6 And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle, and said to them, “Why have you been standing here idle all day?”

Matthew 20:6

Sovereign means possessing supreme power, or ultimate power without outside interference. It is good enough to have ultimate power when you have outside support to enforce that power. For instance, in a democracy, the president has ultimate power but he has people helping him to enforce or execute that power. With God, we are not referring to a democracy; we are talking about God your Father having supreme power all by Himself, without any outside interference whatsoever. God is a sovereign God all by Himself. In the next few days we will talk about the sovereignty of God.

Jesus gave a parable of the workers in the vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16). This parable helps us understand the sovereignty of God. In this parable, the landowner went out all by himself. The landowner did what he wanted and when he wanted to do it. He did not need anyone’s directives. Every action he took was at his own initiative. He sat in his house and at about the sixth hour, he went out and did what He wanted to do and came back home. Again, at about the ninth hour, he got up without anybody coaxing him, and did what He wanted to do and came back and sat down. Then at about the eleventh hour when it looked like it was too late to do anything, he went out again without interference from anywhere.

This landowner is representative of God, while the landowner’s actions are indicative of God’s sovereignty. God is omnipresent: He is everywhere at the same time. He is right there with you now. He does not need any airline to move about. God is omniscient: He is all knowing. The sovereign God who is your Father has the answer to every question. He is omnipotent: He is all powerful. He is the sovereign God.

Confession:
Father, I thank You that You are sovereign. You are God all by Yourself without anybody’s help. You are omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, and most of all, You are my Father!