Have you ever read your Bible and felt angry?  There are so many passages in the Bible where you want to stop and go, “That’s not fair!”  Why is that?  Why do we sit down and read the words that God has chosen to give us and we can walk away feeling angry?  It probably stems around the concept of justice.  Our sense of justice is the one of the most frustrating aspects of our lives.  Justice is deep-rooted in all of us.  How many of you parents had to teach your children the phrase, “That’s not fair.”  I haven’t read any parents book where there was a chapter focused on teaching your kids about injustice.  It’s innate.  Every person walks around with some concept where they tell themselves, “I deserve this,” or “I’m owed this.”  Our personal and professional lives are often fueled by this framework.  God’s grace isn’t fair.  Be honest, what was your reaction when you read todays passage?  Even though you know that this whole passage is about grace, what happened internally when you thought about those first workers who labored all day and received the same pay as the workers who showed up at the 11^th hour?  I read this passage umpteen times this week, and I still had moments where I would go, “I would feel the same way as those first guys.”  I want you to take that feeling and let this passage change how you see the world.  If you let it, you can walk away with more trust in God, even with the world seems so heavy.  Here’s where we start: There’s no contract with God’s grace.

1) There’s no contract with God’s grace. (vs. 1-9)  Before we jump into verse 1, let me ask a question.  What is God’s grace?  Now we pick up in verse 1 with the parable from Jesus.  And we see this parable is about the Kingdom of Heaven.  We’ve spent extensive time over this year learning what it means to live in God’s Kingdom while living as citizens of this world.  This first verse tells us a landowner is looking for day laborers.  ¹“For the Kingdom of Heaven is like the landowner who went out early one morning to hire workers for his vineyard.   “Early one morning” most likely meant around 6am.  In verse 2, we can see that there was some kind of agreement reached between the landowner and the workers.  The landowner agrees to pay them a denarius – which was a full day’s worth of pay.   ² He agreed to pay the normal daily wage and sent them out to work.  In biblical times, workers were dependent on their daily work.  For most, if they didn’t work, they didn’t eat, and their families didn’t eat.  At this point in the parable, everything seems normal and fair.  But as we go deeper into the parable, something changes.  The landowner keeps going back to the marketplace 4 more times.  9am, noon, 3pm, and 5pm.  ³ “At nine o’clock in the morning he was passing through the marketplace and saw some people standing around doing nothing.  ⁴ So he hired them, telling them he would pay them whatever was right at the end of the day.   ⁵ So they went to work in the vineyard. At noon and again at three o’clock he did the same thing.  ⁶ “At five o’clock that afternoon he was in town again and saw some more people standing around. He asked them, ‘Why haven’t you been working today?’  ⁷ “They replied, ‘Because no one hired us.’ “The landowner told them, ‘Then go out and join the others in my vineyard.’  And these aren’t lazy workers. They have been looking for work, but no one hired them.  But what does the landowner tell the other groups?  He didn’t agree upon an amount with them before they started work.  All he said was what? “He would pay them whatever was right.” 

Let’s go to the end of the workday. It ends at 6pm.  There are five groups of workers that all started their work day at different times.  The last group only worked for an hour.  Now, look what happens at the end of the day.  ⁸ “That evening he told the foreman to call the workers in and pay them, beginning with the last workers first. ⁹ When those hired at five o’clock were paid, each received a full day’s wage.   The workers are all lined up and the landowner brings his bag of coins.  The reactions of each group.  In this parable, there is clear intentionality.  The landowner could have lined up everyone and started paying the workers in order.  The first workers could have received their fair pay, left, and then the generosity could have flown without the first workers knowing.  Jesus is making a point and making sure we feel something when we take in this parable.  Do you remember the passage from last week?  The rich young ruler wanted to get into heaven, so he was trying to do everything he could to earn heaven.  He was trying to contractually get his way into heaven.  “I’ve done all these things, so do I get heaven now?”  But Jesus told him to let go of his contract mentality and surrender fully.  That’s why this parable ends with the same statement as the conversation last week.  Here is the point Jesus is making:  Salvation is not a reward for doing the right things.  Salvation is a gift that must be accepted.  There’s no contract with God’s grace.  You don’t want to get what you deserve!  Quote: “Justice is getting what you deserve, mercy is not getting what you deserve, and grace is getting what you don’t deserve.” – Tony Evans.  I think that’s worth saying again.  There are two reactions we have to God’s grace.  The first reaction requires us to make an honest assessment of hearts.  How do we respond when others don’t get what we think they deserve?  What happens when others receive any abundance of grace?  The second reaction:  Don’t be appalled by God’s grace.

2) Don’t be appalled by God’s grace. (vs. 10-12)  If you were one of those workers who worked from 6am to 6pm, and you saw those 1-hour long workers get a full day’s pay, what have been your thought?  If it was me, I would start doing the math.  I worked 12 hours, so I am going to get 12 days’ worth of pay!  And that’s exactly what they did. Look at verse 10.  ¹⁰ When those hired first came to get their pay, they assumed they would receive more. But they, too, were paid a day’s wage.   I can see the scene:  Hand out. Big smile. Head nodding. Excited breathing.  Then just the one coin.  A pause as they look down in their hand.  And then waiting that hopefully another coin would soon follow.  But the landowner walks away.  Someone, out of pure action, says, “Hey! Wait a minute!”  Then look at what they say in verses 11 and 12.  ¹¹ When they received their pay, they protested to the owner,  ¹² ‘Those people worked only one hour, and yet you’ve paid them just as much as you paid us who worked all day in the scorching heat.’  In their minds, what was fair was that either they get more or the other workers get less.  Because working 12 hour is worth way more than 1 hour.  We want things in life to be just.  Here’s the problem with that: we want things in life to be just for others and not ourselves.  The 6am workers got what was just.  Their contract was one day’s pay and they got exactly that.  But they were upset at the fact the other workers got grace.  We want people to get what they deserve, but we have to remember that we didn’t get what we deserve.  As Christ followers, we must constantly remind ourselves that we really don’t want justice because what is just is not good for us.  There is a quote I came across and it’s harsh, but it’s still true.  Quote: “Do you really want nothing but totally effective, instantaneous justice? Then go to hell.” – D. A. Carson. 

I don’t think many of us would come out right and say, “God’s grace appalls me.”  But if we are honest with ourselves there are some diagnostic questions we can ask:[1]  I read these this week from another pastor and thought they were worth sharing:

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