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[0:00] Shh. We are going to continue on. Guys, if you don't mind, we're going to skip right past! the video for sake of time. Normally I have a little intro video introducing the sermon, but we already had an awesome VBS video and I don't want to video you out today. So we're going to go ahead and jump right into the sermon today. So if you would take the Word of God with me and go to Matthew chapter 20. Matthew chapter 20.

[0:32] We have been in this series called Stories of the Kingdom. It's all about the parables of Jesus. What were the parables? They were just stories to prove a point, to illustrate a bigger gospel truth that Jesus was revealing about the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is very different than the kingdoms of this earth. So when we start thinking with our preconceived notions about what a kingdom is, God's kingdom, totally different. Totally different. And he illustrates that through these parables. So we are looking in Matthew chapter 20 verses 1 through 16. Before we get there, how many of you guys are familiar with income inequality? Anybody? The wage gap? What are we talking about? The unequal distribution of income throughout a population. There are different types of income inequality, different types of wage gaps. There are often very justified wage gaps based on experience, education, etc. If you're more qualified for a position, if you're more trained for a position, the idea is with the company, you're going to come in and do a very valuable job in that position. And so they're going to pay you accordingly to the training you've received, the experience you have, the degrees you've earned, etc. So you might be doing the same job as someone else, but the expectations are higher for you. They think coming in, they don't have to invest time training you. You're really just going to hit the ground running. And so you probably qualify for a higher pay scale than someone without those skins on the wall, so to speak. Then there are other wage gaps, which are often unjustified wage gaps based on gender, race, etc. And of course there are laws governing these sorts of things that employers often have to put into place to guard against bias, etc. in hiring processes. But still, income inequality can work its way through and worm its way through society. And sometimes a man and a woman doing the exact same job with basically the same level of experience, education, etc. The man might be paid higher than the woman just based on whatever. And that would be a wage gap. Or someone of a certain race might be paid higher than someone of a different race. And of course those would be unjustified wage gaps.

[3:13] But there are justified wage gaps. It all falls under this heading of income inequality. Why are we talking about this? Well, because Jesus was talking about it, but in a weird way. So let's look at Matthew chapter 20 and see what he had to say about income inequality.

[3:36] For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. So we got this. This guy is a boss. He owns land. He needs to hire people to work his vineyard. He's got some grapes that are ready to pluck. Here they go. After agreeing with the workers on one denarius. Now if you switch over to the New Living Translation, it'll say he agreed to pay the normal daily wage and send them out to work. So the denarius, normal daily wage. All right?

[4:14] We got that? That's what he's saying. It's the daily wage. So he says, he goes out early in the morning, probably around 6 a.m. and says, I'm going to hire these guys and I'm going to pay them the standard daily rate to come out and work my vineyard. Verse 3, at 9 o'clock in the morning, he was passing through the marketplace. We're three hours later now, right? Normally back in those days, the workday started about 6 a.m. It wasn't a 9 to 5 thing, right? It wasn't an 8 a.m. They started early.

[4:44] 6 to around 6 in the evening. About a 12-hour workday there. So 9 o'clock, he's passing through the marketplace again. He sees people standing around doing nothing. So what does he do? He hires them.

[5:00] Hey guys, you're not doing anything. I've got something for you to do and I'll pay you. Come work my vineyard. Telling them he would pay them whatever was right at the end of the day.

