Jesus Talks Money: Gratitude

God is generous with blessings. His blessings aren’t based on what we’ve done for Him or what we can offer to do but rather on His love for us. It’s easy to feel we deserve more blessings because we go to church more, give more, or serve more. But God blesses all of us because He loves us, and our response should be gratitude. (Matthew 20:1-16)

Transcript

I’ve done a lot of work in youth ministry since my early 20s and one thing I love about teenagers is when they express their gratitude. It’s heartwarming when I take them out for a meal or boba and at one point of our time with each other, they’ll pause and express their gratitude.

I find that I have a soft spot for teens because they’re in this unique place where they are old enough to understand and show gratitude, but also young enough not to understand it. So, it’s a nice surprise when they are grateful, but it doesn’t surprise me when they aren’t.

Looking back to my own teenage years, my parents weren’t swimming in money, but they had enough to provide me with all that I needed and even with what I wanted, but if I’m honest, I was pretty ungrateful. Between 16-22, I went through 4 cars because I wasn’t grateful for what I had so I didn’t take care of any of them. My parents provided me with cars that fulfilled my need to get from place to place, but the cars didn’t fulfill my wants. They weren’t as cool as the Honda Civics or Acura Integras that my friends and peers drove, so I thought my cars were junkers and didn’t consider the cost to or generosity of my parents.

When you don’t realize what you have, you become ungrateful, and it leaves you wanting something else or something more. And as we continue in the second week of our money series, we’re going to explore the importance between gratitude and what Jesus has to say about money.

Earlier in our scripture reading, we heard about the parable of the workers in the vineyard found in Matthew 20:1-16. Parables were stories that Jesus used to teach a profound, spiritual truth. Parables were a common teaching method that Jesus used. He would tell a story and draw out the profound truth. Some say 1/3 of his teachings were based on parables and in this particular parable, it’s a story about a landowner who hires people to work in his vineyard for a denarius.

Unlike many of us who have stable and secure jobs and know exactly what we’re going to do at work each day and maybe even dread it, the work culture was different in this parable’s context. Finding work was tough. Employment opportunities weren’t readily available so people would go to the marketplace each day to see who was hiring.

And in this case, a landowner with a vineyard was looking for workers and he was willing to pay a denarius to each worker. Now, a denarius is equivalent to a day’s wage so imagine what you’d get paid each day you work. And a typical workday for many of us is anywhere between 8-10 hours, but in the Jewish culture, work began at sunrise until sunset.

They typically worked a 12-hour day. So at the beginning of the day, let’s say around 6am, the landowner hired a group of workers. But because there was plenty of work, he continued to hire workers throughout the day. He went back to the marketplace at 9am, 12pm, 3pm, and even 5pm. And once the day was over at 6pm, it was time to pay each worker.

Unlike many of us who get paid weekly or bi-weekly through direct deposit or by a check, in Jewish culture, workers were paid at the end of the workday. When the workday ended, the manager paid the workers who he just hired. They only worked an hour and they each received a denarius. This was the same amount he promised the workers he hired at 6am who worked the entire 12-hour shift. Imagine that! If you went to work tomorrow for just an hour, but got paid the same as your co-worker who worked the entire shift. What a deal!

So the workers who had been there since 6am and worked the entire shift assumed that they would get paid more! Surprisingly and this probably shocked all the listeners who heard the story, when they went to receive their pay, they received the same amount as the workers who only worked an hour. They, too, received a denarius for the entire shift.

They were betting that they would get double, triple, maybe even twelve times the amount because they worked so much longer. And they weren’t happy. They complained to the landowner because they expected to receive more for working a longer shift.

The landowner responded that the workers agreed to work for a denarius and that he was generous to all of them with his wage during a difficult employment season. He then asked the workers if they were envious, jealous, or ungrateful because it seemed unfair to them. Maybe the workers felt like the landowner was being unjust by paying them the same wage as the others, but the landowner revealed that they were blinded by their own selfishness and jealousy to want more.

Their jealousy and envy prevented them from being grateful to the landowner as a gracious and compassionate person providing them with work and a fair wage during a difficult time of employment. Instead, they saw what others received and wanted more.

Jesus concludes the parable by saying, “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

The main point of this parable teaches us that God blesses all with the same gift because of his generosity. We don’t earn more of God’s blessing, His favor, or His love based on what we do or how long we’ve done it. So we shouldn’t be jealous or envious of others who earn the same blessings that we do.

The parable illustrates the workers being upset at the landowner’s generosity because they thought they deserved more, but they overlooked the landowner’s generosity. We receive God’s love because he loves generously and wants us to experience His love. Not because of what we’ve done.

Being jealous and envious prevents us from being grateful for the things God has blessed us with.

We miss seeing the blessings we receive because we want more. So, we spend more on ourselves and opt not to bless others. Instead of being jealous and envious, the point we need to understand about this parable is this:

Gratitude is our response to God’s generosity.

This parable reminds us to be aware that God blesses us with what we need because he is generous. And it’s easy to overlook God’s blessings because we might feel jealous or envious when we see others receiving their blessings.

We might feel entitled and expect to receive more because we’ve been going to church longer or we volunteer more frequently or we give to the church more often. Sometimes we have an assumption that if we’ve done something longer, our reward is greater.

That’s not the case with Jesus. He gives us exactly what we need. His gift is not based on what we’ve done or who we are. It’s based on his generosity.

So what does this mean for you? To be honest, this parable doesn’t directly talk about money. But, we can draw some truths that relate to money.

God blesses you all with what you need. But sometimes you begin to notice the people around you with great jobs, nice houses, beautiful cars, wonderful family, fun vacations, and you begin to desire those things. And sometimes that desire can turn into jealousy or envy.

When you become jealous and envious, you stop being grateful for what you have. What you have is not good enough. So you want more. You need more.

The problem with being ungrateful is that it causes you to be self-centered. It prevents you from seeing others. And it only allows you to see you. And when this happens, it doesn’t allow you to be generous like God.

So instead of being jealous and envious, learn to be grateful. Gratitude motivates you to be generous. When you are grateful for what you have, you are more willing to share with others.

There are plenty of stories in the Bible that talk about this. There are also plenty of research and studies that find a correlation between gratitude and generosity. If you are grateful, you are generous.

Not only do we respond to God’s generosity with gratitude, but gratitude drives us to be generous. Imagine how you could bless others and their needs with your generosity. Whether you’re generous with your money, time, skills and abilities, or just your presence. God is generous to us. So that we can be generous to others.

Prayer Reflection

As we wrap up today’s message, I want us to take a moment to reflect. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal what you are jealous or envious of.

What do people around you have that you want more of? A better career? More money? A bigger house? A faster or fancier car? A luxurious vacation?

What are the things that you want more of that prevent you from being grateful for what you have?

And when you know what it is I want you to close your hands as if you’re holding those things close to you because you want it so badly.

And when you’re ready, I want you to open your hands up and be willing to let go of all that you want and be thankful for all that you have.

Now, I want you to consider all that you’ve been blessed with. Your current job situation, the money in your account, the roof over your head, the car you drive, the daily space, and things you can retreat to give your mind and body a rest.

And consider who you can bless with the things you have. We’ve been blessed with much and we can be thankful for it.