Serving God to the End
Matthew 19:30–20:16
So the last will be first, and the first last. Matthew 20:16

What Jesus had in mind when he told the provocative parable of the workers in the vineyard is suggested by the most important verse that both introduces the story and ends it: “But many who are first will be last, and the last first” (Matt. 19:30). The important word here is many, for the teaching is not that every person who begins early with God and works for him throughout a lifetime will inevitably be last or that everyone who begins late will inevitably be first. That will be true for many people, but it will not be true for all.

Many who begin early will lose their reward or not even come to faith in Christ because they approach God in a false or mercenary spirit, on the basis of their merit and not on the basis of God’s grace. Many who enter last will be first because, although they begin late, they nevertheless recognize that their status is due to God’s grace alone and praise God for it. But neither of those cases is true for everyone.

It is not necessary either to start early and finish last or start last and finish first. In fact, neither is best. The truly desirable thing is to start early and work with all the might you have, not for reward but out of genuine love for our Master, Jesus Christ, and when you have finished still to say, “I am nevertheless an unprofitable servant.” It is such people whom God delights to honor.

Daniel was such a person. He was carried off to Babylon at a very early age. He was immersed in the splendors of the great Babylonian court and was trained for high position and responsibility. He could have been swept away by the temptations. But Daniel decided at that early age not to “defile himself ” (Dan. 1:8). He determined to serve God, and he was still there decades later as an old man serving God and hearing God say, “Go your way till the end. And you shall rest and shall stand in your allotted place at the end of the days” (12:13).

Daniel served God for seventy years.
Moses served God for eighty years.
Abraham served God for a hundred years.
Enoch served God for three hundred years.

This is the challenge I put before you, especially if you are young. Do not wait to serve God. Do not wait until the ninth or eleventh hour of your all-too-brief life. Start now. Serve now. Keep at your service year after year. And when you come to the end, you will not say, “What am I owed for my service?” You will say, “What a joy it has been to serve my gracious and loving Lord!”

Taken from Come to the Waters by James Boice ISBN 9798887790954 used with permission from P&R Publishing, Phillipsburg NJ 08865

Scripture quotations are from the ESV (the Holy Bible English Standard Version) copyright 2001 by Crossway a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.