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- The title of our message for this morning is grace trumps fairness.
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If you've ever played any card games where you have trump cards, then you'll
know that when a trump card is played on the other cards on the table it takes
them all. The hand goes to the one who played the trump card.
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I want to tell you this morning is that God has the ultimate trump card. It's
his grace.
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In God's kingdom, divine grace trumps
self-centered fairness.
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Let me tell you what I mean.
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Jesus tells his disciples the parable of the laborers in the vineyard to
illustrate his saying, "the last shall be first and the first shall be
last" (19:30).
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In the first century, there was a great deal of unemployment. Men often stood
around idle, waiting for work because many farmers lost their land and wound up
looking for day labor.
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Israel was full of vineyards because the high demand for wine created a
commercial grape growing industry.
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Caring for all those vines was demanding work, especially at harvest time when
extra workers were needed to gather and bring in the grapes to be crushed in
the press.
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The workday would have began at six o'clock in the morning.
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The first crew hired by the landowner agreed to work a full day, that is, a
full 12 hours from six till six, which was the regular workday that time.
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Then the landowner goes out again at nine o'clock, the third hour and finds
others standing around idle in the marketplace.
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He hires them and agrees to pay them "whatever is right," which told
Jesus' listeners and Matthew's readers that those being paid would expect to
receive a portion of the normal wage.
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The landowner went out again at 12 o'clock, then at three o'clock and last of
all about five o'clock, which would've left only an hour's work.
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At the end of the day, the landowner instructed his foreman to pay the laborers
beginning with the last ones hired, the fellows who did only an hour of work.
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Jesus' disciples would have been surprised upon hearing how the wages were paid
out.
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The landowner in the parable is extravagantly generous in paying those hired
last a full day's wage for doing only one hour of work.
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Jesus was painting a picture for his disciples of a compassionate landowner who
knew the needs of working-class people who waited around on the streets for
work.
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This compassionate landowner knew no matter when these men started work during
the day that they would still need a full day's wage to meet the needs of their
struggling families.
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The landowner in Jesus' parable graciously and generously provided.
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Such generosity, however, would have raised the expectation in the disciples
that those who worked longer would've been paid more.
- Then there's the other side. After the time of Jesus, in parables that the rabbis told, the ones hired later in
the day worked harder and brought in twice as much so they earned the extra
pay. This represents the idea that Israel is deserving of extra.
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Not so with Jesus' parable. All the workers receive a denarius, a full day's
wage.
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The landowner generously pays a full day's wage to those hired at five o'clock,
to those hired at three o'clock, and to those hired at 12 o'clock, and again to
those hired at nine o'clock.
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Finally, those hired at six o'clock in the morning received the agreed-upon
daily rate, one denarius, but the landowner's generosity had created an
expectation in their minds that they would get something more.
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So, in the story, what do these guys do who were hired at six o'clock in the
morning?
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They complain, saying, "These last
worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the
burden of the day and the scorching heat" (12).
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The 'fellas' that worked the full 12 hours cried foul because they thought that
they were not being treated fairly.
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"Those guys that you hired at five o'clock didn't have to do much work and
the work they did do was during the cool of the day. That's not fair!"
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What is at work in their complaining is not their sense of injustice, but
jealousy – envy at the landowner's generosity.
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The laborers had agreed to work for the landowner in his vineyard for the usual
daily wage, a denarius. Certainly, there is nothing illegal or unjust about
that.
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As the landowner said, "Friend, I
am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what
belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you.
Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you
begrudge my generosity?" (14-15)
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They worked; he paid them a denarius. Where is the injustice? There is none. He
treated them fairly. He backed up his actions by telling them that he kept up
his end of the bargain as their employer.
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Then he says to the complainers, "You've got your due. Now, take it and
go!" In other words, be off with you!
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Like the landowner, is God answerable for how he rewards his servants?
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What the complainers were really complaining about was not something evil that
the landowner had done, no, what they were complaining about was his
generosity.
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Is it right to begrudge God's generosity? No, in God's economy, grace trumps
fairness every time.
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In God's kingdom, divine grace trumps
self-centered fairness.
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Let's pause for a moment and think about the issues in this parable.
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What do we see? We see an attitude of superiority and entitlement. "We've
been working hard here all day and what do we get? We get treated the same way
as the guys that only worked an hour."
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We see ungratefulness. The complainers received their pay thanklessly because
they refused to accept the fact that the landowner could pay the other people
he hired whatever he wanted to pay them.
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You know, the world we live in today is the same and so are we.
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We are more concerned for individual rights, i.e., what's fair for me, in
today's world than we are concerned for everyone receiving gracious treatment
and benefiting from the generosity of others.
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Let me ask this question. Are we happy
with God's deal? Are we thankful and content with the grace that God has so
generously poured out on us?
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Or are we jealous of the gifts, the
resources, the opportunities, and the freedoms of others who serve the same
master as we serve?
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Our salvation is a gift of God's grace. The fruit of the Spirit in your life is
a gift of God's grace. The gifts of the Spirit are literally grace-gifts.
Spiritual gifts are gifts of God's grace.
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If we resent the timing or manner of another's salvation; if we begrudge how
God chooses to display the fruit of the Spirit in someone's life; if we
complain that we are not as gifted as so-and-so and resent their gifting, then
the one we really resent is God and the generosity of his grace.
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The truth is that God does not deal with us on the basis of merit, but by his
grace.
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In God's kingdom, divine grace trumps
self-centered fairness.
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This parable of Jesus emphasizes more than anything else God's grace.
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Consider this: 11/12 of the pay received by the ones who came at five o'clock
was not earned. It was gifted to them by the landowner.
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It does not matter when we respond to God's call to come and work in his
vineyard.
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It does not matter if we endure the burden of the work in the heat of the day
or the last of the work in the cool of the day.
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No one has the right to be envious of anyone because we all receive the same
reward, eternal life in Christ Jesus.
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God's grace is available to everyone no matter what.
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Jesus said "The last shall be first and the first shall be last"
(19:30).
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In other words, God's grace is above every notion of wealth, power, and
greatness. His grace comes before everything else.
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To those who work in his vineyard, God
will be gracious no matter what.
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In God's kingdom, divine grace trumps
self-centered fairness...every time.
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The apostle Paul wrote will about the kind of pay we earn without Christ. "For the wages of sin is death, but
the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans
6:23
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In God's kingdom, divine grace trumps self-centered
fairness.
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