[5:12] So they went to work in the vineyard. And at noon, and again at 3 o'clock, he did the same thing. Every three hours, this landowner goes through the marketplace, hires whoever is standing around doing nothing to come back and work in his vineyard. Promising them all, I'll pay you a fair wage at the end of the day. 5 o'clock that afternoon. This is an hour before closing time, right? An hour before quitting time. There's an hour left in the workday. He's in town again. He saw some more people standing around. He asked them, why haven't you been working today? And verse 7, they replied, because no one hired us. The landowner told them, then go out and join the others in my vineyard. Y'all remember how much time is left in the workday. That evening, 6 o'clock comes, an hour later, right? He told the foreman to call the workers in and pay them, beginning with the last workers first. When those hired at 5 o'clock were paid, each received a full day's wage. Income inequality. But flipped on its head, he wasn't paying them not enough, he was paying them all the same. When those hired first came to get their pay, they assumed they would receive more. But they too were paid a day's wage. Why? Just real quick, let's stop here. Why were those hired first, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.? Why were they paid a full day's wage? It's what they agreed to, right? But they saw the guys who worked for an hour get paid a full day's wage. And they're like, oh boys, we just got a raise that we didn't even know was coming. There's no way he pays them the same as he's paying us. But what happened? They received the same. When they received their pay, they protested to the owner. Those people worked only one hour, and yet you've paid them just as much as you paid us who worked all day in the scorching heat. He answered one of them, friend, I haven't been unfair. Didn't you agree to work all day for the usual wage? Take your money and go. I wanted to pay this last worker the same as you. Is it against the law for me to do what I want with my money? Should you be jealous because I'm kind to others? So those who are last now will be first then, and those who are first will be what? Last. Let's pray together. God, teach us this principle. Get it through our heads, God. We get thick-headed sometimes, and we are convinced that we deserve what we think we deserve. But we know that in our sin, we deserve nothing but separation from you, torment, punishment. But in your standing, because of your love, because of your kindness, you have offered us so much more, so much better than we deserve. Remind us of that every day,

[8:52] God. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So Jesus is teaching this principle of income inequality, and it's totally different than what we face here in society. Not only is he offering the guys who worked nine hours less, I'm sorry, nine hours instead of 12 hours, six hours instead of 12 hours, three hours instead of 12 hours, he's offering the guys who only worked one hour that day the same amount of payment. We would look at that and say, that's unequal. The pay is the same, but the work is not. Why didn't the guys who worked the longest get paid the most? And Jesus is coming back and saying, no, no, no. It's the same reward for everyone. Keep that in the back of your mind. It's the same reward for everyone. In the kingdom of God, everyone is in the same boat. So there's a biblical principle here.

[9:58] 2 Thessalonians chapter 3 and verse 10. Anybody know what that says? What that teaches? 2 Thessalonians 3 10. If you don't work, you don't, a little louder, eat. You don't eat. If you don't work, you don't eat. That comes from a principle taught in the Proverbs. Proverbs chapter 20 and verse 4.

[10:22] That if you don't work, you don't eat. There is a biblical principle there. So the guys who'd been standing around all day, they hadn't really earned much of anything. But Jesus says, if you stand around the rest of this day, you'll earn nothing from me, you've wasted so much of your day. But if you stop wasting now and you come work in my vineyard, I will pay you what I want to pay you. And do you know what he wanted to pay them? Everything he could. He wanted to pay them the full wage that they could have ever hope to receive if they had worked the full day. He wanted to pay them so much more than they deserved. So he's not abandoning the biblical principle taught in Proverbs and 2 Thessalonians, that if you don't work, you don't eat. But he's not doing it by our rules. He's doing it by his rules.

[11:30] So there's a biblical principle. You don't work. You don't eat. Look, you don't even have to read the Bible to figure that out. It's woven into the fabric of society, of the earth. If you don't go out and put forth labor, you're going to starve. Somehow you've got to go get food for yourself and water to drink or you will die. So we understand that principle. I think just about everybody in here has that down pretty well. But there's a divine secret that we may not be quite as familiar with. You don't work and you don't eat is not what God focuses on with us.

[12:25] Yes, that principle is there. Yes, we have to accept it. But I want to challenge your understanding of Jesus, his kingdom, his gospel. Because our understanding of what is equal and what is fair is not how God deals with us. And thank God for it. Because if we earned, if we receive what we earn, we're all in for it. We're all bound for eternal punishment and hellfire. If we receive the just reward of everything we have done in this life, then there's no hope for us.

[13:15] So thankfully, God turns that way of thinking on its head and says, I'm not going to give you what you owe. I'm going to give you what I want to pay you. And that is the payment that my son made on the cross for your sin. All right? That's where we're headed with this. So let's look at this transitional truth. First, Romans 6 23. Romans 6 23 reminds us what? The wages of sin is death.

