Life’s Is Not Fair Priest River
Jim Chavez ❧ Part 1 of 1
Selected Passages ❧ June 26, 2022
Life’s Not Fair….Is God?
Have you ever been reading through a portion of scripture and for some
reason (most likely the battle between your flesh and the Holy Spirit), it’s
confusing to you, maybe it doesn’t sit well for one reason or another.
Something about it just doesn’t seem right? It doesn’t seem fair. Hopefully
when this happens it takes you down a path of sincere questioning,
reasoning. Maybe it forces you to look at it from a different perspective?
This happened to me on the passage of scripture we are going to read
through today. When Pastor John asked if I was willing to bring another
message, this one popped into my head. It’s a passage of scripture that I
continually chew on. The 90 day reading plan going through the new
testament brought me face to face with it once again.
I asked this question to a number of people. People of all ages, from
different cultures and different countries even….
“If I were to say to you that LIFE IS FAIR, can you give me 3 real life
examples you would use to disprove me.”
Now for the most part, those I asked, didn’t have any troubles coming up
with examples. It’s kind of a rhetorical question because most of us would
say LIFE IS NOT FAIR. Because of that, I’ve put the responses I received
to this question into the form of a question. And I’m sure most of you are
already thinking of examples right now that you could use to disprove the
statement that Life Is Fair.
Is it fair that a loving mom with two young kids is diagnosed with
cancer and will spend the last year of her life battling a terminal
disease?
Is it fair that a young teenage boy driving home from work, is hit head
on by a drunk driver and paralyzed for the rest of his life?
Have you ever walked through the children’s cancer center at Sacred
Heart…is that fair that all of those young, innocent children are battling
for their already short lived lives?
Is it fair that some people are born with more intelligence or better
looks…admit it, there are… and real life tells us they will most likely
end up with better jobs and better salaries and in many ways, better
lives.
Is it fair that many who are unethical and dishonest, who throw others
under the bus, get promotions in the workplace over those who are
honest, and ethical and admit failures and try to take responsibility?
Here’s a good one…Is it fair that we elect politicians to represent us
and once they are elected, they often turn their backs on the people
who elected them, and do the opposite of what they promised to do.
Only one of the people I questioned said “Of course life is not fair…” and
basically responded with (my paraphrase – “you get what you get and don’t
throw a fit”…. there was no bitterness or hostility in the answer…just a
recognition that LIFE IS NOT FAIR.
I’d like to see a show of hands here. Anyone here who is a parent, can you
raise your hand? Every one of you here knows, especially IF you have more
than one child, the two phrases that kids seem to learn without being
taught.
That’s MINE…
It’s NOT FAIR!!!!
I remember when our kids were young. I forget ages and the cutoffs, but
there were always a few years, moving from kindergarten to 1 st grade….5 th
grade to middle school, middle school to high school, where one kid got to
stay up 30 minutes longer than the others. And of course, as the younger
ones were heading to bed, all we’d hear is how IT WASN’T FAIR. It wasn’t
fair that our oldest got to stay up later than our 2 nd son. Or our oldest got to
watch a movie like Star Wars when he was old enough, but our younger son
didn’t get to yet. It wasn’t fair.
If you are honest with yourself, that doesn’t change as we get older. How
often do we find ourselves upset about things in life because we want
fairness? We get aggravated because LIFE IS NOT FAIR.
WHEN WE ARE MISTREATED…. Or passed over for the job promotion, As
Christians we say things like “I CAN’T WAIT FOR HEAVEN”…the implication
being….It’s all going to be fair there…
WE KNOW THAT LIFE IS NOT FAIR, but God is….RIGHT?
Open your Bible’s to Matthew 20:1-16….this is one of those portions of
Scripture that I’ve been chewing on.
It’s the The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard
20 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the
morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a
denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
3 “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the
marketplace doing nothing. 4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my
vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5 So they went.
“He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the
same thing. 6 About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others
standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day
long doing nothing?’
7 “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.
“He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’
8 “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.’
9 “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each
received a denarius. 10 So when those came who were hired first, they
expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a
denarius. 11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the
landowner. 12 ‘These 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.’
13 “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend.
Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to
give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the
right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I
am generous?’
