“These who were hired last worked only one hour”

they said,
‘and you have made them equal to us,
who have borne the burden of the work

and the heat of the day.’

But he answered one of them,

‘I am not being unfair to you, friend.

Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius?

Take your pay and go.

I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you.

Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money?

Or are you envious because I am generous?’

“So the last will be first,

and the first will be last.”

- Jesus in Parable Of Landowner

 
The Kingdom of God does not operate under time but above time.  Therefore how and what it considers to be rewarded would be a complete mystery to someone operating only in the earthly realm.  It is not something that people can somehow manipulate to receive its rewards.  Many dictatorships hold an appearance of “voting” but in reality no matter what the people under its dictatorship elect and choose, the result will be whatever the dictatorship wants them to be.  The election and voting held by the dictatorship would be just to give the people under its stronghold an appearance, a facade, a masquerade of freedom.  It is not like this in the Kingdom.  How rewards are given, is not based on something that can be manipulated or hidden behind a mask.

The generosity of the Kingdom can be seen in the parable of the Landowner.  In the parable, the generosity of the Kingdom is NOT based on the longevity of the workers doing the work, but on the faithfulness of them doing the work they agreed to do, till the end of the day.  Both the early ones and the late ones were rewarded with the same generosity.  You see it is not the work itself being rewarded but the “yes.” It is this “YES” that unlocks the reward of the generosity of the Kingdom.

Faithfulness could be described as the act of unfailing loyalty and displaying it through consistent practice regardless of extenuating circumstances.  Faithfulness is not saying you are fasting for 10 days, but every night, when no one is “watching,” eating a 10 pound steak at two in the morning.  Faithfulness is neither saying you are married but when out of town taking the ring off and flirting with people when no one that knows you is around.  Faithfulness is walking out of a 20 billion dollar deal, for it would require you to lie to the public that you saw something you didn’t.  You see, faithfulness in the Kingdom is a measurement of both the LOYALTY and the STEADFASTNESS of the heart.  It is not only measured by deeds done and not done, but by the consistency and adherence to, regardless of the circumstances and who is looking.

It is this inconsistency in loyalty that God explained to Hosea about Israel.  To God, they were unfaithful like a harlot constantly seeking new lovers despite all that God had done for Israel.  The faithfulness of God’s love however never wavers.  It is this revelation of His unwavering steadfastness and resolution that can and often brings many to the reality and need to fully surrender.  The faithfulness of Hosea, allowed him to personally know and experience this revelation about God.  This then rewarded him with the opportunity to demonstrate an aspect of the Love of God that had not been known till then.

Jesus speaks of this in another parable. Here the faithful servant is rewarded by the master:

“His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.”  You see the master was watching how the servant would meet the challenge. Though it seemed insignificant and trivial the servant's faithfulness to the small unlocked the reward of the MORE.

You see, for someone to be faithful towards anything, they first make the decision that it is the right thing to do.  So central is this first step, that in order to please God, it is a requirement.  It is written, “without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”  So the servant knows the Master Voice and thus obeys the instructions and commands of the Master, no matter how things looked or seemed insignificant, the servant's faithfulness proved true upon the Master's return.

Faithfulness unlocks the mysteries of God. Let’s see what Moses’ faithfulness unlocked:

"Hear now My words:
If there is a prophet among you,

I, the Lord, shall make Myself known to him in a vision.

I shall speak with him in a dream.

NOT SO, with My servant Moses,

He is FAITHFUL in all My household;

With him I speak mouth to mouth,

Even openly, and not in dark sayings,

And he beholds the form of the Lord.

Why then were you not afraid

To speak against My servant, against Moses?”

-God, Recorded in Book of Numbers

The servant, Moses, heard The Master’s Voice, and obeyed.  The steadfastness of the obedience produced a reward, The reward?  Intimacy with the Master.  In this intimacy, a one on one conversation develops.  This intimate conversation is one with clarity, understanding and revelation that is with the Creator Himself.  

Jesus Echo this to the disciples when he said:

“No longer do I call you slaves,

for the slave does not know what his master is doing;

but I have called you friends,

because all things that I have heard from My Father

I have made known to you.”

Jesus, teaching and displaying how The Kingdom of God works, here taught the reward of intimacy and friendship with God.  The reward of faithfulness allows one to hear the Voice of the Master, with clarity and with precision.   Noah's faithfulness provided him access to a clearance level to hear of a mystery that had never occurred on earth, Rain.  Abraham's faithfulness allowed him to hear of the mystery that an elderly man and woman would have a child.  Mary’s faithfulness allowed her to become the vessel God used to deliver THE PROMISE.

Unlike the world that investigates the past and only the past for security clearance.  The Kingdom of God, uses both the intent, heart and the obedience to the truth of God.  Obedience of the small instructions and steadfastness to the task, unlocks the clearance level to deeper and clearer revelation.  Many want to claim this level of intimacy and friendship with God.  But it comes with a price many are not willing to pay.

The price of this intimacy is to walk in the character and essence of what God is.  John describes it like this:

Whoever hates his brother is a murderer,
and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

Amos said, unless two agreed they can not walk together.  To walk WITH God, both God and the walker need to agree to walk IN Love, IN forgiveness, IN Grace, IN Mercy, IN Righteousness.  This is the price, to give up the “right” to be offended but rather to see from HIS perspective and choose to see the opportunities to grow in maturity and in likeness of the one that is walking alongside one.

Many claim the rebellion of Jonah not wanting to prophecy to Nineveh, was because he was afraid to do so, or even that he hated them.  Yet they fail to realize why it was, as God himself asked him.  Jonah, said “for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.”  Jonah KNEW the heart of who He walked alongside with.  This is what angered him, he knew the heart of the Master he served.  He knew that hiding the truth from the one he walked alongside was pointless, as the transparency, the nakedness, was the very thing that allowed him to KNOW the character and heart of God.

The Kingdom of God SUFFERS (allows, permits, encourages) violence (them that forcefully take).  It is the violent that choose to walk WITH their God, that then choose to reflect HIS likeness.  They understand that to be worthy to carry His name, to be Called by HIS NAME, they must let go of the childish capriciousness of their youth and must choose voluntarily to say yes to the opportunity to mature and reflect the KING.  It is this steadfast faithfulness of violent surrender, no matter how they “feel or don't” that they operate under.  The violent know that only 100% obedience is considered in The Kingdom as Faithfulness.