[Organization Name]

Intro: As I have told you before I was the neighborhood lawnman.  There were so many odd people that made up my block growing up. Older neighborhood, and they more than happy to have a young lad to exploit and child labor laws to ignore.  Without protection of ostia or fair employment or minimum wage regulation I went to work.  When I was around 12, Kathy across the street put me to work.  I was to completely revitalize her backyard, clean out and reorganize her two sheds. It was a monumental task.  My Saturdays were precious as a child, but I undertook this monumental task because of the massive payday that awaited me.  Although we didn’t discuss specifics, I was sure the sheer magnitude of this task would deserve a massive payout. This 8 hour workday of manual labor tantalized me with the possible cashflow.  What would I do with the 60, 70, 80 dollars I might earn? Would I choose video games? Would I choose the new air jordans, would I wreak havoc at Chucky cheese? The possibilities were endless for what I would do with this legendary payout.  And so I sweated through the heat of the day. My back ached my muscles lurched, but I persevered.  Echoing around in my 12 year old mind was the sweet, sweet idea, “ What did I deserve?” I endured new orders and more work all day long, virtually redoing this woman’s entire backyard, and I couldn’t wait to see what I deserved.  At the end of the day I watched in utter ecstasy as she opened her wallet. What was in it for me? $50 $75 $100 maybe even $125 dollars. I watched expectantly as her wallet opened and she pulled 6 crisp bills out.  They were all one dollar bills.  I am not sure how much rage or indignation I had gone through hitherto in my life, but I am sure I experienced it that day. Even for a kid who had no prospects, and no formal job history- I couldn’t be happy with this.  I didn’t get what I deserved.  I had gone through the heat of the day, I had suffered through it all. 6 bucks wasn’t fair. I didn’t get what I deserved.

Although I was only 12, and although I probably wouldn’t have made any money otherwise, that day sticks out for me.  There is something completely unnerving about not getting what you deserve.  Our society thrives on this idea.  USA is built upon the idea of working hard and getting what you deserve. Some people do less, so they get less, some people do more, so they get more.  The rules of our culture are simple- you get what you deserve.  That is why this memory is so annoying.  I didn’t get what I deserved.  Now you might be prone to think-In a perfect world- it wouldn’t be that way.  IF God was seeing over everything – in His kingdom- everyone would get what they deserve.  We are going to look at a passage today that says the exact opposite.  For those in the Kingdom of God, no one gets what they deserve.

Series Reset- The Journey. We are in the final weeks of our jaunt through Matthew leading up to the story of Easter in a little over a month. Gary has led us through this book and we have picked up on some great macro themes. Kingdom. Grace. Legalism. And last week Gary brought us a delightful message on sin. Gary told us salvation was humanly impossible because sin was so utterly wicked. In a sense, Gary was letting us know how bad it was so we can know how good it is. For those outside of the church and many of us inside the church, we mitigate the damage and offense of sin. We defend our own sinfulness while judging others. In this process we remove the need for Jesus. If sin is just a mistake or a slight oops, then salvation isn’t really necessary. That brings us to this week. After Gary brought the bad news, I feel like I get to bring the good news. Bad cop, good cop. And I love it when He is the bad cop. But here is the deal this week, we are going to see a picture of God’s grace and it is a bit unsettling. In fact whenever Jesus teaches on grace it seems to regularly inspire anger and contempt. God’s wild grace is a little too wild for people and at the heart of it is that offensive truth, For those in the Kingdom of God, no one gets what they deserve.

Jesus tells a story in Matthew 20.  After Jesus has told the rich young man to give up everything he has in order to be a disciple, the man walks away sadly, because he was very rich, and did not want to part with his stuff.  As per usual, Peter watches this unfold, and then pipes up.  Hey Jesus, we have given up everything, unlike that doofus- what do we get, what do we deserve?  Jesus answers Peter in a very straightforward way- you will get 100 times that and eternal life.  Wow.  That sounds like these pious believers, these followers are going to get what they deserve. But wait, then he tells a strange story.

Read 19:30-20:16

Jesus bookends this parable with a phrase where he transposes words. First shall be last, and last shall be first then last shall be first and the first shall be last.  Many have mistaken this phrase and applied to waiting for others to before you in line for food, or waiting till the end for their turn, and in their mind- they are cherishing this thought- the last shall be first.  That is not at the heart of Jesus message here. While it is courteous to let others go first, the heart of this message is not to put you at the end of the line at Luby’s.  Jesus is breaking the will of our human inclination towards spiritual superiority in this passage.  Jesus is shattering the expectation of entitlement. First shall be last and the last shall be first alludes to a Kingdom truth.   Jesus paints a picture here of wild grace.  Unchartable mercy. It cannot be extrapolated, it cannot be forecasted.  God’s grace seems to touch down where it will, and all who receive it don’t deserve it.  In the KOG- no one gets what they deserve.

As a background for this text, consider the Jewish population that Jesus was teaching.  They had been God’s chosen people for some 3000 years up to this point, in their eyes they had faithfully covenanted with their God.  They had followed the law, they had participated in the sacrificial system, they had distanced themselves from the pagan culture surrounding them.  They had born the heat of the day, they had done the heavy lifting. And now something incorrigible was happening, Jesus was hanging out not with the Pharisees and other super jews- but instead tax collectors and prostitutes. And as he is hanging out with these people, he is asserting that they would be getting rewards- that they would be getting into the Kingdom. This is merely a foretaste of an even more egregious act when Jesus says, the God of Abraham and Isaac will be letting in Gentiles.  The very pagans who had shunned God for centuries while the Jews remained faithful.