16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
Oh there are so many things in this passage that pop out to
me….Some of the obvious things I notice in reading this:
- Only the first set of workers made an agreement for a days wages,
everyone else just trusted the landowner to pay them…to pay them
what? ….”What was fair?”… he didn’t use that language…he said to pay
them what was “right”. - It’s obvious to me, in this passage, that all the workers except for the
first set, and the landowner had very different expectations. Do you
think the guys that worked an hour, expected a full day’s wage? Or
actually ALL the people working less than a full day..do you think they
expected a full day’s wage? The passage doesn’t say how many were
hired all day vs. how many were hired at the other times ….so I’m just
going to make a guess here that probably 50% of this group left work
that night, filled with joy and exuberant because their expectations
had been exceeded by the landowner and the other 50% left feeling
disappointed.
When you look at this parable….which person are you? If we’re being honest
with each other…you guys need to know…I would be the guy who couldn’t
wait for his paycheck (assuming I was hired first) because I’d be doing the
math. I’d be like….woah…that guy got a full days wages for like 1 hour of
work…I can’t wait for mine. Most of us…BE HONEST NOW….probably relate
to that guy because we all want fairness….however WE define it.
At least that’s what we say. Hopefully after this message, we might look at
“fairness and what is right” a little bit differently.
Let me ask you this….How many of you, would be the land owner? How
many of you would be generous like the land owner? Honestly! OK Maybe if
you are a grandma or grandpa and you are having your grandkids do work
for you…YOU MIGHT be like the landowner..you might pay them generously
even though the work they do is sub par…but I’m talking about strangers,
others you hire to do a job.
I’m not asking “if you were a millionare or some other time in the future”
…I’m talking NOW.
In our flesh, we have such a skewed view of “fairness”…DON’T WE? We
want fairness typically when it benefits US…we rarely think about it when we
we’re the ones getting more….. do we?
Let me give you an example that comes from the dark heart of this man…..:)
When we were kids, we rarely got soda pop. And when we did, we usually
had to share either 1 or 2 cans of pop between all 4 kids and it would usually
come on a Sunday night as we prepared to watch the Disney Movie of the
week on channel 6 at 8:00PM. We’d have a little popcorn, and we’d have a
little pop.
The rule in our family though was whoever poured or divided the popcorn,
got to choose last. Seems fair…right? We all want fairness!
It didn’t take me long to realize that the selection happened at the end….so
if no one was looking, I could take a drink right out of the can. Or an even
more sinister approach was if I poured the pop fast enough in our little
glasses and nobody was watching, it would fizz up, flow over the lid, and I
could suck the pop off the counter and nobody would know cuz the glasses
would all be even at the end. Yes I know I’m wicked! But doesn’t this story
show that our greed tends to get in the way of our true desire for fairness?
Oh we complain LIFE IS NOT FAIR, but typically only when we are the ones
experiencing the disadvantage… I want fairness if someone else is pouring,
but if I’m pouring, I just want a little bit more.
One other thing that pops out to me in this passage is the response of the
Land Owner in verse 13: “I am not being unfair to you friend….Didn’t you
agree to work for a denarius?” Why do we perceive something as fair when
we agree to it, but then change our view when someone else gets more.
We see this all the time in the Sports world. Some guy gets 20Million for
throwing a ball for 4 years…and not even 4 years, they get ½ the year off.
They are happy, they get their picture on sport illustrated, or a Wheaties
box. Everyone talks about them, until the next year when another guy gets
25Million for throwing a ball for ½ a year. Then 3 years into their 4 year
contract that they were happy about, they decide I’m not going to play
anymore unless you renegotiate my contract because ‘IT’S NOT FAIR’.
We KNOW that LIFE’S NOT FAIR, but God is…right?
God is supposed to be fair.
I want to look at “The Fairness of God” today in 4 distinct areas. This is
going to raise some questions that I don’t have all the answers to… I figure
since Pastor John is letting me deliver the message, I’ll tee up the questions,
and you can go to him to get the answers – Does that sound FAIR? It does
to me.
