God as the Householder

You have to learn to crawl before you can walk. Do you know what happens if you start walking before you crawl?  It’s not a good idea.  You see, when a baby learns to crawl, it is developing hand/eye coordination.  If that learning experience is bypassed, the child’s overall development is hindered and it can take months of training to gain that essential coordination.  Imagine the frustration of having to learn to crawl if you can already ambulate everywhere you want to go.  Shortcuts are usually counter-productive and can end up being destructive.

Throughout our lives, we are guided through a series of events that develop our character.  We learn that success can’t always be achieved on the first try, and by attempting it repeatedly, whether those attempts fail or you come in second, we get the wisdom to keep pressing on, discovering the value of perseverance.  Some will resent the process of striving, thinking that any kind of effort is enough and that they should also be rewarded for their unsuccessful attempts.  In our self-centered lifestyle, we’re constantly being told that the most important thing is that some effort was made.

Some people have tried to make the parable in Matthew, chapter 20, fit this idea.  The parable is about the householder who paid all his laborers equally at the end of the day, regardless of the hours that they worked.  There is a name for this kind of theology, it’s called the social Gospel, and I reject it.  Let’s be clear here, Jesus isn’t using the parable to justify a secular government, particularly Socialism.  The social gospel has absolutely nothing to do with the reason for Jesus’ message given in response to Peter’s question, “we have left all and followed you. Therefore what shall we have?”

What we see in this parable is God calling men who were idle in the market place and putting them to work.  The householder looked for men, offering them a denarius (a penny), and dealt ethically with the men he hired.  Another principle we can take from this is, that the householder did nothing wrong when he paid the workers he hired late in the day any wage he wanted.  His agreement with them was that he would pay “whatever is right,” or, he wouldn’t pay them less than their work deserved.  The fact that he paid them more than they expected shows the householder’s goodness, and definitely that it isn’t unjust.  The ones hired first complained that the later workers should have gotten less than them; it was a protest about the graciousness of the employer, not a complaint that he had been unjust in paying them an honest day’s pay for an honest day of work.  It is safe to say that the householder treated all the workers justly and he was gracious toward all of them.  You might ask, “How was he gracious to the men who worked all day and received the proper wage?”   There is nothing commendable or extraordinary about that.  Remember, the householder not only paid his workers but he went out and found them while they were without work, idle and in need.  Think of it this way: a man sits idle without work, without the money for his daily bread, and worse yet, doesn’t do anything to find work; suddenly a man knocks at the door and offers him the equivalent pay as a trained Roman soldier if he will come to work in his field. 

In this we are shown the principle of God’s sovereignty and His absolute graciousness towards those that are called into His kingdom.  We need to consider the true meaning of serving God.  The calling of God does not result in meekness.  To be born of God is to be made a servant of God.  None of the men standing in the market place were paid to lean against the wall for the rest of the afternoon, and none that are called of God are called to be idle in the building of His Kingdom.  Some Christians don’t seem to understand this principle in today’s climate of rewarding the non-workers to keep from hurting their psyche.  God’s call carries with it a sense of responsibility and accountability.

We must work to understand what it means to be Christians.  Christ has called us to follow Him, to take up our cross and endure the trials of this life as He did.  But, He hasn’t left us without His grace.  If we’re to learn to crawl before walking, we must be willing to trust our trainer and submit to the training.