I'm not worried about offending people. I'm worried that people won't endure the pain to get to the transformation. That's what happens a lot in the church. We look at things and we we kind of water down the gospel and we make things easy. We go to church and we never really dive deeper into our relationship with God because we're kind of content at the surface level. But that's never been the plan. And so Jesus, when he's going through these parables, so far we've talked about two. We've talked about the one of the soil, right? There's four different types of soil that Jesus is a generous sower of the kingdom. And then we talked about last week, which was a difficult one, the idea of we are called to be people who forgive. And I love it because you know, Peter, again, we're going to talk about Peter again because Peter's the guy, he's the spokesman for the disciples. Goes to Jesus and says, if I forgive someone seven times, and Jesus is like, no, no, no, that's not enough. Seven times seventy, seventy-seven times. And Peter's like, well, that's crazy. Right? But then but then again, he he ends the parable with, if you don't forgive, then God will not forgive you. And and you read that, and people are like, well, that doesn't make sense. But it does, though, because God is the one who designed forgiveness. He is the one who designed grace. And so when we talk about parables, there always has to be a response. That's the reason why we're going through the teaching of Jesus. Because I could go all day and I could tell you everything Paul has to say. I can read every Old Testament story there is, and I can tell you day in and day out what I think is important. But but we're looking specifically at what Jesus, the Son of God, has to say. And so that's hard. Because Jesus says some things that are difficult. So that's where we need to be focused this morning. So I'm on the wrong page here. Sometimes I like technology, but it does get in my way. And like I said, I you know the idea behind parables, and Cody kind of talked about it, it's to show us something, it's to reveal something in us. And so that's important. Because oftentimes what God reveals in us is tends to be the things that you and I we avoid. Right? So this parable is in Matthew chapter 20, and we'll get there. But it actually falls on the heels of an interaction that Jesus has in Matthew 19, 16 through 30. So I want to read that real quick. This is the rich, the rich young man, starting in Matthew 19, verse 16. It says, Then just a man came up to Jesus and asked him, Teacher, what good thing, uh, what good thing must I do to get eternal life? Why do you ask me about what is good? Jesus replied, There's only one who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments. Which ones? He inquired. Jesus replied, You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony. Honor your father and mother and love your neighbor as yourself. All these I have kept, the young man said. What do I still lack? Jesus answered, If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me. In my opinion, this is the saddest verse in all of Scripture, when the young man heard this, he went away sad because he had great wealth. Then Jesus said to his disciples, Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again, I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God. Now it's important to note, Jesus is not condemning rich people. He's condemning the fact that rich, being rich, having wealth, sometimes gets in the way of the necessary things. He says to this young man, take everything you have, sell it, and give it to the poor. Don't just sell it, but give it away. And this man cannot, this young man just cannot bear the idea of losing his wealth. And so Jesus is addressing really the issue of not just money, but things in our life that keep us from God. In this case, this man's it was it was wealth. So the disciples are looking at this situation, and in their mind, it doesn't make sense because this man is rich, he's following all the commandments. Like from a social status standpoint, he's up there. He's doing everything right. He's probably well known. He sits at all the best tables, he does everything. People know his name for miles, a man of great wealth. And Jesus says that today he missed it. So continuing in verse 25, when the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, Who can be saved? Jesus looked at them and said, With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. And then Peter, I love Peter, Peter chimes in. He says, Jesus, what about us? We have left everything to follow you. So Jesus said to them, Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me with also will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel, and everyone who has left houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much. And we inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the many who are last will be first. And so before we get into chapter 20, let's address a problem with Peter's question. Peter's question to Jesus is, what about us? Everything we have done. And Jesus graciously answers him and says, Don't worry, Peter. When it comes to the end, you'll be sitting with me judging the tribes. But but the problem is it's in Peter's