The 4 distinct areas I want to cover fairly quickly are:
- The Doctrine of Election (God chose us). When God acts, He does so
only because He willfully and independently chooses to act….according
to His good pleasure. IS IT FAIR? LIFE’S NOT FAIR….IS GOD? - HELL – Really? Some “good people” will end up there? LIFE’S NOT
FAIR BUT GOD IS…. RIGHT? - Suffering – why do bad things happen to good people. LIFES’ NOT
FAIR, BUT GOD IS…RIGHT? - Finally the trifecta of Intellect, physical abilities & geography.
Now obviously, we can’t do a full expose on all of this and I’m going to do
what most preachers don’t….I’m going to tell you right now, where I’m
heading.
When you look at the human condition, we honestly need THE
MERCY AND GRACE OF GOD, more than we need fairness.
Let me say that again
In fact, at the end I’m going to challenge your thinking ON whether we
really, honestly want fairness at all.
DOCTRINE OF ELECTION
So lets dive in and start with the Doctrine of election. Danny read this verse
during announcements.
It’s 1 Peter 1:1-4
1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to those who reside as aliens……who are
chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father by the
sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled
with His blood: May grace and peace 2 be yours in the fullest measure.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a
living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will
not fade away, reserved in heaven for you
For those of you who wrestle with the Election vs. Free Will debate let me
just say the doctrine of election is biblical. In fact there are so many verses
on this doctrine that you cannot argue against it. We might struggle with it
for various reasons, but scripture is not unclear about it.
Ephesians 1:4 – “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world”
John 15:16 – “You did not choose Me, but I chose you”
2 Thess 2:13 “But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren
beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for
salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth”
Now, election doesn’t remove human responsibility or the need for each
person to respond to the gospel by faith. In John 6:37, Jesus said, “All that
the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will
certainly not cast out”
Admittedly the two concepts “God Chose Us” yet “We have responsibility to
come” are tough to reconcile, and we must accept them both by faith. You
may not understand it, I DON’T! and I don’t think we can, with our limited
intellects, but rest assured — it’s fully reconciled in the mind of God.
Other passages: Col. 3:12; 1 Tim. 5:21; Tit. 1:1; 2 John 1, Romans 8:33:
This is a difficult concept, especially for Americans. We celebrate our
independence, our freedom. We make our own way. Frank Sinatra sang a
song written by Paul Anka called “My Way”…it’s part of our DNA… It spent
75 weeks in the UK as a top 40 …a record that still stands. In fact one of
the saddest funerals I attended, a friend of mines father, had this played at
his funeral.
And now the end is near, and so I face the final curtain
My friend I’ll say it clear, I’ll state my case of which I’m certain
I’ve lived a life that’s full. I’ve traveled each and every highway
But more, much more than this. I DID IT MY WAY.
Regrets I’ve had a few, but then again, too few to mention
I did what I had to do, and saw it through without exemption
I planned each charted course; each careful step along the byway
And more, much more than this, I DID IT MY WAY
I’ve loved, I’ve laughed and cried
I’ve had my fill, my share of losing
And now, as tears subside, I find it all so amusing
To think I did all that; And may I say, not in a shy way.
Oh no, on no not me, I DID IT MY WAY
For what is a man, what has he got?
If not himself, then he has naught
To say the things he truly feels;
And not the words of one who kneels
The record shows, I took the blows
And DID IT MY WAY!
This song, these words, they are at the heart of the depravity of man. It’s
an illusion. We act as if we are sovereign over our lives, but WE ARE
NOT…GOD IS!
I like how R.C. Sproul summarized this doctrine:
Election (Calvinism) does not teach and never has taught that
God brings people kicking and screaming into the kingdom or
has ever excluded anyone who wanted to be there. Remember
that the cardinal point of the Reformed doctrine of
predestination rests on the biblical teaching of man’s spiritual
death. Natural man does not want Christ. (or as Paul Ankas
song says “not someone who kneels”) He will only want Christ if
God plants a desire for Christ in his heart. Once that desire is
planted, those who come to Christ do not come kicking and
screaming against their wills. They come because they want to
come. They now desire Jesus. They rush to the Saviour. The
whole point of irresistible grace is that rebirth quickens someone
to spiritual life in such a way that Jesus is now seen in his
irresistible sweetness. Jesus is irresistible to those who have
been made alive to the things of God. Every soul whose heart
beats with the life of God within it longs for the living Christ. All
whom the Father gives to Christ come to Christ (John 6:37).”
