Contract or Covenant? - Mt.20 - Sam Pollard at Christ Church Thames View

God’s presence is not an optional extra for the Christian life. The Christian life becomes almost impossible when awareness of God’s goodness, kindness, and nearness is not being cultivated. Money exposes that reality quickly because provision, lack, giving, and generosity bring the heart out into the open.

The biblical practice of tithing carried a practical purpose in supporting worship and the priesthood, but its deeper purpose was spiritual. The first tenth declared that everything comes from God. Giving was sometimes celebration and feasting before God, sometimes provision for worship, but it was always a way of recognising God as the giver.

The contrast between contract and covenant gets right to the heart of discipleship. A contract says, “I give this to get that back,” while a covenant says, “I belong to you.” Marriage changes who two people are because promises bind their lives together. Covenant with God changes people from those merely doing religious things into children of God who know him as Father.

Israel’s hunger in the wilderness exposed a contract-shaped relationship with God. Israel had seen miracles, believed God was powerful, and yet complained when God did not immediately provide what seemed necessary. God gave manna, quail, and water, but God’s aim was bigger than filling stomachs. God wanted Israel to see his glory, his goodness, and his presence in the middle of lack.

Moses understood what Israel kept missing. Moses would rather remain in the wilderness with God’s presence than enter the promised land without him. God’s provision matters, but God himself is the treasure. Jesus carries that same truth into the New Testament as the bread of life, God present with his people.

The vineyard workers reveal how quickly the heart turns generous grace into a complaint about fairness. The landowner keeps his promise, calls the workers “friend,” and reminds them that all the money is his. God’s generosity is not a threat to those who know him as Father, but it feels offensive to those still trying to make faith into a transaction.

Paul shows what covenant love looks like under suffering. Christ becomes so precious that life means serving him and death means being with him. God may feed the hungry, provide finance, or change the circumstances, but God also sustains his children when none of those things come as expected. Giving, then, is not buying God’s favour or funding personal preferences. Giving is a privilege, a way of breaking fear, stepping closer into the life of the church, and remembering that flawed, weak people have been invited to share what belongs to the Creator with their Father.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Presence matters more than provision God’s gifts are good, but God never intends gifts to replace himself. Israel received manna in the wilderness, yet the deeper invitation was to draw near and see God’s glory. Lack can become a place where God’s nearness is discovered rather than a verdict that God has abandoned his children. [16:05]
• 2. Covenant changes more than behaviour A contract keeps score, but covenant creates belonging. God does not merely want people who obey instructions in order to receive benefits. God makes his people children, and that relationship reshapes both what they do and who they are. [12:44]
• 3. Generosity breaks the grip of fear Giving can expose the fear that says survival depends entirely on what can be held onto. Even a small gift can become a refusal to let scarcity define God’s goodness. Generosity declares that God’s blessing reaches further than anxious self-protection. [29:29]
• 4. Giving is privilege, not payment Grace means no one is under law as though God needs to be paid off. Giving becomes beautiful when it is received as participation in the Father’s generosity rather than a contract for services rendered. Weak and dependent people get to offer something back to the Creator because he has drawn them close as his children.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [02:39] - Learning to Be Present with God
• [04:24] - Why Talk About Money?
• [05:47] - Learning to Tithe as a Child
• [07:10] - The Spiritual Purpose of Tithing
• [10:07] - Giving as Discipleship
• [11:42] - Contract or Covenant?
• [14:02] - Israel’s Hunger in the Wilderness
• [16:42] - Moses Chooses God’s Presence
• [18:13] - Jesus, the Bread of Life
• [19:34] - The Rich Young Ruler
• [20:59] - The Generous Vineyard Owner
• [23:28] - Paul’s Greater Treasure
• [27:21] - God Is Everything Needed
• [28:02] - Giving in Times of Lack
• [31:42] - The Privilege of Giving

Bible Reading

Exodus 16:1–12
They set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt. And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.” So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, “At evening you shall know that it was the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and in the morning you shall see the glory of the LORD, because he has heard your grumbling against the LORD. For what are we, that you grumble against us?” [14:02] [16:05]

Matthew 20:1–16
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ So the last will be first, and the first last.” [20:59] [22:28]

Philippians 1:21–23
“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.” [23:28] [25:02]

John 6:35
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” [18:30] [18:45]

Observation questions

1. What do the Israelites remember about Egypt, and what do their words reveal about how they interpret their hunger in the wilderness? [14:02]
2. In Exodus 16, what does Moses say the people will see in the morning, alongside the bread God will provide?
3. What had the first vineyard workers agreed to receive, and what did they expect after seeing the later workers paid? [21:07]
4. What two things does the landowner say that the grumbling workers seem to miss: the name he calls them and his right to use his money generously? [22:28]

Interpretation questions

1. Why does God respond to Israel’s grumbling not only by providing bread, but also by promising that they will see his glory? What does this show about God’s deeper purpose in seasons of lack? [15:22]
2. How does the difference between a contract and a covenant help explain why hardship can lead people either toward God or into resentment against him? [11:42]
3. Why might the vineyard owner’s generosity feel unfair to the workers who began early? How does his question, “Do you begrudge my generosity?” expose a heart that is keeping score? [22:49]
4. Paul is in prison, yet he says that living means Christ and dying is gain. What does this reveal about what had become most valuable to him? [24:04]

Application questions

1. When money, work, food, housing, or another practical need feels uncertain, what thoughts most quickly rise up in your heart? Do those thoughts draw you toward God’s presence or make you question his goodness? [16:05]
2. Where might faith have become transactional: “I obey, serve, give, or pray, so God should give me the outcome I want”? What would it look like to remember that God has made his people his children, not merely people completing obligations? [27:06]
3. Is there an area of life where you are more focused on God’s provision than on God himself? What simple practice could help you become more aware of his nearness this week?
4. When someone else receives an opportunity, provision, answer to prayer, or blessing that you have wanted, what response tends to appear in you? How can the vineyard owner’s generosity help you celebrate grace rather than compare? [22:56]
5. What fears make generosity difficult right now? Is there a small, realistic gift or act of generosity that could help loosen fear’s grip without pretending that financial pressures are not real? [29:18]
6. Giving is not payment for God’s favour; it is a privilege of participating in the Father’s generosity. How might that change the way you think about giving to the church, helping someone in need, or sharing what you have? [31:42]