[13:46] We got that down. If you're a guest here, maybe haven't been as familiar with church and you didn't know that, don't feel bad. But you've now learned the wages of sin is death. What is sin? It's anything that breaks God's law. It's anything that's not of God. That's sin. We all know what sin is. We've all been sinners in our lives from the moment we were born. We were born into sin. Nobody taught us how to do it. We just knew. It was there. It was baked into our DNA from the very fall of man, Adam and Eve, way back in the garden. Look at the opening lines of Genesis and you'll see how sin passed into all people. Death then passed into all people. Judgment for sin. All this was unlocked by sin. And so nobody has to teach us this. We're born with it. We start sinning and we don't really stop.

[14:35] We might learn certain sins we just can't do, but we find other sins to replace them with, right? We're not going to go out and kill somebody, but we might want to.

[14:48] We're not going to go steal something from somebody necessarily, but we might covet what they have. We have, we learn to make our sins more passive, more hidden. We hide jealousy in our hearts.

[15:04] We hide unbelief of God in our hearts. We hide doubt in our hearts. We hide fear. We hide all these sins inside us so we can put on a good face. So Romans 6 23 teaches us that even though we are all sinners, Christ loves us anyway. The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life. What a wonderful message. That's the message I got to preach to those kids in missions class last Thursday. And I saw the light come on for some of those kids. And he offers that same free gift to everyone. Why? Even the ones who've been sinning for 20 years, 10 years, five years, 50 years, the ones who their classification of sin seems worse than mine. He offers the same gift, the same reward to all. Yes, he does. Everyone who comes to him receives the same gift, unconditional forgiveness.

[16:17] Now that seems unjust in some of our minds. And we might be like the ones who went to him and said, went to the landowner and said, hey, this isn't fair. Why are they receiving the same gift that I am?

[16:33] Why are you forgiving all their sins? Their sins are so much worse. Do you know what she did? Do you know what he got in trouble for? Do you know what's in his past? Because I do, God. Okay.

[16:47] You may not be aware, but let me tell you about so-and-so. And you're just going to forgive them like that? Now me, I know I'm not perfect, but I haven't been as bad as she has. And this is the kind of attitude we get in our minds. Even after we're saved, we sometimes go back and hold on to that attitude. God, do you know what that person did? You can't bless them. Why aren't they suffering?

[17:22] And we look at each other and we see each other as unequal. Meanwhile, God looks at us and sees all forgiven sinners. If we are his children, if we have invited him in, then he sees forgiven sinners, not good little Lucy or bad little Mary. Whatever my name came to mind there. I'm trying not to pick anybody who's sitting in the room right now. He doesn't look at us and see us how we see each other.

[18:03] He sees us all as forgiven sinners continually in need of his cleansing, his forgiveness. So we then get a new identity. There's a new identity as his child. So today we're talking about workers and wages, workers and wages. We're going to dive into this and I pray that God reveals something to you as he has to me through this. There's a pastor and slash writer name, we already went to Matthew 20. There's a pastor and writer named Brian Zahn who said this, the kingdom of heaven is not a meritocracy, but an economy of grace. There's some big words there, the whole meritocracy thing. What do we mean by that? You merit something, you earn something, right? So the kingdom of God is not based on what you earn. That's not the kind of economy it works on. The economy it works on is grace. Let's say it together. Ready? Grace. Just trying to keep y'all with me through this. The kingdom of heaven does not hinge on how much you and I earn. Now, if you've been coming to a Baptist church for a while, you probably know that. If you've been coming to another church that teaches the correct gospel of Jesus, then you probably know you can't earn God's forgiveness.

[19:21] But something happens in our brains after we understand that and we believe like those kids did last week, like we pray, maybe some young people will this week at camp. We make that decision. We say, I choose Jesus. I believe it. I want to follow him for the rest of my days.

[19:39] And then sometime after that, something shifts and we begin to convince ourselves that all of a sudden now we can start earning God's favor. Like grace goes out the window somehow.

[19:57] What changed? We understood that there is nothing I can do to earn God's forgiveness of my sin, but then somehow we convince ourselves that now God works with us on a meritocracy based on what we can earn instead of continuing to operate with us based on grace.

[20:24] So then the next step, if we see God that way, guess who else we see that way? Ourselves and each other.

[20:37] So then we hold ourselves to this standard of I've got to earn who I think I am. And we hold each other to this standard. You've got to live up to who I think you ought to be.