—R.C. Sproul
IS IT FAIR? It’s biblical.
The argument is always made between election & free will and if you hold to
the biblical position on this doctrine you assume God is responsible for the
evil acts that humanity commits? Or that God does not care? This is
Absolutely wrong. Instead, we see God redeeming evil acts that free will
brings upon humanity to bring about good, even in the midst of evil.
BECAUSE HE CARES….
For example, Joseph’s brothers in the Old Testament had nothing but evil
intentions toward him, but God used them to deliver their whole family as
well as the nation of Egypt from disaster (Genesis 50:20).
In the New Testament, we see Peter reference both the sovereignty of God
and the free will acts of men in the death of Christ on the cross: “This Jesus,
delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you
crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men” (Acts 2:23).
The bottom line is where salvation is concerned…it is absolutely necessary
for God to intervene with each individual in a way that runs contrary to that
person’s natural inclinations and desires. I read one article on this topic that
I found interesting. It said “The fact of the matter is this: unless God
violated our “free” will, no one would ever be saved. Further, I guarantee
that when you pray for the salvation of someone, this is exactly what you
ask God to do.”
IS it fair? Without the grace of God, NONE would be saved. So the question
shouldn’t be is it fair, the response should be “PRAISE GOD FOR HIS
GRACE”..that any are chosen.
We need THE MERCY AND GRACE OF GOD, more than we need
fairness.
LET’S MOVE ON TO HELL.
MATTHEW 7:21 21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the
kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in
heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your
name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your
name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you
workers of lawlessness.’
My small group, in the Spokane Valley, did a study on Heaven by Randy
Alcorn, and it was great. I loved relearning some things about heaven. The
big ones for me I was reminded of were:
- The earth as it is today is a shadow of what the new earth will be. I
used to look at all the beauty around us..the mountains, lakes,
flowers, etc., and think “How can heaven be as beautiful as all
this”…but as I studied, I re-learned that what we see today is fallen.
It has been corrupted. And even though we see beauty all around us,
it cannot hold a candle to what we will experience in heaven. - There WILL BE continuity from earth. What does that mean? It
means when I see you in heaven and you see me ,we will remember
each other, we will not have to relearn, we will know the experiences
we shared together on earth…in fact we will remember them with
perfect minds. - I used to worry that I’d get bored in heaven. I like to build, I like to
play guitar, I like to visit and sip coffee. I don’t want to sit on a cloud
forever and while I know I want to enjoy the personal face time with
my Savior, he made me to love people too. I learned that all the good
things of earth will be even more enjoyable in heaven. We will have
the best coffee, taste buds that are operating at 100% capacity, in fact
some argue we might all hate coffee in heaven when we can really
taste it…we will not be constrained by time. All that we do to glorify
God here on earth, we will do to glorify God in heaven. If that is
through music or art or writing or sports or whatever it is, we will have
the ability and opportunity.
After that study, I thought it would be good to take a look at HELL. And
studying this passage in Matthew made me really, really sad.
Notice these people that Matthew is referring to…. these are sincere people
saying “Lord, Lord”, they were doing sincere, mighty works in His name…and
He will declare to them “I never knew you”. NEVER, EVER. These aren’t
people who lost their salvation so let’s not go there. The word never is
emphatic, it means at no time ever did I know you. They lived their lives in a
deluded state…going through the motions.
It reminds me that we shouldn’t be asking the question “Is it Fair” but “Am I
one of those people.” It caused me to have a real heart to heart with our
small group on the passage in 2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves to
see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves! Oh we need God’s grace
& Mercy more than we need fairness!
Does your life display the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5? “But the fruit of
the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, and self-control.”
There will be good people, sincere people (sincerely wrong) that will be in
Hell.
Is it fair? It’s biblical. Examine yourself’s and don’t be one of them.
What about suffering: Suffering – why do bad things happen to good people.
LIFES’ NOT FAIR, BUT GOD IS…RIGHT?
I did a whole sermon on what I learned in JOB a number of years ago, but
the bottom line for me in that book, is it had little to do with Job. We get all
caught up in Job’s story, and there is tons for us to learn, but the beginning
of the book shows us the real battle going on…it shows us the evil that is
being waged against us by Satan.
