What is grace? Let's read the following and it should explain it to us. It is a parable that Jesus told.
Lets see what it is:
MT 20:1 "For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
Pretty basic. They where told what the pay was, they agreed to it and went to work. It was common got paid by the day back then.
MT 20:3 "About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4 He told them, `You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.' 5 So they went.
They went to work trusting the owner would treat them fair. Like he said he would and they went to work.
"He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing.
He kept on getting more workers.
6 About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, `Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?' 7 " `Because no one has hired us,' they answered. "He said to them, `You also go and work in my vineyard.'
The last group went to work just happy they could go, even so he didn't promise them anything.
MT 20:8 "When 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.'
Do you think he did this on purpose? I think he wanted to make a point.
MT 20:9 "The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. 10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12 `These men who were hired last worked only one hour,' they said, `and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.'
Isn't this about normal?
They agreed to an amount, but since the ones hired late got what the 1st group was promised, they wanted more.
MT 20:13 "But he answered one of them, `Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?'
Do we ever get jealous like that? It would be easy to do.
Conclusion: Let's apply this parable to the kingdom of heaven like it said at the beginning.
MT 20:16 "So the last will be first, and the first will be last."
It does not matter if you decide to follow Jesus at the age of 5, 10, 20, 40 or 80. You will still receive the reward of eternal life.
Same as in the parable, you can not work your way into heaven. Its not how much or how long, its that you do.
I could see where someone might think like the workers did. Why should someone that decides to follow Jesus on their death bed still get the same reward namely Heaven and an eternity with Jesus.
In the kingdom of God, the driving force is not merit and ability (as in the world) but grace.
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