A Laborer Is Worthy of His Wage

Have you ever felt that the time and effort that you put into your work far surpass what you bring home at the end of the day? “Here’s to the workers whose labor is worth more than their pay” is a line from a song by Alabama that puts to music this sentiment perfectly. I have heard this complaint from many different people and have even felt this way a time of two myself. How great it is to receive the appropriate amount of respect and remuneration for a job well done, even more so just knowing that you were able to provide for your family.

In Luke 10:7, Christ tells those disciples that He is sending out on the limited commission, that they are to “remain in the same house, eating and drinking such things as they give, for the laborer is worthy of his wages.” This tells that us that it is good for a laborer to be compensated fairly for work that is performed. It also appears that it works the other way. Second Thessalonians 3:10 tells us that if anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. It is easy for us to see the value of a day’s labor when we get paid every two weeks or so, but if that pay does not come right away, we can forget how important the work we are doing is.

Jesus, in Matthew 20, tells a parable in which He compares heaven to payment received for work done in a vineyard. Some workers were hired at the beginning of the day, some in the middle, and some at the end. They all received the same pay because they did the same work. Christ was letting His disciples know that it is not as important when we come to work for Him as it is that we work for Him. As we all know, just because we are offered a job does not mean that we are going to keep it, as the lazy servant of Matthew 25 discovered when he was cast into outer darkness for doing nothing with what he was given.

As adults in today’s workforce, we expect to be compensated for our work.  Do we expect the same thing when it comes to heaven, our reward for overcoming the sins of this world? Do we ever view our role as Christians as that of workers in the Lord’s vineyard, laboring till the landowner comes to take us home?  Are we doing the work of Him who sent us as Christ did or are we letting someone else do it?  Are we expecting to be paid for work that we never did? Is the work that we are doing here on earth worthy of a home in Heaven?