Based on Christ teaching in the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard, we learn that God assigns individual responsibility to every person in every situation. Find your responsibility to understand God’s purpose for you in a given situation. Focus on performing your individual responsibility, irrespective of what others do or fail to do. He judges every person individually, independent of his judgment of other people.
Individual Responsibility in Human Interactions 10:05
We discuss Christ teaching in the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard, to understand that God assigns individual responsibility to every person in every situation. Also, he judges a person based on their performance of the individual responsibility. Furthermore, his judgment of a person is independent of his judgment of others, irrespective of what others do or fail to do. He rewards each person for performing their individual responsibility and his reward for a person is independent of his reward for others.
Christ teaching in the parable (Matthew 20:1–16) uses a hypothetical event of a landowner hiring several workers for one day’s work in his vineyard. At the core of the teaching is the fact that the landowner expectation of each worker was different depending on the time of day he hired the worker. This fact conveys an aspect of human relationship with God: that God’s expectation of each person in a given event is independent and could differ from his expectation of others. Furthermore, he judges each person individually and independent of what others do or fail to do.
We discuss the parable to understand the message. Also, we discuss a passage from Paul’s letter to the Romans, where he applies the principle to describe the individual responsibility for peace.
Every person is individually accountable for their responsibility in any human relationship or event, independent and irrespective of others’ behavior. God’s expectation and judgment of every person in a relationship or event depend on his specific assignment for the person and are independent of his expectation and judgment of the other party. He holds each person accountable to fulfill their role. He rewards those that do and is displeased with those that don’t, irrespective of what others do or fail to do. We discuss Christ teaching in the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard and an example from David: based on his reverence for Saul in life and honor at death, not minding that Saul considered him an enemy and sought relentlessly to take his life.
Workers in the Vineyard LumoProject.com FreeBibleImages.org
Every person is accountable for his/her responsibility in any human relationship, independent of the behavior of the other party. God’s expectations and judgment of an individual regarding conduct of a human relationship are independent of his expectations and judgment of the other party.
Apostle Paul describes the message in his letter to Romans [12:17–18], where he admonishes every person to perform their individual responsibility in any relationship irrespective of the other party performing or failing to perform theirs: “Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” Paul used the phrase “…If it is possible, as far as it depends on you…” to emphasize you should explore all options to determine how it is possible, focus on the aspects that depend on you—the things you control, and leave the other party to handle the things they control. Therefore, Paul’s message emphasizes that God holds every person accountable to fulfill their individual responsibility in human relationship, independent and irrespective of the performance of the other party in the relationship.
We discuss Christ teaching in the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard [Matthew 20:1–15], regarding a hypothetical landowner that hired different groups of workers at different times based on a separate wage and service agreement for each group. At the end of the day, he honored the wage and service agreement for each group independent of the agreement for the others. He expected those he hired in the morning to work for the entire day whereas those he hired late in the day he expected to work for the remaining time. He judged that each fulfilled his expectation and had them paid according to each individual agreement. The landowner’s expectation and judgment of each worker were independent of his expectation and judgment of other workers. Similar to God’s expectation and judgment of an individual regarding behavior in a human relationship.
Also, we discuss David’s response to the death of Saul as an example of a person focusing on his individual responsibility in a relationship without minding the behavior of the other party. For several years, Saul considered David an enemy and pursued him relentlessly to take his life but was unsuccessful. In contrast, David was respectful of Saul as the sitting God-anointed king of Israel, would not “lay a hand” on Saul even when he encountered enticing opportunities to kill him, and mourned Saul at death to honor him as a fallen God-anointed king of Israel. His reverence for Saul in life and honor at death illustrate individual responsibility in human relationship is unidirectional and independent.
