Two Opposing Views
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Two Opposing Views Among Church People
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| A modern vineyard in Israel |
“Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish
with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?” Matthew
20:15
I would like to
ask you to read verses 1-16 of Matthew 20 to refresh your memory concerning this
parable. I do not want to take the space to completely copy it in this article,
but I will relate the account to you.
The Lord’s
parable concerned an owner of a vineyard, who went out early in the morning,
looking for people to hire for work in his vineyard. He found some immediately
and contracted them for the normal day’s wages of a denarius. Needing more
help, I suppose, he found others, who were unemployed, at nine o’clock and,
without stating a fixed wage, he said he would give them what was right. He did
the same at noon, then at three in the afternoon and finally at five.
The day’s work
ended at six and the employer sent his foreman to call the workers to receive
their pay, but he wanted to pay first, the ones employed last. Apparently, he then
paid in order those who worked three hours, then six, nine, and finally those,
who had been there from the beginning of the work day at six a.m. The first
were last, and the last were first. That is all that we know about this workday
and those involved in it, so we don’t want to add any speculation.
Those who came
to work first, watched as the last workers were paid a full denarius and
anticipated that they would surely receive more. But no, when their turn came,
they were disappointed to see that they also received a denarius. They actually
expressed their complaint to the owner, telling him that they considered this to
be unfair treatment. They weighed the work of one hour against their twelve
hour labor throughout the hot day. Please note the argument, “You have made them equal to us.”
The owner
addressed one of them individually in order to ask him, personally, a question
about his reaction. First of all, he reminded him that he had received exactly
the wages, to which he had agreed. Then, he revealed to him something of his
own character, though it was really none of his business. 1) He had a total
right to do as he wished with his own money and 2) he wanted to be especially good
to the last group. As far as we are concerned, the important thing to gain from
any portion of Scripture is a higher concept of God. In this parable, He is
sovereign… He does what He pleases with what is His and in doing so, He acts in
kindness. We also want to keep in mind his question to this man: “Is your eye evil”? In other words, is
your point-of-view causing you to entertain an evil jealousy and resentment?
There have
always been two basic points of view
among the vast variety of people who attend churches which, at least in name,
are Christian. We could call them the religious view, as opposed to the gospel
view, or a legalistic conviction, as opposed to grace. One view will result in
eternal condemnation, while the other will save. One is evil and proud, while
the other is grateful and humble.
Some background to a situation from David’s
history
I want to pull
up a situation and present it to you, which evoked the same reaction that we
saw in the parable. It is from the life of David and his 600 men, shortly
before David became king. First, we must see some background, which will help
explain David’s actions in the story, which occurs in 1 Samuel 30.
The background
we need to see begins in 1 Samuel 27. The king of David’s own, beloved nation
is pursuing him and would like to see him dead. Up until this time, he has been
in his home territory of Judah and they of his own tribe have betrayed him on
two or three occasions. He decides that he would be safer among Israel’s chief
enemies, the Philistines. “And David
said in his heart, ‘Now I shall perish someday by the hand of Saul. There is
nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape to the land of the Philistines.”
He goes to a
chief city of the Philistines, Gath, and approached its prince, Achish. It is
not hard for Achish to believe that David is totally embittered, because of the
treatment that he has received from his own countrymen. In order to add to
Achish’s confidence in him, David raids various places and reports to the
prince that he has attacked various Judean clans. Having 600 rather rough and
crude men under him, of course, David wants to keep everyone busy. He actually
attacked several of Israel’s enemies, the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the
Amalekites, and left no one alive to tell the story, in order to contradict his
account to Achish. This move actually did get King Saul off his back and he thoroughly
pulled the wool over the Philistine’s eyes, but this deception got David into other
very serious problems. He was with Achish for 16 months.
In his actions,
it isn’t hard to find some critical defects in David’s character at this time.
Knowing these things, we might find the scriptural assessment of David as “a
man after God’s own heart” rather contradictory. Years ago, I found a note in
the Amplified Bible that satisfied me concerning him:
How could David be ‘a man after God’s own
heart’ (13:14) and lie and deceive like that? God hates lying (Pr.12:22), and
those who deal in falsehood and deception are to be excluded from Heaven
(Rev.22:15). The truth is that David had gone through such a long period of
persecution and threatening circumstances that he had fallen into a bit of mistrust of God Himself. God
had sworn to make him king, to rid him of his enemies, to give him a sure
house; yet here he was in a panic, concluding God had forsaken him
and that if he was to remain alive he must manage it himself. It was very
dishonoring to God. But God was standing by His stricken child,
waiting for the moment when he would realize his own utter helplessness and
turn in blessed surrender to the almighty arms of Him who had been watching
over him all along.
Achish had
given David and his men the city of Ziklag, in which to live and now they
accompany Achish far north, where he will take part in a major Philistine
offensive against Israel and every prince is involved. Here’s the biblical
account in 1 Samuel 29:1-2: “Then the
princes of the Philistines gathered together all their armies at Aphek, and the
Israelites encamped by a fountain which is in Jezreel. And the lords of the
Philistines passed in review by hundreds and by thousands, but David and his
men passed in review at the rear with Achish.” What a mess David has gotten
himself into!
He continues
his charade before Achish and if God does not intervene and save him, he will
be rightfully considered a traitor to Israel. His salvation came through a protest
from all the Philistine princes, who demanded that Achish expel David from the
battle and send him back home. So regretfully, Achish relays the decision to
David who, early in the morning, begins the long journey back to Ziklag.
