Then answered Peter and said unto Him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and have followed Thee; what shall we have therefore?” (Matt. 19:27).
Peter betrayed a wrong mind, the mind of the natural man in Matthew 19:27. His words betrayed a bargaining spirit. The Lord certainly allows the claims of service. At once He tells him that none shall ever serve Him, or make surrenders for Him, who shall not gather fruit in the Glory. But having allowed this, He lets him know that men’s estimate of service may be very different from God’s. Such, I judge, is the meaning of verse 30.
Then, to illustrate this and other principles connected with the state of Peter’s mind, the Lord gives the parable of the laborers in the vineyard. In the course of it, the man who speaks in chapter 20 resembles Peter. As Peter judged that he was to reap a high reward, so does this man, but he gets no more than another who appeared to him to have earned only the tenth part of what he had been earning. But the Lord tells him that the last were first and the first last.
God’s Estimate of Service
God’s estimate was not necessarily like man’s. Man might put some first whom God would put last. It is not that there are not diversities of glory in the kingdom. The parable in Luke 19 shows us that there will be, but the awarding of them will be different from what man had judged. And so it surely will be. Many who are high in the esteem of brethren are yielding less devoted service to the Lord (such service as His eye which sees in secret apprehends) than many unknown ones.
Together with this, we have many other principles of great moral value illustrated in this parable.
The Lord’s Justice Vindicated
The Lord of the vineyard tells the complainant that He had done him no wrong, but that He was giving him fully what he had agreed to. So let us be assured that however the Lord may be pleased to deal either with sinners or saints, His justice will stand triumphantly vindicated. Our thoughts may be weak in this, but let us leave this with Him, only assuring ourselves that “the Judge of all the earth will do right” (Gen. 18:25). But having thus vindicated His justice in dealing with others, showing that He had not wronged them of what was theirs, the Lord asks, might He not do with what is His as He pleases? Was it not lawful for Him so to do? If they stood on law as to their claims, as they judged, they must surely allow Him to stand on the same. Therefore it was lawful for Him to do what He would with His own. This was another triumphant answer to them. Had they any right to stop His hand if He pleased to give the penny to others? Supposing even that they had not earned it–it was nevertheless His, and He might give it to them if He desired. And so with God–If He owns the fountain, may He not dispense the waters of life where He chooses? If He is the sovereign Lord of the treasures of grace, may He not bless any and all that He will? It is this generous heart of God that is manifested in the story. He was prepared to give, not according to the demands of some, but according to the need of all.
The Root of Murmuring
But beyond all this, the Lord of the vineyard suggests to the murmurer why it was he murmured. His eye was evil. There the secret spring of all this complaining is detected. Man’s heart is selfish and narrow; it takes no delight in grace; it is in no harmony with God’s affection; it stands in law; it is envious and grudging while God is gracious and bountiful. That is the real cause of enmity against the grace of the gospel. There is no sweeter, surer witness that we carry in us the mind of God than our joy in the triumphs of grace, whether they be in rescuing the sinner from destruction, or in restoring the backsliding saint from his follies. In whatever of its varied ways grace shows itself, thankfully to rejoice is the sure witness that the mind of God is in us.