Faith Walk / William Carroll
We will be talking about the word of God and how he moved in my life as I stood on his word. His signs and wonders that I have seen during the last forty years praying for my needs and the needs of others. I hope to encourage a new generation of believers to pray the word of God and to believe that He will move on their behalf. God answers prayers!
Faith Walk / William Carroll
Ep 75 Pride: The Hidden Barrier to Kingdom Service
Have you ever felt the sting of injustice when someone new receives the same reward as you, despite your years of faithful service? Matthew 20's parable of the laborers in the vineyard confronts this very human reaction head-on, revealing profound insights about God's economy that challenge our worldly understanding of fairness.
Walking verse by verse through this powerful parable, we discover how workers hired at different times throughout the day all received identical wages, sparking outrage among those who labored longest. The vineyard owner's response cuts right to the heart of entitlement: "Did you not agree to this wage? Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things?" This challenge resonates not just in ancient parables but in our modern workplaces and church communities.
The spiritual application runs deeper than simple fairness. We explore how spiritual pride creates an entitlement mentality that damages our relationships with both God and fellow believers. When we've walked with Christ for years, we can develop an unhealthy superiority over new Christians, forgetting our own humble beginnings. This episode unpacks Jesus's mysterious conclusion that "many are called but few are chosen," revealing how pride might be the very thing blocking us from greater service in God's kingdom. Through personal reflection and a powerful closing prayer, we confront the pride lurking in our own hearts and seek God's purifying work.
Ready to examine your heart for signs of spiritual entitlement? Listen, reflect, and share this episode with someone struggling with comparison or resentment in their faith journey. Together, let's embrace God's upside-down kingdom where the last become first and grace trumps merit every time.
Good morning, welcome to Faith Walk Podcast, episode 75. And this morning we're still going to be in Matthew, chapter 20. We're going to Matthew Chapter 20, starting in the first verse, and I'm going to start reading, because it's kind of quite a long parable and it's about the laborers in the vineyard and it says For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. Is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. Now, when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them off to the vineyard. And when he went about the third hour, which is about nine o'clock, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, he said to them you also go to the vineyard and whatever is right I'll give it to you. So they went him. You also go to the vineyard and whatever is right I'll give it to you. So they went. And again, when it was about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did likewise. And about the 11th hour he went out and he found others standing idle and he said to them why have you been standing here all day idle? And they said no one hired us. And he said well, you go to the vineyard and whatever's right you will receive.
Speaker 1:So when evening was come, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward call the laborers, give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first. And when those came who were hired about the 11th hour, they received a denarius. When the first came, they supposed they would receive more, and they they received a denarius. When the first came, they supposed they would receive more, and they likewise received a denarius. And when they had received it, they complained against the landowner, saying these last men have worked only one hour, but you made them equal to us, who have burned the burden in the heat of the day. Burn the burden in the heat of the day. And he answered one of them and he said friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for Denarius, take what is yours and go your way? I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things, or is your eye evil because I am good? So the last will be first and the first last, for many are called but few are chosen.
Speaker 1:So let's talk about this a little bit. So here's a guy who needs his vineyard picked, so he goes out and he hires it at six in the morning, then he goes back at nine, then he goes back at noon, then he goes back at three, and then he goes back the last hour, the 11th hour, the last hour of the day, and he hires those who had been there all day but hadn't worked and he says y'all go on out. And he says I'll pay you whatever's fair. Now, the first ones, he's told he'll give a denarius, a sum of money, and he said I'll give you that much if you work all day. So they went out and they agreed and they started working all day. Then at the last he says listen, he says I want you to pay those that started last. First he told him give him a denarius. So he gave him a denarius. Well, the the ones that were watching behind that had worked all day. They got upset. They said this is not right. This isn't right at all. We worked all day long, we should get more. And he says well, didn't you agree to work for this much? And they said well, yeah, but it's not fair because they got this much and they only been in there an hour. He says is it not my money? Is it not my right to do these things? Is it not lawful? And they said, well, yeah. And he said, well, take your money and go on then. And he said what's going to happen? And he's talking about the kingdom of God. The first will be last and the last will be first, because many are called but few are chosen. Many are called but few are chosen. And so, listen, god wants us to be happy. I'm going to talk about the natural thing first.
