EXPLORE THE TEXT
We should never cease to be amazed by God’s grace.
13 “He replied to one of them,
‘Friend, I’m doing you no wrong.
Didn’t you agree with me on a denarius?
14 Take what’s yours and go.
I want to give this last man the same as I gave you.
15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with what is mine?
Are you jealous because I’m generous?’
16 So the last will be first, and the first last.”
Highlight the legal and moral arguments as described in Matthew 20:13 and 20:14-15.
Read this content to provide more background.
The landowner wanted them to know that they were out of line with their grumbling.
He had fulfilled his word to them.
They worked the number of hours to which they agreed, and he had paid them accordingly.
There was nothing unfair about this.
The landowner was not in their debt because they worked longer and harder than others. .
If the landowner chose to act out of compassion toward those last hired,
that was his prerogative.
The landowner had every right to do with his money and his vineyard as he chose.
He was not acting unjustly;
instead, the complainers were jealous of the payment others received.
Their complaints didn’t arise from some vaulted sense of justice
but from sheer greed and jealousy based on their faulty expectations. (PSG, p. 78)
In sharing the parable,
Jesus emphasized that the kingdom of God was not about human effort.
Those who “work hardest” are not granted automatic admission,
and they should not expect the biggest reward.
Instead, entrance into the kingdom is an act of God’s mercy and grace.
We cannot earn it, and we don’t deserve it.
The Master provides freely
for those who are willing to accept His offer.
We have no right to take His grace for granted
or to question who He demonstrates that mercy toward.
reflect on the application statement for these verses:
We should never cease to be amazed by God’s grace.
Review these points from Apply the Text on page 80 of the Personal Study Guide:
Read the statements aloud, stressing “can” and “should” in each one. At the end of each statement, encourage adults to suggest practical ways they can apply these principles to their lives each day. Point out the first set of questions on page 80 of the PSG. Urge adults to adopt some of these ideas for living out God’s grace and generosity before the world.
Read aloud the second set of questions on page 80 of the PSG. Explain that adults need not answer aloud, but challenge them to think of a number that correlates with their honest response. Share a time in your own life when you felt like you needed to earn God’s love and how you came to understand that He offers it freely. Encourage the group to consider keeping a journal for recording God’s blessings so they will be more attentive to His grace.
Close in prayer, asking God to help adults contemplate God’s love and blessings in their lives. As adults leave, challenge them to share with at least one person this week how God has been gracious to them.
During the week, send the group a text or email, sharing the lyrics of “Amazing Grace” with them. Urge them to reflect on God’s grace regularly. Remind them to share His grace with someone who needs to know about it this week. If you personally experience a moment when life seems unfair, reflect on the truths of this week’s focal passage. Be prepared to share that intentional mindset change with the group.
God is infinite in holiness and all other perfections. (See Isaiah 40:25; Matthew 6:9.)
Use Bible study resources to gain more insight into a passage.
Read articles on “vineyards” and “denarius” from a Bible dictionary. Record significant insights you gain as you consider what you read in light of this session’s focal passages. In addition, consider what made the setting of Jesus’s parable (hiring day-laborers to work in a vineyard) so effective for the audience He was addressing.