Reward of Grace
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we are labourers together with God: ... other foundation
can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
... Every man’s work shall be made manifest: ... If any
man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall
receive a reward.”
1 Corinthians 3:7-14
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reward as to do what is right, irrespective of all gain. Love to God and
to our fellow men should be our motive.
This parable does not excuse those who hear the first call to labor
but who neglect to enter the Lord’s vineyard. When the householder
went to the market place at the eleventh hour and found men unem-
ployed he said, “Why stand ye here all the day idle?” The answer was,
“Because no man hath hired us.” None of those called later in the day
were there in the morning. They had not refused the call. Those who
refuse and afterward repent, do well to repent; but it is not safe to trifle
with the first call of mercy.
When the laborers in the vineyard received “every man a penny,”
those who had begun work early in the day were offended. Had they
not worked for twelve hours? they reasoned, and was it not right that
they should receive more than those who had worked for only one
hour in the cooler part of the day? “These last have wrought but one
hour,” they said, “and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have
borne the burden and heat of the day.”
“Friend,” the householder replied to one of them, “I do thee no
wrong; didst not thou agree with me for a penny? Take that thine
is, and go thy way; I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. Is it
not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil,
because I am good?
“So the last shall be first, and the first last; for many be called, but
few chosen.”
The first laborers of the parable represent those who, because of
their services, claim preference above others. They take up their work
in a self-gratulatory spirit, and do not bring into it self-denial and
sacrifice. They may have professed to serve God all their lives; they
may have been foremost in enduring hardship, privation, and trial, and
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they therefore think themselves entitled to a large reward. They think
more of the reward than of the privilege of being servants of Christ. In
their view their labors and sacrifices entitle them to receive honor above