question. Peter says, look at what we have done for you. What about us? You know, we we live in a society that is very merit-based. We believe the harder we work, the more someone should get paid. I don't disagree with that. We believe that if we do something for someone, it's almost like they owe us a favor in return. Like we might not like physically say that, but there's this expectation that if I do something for you, you have to do something for me. Sometimes people don't ask for help because they don't want to have be indebted to someone. And so Peter is coming at this conversation, and in his mind, he's looking at this man who's rich and says, He lost it, but Jesus, we we gave it all up for you. And Jesus is like, no, no, I know. I understand that. But Peter's missing something. And what he's missing is the reason why this next parable has to be told, because Peter is thinking about what he has done to earn the eternal kingdom of God, and Jesus is about to remind him, you did nothing, I did everything. That's the point, right? So Jesus starts out, Matthew 20. This parable, I've heard it misused a few times, it's not about economics, it's not about equal pay. Jesus says it, Matthew 20, verse 1, for the kingdom of heaven is like this. He says, this is a kingdom parable. He said that for the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire works, workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. About nine in the morning, he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right. So they went. He went out again about noon, and about three in the afternoon and did the exact same thing. About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around, and he asked them, Why have you been standing here all day doing nothing? Because no one has hired us, they answered. And he said to them, You also go and work in my vineyard. So then the vineyard owner goes out and throughout the day he hires different people and he invites them in. Some have been there all day, some have only been there an hour. So the typical work day was about six to six for them. So at six, nine, twelve, and three, and at five o'clock, he goes out and gets the last of them and says, Listen, come work for me. And he makes an agreement with all of them that I'm going to pay you what I pay you. So it gets to the verse eight. So when the evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first. The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. They received a full day's wage for about an hour's worth of work. So when those who came were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. And it's really easy to look at this and think, well, that's not fair. If you have kids, I think that's the most quoted phrase in my house. Every time we do something, well, that's not fair. I'm like, what is fair? But but I hear it all the time. Well, that's not fair. He he got to do this, and I didn't. I'm like, yeah, I know. It's his birthday. I don't, what do you or the other day we were we were having an argument and two of the boys got in trouble and the third one didn't, and the other two were like, that's not fair that he's not in trouble. He didn't do anything wrong. Well, he shouldn't be allowed to do this either. I'm like, he didn't do anything wrong. Right? So that's not fair. So the workers come, they see the workers who've been there an hour, get the same amount of wage, and then the vineyard owner pays them the exact same thing. And their response is that's not fair. Verse 11 says that they begin to grumble against the landowner. These who were hired last worked only one hour, they said. And if you've made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day, and in their lives, that's such an important thing. They're not man that they made a denarius. They're man because the the the vineyard owner has made them equal to them. That's not fair. We worked harder, we did everything we were supposed to. And then the vineyard answer, he answers, says, but he answered one of them. I'm not being unfair to you, friend. Didn't you agree to work for denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who is hired last the same as I gave you. Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous? So the last will be first, and the first will be last. So Jesus tells this parable. And so the disciples standing there, and even to us, we look at this and we think, how in the world does it make sense? And it comes down to a couple of things. One, those who had been there all day felt as if the vineyard, the vineyard owner owed them something. They agreed to the pay. The other side of this coin is the vineyard owner, and he says, Is it not my right to give to whoever I want however much I want? So again, this comes right on the details of this conversation. And Matthew does an incredible job of knitting, weaving together his book. Peter looks at this rich young man, and Jesus says, listen, he he's missed it today. And so Peter's immediate response is, God, what about what I've what I've done for you? What about what we've what we've sacrificed? What does that mean for us? And Jesus says, he goes on with this parable, and he says, listen, what you don't understand is that the kingdom of God. The way the kingdom of God