Verse 1 says “In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This
man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.” He was a
good person and bad things were about to happen. In fact the scripture
says he was the greatest man in the East. He was generous, he was loving,
he was wealthy….HE LOVED GOD…
Verse 9 Satan issues a challenge to God basically saying….he only fears you
because you have blessed him…strike down everything he has and he will
surely curse you to your face. This was an indictment about God that Satan
is issuing. You are not worthy of worship…and the only reason you get it is
because you protect your people.
God says OK…keep him alive, you can do what you wish with everything he
has….notice God didn’t do it, he allowed it to be done by Satan…with the
condition that he spared his life. Why do bad things happen to good people?
Because Satan prowls around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may
devour….and we live in a fallen world with sinful, depraved man.
Job lost everything…his kids, his flocks, his wealth.
What was his response? IT’S NOT FAIR…No…(he kind of did that later) but
his first response was “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, naked I will
depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of
the Lord.”
And in all this he did not sin. He was like the respondent who I questioned
that said “Life’s not fair…you get what you get and you don’t throw a fit”….
that was a great response
Bad things do happen to good people and we know that God allows it. In
Job’s story by the end of it, Job was restored. Joseph was able to save his
entire family even with the wicked intentions of his brother.
God redeems…often we don’t know how, and we won’t know when, but we
trust in Romans 8:28 that says “We know that in all things God works for
the good of those who love him who have been called according to his
purpose.” It may not come in our generation, it might be in the next. But
suffering many times, reveals more about us, than anything else.
I lost touch with my best friend in high school. He went on to college, met a
gal, got married. I stuck around and got a job at HP in the Spokane Valley
and we drifted apart. A couple years ago, he popped up on my Facebook
feed and we rekindled our friendship. We didn’t chat often, I’m more of a
stalker than a talker, but I noticed his pictures… He went from having
pictures of his classroom (he was a teacher), and pictures of mountain hikes,
to early retirement and a wheelchair. So I reached out and found out he
had been diagnosed with Huntington’s disease. It’s a nero-degenerative
disease that causes the breakdown of nerve cells in the brain. It affects your
functional abilities and results in movement, cognitive and psychiatric
disorders. Soon after his diagnosis, he started experiencing some symptoms
that didn’t seem to be related to Hunningtons. So he went back in for more
testing. He was diagnosed, in addition to Hunningtons, with ALS. 1 in
10,000 get Huntingtons disease. 5 in 100,000 get ALS…. He got both? Is it
fair? I went to visit him before he died. I needed to make sure that He had
a chance to hear about Jesus. We had a great visit and he had come to faith
in Jesus Christ. If anyone had the right to complain about life not being
fair…it was him. But he didn’t. He knew where he was going and he was
excited to get there. In fact the two things he said to me, using a computer
since he couldn’t talk was “Jim, I love you” and “I’m going to get to heaven
first. He died shortly after my visit. Sometimes bad things happen to good
people.
Is it fair? It’s biblical.
Wrapping Up here… How many of you have stopped to consider the fairness
of “your intellect”, “your looks”, “your geography”. Don’t all these have an
impact on your life?
Is it fair that some of you got good looks, while others not so much.
Is it fair that some of you are extremely smart and capable of so many
things, and others….not so much.
Is it fair that some of you are physically fit without even trying and
others…not so much?
Is it fair that you were born in America in a time of relative peace while
others were born in war-torn countries?
Is it fair that we can worship God without fear of government storming our
homes, burning our bibles and arresting us or worse…(at least today), when
other believers have to meet in hidden venues, are beaten, their homes and
churches are burned if they are discovered?
Do you think about these things when you are complaining about “fairness”.
There was an article that was featured in the New York Times in 2016 and
the author “Seth Stephens-Davidowitz” was looking at Google trends…search
data specifically related to the questions people posed about God.
Not surprising, the 1 st question with the most searches was “Who Created
God”. The 2 nd was “Why does God allow suffering” but the third question
was a question that most surprised the author…and quite frankly surprised
me as well, as I read it.
The question was “Why does God Hate Me”.
