October 4, 2018
Last night we dove back into our study of the parables, focusing on Matthew 20:1-16 in which Jesus tells the Parable of the Laborers in the vineyard. Every week, we’ve been going through the text in small study groups, trying to figure out the context of the parables, and trying to parse through the elements of the parables. The context tells us A TON about why Jesus is telling a certain parable, while the elements help us to relate the context to the story itself.
After our study, we saw that the parable was all about equality in God’s Kingdom. Even though some entered the kingdom early in the day (or as we pointed out, early in their lifetime), and others entered much later on in the day, the salvation was the same. In the story, everyone who accepted the land owners invitation to work in the vineyard received a denarius. In life, everyone who accepts the invitation to live, serve, and work in the Kingdom of God, receives the same salvation by grace, through faith!
Our application for the night was as “6 am” workers. Most of the students in the room, as professing Christians, will have a life-long time of service to the Lord in His Kingdom on Earth. That said, we noticed 3 things:
1.) That everyone in the vineyard worked. Now, it’s true that we don’t receive grace by our works, but James 2:14-16 reminds us that faith without our works is dead.
2.) The 6 am workers have assurance all day that they will receive their wages, and be able to rest when the evening comes. We should know that we have assurance, and that assurance of salvation as 6 am Christians should fuel us to rejoice and be glad, and work with joy!
3.) We’re not worse off because we’ve devoted our life on earth to the Lord! As 6 am Christians, we should know that our experiences of working for the Lord, learning about Him, and knowing Him more will carry with us into eternity! That’s to our advantage, and for our joy!
How encouraging to know that we have a savior who wants us to be fulfilled in himself, and gives us assurance freely by His grace! It was a good night being in the Scriptures together.
I’d love to know how family worship is going for you and your kids! Have you started trying to set a time to read the scriptures with your students? Do you need ideas? Do you need motivation? Let me know! I’d love to talk with you about how to start regular family devotions at home!
Categories: Youth Night Updates, Youth Parables