Exposition
Many have quantified the success of discovering and serving their purpose in life with material gains and, as such, they think whenever the Lord uses them to meet a need, there should be some form of material gains as proof of service rendered. Beloved, in the Vineyard (the kingdom of God), it is the Lord that determines what each one can do and how each one is to be paid. At times, in serving in the Vineyard, people may not appreciate your effort and may even seek your downfall or disgrace. However, this should not deter you from pushing the kingdom’s agenda. In most cases, anytime you expect men to praise you and even give you something for service rendered in the name of the Lord, the Lord drops what He intends to give you because you have already been paid as it becomes what you bargained for. But if you leave it to the Lord to do it His own way, He pays here on earth and also in heaven but even if you don’t get anything on earth, the heavenly reward is eternal and therefore more precious.
You see in the passage that those engaged early in the morning bargained for one denarius. No matter the hours they worked compared with those who came at the eleventh hour, who just came into work without asking how much they were to be paid, they got the same reward. If it is the Lord you are working for and not man, then it is the Lord that will pay you. It is better to be paid by the Lord than by man.