Fairness

Life isn’t fair, and neither is the gospel… and boy am I glad that is true. Has anyone in here ever heard your parents tell you as a kid, “Life isn’t fair?” Today, I want to talk about fairness. This parable in Matthew 20:1-16 isn’t very fair, in fact, the kingdom of God isn’t fair. The gospel itself is incredibly unfair and unbalanced. There is no justice in it for Christ. But thank Jesus that it isn’t, because if it was fair I would be the one hanging on that cross. We all would! 

We have two options when we weigh the fairness of life and the gospel: complain, or be grateful. Both lead to certain realities, and we need to weigh carefully where we are putting our energy. 

Some background for us: Jesus pictures harvest time, when a landowner hired seasonal workers to help with an abundant harvest. Think of Christmas time and “season jobs”. A denarius was equal to a days wages, we see it measured as such in all 4 gospels.

Complaining dismantles a deep walk with God

Firstly I want to say, that complaining dismantles a deep walk with God. The laborers that complained in this parable missed out on all that the gospel is trying to accomplish. They missed the beauty and the glory of being invited into the family of God by their concern for fairness. They groaned and complained and had an attitude.

Who else in the Bible complained and groaned to God? The Israelites in the wilderness. Due to their complaining and poor attitude, they missed out on the promised land and withheld the hand of God from blessing in their life.

With their complaints they even ruined the heart of the next generation that would follow in their footsteps and turn to wickedness. Why did they turn to wickedness? Their God wasn’t enough, and just like their forefathers, they complained and turned their hearts towards other destructive things.

What in your life have you complained about?

How about you? What in your life have you complained about? We all could find a reason to complain. I mean yesterday was hot for some, but in Buffalo it snowed! We can find reasons to complain about our life, our situations, or even God himself. But if we do so, we will miss out on the promises God has for us.

God has more for you than a life of complaining and poor attitude. So how? The key is this: gratitude and joy. Gratitude and joy give us eyes to see. They are the medicine to heal your complaint sick soul.

Jesus uses terms like, “having ears to hear and having eyes to see.” In fact, he uses this very often in his teachings, particularly when he uses parables. Many of us in this church have had the benefit of hearing and seeing God.

For some of us it has been hearing the word of God growing up and having a foundation in his powerful teaching. For others it has been seeing a mighty move of God that changed our personal life or the life of someone that we know and love. And yet, we see a lack of joy and are full of complaints.

Why do we get this way?

Why do we get this way? Our heart posture and our attitude don’t reflect gratitude and joy. For some of us this morning, we need things to be a certain way and when they are not we cannot find gratitude and joy.

For those of us who have walked with Jesus for any length of time, we have quickly found out that with or without Jesus, sometimes life doesn’t pan out the way that we would like. We are just like the laborers in this story: laboring with our earthly expectations and frustrated when things don’t go the way we think they should.

Let me say something harsh but true according to the word of God: When you are bitter and full of complaints, you aren’t full of the Holy Spirit. And if you aren’t full of the Holy Spirit you are allowing yourself to be full of something else. You are giving the enemy a foothold in your life, it is that serious.

Joy is a fruit of the… Spirit. That means the Holy Spirit is what has authority and reign in that person’s life. Happiness and Joy are two entirely different things. With joy, no matter what your circumstances or feelings are, you have the joy of the Lord.

I want to encourage you to walk in the Spirit and not walk with the enemy any longer. It is time to cancel your subscription to issues and walk and be the man or woman God has called you to be. Be single minded, have a mind of the Spirit, not double minded and lost to the whims of this world.

It all comes down to this profound yet simple truth: God’s way is the best way. I know this feels like a fairly obvious point. But someone needs to sit back for a moment and hear what implications that might have for your life. God’s way is the best way, in fact, it is the only way to please him.

There is no middle ground in the kingdom of God. There is Christian and non-Christian. Follower of Jesus and fan of Jesus. Casual consumer of Jesus and determined disciples of Jesus. 1 John 1:6, If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

God’s way is not only the best way for salvation, it is the best way for life and life to the full. And there isn’t a compromise on this. The gospel isn’t good advice, it is good news, life changing news!

What area of your life is God’s way?

I need to ask you a difficult question: in what area of your life is God’s way not being implemented? For some of us it is sin we are allowing to run rampant. For others it is trusting God with a situation and being a little frustrated that it isn’t going the way we think it should be going. For others still it is not following the will of God because we aren’t willing to believe in his path.

Understandably so, the men who were working all day in the heat of the sun were upset that grace was now being extended to those who showed up at the end of the day. But the kingdom of God is unfair, and thank God that it is. God made it that way.

Kenneth Barker says in the Zondervan Bible Background Commentary: These rhetorical questions (v 13–15) show that God’s great gifts, simply because they are God’s, are distributed, not because they are earned, but because he is gracious. In the kingdom of God, the driving force is not merit and ability (as in the world) but grace.

This is God’s way! And it is the best way. It doesn’t seem to be good business practice to us what we see here, but it isn’t good business practice to bring broken and sinful people into a holy kingdom by the pure and precious blood of Jesus either. Kind of feels like a rip off for God doesn’t it? But God wants you that bad! Which should bring us joy and gratitude.

Friends if we got what we deserved… but that is not the gospel! An unfair gospel that is a gift to us. It is incredibly unfair that Jesus has to get off of his throne and eternal intimacy and union with the Father to come down and submit himself to flesh and bone and die on the cross for sins he never did. Incredibly unfair.

But without that incredible unfairness, we are lost to the world and impossibly separated from the Father. We have no way to him! And without him, we have no hope.

Your situation might look a little unfair. In fact, you might have done everything right (or at least you think you have), but you need to trust in God’s plan. If God brought you there will he abandon you to figure it out on your own? Of course not.

We would never abandon our children when they get stuck. We would help and love them and carry them to the end. Your heavenly father is a much better parent than you. He is far more gracious and far more loving. He will get you out and he will carry you. And you know what? It is unfair he do so. You don’t deserve it. But that’s the gospel.

This is a true statement: life isn’t fair. This is also a true statement, but far more meaningful: the gospel isn’t fair.

Joy and gratitude are your weapons

Complaining makes your walk with God impotent. You will lack strength and power to be who he has called you to be, you will waste your time in disorienting emotions, and you will miss all that God has for us. You are feeding on crumbs, when Christ has a meal set before you.

Joy and gratitude are your weapons in this, they are your eyes to see your savior. They bring you back to the reality of the gospel and the kingdom of God. They center you and help you not miss the most important realities of this life.

And God’s way truly is the best way. The only path forward in this short vapor life that we have is with Jesus and his offer of life. Unfair to him, completely imbalanced, and entirely true.

So whatever your unfair is, bring your heart to the gospel. Come back to the beauty of Christ and watch the tragedies of your life fade in its grace and mercy. When you are entirely consumed with the gospel, the unfairness and cares for the world evaporate. Why?

Because you finally realize that you have already won when you have Christ. Philippians 3:8-11, 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss (things are never unfair when everything is loss to you in gaining Christ) of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

By any means, attain Christ. By any means, throw away everything else and pursue Christ. There is no well of living water like him anywhere on this earth, and once we have him fully in our life, everything is a gift, and fairness sails out of our concern and attention.