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Advent Productions

Benjamin Ng

The Eleventh-Hour Labourers

This morning, the title of the sermon is entitled The Eleventh Hour Workers.

And this title and this understanding really is taken from 1 parable that we find.

So let's go to that Bible text this morning, shall we?

It's found in Matthew chapter 20 and we're starting in verses 1 and 2.

For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is a householder which went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard.

And when he had agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard.

So this person, this man who's a householder, pardon me, the owner of the vineyard, he goes out and he looks for labourers of the vineyard and he finds some people standing around not doing anything and they agree to a penny a day.

And so these people, they agree and they go into the vineyard, his vineyard, to work for him.

And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace and said unto them go ye also into the vineyard and whatsoever is right I will give you and they went their way.

So he goes out about the third hour, which is about 9am.

You see the Jews reckon time starting from 6am and so he goes out at 9am and he finds more people and he's like, what are you doing here?

And he hires them and they go into the vineyard to work for him as well.

And again he went out about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did likewise.

Pardon me, my slides are in the wrong order I think I better change them real quick right now before things mess up a bit more But anyways, he goes out about the at 12 p.m.

And also 3 p.m and he finds the same group of people standing there doing nothing.

And then, verses 6 to 7, about the 11th hour he went out and found others standing idle and said unto them why stand ye here all the day idle and they say unto him because no man hath hired us he saith unto them go ye also into the vineyard and whatsoever is right that shall ye receive so this man he goes out at about the 11th hour, the 11th hour at 5pm and he finds still more people standing around idle doing nothing and he hires them to go and work only just for 1 hour and this is really where we get this understanding of the 11th hour from and look 1 hour was just before the time that they would finish work.

You see, they had about 12 hours of daylight.

And that's really the same here in Malaysia as well.

Do you know that in Malaysia here the longest day, it goes for 12 hours and 10 minutes.

And the shortest hours of daylight that we have here in Malaysia is 11 hours and 49 minutes.

So really the time only varies for, for when the sun rises and when the sun sets.

The amount of hours that we have for daylight, it only varies about 20 odd minutes.

So really that is about 12 hours if you average out throughout the year.

And so, you know, Israel, the Jewish land, it was just like that.

They only had hours of daylight for 12 hours, alright?

And so this man would be hired at the 11th hour is 1 hour before it would get dark and back then they didn't have flood lights.

They had lamps and that was all it would afford for them.

Not enough for them to continue working really in a vineyard.

So their working hours was only that of daylight time, which was 12 hours.

In John chapter 11, verses 9 to 10, the Bible says this, So Jesus verifies this fact that there is 12 hours in a day.

And a man can only work during the daylight hours.

So this 11th hour worker, he's only hired just for 1 hour.

Going back to Matthew 20, continuing this parable in verses 8 to 10.

And when they came that were hired about the 11th hour, they received every man a penny.

But when the first came, they supposed that they should receive more and they likewise received every man a penny.

Look, it would have been logical thinking if you were the first hour laborer, the 1 that was hired at the very beginning of the day, it would have been logical to think hey I see these guys they get 1 penny for 1 hour's work.

I mean if you're reasoning within yourself you're thinking at least what I should be getting more than these guys, right?

I think 10 times out of 10, every single time, we would have thought that train of thought.

But what a shock to them when they only received 1 penny.

You see, we're missing 1 thing, remember.

The Lord of the vineyard had agreed with these first hour labourers that had worked for 12 hours or 11 hours for 1 penny a day and that was the prevailing rate of the time.

It was a fair rate and they had agreed to it as well.

So it was not unreasonable to expect more but it wouldn't have been unreasonable for the Lord to give them 1 penny as well, you see?

And so what happened when it got to these 1 hour laborers, pardon me, the first hour laborers?

What happened when they received that penny in hand?

And when they had received it, they murmured against the good man of the house, saying, these last have wrought but 1 hour, and thou has made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and the heat of the day.

They were unhappy as anybody would have been, because they received the same wage as all these other people.

It was not unreasonable for the Lord to pay that amount.

But where was the logic in them getting the same?

But He answered 1 of them and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong.

I will give unto this last even as unto thee.

Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own?

He asks them, is your eye evil because I am good?

You have a problem with me being good and doing what I want with my own money?

Isn't it fair for me to do what I want and I want to pay everybody the same?

God's love has no logic in how he wants to give heaven to everybody.

Yes, we all live just as long eternal life.

Yes, we all look just as beautiful and glorious.

There will not be some special privileges in heaven, right?

And you know, it's very interesting that we get to the end of this parable And this is what he declares.

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The Eleventh-Hour Labourers

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