[20:51] And grace is nowhere to be found. And that, I think, is where a lot of us find ourselves, whether we want to admit it or not.

[21:04] We've forgotten that the kingdom of God, from start to finish, is an economy of grace. God forgives us and he offers us all of himself, no matter who we are, what we've done, or what we think we have earned or not earned. That's not how God operates.

[21:34] So, let's look back at this text and we'll be done in just a few minutes. What happened when the guys found out that those who hadn't worked as long were going to be paid as much as the ones who had been working all day?

[21:48] How did those long-standing workers feel? The ones who had put in the full day, how did they feel? They were upset, right? They said, those people worked only one hour, yet you've paid them just as much as you paid us who worked all day in the scorching heat.

[22:08] Do you know what they were doing in that moment? They were changing the terms of agreement. Y'all called it out earlier. We said, why were they angry about this?

[22:20] Y'all called it out earlier.

[22:50] In their mind, change the agreement. And that's what happens, I think, between us and God, is we change the terms of agreement. We change the terms of agreement.

[23:05] Ephesians chapter 2, verse 8 and 9 says, God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can't take credit for this. This is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we've done, so none of us can boast about it.

[23:20] What those guys didn't understand is this landowner was going to give them that wage no matter how long they worked in his vineyard. Because the wage was the reward itself.

[23:33] Now far greater than any landowner's payment is the payment that Jesus made on the cross for your sin and for mine. That is the reward for the good things we've done.

[23:47] Not some special privilege in God's eyes. Not, well, he's been a Christian for a whole lot longer than this one has, so he's my favorite. But sometimes we get that in our minds, right?

[23:59] I've been walking with God so long, I must be a little bit higher up on the scale than this guy who just became a Christian. That's not how God sees it.

[24:10] He is the reward himself. We get to now have access to God. We have access to Jesus. That is the reward. Romans chapter 11 and verse 6, All this is through God's kindness.

[24:25] And it's not by good works. For in that case, God's grace would not be what it really is, free and undeserved. Had the landowner said, if you are not going to work the full day, then you're not going to make the full wage, that would make sense in our mind, but that would change what that reward was.

[24:47] It would no longer be just a reward. A free gift. Now it would be a fair wage. Now we're coming down to human thinking.

[25:00] You didn't work the full day. You don't make the full wage. That's how we operate in our kingdom. But in God's kingdom, he says, no, no, no. I'm not giving you the rewards of what you've done.

[25:15] I'm giving you a free gift. I'm giving you something that you don't deserve. So if I want to give it to you, and you've been a Christian for 40 years, you'll get the same reward as the guy who gets saved right before he dies and goes to heaven.

[25:33] And we think, how is that fair? But it's all fair because it's God's kingdom. And I think we don't understand how bad sin really is.

[25:50] I think we don't understand how separated we are from God. How unable we are to earn God's favor ourselves.

[26:01] How unable we are, incapable we are, of having a relationship with God on our own. He's got to give that to us. We can't earn it.

[26:12] If you think that you've been coming to church for a while, or you've been a good person, you know a lot about the Bible, and you think that's going to get you anywhere with God, that's what you're basing your relationship with him on.

[26:30] Then I promise you, you don't have a relationship with him. The relationship must be on his terms. And he's laid his terms out very clearly in the word of God.

[26:45] We just saw them. God saved you by his grace when you believed. You have to make the decision that I believe that I am a sinner, and I can't get to God on my own.

[26:56] It was only by Jesus' death on the cross, and payment for my sin, and then that God raised him back to life, and I know he's God, he's proven he's God, and I believe.

[27:07] I put my faith in him. I want to follow him for the rest of my days. That gives you a relationship with God. Nothing else. You know what I've found? A lot of churches, well-meaning churches, have made it a habit to teach children all about the Bible, teach children all about God.

[27:26] But they never give them an opportunity to make the decision for themselves. That's why I wanted to make sure last week we gave them that opportunity, those kids who came through VBS.

[27:38] And so year after year, they learn more, but they're never given the opportunity to respond. They're never called and said, now, what are you going to do with Jesus?

