AS another year comes to its close, and thereby reminds us how soon our time for labor on earth will be over, what more appropriate subject can engage us than that of the laborers in the vineyard?
It has ever pleased God in all ages to have laborers on whom He bestows the privilege of doing His work. He called forth Noah to be a preacher of righteousness and to be a builder of the ark of salvation before the flood; He appointed Joseph, and gave him wisdom to store up corn and food in Egypt before the years of famine, so that men’s lives might be preserved; and from those early days until now, God has chosen from among men laborers to do His work on the earth. There is a high honor and privilege in true service to the Lord which heaven by-and-by will reveal to us should we fail on earth to recognize the distinction. When the Holy Spirit describes the services of a high priest He tells us, “No man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God” (Heb. 5:44And no man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. (Hebrews 5:4)); and high honor it is to be even of the humblest of the true servants of God.
“But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first” (Matt. 19:3030But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first. (Matthew 19:30)); for some work for gain and some for love. Those who labor for love shall be first, while those who labor for reward shall be last. The arm may tire, the brain grow feeble, but love need never weary, and happy are those servants of the Lord who labor on for love to His name, who find their reward in doing His will, and their gratification in pleasing Him. When the reckoning day comes, blessed shall be these servants.
In the parable of the laborers in the vineyard the Lord tells us “the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man who is an householder, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard.” The householder was on the alert. His vineyard was precious in his eyes. He saw it needed tending, and he went out early to hire laborers into it. Well indeed may a garden be called a nursery, for the gardener toils like a nurse over her charge in his solicitude for the young plants. Would that each of our christian readers saw the need of the Lord’s vineyard! Once within its walls, we should think the vineyard must appeal to the true believer for loving service and lifelong toil. A good servant is he or she who studies the master’s interests. The secret of true service is to know the master’s mind about the work to be done. The lord of the vineyard looks for good fruit from his vines, and cultivation goes a long way to the produce of good fruit. Surely, fellow christian, you can see in your own house or neighborhood work that needs to be done. It is not everyone who is skillful enough to prune the vine, but the work of cleaning and weeding the soil lies within the reach of all who stoop low enough to do it. There is toilsome labor for you, which love to the Lord shall make easy and sweet. Will you not at once enter upon it?
The husbandman agreed with the laborers for a given sum per clay — the value of the coin called a penny, and the worth of that value according to the times of which the parable speaks, teaches us that the husbandman in the early morning offered the laborer a fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work. Never let anyone think that God will allow one of His servants to suffer loss in the end for serving Him. A moment before Jesus had said, “Every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for My Name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.” The reward was secured: “Whatsoever is right I will give you.” This shall surely be seen and owned when the day’s work is done, though many will be surprised at the result, for there are last which shall be first, and first which shall be last. The Lord will estimate His servant’s work at its real value; let none dispute.
And so the day went on, and again and again the husbandman went out into the market place to seek for fresh laborers for his vineyard. Is not Jesus doing this thing this very hour? He needs laborers — laborer’s, dear christian readers — not mere fancy workers, but real hearty toilers for His Name. And in the market place the laborer stood waiting for work, just as in our own hour Christians stand not knowing what to do, though the Lord’s vineyard cries for laborers. No doubt the men who had been at the work from the early morning saw what a great amount of work had yet to be done, for the longer a servant of Christ toils on, the more he sees is not done. And so the call for work proceeded until the eleventh hour came; and so in this eleventh hour of our day of grace the call goes forth for workers for God in His vineyard. Happy and privileged people are they who obey the call even in the last hour of the day, though they have stood up till now “all the day idle.”
Surely those who had borne the burden and heat of the day, and who murmured against the goodman of the house because they received each man his penny together with their fellows who had worked but for one hour, failed in the sense of what a privilege it is to be allowed to labor for the Lord in His vineyard. Their minds were set rather upon their reward than upon the prosperity of the vine. The first thus became last. Self had intruded itself, and the position of the old servant had destroyed in the servant the true spirit of service — laboring for love. Old servants sometimes forget their place, and they lose the servant’s place by this forgetfulness. Israel grew so pretentious that it lost its favored position, as a nation being a witness for God on the earth. Israel boasted in being God’s people, and forgot God, who had chosen them. Let us also beware, lest we forget that the laborer in the vineyard is called but to labor on as he is bidden. An evil eye cast upon a fellow laborer may be but the prelude to casting an evil eye upon the Lord of the vineyard Himself. From spying out the work of our fellow workers we may turn to grumbling in spirit against the ways of the husbandman.
Great is the grace that calls the laborers from their idleness to the Lord’s work; but when the service of love degenerates into service for reward, let the laborer in the vineyard recall His Lord’s words, “Many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.”