We turn to
chapter 30 and learn that they must travel for three days, a distance of 90
miles, before arriving at their home. David arrives to a disaster that brings
him to the most despairing circumstance of his life. The Amalekites had
attacked Ziklag and carried off every soul that they found. Those souls would
be the wives and children of David and those of his 600 men. The raiders
ransacked the town, took everything worth taking and set it on fire. “Then David and the people who were with
him lifted up their voices and wept, until they had no more power to weep.”
His adventure
with the Philistines brought him into a more precarious situation than ever.
More than his king and tribe against him, now his own men are threatening
insurrection. “Now David was greatly
distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the
people was grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters” (30:6). It
couldn’t get any worse and David is at the end of his rope. I submit that
something happens in David’s soul in this crisis and he surrenders to the care
of His God.
We can read
that several times in David’s past, his dear friend, Jonathan, came to his side
and encouraged him. I’ll just point to one occasion in 23:16: “Jonathan, Saul’s son, arose and went to
David in the woods and strengthened his hand in God.” But Jonathan is far
away fighting the Philistines in the battle that will take his life… he may
already be dead. In bitter straits with no human being to turn to, David did
what God’s people do in these situations, he “strengthened himself in the Lord his God.” Did he think of the
bear and the lion that attacked his flock? Did he think of Goliath or the
recent deliverance God gave, when he was caught in the Philistine army?
David takes
another step. In spite of the extreme pressure from his men, their wives and
children kidnapped, and the urgency in his own soul, David seeks out Abiathar, the
priest, and the ephod. He takes time to consult God before following the
Amalekite raiders (v.7). The Lord answers him and assures him of full recovery
of all that was lost. It’s time to ask ourselves, if there is ever a situation
in our lives that is so urgent that we have no time to pray.
Already David
and his men have been on a 3-day journey and now they press on after the
Amalekites. They arrive at the Brook Besor and 200 do not have strength left to
cross the brook. They collapse there and cannot continue. 400 men wearily
continue on and find the enemy in a drunken feast. David destroyed them “and nothing of theirs was lacking, either
small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything which they had taken from
them; David recovered all” (v.19). Besides he took all that belonged to the
Amalekites, a tremendous amount of animals and possessions.
A principle of grace established
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After all this
background, we come to the principle that parallels the lesson taught in Jesus’
parable. David came to the 200 at Besor, who had been too exhausted to continue.
They come out to meet David and he greets them kindly. But as the workers “who have borne the burden and the heat of
the day” and resented the 11th hour laborers, whom the vineyard
owner paid a denarius and “made them
equal to us”, there are those in David’s army with the same attitude. They are likewise men with an evil eye, in
fact, the Bible says that they are “wicked
and worthless men”. They say, “Because
they did not go with us, we will not give them any of the spoil that we have
recovered” (v.22)
David knows
that he did not deserve to recover his wives and children. See his words to the
400: “You shall not do so with what the Lord has given us, who has preserved us
and delivered into our hand the troop that came against us” (v.23). God
sovereignly and kindly gave them what belonged to Him. Every human is a fallen
sinner, who deserves nothing, but death and hell. Had David and his band
received justice, he would have lost everything. The Lord was gracious to him
and all his men, gave them strength to fight and win the battle. It was not due
to their strength, stamina, or skill; it was all a work of God’s grace. David
shares His grace with the 200 and gives them an equal share of the spoil.
David had a
heart of grace and gospel understanding. He knew that God gives the victory and
the glory belongs to Him. “I returned
and saw under the sun that… the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the
strong” (Ecc.9:11). That day, David established the spiritual principle, “As his part is who goes down to the
battle, so shall his part be who stays by the supplies; they shall share alike.
So it was, from that day forward; he made
it a statute and an ordinance for Israel to this day” (v.24,25). It became
law in David’s government; he introduced Israel
to the law of grace!
David has fully
come to his senses. He had been dishonest, unfaithful and distrustful of God,
yet God never abandoned him. The other point of view, the religious point of
view, the legalistic point of view, belong to the evil eye, the wicked and
worthless. They think that they can influence the Omniscient, showing that they
are better than others and have worked enough to be worthy of His favor. They
think that they deserve more. They exalt themselves and debase the sovereignty
and goodness of God. Isn´t this the attitude that kept the older son from the happy feast that the father prepared for his prodigal brother? Jesus told that parable to answer the murmurings of the Pharisees and scribes in Luke 15:2-3, 11-32.
I heard an evangelical preacher, part of a
nationally televised panel discussion, in which the various other “ministers”,
liberals all, were discussing justice. This man said, “Oh, We don’t want
justice!” The rest, including the host dropped their jaws, but He was
right. We don’t want justice; we are in need of His mercy. This is the gospel attitude, this is the grace mentality. The
other mentality lifts up the soul in pride, according to Habbakuk 2:4; grace humbles.
Paul teaches the grace principle throughout
his epistles. Shall we let him summarize what we have learned from Jesus’
parable and the story from David’s life?: “Now
to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him
who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is
accounted for righteousness.” Romans 4:4
Does this truth trouble you? Where do you
categorize yourself? In which group do you belong? Do you question God’s right
to do what He wills? One group is evil; the other is good. One group is
legalistic, the other understands and accepts grace. One group is religious;
the other has surrendered to the gospel. One group is among the called, but the other is the chosen (Mt.20:16).
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