Speaker 1:In your job. A lot of times in your job, you go to work. You say, hey, you know, I agree to work for this much, and you're hired on, and then you start finding out that somebody else Either they got hired after you or they've been there a long time and they're making more than you do and you get upset and you want to go to your boss and you want to stop, you want to holler, you want though you hat, you want to scream, you want to say you're cheating me, you're cheating me. And the question is I, did you not agree to go to work for that much If it was $7 an hour. Did you not agree to go to work for $7 an hour? Why are you mad if he hires me at $9 an hour when you agreed to go to work for $7 an hour?
Speaker 1:See, in the real world, what you should do if you think you deserve more is go in and ask for a raise and give the reasons why you asked for a raise is go in and ask for a raise and give the reasons why you asked for a raise. But we nowadays, we think that if we've been there longer we ought to be making a lot more money and a lot of times that's just not the truth, because you've been there in that same position a long time and you've never advanced. Now you're doing that job good, but somebody comes in that's new, that's young and they're working and they're working that job good. But somebody comes in that's new, that's young and they're working and they're working their way up and the bosses see that they're going to be something you know, they're going to move up in the company and they may give them a little more money. Times change too and there's more money. You know it's hard for employers, employers, sometimes. I'm not saying they're always right, okay, like this parable, but sometimes they're not, sometimes they're not.
Speaker 1:But back to the spiritual meaning of this.
Speaker 1:It says that many are called but few are chosen.
Speaker 1:Many are called and the last will be first and the first will be last.
Speaker 1:Listen, what I take out of this is God wants us to realize that, just because he's called us, just because he's called us to follow him, and we start walking, we need to not be jealous of new Christians. We need to not be offended when a new Christian doesn't act like an older Christian. We need to encourage them. We need to lift them up. We need to encourage them. We need to lift them up. We need to remember where we came from. This is what I'm taking out of it. I need to remember where I came from. When I first got saved, when I was walking in the world man, I had both feet and neck deep in the world and God saved me. He called me out of that. He pulled me out of the, miry, set my. He pulled me out of the, the, the miry clay, and set my rock upon the, my feet upon the rock to stay. And and I have to remember where I came from and not think more highly of myself than I ought. Like we talked in the last video.
Speaker 1:You know, so many times pride is where we stumble, pride is where we fall. We can have Christian pride we can have. Well, you know, I'll call it spiritual pride. But it's not spiritual pride, you know, it's soulish pride where we think we're better than others and we think we're better than others in the church, and we look at this day and we say, well, how come I'm not running the vacation Bible school? Well, because you didn't pay a price, because you're not there, because that's not where God called you to.
Speaker 1:If you want to run Vacation Bible School, then you need to get in and you need to work and you need to work your way up and then, when there's an opening, god will choose you. He may choose you to put you in that position. You see, we're all called, but few are chosen. The chosen are the ones that are chosen to do things that God wants them to do. You have to be chosen to do something, not step out and just say, well, I'm going to do this because I think I can do it better. God wants you to rest on him. God wants you to trust in him. God wants you to rest on him, god wants you to trust in him. God wants you to follow him. God wants you to learn to follow others that he may take that calling where he called you and choose you for service. He wants to choose you and place you where it would be best for you, where you would be happy, where others would be happy.
Speaker 1:But we got to let the pride, We've got to let the pride go and we have to be happy with whatever we get. And we have to be happy whichever hour he calls us. See, there may be some that are called at the last I mean right before their death and you might say, well, that's not real salvation, well, you're not God. How do you know? How do you know that's not real salvation? You know, listen, if you've got pride in your life, you need to purge it.
Speaker 1:You need to ask the Lord to purge the pride in your life. To help you, let's just pray right now. Lord Jesus, help me purge the pride in my life. We all have pride. We all have the lust of the eyes, the lust of the heart, the lust of the flesh. Father, cleanse that in us. Father, remove that from us and let us yield unto you. Let us walk with you, Let us love you, father, and in our calling Lord, let us be chosen to do your will, whether it's at work, whether it's at home. Father, let us be walking in the Spirit through this life, hand in hand with you, in Jesus' name. Now, listen like share. Share with somebody. Just send me an email. You know you can hear Faith Walk anywhere. You get your podcasts. Until next time. This is William. I'm gone.
