An Unfair God (4/14/19 Topical)

ATTN: When I first moved to this country at age 14, I was shocked by cultural differences. For example, in high school, I saw a boy and a girl kissing in the hallway and that was the first time I ever saw anyone kissing in real life. Until then, I’ve only seen it on TV. Another thing that shocked me was the way the teachers were addressed by the students. There was no reverence or fear. The students treated their teachers like their friends. You did that in Korea, you got a good beating! Different country, different value system.

When we become Christians, we move from being the citizen of this world to the citizen of the kingdom of God. Although we are dual citizens for now, we will eventually be the citizens of the kingdom of God only. Therefore, we must adopt the values of the kingdom of God and live according to it. That is what Jesus the King brought on. With the coming of the King, came the kingdom and its unique value system.  

CONTEXT; This story of the Laborers in the vineyard illustrates this kingdom principle. A master goes out at 6 am and hires day laborers for a full day’s pay – one denarius – let’s say about $120 in today’s money. At 9 am, he goes and hires more workers promising to give them whatever is right. Then he does this again at 12 noon, 3 pm and and then finally at 5 pm. 6 pm is when they all stopped working. They are all standing around to get paid. He pays the ones who worked only 1 hour first. He pays them $120 each! Now, if you are in the group that got hired at 6 am, you worked 12 hours. You get your calculator out and punch in:  $120 x 12 hours = $1440! They are getting excited. But when the time came for them to be paid, they only get paid $120, just like the ones who only worked one hour! “That’s not fair” is what they are thinking! They worked 12 times more than they did and how come they get paid the same amount. But the master says, isn’t that what we agreed upon? You got exactly what we agreed upon, but if I want to be generous with others, isn’t that my prerogative?

1. The Point:

What is jesus trying to illustrate? This: The kingdom of heaven operates by grace and not merit. Merit, as in what we earn. We are very familiar with this. We must deserve everything by earning it – through hard work. Jesus encountered people constantly who operated by this principle of merit. 1) A rich young ruler asked Jesus one day, “what must I do to get eternal life?” Jesus said keep the commandments. He said, “I have kept all of them.” But he wants to make sure. “What do I still lack?” In other words, what more should I do so that I will be deserving of that kingdom? Jesus says, “Sell everything and follow me.” In other words, “If you want to earn your salvation by merit, be perfect.” 2) Jesus says to a pharisee named  nicodemus who was also operating by merit, “You must be born again.” and the man asks,”How do I do that? Should I enter back into my mother’s womb?” He’s still thinking what HE has to do to earn it – merit based. But Jesus tells him, it’s not what he does. It’s what God does for him. “God so loved the world he gave his one and only son and whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” 3) Another pharisee stands at the temples and prays: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’Luke 18:11. In other words, “I deserved to be accepted by God because I am so good!” Merit-based! But it was the sinner who beat his breast and prayed, “Have mercy (grace) on me O lord, a sinner,” who was accepted. Grace-based.

The day workers who only worked one hour had no business receiving a full-day’s worth of wage. Since they only worked one hour, they deserved only one hour’s pay – $10 in this case. But the master decides to give them 12 times that. Now, that was down-right unfair. And you have heard me say this before – grace is unfair. Grace is receiving what we did not deserve. And that means God is unfair. Because God operates by grace which is unfair. Unfairly good!

And we love the doctrine of grace here at As One. We are all people who received God’s unmerited favor. We did not earn it. We did not deserve it. God simply gave it to us by grace, even though we were and are undeserving sinners.

However, if you are on the side of the world and see God from the world’s value system, he’s unfair; but unfairly bad. Since they worked more and harder, they should receive more. That is how merit-based society works. You get what you deserve. But here’s the kicker. These first workers would have been happy if they received one day’s pay as promised and the ones who were hired after them to receive less and less accordingly. So, if they received $120 at the end of the day for 12 hours of work and the ones who only worked 1 hour received, $10, they would’ve been perfectly happy. But they are upset because they received $120 but the ones who only worked 1 hour also received $120, the same as them! That’s not fair. But why should they be upset? They got exactly what they deserved. So, what does it matter if someone else got more than they deserved? Shouldn’t they be happy for those workers? But that reveals the human wickedness, doesn’t it?

Thought experiment: If I gave every one of you $100 to keep, you would be very thankful. But if I gave one of you $100 but I gave everyone else $500, how would you feel? You will feel gypped. “Pastor Hong, what’s wrong with you? Why do you hate me?” But the fact of the matter is I gave you $100. You received what you didn’t deserve. So, why are you blaming me? I did you good! It only goes to expose your unthankful and envious heart!