functions is dependent upon God, not on you. It's a kingdom parable. This entire parable is a parable on grace. That's where Jesus is getting to. Because he's in a culture where the Pharisees are seen as like these high-ranking officials, and people are convinced that they will have more and they're better and they're closer to God. You know that happens in today's culture. We think that the people standing in this pulpit are somehow more special than me. This I'm not saying we don't hold preachers to high accountability. We should. But we should never raise a minister at a church up above anyone. Because at the end of the day, I am human just like you. I'm fallible. I mess up. I say stupid things. I do stupid things. I struggle with sin. I'm not always a great dad, not always a great husband, not even a great preacher sometimes. I'm not perfect. But we raise up, we have in our mind that there's this elite, people who are elite. We hold them to a standard that they cannot possibly reach. And the problem is we live in a society where we have preachers who stand in pulpits and make themselves out to be better than the people. They're supposed to be shepherd. We saw that recently. You know, I it's crazy. I was watching and I laughed. Part of me laughed, but then part of me also realized that there are people out there who stand in pulpits just like this, who are worth millions of dollars. And the problem is as a society, we assume that that person is better than someone who stands in a pulpit like this who doesn't. We elevate their status. And that's what Jesus is dealing with, right? So he Peter looks at this rich young man who misses it, and Peter all of a sudden he doesn't understand. God, how is how is this guy? He's living out on the surface. He looks good. He has everything. Look at him. He's blessed. He has so much wealth, right? Because that's how we determine who's blessed. If we have a lot of money. If that's the standard, I'm not it. I'm just being honest. I don't make millions of dollars. I don't have a private jet. I have a drone. I can't even ride on it. But what I'm saying is, we as a society have convinced ourselves that those who are leading, those who have money, though those who are doing everything right, that God has blessed them immensely. And because of that, they automatically get in. And Jesus says, listen, it's not about that. Because the kingdom of God, the grace that God offers, has nothing to do with you earning it. It has to do with me giving it. That's what Peter is missing in this conversation. Jesus, what about us and everything that I have done? And Jesus, as politely as he can, says, You've done nothing. I did it all. The kingdom is mine. I decide who gets in. I decide who I show grace to. If someone's been here for 30 years, or they just walked in the door five minutes ago, the grace of God is extended to them because Jesus is the one who determines it, not me. I said this a couple weeks ago. You and I are not gatekeepers of the gospel. We do not get to determine who's in and who's out. That's not our job. And as a society, one of the greatest travesties, I think, in the church today is we've convinced people that they somehow still have to earn the love of the one who created them. If I just do the right thing, if I say the right thing. Listen, I'll be honest, and this is not a judgment, but this is something that I see. There are people in this world who live it, say everything right, do all the right things. On the outside, they appear to be following Jesus, but at the end of their life, they're going to hell because they have no idea who Jesus is. They're not fulfilling the work of the kingdom. The Pharisees are point in case. They look like everything is going for them, and Jesus calls them whitewashed tombs, a den of vipers. They're misleading people because they've made God impossible to get to. And Peter comes to this conversation with this understanding that look what I have done. And Jesus said, It's not about you. It's all about me. John 15, 16 says, You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit. Fruit that will last. That's Jesus. He's saying, listen, I am the one who came into this world. I'm the one who's decided. I'm the one who's sacrificed. And it's not that God doesn't honor faithfulness. He does. Hebrews 11 is evidence of that. But Jesus needs them to understand the kingdom of God is open because I have made it available. We love the idea of grace until it applies to the person we don't like so much. That's the hardest thing that I struggle with in my own life. And I try hard. But sometimes there are people in my life that I look at and I think, how in the world could God ever use them? Jonah did it. The story of Jonah. Jonah chapter four. Jonah's an Old Testament prophet. He's been tasked with one purpose. He's supposed to go to Nineveh and tell them. So Jonah chapter 4, uh, starting verse 1 says, But to uh But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord, isn't this what I said, Lord? And so he's gone to Nineveh, he's preached the God, uh, his God to them and the repenting of their ways. And Jonah's response to God and his grace and his compassion is he gets mad and says, Isn't this what I said, Lord, when I was still home? That when