[27:52] What are you going to do with what you've learned? Are you going to follow him? Are you going to become his child? Or are you going to stay in your sin, just learning more and more about who God is, about what he is, about what he's done, coming to church year after year, and they go through the youth group.

[28:12] And then what happens? Statistics say they graduate from high school, and they stop coming to church. And they get married, and they start a family, and at some point, oh, well, when I was a kid, I went to church.

[28:22] I should probably get my kids back in church. And they start coming again. And everybody thinks, oh, yeah, man, they're Christian people. They were raised in church. I remember being in the youth group with them. I remember going to VBS with them.

[28:34] We're sitting in church together now. We're going to Sunday school together, and they just assume that they're children of God, and they've never actually repented of their sin and turned to Jesus.

[28:47] And so I think it falls to the church to say, hey, we're going to teach you about God, but we're also going to call you to respond. And today might be that day for some of you.

[28:58] It might be someone in the room that says, yeah, I need to do that. I've known about him my whole life, but I've never actually started the relationship with him myself.

[29:10] I've got to believe. So the agreement is not on our terms. It's on his. Whenever you try to lock God into an agreement, you're going to lose.

[29:22] I heard a pastor say that one time, and I wrote it down. Whatever you're going to try to lock God into an agreement, you're going to lose. We see people try to do that in the Bible, in the Old Testament especially, and God always changes the terms of agreement to what he wants them to be.

[29:41] Bargaining with God will never get us where we think it will. Ephesians, I'm sorry, Galatians chapter 2 and verse 21.

[29:51] I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless, for if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die. Do you see what it's doing when we try to change the terms of agreement with God?

[30:06] When we try to make our relationship with God based on what we do, not on his grace, it actually treats his grace as meaningless. There was no reason for him to die if we could earn it ourselves.

[30:21] If this could be done without him, then why did he need to die? Well, he did need to die because it can't be done apart from him. This relationship can never be mended.

[30:34] It will always be broken between God and man, between God and us, unless Jesus built the bridge, unless Jesus made it possible. And he did.

[30:46] Thank God he did. So, don't bargain with God. But we do, right? God, if you'll do what I want, I let you be God.

[30:57] That's what our bargaining ultimately comes down to. God, I'll let you be God in my life if you do what I want. Think about it.

[31:10] Any times that you've argued with God, that you've bargained with God. Now listen, these things will happen. We are fallen, fleshly people. We are imperfect people.

[31:21] There are going to be times in our life where we doubt, where we struggle. God, why are you doing this? But we've got to come out of that and say, okay, I'm going to let God be God just because he's God.

[31:32] Somebody told me recently, they were, they texted out a question and they said, it was Bill, I think Bill texted out a question and he said, what does God mean to you?

[31:44] Why is God God in your life? And one of the responses he got back was, how's that? He said, why do you follow Jesus? He said, I follow Jesus because he's Jesus, because he's God.

[31:56] That was it. And he got some other long theological answers with all kinds of biblical support and those were good things. But Bill said, man, I think the one I liked the most was just, I follow Jesus because he's God.

[32:08] Because he's Jesus. Why wouldn't I? He's in charge. He's the top of the heap. Who else am I going to follow? Somebody lesser. So when we leave God as God, we're letting him do what he wants, not asking him to do what we want.

[32:31] Bill, I was just talking about you. So we automatically assume that we're in a position to bargain with God.

[32:43] Isn't that interesting? I've read this story many times in my life. Do you know the group of people, the group of workers that I've always lumped myself in with? The guys who worked all day.

[32:56] Is it just me or is anybody else? When you read this story, you automatically put yourself with the group that worked all day. Anybody else? Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for being honest. I would have felt very alone.

[33:08] How about the nine hours instead of the 12 hours? You're a nine-hour worker. Maybe a six-hour worker. Three-hour worker. Do we have a bunch of one-hour workers in here? Is that what y'all are?

[33:19] I just assume I'm the one, you know. I got saved when I was seven years old, man. And I've been with Jesus ever since.

[33:29] Now, it hadn't been perfect. I've had my ups and downs. But it's been a long time, you know. I assume that I'm the 12-hour all-day worker.

[33:40] The truth is, for the 33 years that I've been a child of God, I haven't been working for Him all that time.