APP: Isn’t it true that we were perfectly happy with what we had until we see on Facebook someone has something better and bigger and now all of sudden we are not happy anymore? It exposes evil within us.

1. What is wrong with merit-based value system?

What is wrong is that even in this world, it is not true. It is an illusion. Everything we have is not what we have earned, but what is given by God. ILL:  Duke university basketball team’s motto is: “Earn Everything” In other words, just because you play for Duke, which is one of the most prestigious basketball program in the country, dont’ expect things to be given to you. Work hard and become better. But who gave them the talent to play basketball in the first place? Who made Zion willamson, their star basketball player, to be 6”8 and have 50” vertical leap and he’s praised so much that he would want to work hard? God! Everything came from God. your height. Your beauty. Your brain. Your environment. Your parents. Your IQ. What have we earned? If you were born in N. Korea, it would not matter what your dreams and aspirations are. You are still working on the rice paddy! Who made you born in the U.S.? or at least provided for you to move here? God. Everything came from God – even our will to work hard. That’s why it’s fallacious to think that this world operates by merit –  what we do, when it really operates by Grace – what God does for us!

Does that mean that there is no place for hard work? We should expect everything be given to us since we live in a by grace-based world? No. Paul, who certainly operated by grace, said “I worked harder than any of them.” but then he adds, “though it was not I, but God that is with me.”  (1 Cor 15:10) Because Paul was operating by grace and not merit, he worked harder than others. But how? Why? Because he worked not to earn, but to please the One who earned it for him. That’s the grace-based work.

ILL: I work hard for my family. When it comes to planning for trips and such, my wife thinks I should sell my plans online because they are so time and money saving. I do go to a great length to plan for my family. Why do I do that? So that they will hopefully accept me as their father? So that I will get a father of the year award? No. because i want to please my family because I love them. That was paul’s motive. He wanted to please God because he loved Him. That’s grace-based hard work and not merit-based.

III. Warnings:

Can I give you some warning signs that we may be operating on merit-based more than grace-based? God hit me hard as I was studying this passage. I want to thank Mr. Taylor and Mr. Lenard for selecting this passage…. We know our service to God has become merit-based rather than grace-based when it feels like a burden and not a privilege.

1. When we start thinking, “I’ve paid my dues. I worked hard, sacrificed, and now I deserve to rest.” Did we do it earn a rest or to please the one who tirelessly work for us?
2. When pastors, myself, included think, “God, why won’t you bless me like some others you blessed? I’ve worked harder than them, sacrificed more than them, and am just as talented as them, and so why isn’t my ministry blessed like theirs?” Prodigal son’s older brother thought like that. He thought he deserved more because he was better than his profligate brother. That’s a dangerous merit-based thought.
3. Young people, I’m so excited that you are so involved. We are truly blessed, but guard against this thought: “I worked hard for these people, I sacrifice my weekend, give my own money, time and one mistake I make and all they do is complain. So, why am I doing this? I’m done!” Who did you do it for? To hear Praise from people or from God?
4. The Remedy

What is the remedy? How do we keep ourselves working in the realm of grace and not in the realm of merit? Rejoice always, pray without ceasing and give thanks in all circumstances. (1 Thess 5:16-17) 1. Choose to rejoice by reminding yourself that what you have is a privilege. To live in this country no matter our status is a privilege. To have a job and to put food on the table is a privilege.

2. Pray always that you will live by grace and treat others by that principle – give them what they don’t deserve. 3. Give thanks in all circumstances. Good things as well as bad things because all things work together for your good.

Delight yourself in the lord until you feel that everything you have is by grace. And you even appreciate the blessing god has given to others. Girls, if your friend is prettier skinnier and smarter than you, rejoice that God made her that way. Boys, if ur friend is taller, more athletic, and more popular with girls, rejoice. Pastors, when someone else’s chruch is growing faster than ours, let’s rejoice in it. That’s God’s local body that’s growing. Ladies, when someone else’s children are doing well, let’s choose to rejoice that that’s a display of God’s grace. Everything came from God. All good things. Let’s learn to rejoice, and give thanks.

ILL: David Livingstone, that great missionary who gave up so much for the sake of the gospel was once told how much sacrifice he made for God and he said, “No sacrifice… it was a privilege.”