My scripture text today will be coming from Matthew 20:1-16. One of the most resounding things in my memory is my mother
telling me, “Karen, life isn’t fair.” I have carried that with me throughout
life. The only thing I can say about it is that she was right. Life doesn’t
seem to be fair. In fact it seems to be quite the opposite of fair. I have been
turned down for jobs because I was of the wrong ethnicity. I have been denied a
promotion because I was the wrong gender. I have often been denied employment
because I was under qualified. Sadly I have also been denied employment because
I was over qualified. That one really didn’t make any sense at all. I am sure I am not the only one who has experienced life
this way. I know that there are some of you who have been turned down for a
loan because the loan officer had a bad day and didn’t want to deal with you
long enough to finance you. I know there are cell phone owners here who have
been charged for a little thing called roaming when you didn’t think it was
just but you couldn’t argue your case enough to get it removed. There may be
someone here today who was accused of something and felt the consequences just
so an example could have been made of somebody by your boss. The thing you
noticed is that even though you are working and doing the best you could the
slacker across the way got off without even a confrontation. I am sure that I am not the only person in this room who as
a kid with a sibling thought my parents treated me unfairly at times in comparison
to the treatment my brother got. I know I am not the only sister who received
my brother’s spanking. I guess it is a good thing that my brother does not have
the opportunity to tell you about all of my spankings he received because as
for now it makes me look better. The cold fact is that life isn’t fair. The more we try to
please someone the more we stand to be let down. People are human in that they
have their own way of viewing situations. They can have a “skewed” view of
reality that keeps them from seeing all sides of reality. They can have their
own opinions which may immediately charge the man in a conflict between a man
and a woman or to vote for the white guy in a battle between races. Truly and
undeniably we are unfair people living in an unfair world. The good news
however is that God is fair. If we
will learn to hold on to Him, even when we don’t understand the path He is
taking, it will turn out alright in the end.
God is
a God of Grace. That is something we simply cannot understand
as humans. God can see the big picture,
he is omniscient, and that is something we can only dream about. God is just in his generosity which is
a trait we don’t possess.
While on a trip to Switzerland, an America businessman was
watching a Swiss clockmaker carving the case of an ornate cuckoo clock. As the
businessman watched the clockmaker carve out the case, he was astounded at his
slow rate of progress. The businessman finally said, “My good man, you’ll never
make much money that way.” “Sir,” the clockmaker replied, “I’m not making money,
I’m making cuckoo clocks.” Notice the
difference in the two men’s goals. The businessman was after the pay check and
the clock maker was after the joy of a job well done.
"For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went
out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. He agreed to pay
them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. About the third hour he went out and saw others
standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, ’You also go and work
in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth
hour and did the same thing. About the eleventh hour he went out and found
still others standing around. He asked them, ’Why have you been standing here
all day long doing nothing?’ ’Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. He said to them, ’You also go and work in my
vineyard.’ When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to
his foreman, ’Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the
last ones hired and going on to the first.’ The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour
came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first,
they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius.
When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. ’These men
who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ’and you have made them
equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’ But he answered one of them, ’Friend, I am not being
unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I
want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have
the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am
generous?’ So the last will be first, and the first will be
last."
Notice:
These guys hired to a new job each day.
- Those first hired
worked hard for about 11 hours, had endured the heat of the desert all day and they
were paid one denarius
-Those last hired
worked for about one hour, had lazily stood around in the marketplace all day
and they too were paid one denarius
-The
vineyard owner owned the vineyard, all the wealth for the day’s
pay was at his disposal and he had
grace for the guys hired last but was just and fair to the all day guys.
This
not just a story about some guy in a vineyard. Notice verse 1. "For the kingdom of heaven is like a
landowner…”
-God is
the land owner, those hired in the morning are like the old
saints, those hired at the end of
the day are like those who are saved at the last minute (Death-bed confessions)
We may not find it fair but God is just and he calls this
fair. We are not graceful but God is full of grace. In his book, “What’s
So Amazing About Grace,” Phillip Yancey points out that part of our problem
is in the nature of grace itself. Grace is scandalous. It’s hard to accept,
hard to believe, and hard to receive. Grace shocks us in what it offers. It is
truly not of this world. It frightens us with what it does for sinners. Grace teaches us that God does for others
what we would never do for them. We would save the not-so-bad. God starts with
prostitutes and then works downward from there. Grace is a gift that costs everything to the giver and nothing to the
receiver. It is given to those who don’t deserve it, barely recognize it,
and hardly appreciate it. That’s why God alone gets the glory in your
salvation. Jesus did all the work when he died on the cross.
TWO things I hope we can take from this message today....
1. We
should be grateful of this grace. We didn’t deserve it. It really is unfair
because we deserve Hell but God has chosen to show us His grace.
2. We
should follow God’s example and show grace to our neighbor.
-when someone else gets a break at work assume they need it
-when someone doesn’t get caught just remember the times you
didn’t
-when someone gets off easy just pray for them that they
will respect it
DON’T
WISH PAIN ON PEOPLE FOR THE SAKE OF FAIRNESS…pray for grace for them. It will make you feel a whole lot better...and it won't hurt them either.
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