[33:53] I don't know about you, but you probably haven't either. We assume immediately, many of us, that we're the ones who worked all day. But how much more likely is it that God sees us as in that group that's only worked partial days?

[34:07] Probably just about all of us. How much have we actually worked for Him? And that leads us to the final point before we're gone. We don't actually work. There are two problems with God's workforce.

[34:22] The first one is, His workers change the terms of agreement. The second one is, His workers don't actually work.

[34:34] Now, they might do busy work. They might do things, but they don't actually do the work He called them to do.

[34:46] Matthew 21 and verse 28. Would you go over one chapter to Matthew 21 and verse 28? We're going to read a few verses there before we close. Matthew 21 and verse 28.

[34:59] Matthew 21 and verse 28. All right, here we go, y'all. Is it a little warm in here?

[35:10] A little stuffy? Anybody? Everybody's good? All right, just making sure you're not falling asleep on me. Here we go. For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve others, and to give His life as a ransom for many.

[35:24] That is verse 20. It's chapter 20. That is not chapter 21. I apologize. It's a great verse, outstanding verse, but it's not the one I wanted to read right now. Let's get to verse 28. Here we go.

[35:35] What do you think about this? A man with two sons told the older boy, son, go out and work in the vineyard today. I love this. Pairing this parable with the one that we just read earlier.

[35:48] Guy's got two sons. He tells the oldest one, son, go out and work in my vineyard. A lot of vineyards going on back then, right? The son answers, no. Can you imagine telling your dad that?

[36:00] Man, something would have happened to me, and it would not have felt good if I had said, no, I won't go. But that's literally what the guy said. Uh-uh. Ain't doing it. But later, he changed his mind.

[36:15] Yeah, I bet he did. We don't know exactly what happened or why. I know what happened in my house. But later, he changed his mind and went anyway.

[36:25] Then the father told the other son, you go. And he said, yes, sir, I will. But he didn't go.

[36:39] He was the kid who's like, oh, yeah, dad, I got you. Don't worry about it, man. I will get it done. And then an hour later, he's sitting on the same couch playing the same video games, right?

[36:50] Which of the two obeyed his father? The first one. The one who said yes.

[37:01] Well, unfortunately, he's not the one who obeyed. He said he would, but he didn't do it, right? Why would the bad son change his mind later? Is it because he remembered how much his father actually loves him?

[37:15] Is it because his father corrected him? We don't know exactly, but we know that he said no, he resisted, but then he changed his mind later. Why would the good son, quote, quote, quote, good son, never follow through?

[37:32] Is it because his love had grown cold? He was the kid who probably didn't give problems. He was the kid who didn't push back, didn't resist, didn't rebel.

[37:44] Well, sure, whatever you guys want, you got it. But he would never actually follow through. My fear is so many of God's children who have been with him most of their lives have repeatedly told him, yes, I'll go and I'll work in your vineyard, Lord.

[38:08] I'll make disciples for your kingdom. I'll make other followers of Jesus, but we don't actually go. Meanwhile, there are often latecomers who maybe rejected him at first, and then later they obeyed the Spirit's voice, and they are now greater witnesses for him than those of us who should be.

[38:37] Us old-timers, often we're not as great a witnesses for him, workers in his vineyard, than those who just turned around and said, yes, now I'll obey.

[38:53] Now I'll listen. Maybe that's what Jesus meant when he said, the last shall be first. They receive that blessing of obedience.

[39:08] Remember a few weeks ago, we talked about the wedding with the king. He sent out the invitation to those on the list, and what did they do? They rejected him. They turned it down.

[39:20] The ones who should have said yes, the ones who were chosen, the ones the invitation went out to, they had the least care for it, the least respect for it.

[39:31] They were the least grateful. But those who got it late, the latecomers, they were the most grateful. So what is all this leading us to? There's a problem that we have to understand.

[39:47] We don't do what Jesus wants because he has our souls, but not our hearts. We don't do what Jesus wants because he has our souls, but not our hearts.

[40:07] We trusted him with salvation. So many in this room would say that. But he's never gotten your heart after that. You've held onto your heart and said, no, I've got other things that are more important to me than the work that the one who gave it all for me has called me to do.