I that that is what I tried to force uh forestall by fleeing to Tarshis, I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sinning calamity. Now, Lord, take away my life, for it's better for me to die than to live. So Jonah experiences, he says, God, I know that you're gracious, I know that you're merciful. How dare you? The people of Nineveh, God, I'd rather die. I'd rather die than to share the gospel message with my neighbor who won't stay off my lawn. I'd rather die than share the gospel message with the person at work who cusses me out every day and talks about me behind my back. I would rather die than to see you, God, be gracious and merciful to someone else. And God's response to Jonah is, is it not mine to give and take away? Am I not the one who controls all of this? When Jesus tells this parable, he says to Peter, listen, you've misunderstood the question. Yes, you're gonna be with me. But not because of what you did, but because of what I've done. That's why grace is so important. Brandon Mar, uh Branding, Brandon Manning in the book uh The Ragamuffin Gospel says it like this. He says the gospel of grace nullifies our adulation of televangelists, charismatic superstars, and local church heroes. It obliterates the two-class citizenship theory operative in many American churches. For grace proclaims that awesome the awesome truth that all is a gift. All that is good is yours, not by right, but by the sheer bounty of a gracious God. While there is much we may have earned, our degree, our salary, our home, and a garden, maybe even a Miller Light, and a good night's sleep, all this is possible only because we have been given so much. Life itself, eyes to see and hands to touch, a mind to shape ideas, and a heart to be with love. My deepest awareness of myself is that I am deeply loved by Jesus Christ, and I have done nothing to earn it or deserve it. That's why the gospel was scandalous. Because the gospel frees Barabbas and crucifies Jesus. The gospel, the message, the mercy of God sets Nineveh free, but he still watches over Jonah. That's why the message of grace is so profound. Because none of us deserve it. Amazing grace. Sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. That's why the kingdom of God matters, because if we really understand grace, we understand that we did nothing to deserve it. We understand that we've done nothing to earn, and I am simply here because the God of all creation decided at just the right time to step into my life and save me. What makes grace so beautiful is it saved me. What makes grace so hard is it saved the person next to me, too. That's the beauty of this message. Jesus is saying to Peter, listen, you don't get it, but you will. Not because you're right, not because your theology is perfect, but you deserve grace because the God of all creation has decided that at just the right moment he would come into the world and he would die for a sinner like me. And when we understand just how big Grace is, the only response is to tell someone else about it. Listen, if you don't think that it is important for you to share the gospel with everyone you come across, you don't understand the gospel. You don't. You will never understand it until you realize just what it can do. Just how important it is to tell people about this incredible grace and mercy. We are not supposed to be like Jonah. Supposed to be like Jesus. God has made a way, He's saved us, He Himself. And so here's the thing: if you are someone who believes in Jesus, stop trying so hard. We kill ourselves trying to do the right thing and convincing ourselves that God doesn't love us because I'm not perfect. Listen, when you truly embrace the gospel, transformation happens. You will change. It's inevitable. That's growth, that's maturity, that's biblical. But it's because the Spirit is working in us and moving us in the right direction. But God continues to extend grace while I'm trying to figure it out. But we live in this system, and sometimes we're awful to each other because people aren't perfect. Listen, you're not perfect. He is. That's the reason he died. So give yourself a break. Trust the God who's in you, that he's working in you. And for those that have never heard this message, grace is for you. It always will be. God offers this freely. Says, Come to me. Jesus says, Come to me, all who are weary and burdened. Give you rest. Let me take your place. Let me give you mercy. Let me show you grace. No matter what you've done, no matter the mistakes you've made, no matter whether or not you think you deserve it, because it's not about whether or not you can earn it. It's all because I've given it to you. And then for those of us who believe the responsibility is clear, everyone should hear of the grace of Jesus. You and I don't get to decide who's in or who's out. And if you really understand the gospel, if you really understand and embrace everything God has done for you. Not you, not me, not your discipline, none of it, none of your upbringing. The only reason you have access to the kingdom is because God, the God of creation who owed you nothing, decided to give you everything. Jesus says, Those who will be last, we first. It's my kingdom. It's my grace. I give it as I choose to. That's right.