When he delved further into his study, he had people fill in the blanks for the
sentence “Why did God make me __?
Number one response, by far was “Ugly”.
How sad. God tells us we were made in His Image…that we were fearfully and
wonderfully made. I’ll bet we’ve all struggled with this? We compare ourselves
in all ways, we look at others. Society is fairly judgmental about looks…on the
outside. Is it fair?
What do you say to someone who says “God Hates Me”, “He made me Ugly”, “so
and so doesn’t stand a chance of coming to Christ because he was born in “fill in
the blank”…
Isaiah 45:9 says “Woe to him who strives with him who formed him, a pot among
earthen pots! Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ or
‘Your work has no handles’? Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What are you
begetting?’ or to a woman, ‘With what are you in labor?’”
God tells us in 1 Samuel 16:7…
But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of
his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man
looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”
Don’t we have this idea that Jesus was a pretty good looking guy? Where does
that come from? Probably all the pictures we see. Maybe it’s just me. If being
good-looking was important to God, then why does Isaiah 53:2 describe Jesus
this way: he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty
that we should desire him.
I don’t think Jesus was all that good looking, yet He changed the world because
he walked with God. His perfection had nothing to do with how he looked.
Thinking back to the parable of the Vineyard, how many of you, would have been
cheering on the workers that got a full day’s pay for an hours work. How many of
you would have been encouraged by the blessing those workers got. How many
of you would have gone home to the wife and kids and said, “I saw the most
generous display today and I want to tell you about it?” vs. going home and
complaining? I know some of you would. Because you have the gift of
encouragement….that’s one of those gifts that Star wishes I had more of. I
want to be more like that….
Is God Fair??…probably not in the way we tend to think about it. In fact, let me
challenge you with this as we close.
DO YOU REALLY, TRULY WANT EVERYTHING TO BE FAIR?
Do you treat your kids, the same way you treat a strangers kids? I doubt it.
Do you treat your kids equally or do you favor them because of their unique
needs? Our daughter has had to have thousands of dollars in
reconstructive surgery on her feet and knees….we paid the bill without
thinking….we didn’t give equal checks to our other kids…why? Because we
did what was “right” not what was fair.
Does your wife react to other men or your husband react to other women,
the same way they do when they see you? Or do they give you a place of
honor, preferential treatment? I sure hope so.
Do you have a best friend? Why? If you want fairness shouldn’t we like
everyone the same?
This parable in Matthew is a beautiful picture of what the Kingdom of Heaven
is like. When you consider the land owner and his generosity, can you step
back now and marvel at his treatment of all the workers?
As I look at this parable, I think the main point for us to walk away with is
God doesn’t operate on the merit system as we may think he should. God
deals with us according to His free grace. As Paul explains, “For it is by his
grace you are saved [delivered from God’s judgment], through trusting him;
it is not your own doing. It is God’s gift, not a reward for work done. There is
nothing for anyone to boast of” (Ephesians 2:8, 9; New English Bible).
We need THE MERCY AND GRACE OF GOD, more than we need
fairness.
I end with this final Question:
Is it Fair that God had to sacrifice his one and only son to provide you with
the opportunity for eternal life with Him? That a blameless, spotless lamb
would become sin, for you? Is that fair?
Even if you’re a pretty good person, you may be the worker that one who
has been at work in the vineyard since early morning…but you know what?
You are a sinner…you’ve got sin that must be paid for, just like the guy
who’s coming in at 5 and maybe has a lot more of it.
If God was fair…none of us would be chosen,
If God was fair, all of us deserve hell
If God was fair, we all should suffer
Because we know that God is JUST….and if God is just, all men’s sin must be
paid for. Either you pay (the merit system), or God pays (the grace system).
God’s grace doesn’t seem fair to those who are self-righteous…and quite
honestly it doesn’t seem fair to those of us who recognize how undeserving
we are, BUT IT IS TRULY wonderful!
We have to stop asking and expecting fairness. We have to stop whining
about things in life that are not fair, don’t argue with the potter about what
you think should be fair….
Acknowledge your sin, put your faith and trust in Christ and “rest”. Rest in
Him, knowing He is sovereign and He loves you, whether it is fair or not!
Pray with people and ask for people to put faith in Christ.