[40:33] Mike Donahue was a Christian singer, and he said this, and I loved it, and I wanted to share it with you. I've come to believe that God is much less interested in what we do with our lives and much more concerned or interested with how and why we live our lives.

[40:50] Do you understand what that means, the difference there? God's not as concerned with the outward of what you're spending your time doing. He's more concerned with the inward of how and why you're doing it.

[41:04] Do you understand that reflects the heart? That's the posture of your heart. Where is your heart positioned? That's what matters to Jesus.

[41:16] That's what matters to him about me. I can be a pastor for years. I can be in ministry for years. I have. Counted it up the other day. I don't remember exactly what it was.

[41:27] I think I told Jared. I don't forget the things I've told you. Yeah, something like that. A lot of years. I think it was 17 full-time and 20 including part-time or something like that.

[41:39] Anyway, I've been serving Jesus a long time, right? I would love to say that my heart has been positioned and postured toward God all that time, but it hasn't.

[41:50] But that's what God's after. So how much of that time, how many of those years did God really have my heart? That's what we got to ask ourselves. That's what God's concerned with.

[42:04] He didn't save us just so we would turn into worker bees to go out and do a bunch of stuff for him. He saved us to do the work he called us to do from the heart.

[42:15] That's what God wants. So the posture of my heart is the most important part. I made it rhyme. It's easy to say. Let's say it. Ready? The posture of my heart is the most important part.

[42:29] If you can read the scriptures and not come away with understanding that, then you're not getting it. That is what Jesus wants. The posture of your heart is the most important part.

[42:40] So what does a healthy posture look like? Humility, not pride. Repentance, not defiance. Compassion, not cruelty. Mercy, not mockery.

[42:51] Patience, not rejection of truth. The heart posture is what God is all about. That's what the workers didn't understand in the vineyard that day.

[43:05] It wasn't about is everybody getting the amount of money that they should have earned for the hours they put in. You don't want what you've earned with the hours you've put in.

[43:17] You want the free gift that God has for you. And you want to give him your heart. If you've received that free gift, if you're his child, then what is your heart posture toward God?

[43:28] That's our takeaway this morning as we close. What is your heart posture toward God? Jared's going to come. He's going to play. Would you ask yourself that question right now? Would you bow your head? Would you focus on God, not the person next to you?

[43:42] You don't have to worry about closing your Bible right now or getting up and going to the bathroom. We'll deal with all that stuff in a minute. Right now, bow your head. Lock in on Jesus. If the Holy Spirit is with you, then listen to his voice right now, that still, small voice.

[43:59] What is your heart posture toward him? When I was growing up, my mom was always on me about my posture.

[44:12] Sitting in a chair, I'd slump. Sitting on a couch, I'd want to lay down and relax. Saying, son, you don't have good posture. You and I might not have the best heart posture toward God right now.

[44:30] It might be relaxed. It might be focused on other things. It might be focused on our comfort, our pleasure, our priorities.

[44:41] might not be focused on what God has it focused on. What does God want my heart focused on?

[44:51] Well, open his book and read it. He's got a whole kingdom he's building. He wants to build it through us. But he needs access to our hearts.

[45:04] Would you open your heart to Jesus today? Maybe for the very first time. If there's somebody in the room that says, I need to finally open my heart to Jesus. Say, God, I want to be your child. I want to turn from my sin and turn to Jesus.

[45:16] Would you slip your hand up and I'll pray for you? We have it happen all throughout the year. I'll pray for you right now. If that's you. Thank you. What about the rest of you?

[45:29] Would you open your heart to Jesus again today? Say, God, I'm going to give you as much of my heart as I can right now. And then please work on the rest.

[45:41] There might be more that I'm holding on to and I need you to help me wear it down. Take my heart, Lord Jesus. Would you slip your hand up if that's your prayer and say, God, help me right now.

[45:53] Open up more of my heart. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for your honesty. If you want to extend your hands forward, if you just want to stay seated in an attitude of prayer, if you'd like to stand, whatever you'd like to do, let's sing right now.

[46:08]  Jared's going to lead us and we'll be dismissed in a moment, but let's give our hearts, all of them, to Jesus. Amen.