With that context in mind, Jesus tells this offensive story. Common practice to have day workers about town, you could bring them in and pay them a fair wage. In this culture, a common day was set from morning at 6am to evening at 6pm. More or less sunrise to sunset. So the first group is 6am, the next group 9am, the next group noon, then 3pm, then 5pm when only one hour of work is left.  In all of these workers minds surely the question was begged, what do I deserve?

I think a few key words and definitions can help unlock this parable. The landowner is God. The workers are humans. Denarius is grace. Vineyard is the Kingdom. It was common in Jewish literature and prophets for Israel to be referred to as a vineyard. So the Vineyard is the inside. The kingdom for those who accept the invitation.

Reread the passage with God. Humanity. Grace. Kingdom interpolated.

I.                Be exceedingly grateful for the grace you have received (Don’t feel entitled to what you deserve inside the Kingdom)

A.     Whether you came to the faith when you were 8 years old or just became a believer 2 months ago, a since of spiritual entitlement can creep into your life. Similar to the workers who arrived early, and worked all day.  We can be prone to look up to the father and cry out, we have worked in the heat of the day, we have suffered through the weight of it all. We deserve much much more.

B.     You might be apt to say, my teenage years weren’t like that of my peers. I made a decision to follow Christ. I didn’t spend my weekend at keg parties getting wasted dabbling with drugs, and messing around in the backseat of stranger’s car.  When my pagan peers came back from a weekend of drunken revelry, I stayed strong.  While they were out partying, I was going to church and on mission trips. I have stayed the course, I deserve more.

C.     You might be apt to say, my years in the work force haven’t been like that of my pagan peers. While they schmooze and cheat their way to the top, I have been faithful, with my integrity I have worked hard and stayed the course. While my peers do wild things on the weekend, and then bluff their way through work, I work hard and get passed over because of the Gospel. I deserve more.  Shouldn’t God be blessing me in untold ways- shouldn’t I be the CEO by now, shouldn’t I have a husband or wife by now, shouldn’t I be pregnant by now, shouldn’t I own a home, and be making this much by now.  I deserve more. You don’t deserve squat.  If you were to receive the free gift of salvation and live the rest of this earthly life disease ridden, hungry, and alone in a cardboard box- you would still be getting the best deal of all time.  The free gift of grace, the promise of eternal life is unparalleled! Grace is more than any of us deserves.

D.    This passage is clear- you are already getting something you don’t deserve.  The free gift of grace, the amazing power of salvation have been lavished upon you. And yet you look at your pagan peers who indulge in the fleshly temptations you push back, and you think you deserve more? Abundant life on this earth and eternal life in the world to come. I think I have been more than fair.

E.     Illus- OKC bum. In that moment, I had a spiritual epiphany. I saw myself in that man. I realized I was a spiritual bum.  Without any abilities or prospects to change my future, my only hope was to beg for grace, a gift that I did not deserve.  We accept his salvation, and yet we frequently sin, and come back to God’s presence asking for a bit more grace. And yet we have the audacity to feel entitled. Let us not forget that we are spiritually poor.  No one inside the KOG gets what they deserve- we get so much more.

F.     The bottom line here is never start to discourse with God about getting what you deserve.  What you deserve is death. What you deserve is hell.  But God is in the business of giving us above and beyond anything we deserve.

G.    So a simple truth emerges for us. Be exceedingly thankful for the grace you have received. Don’t let it become stale, don’t let it become normal. When you hold this message in tension with Gary’s message on sin, you are reminded of how amazing grace is. How wild it is that God granted you entrance to the Kingdom. Recalibrate your mornings or your evenings around this. Utter a brief prayer of thanksgiving. One of Jesus’ favorite prayers is found in the parable two men’s prayers. The Pharisee goes to the temple with a lack of humility and a sense of entitlement and he says, thank you God for how righteous I am. And a tax collector, a pagan, stands at a distance, beats his chest and says, “have mercy on me God, a sinner.” If you start with this prayer of end with this prayer, I am certain it will begin to chip away at your sense of entitlement and build up your sense of thankfulness.

II.               Be exceedingly grateful for the grace others receive (Don’t long for what others deserve outside of the Kingdom)

A.     If the first thing is a difficult truth, this is even more so.  Many of you have been reminded of how amazing your grace is that you were not owed it, you did not deserve it.  But this is difficult. Because what happens when someone receives the Father’s grace who hasn’t stayed the course like you. They have flaunted the rules, laughed in your face for years, and now it seems God has saved them too?

B.     We often want those who come to the party late to get what they deserve. They have had their fun, now they need to pay the price.  They didn’t endure the heat of the day, they didn’t go through the pain and heartache that I did. There day is coming and they will get what they deserve.

C.     The truth of this passage is that no one in the Kingdom gets what they deserve. Whether you show up early or late, whether your sins are petty in most people’s eyes or egregious- we all received undeniable manifestations of grace. In all reality, duration of sin and grace are irrelevant. Once you have been saved from one and into the other, that is all that matters.

D.    You hear the disdain in the early workers in saying, “you have made them equal to us.” Hidden in that statement is the sentiment- they don’t deserve grace.  Which implies, “I do.”

E.     This was a common malady in Jesus day, and it is a common malady in our day.  We often read the parable of the Prodigal son and miss the point.  Yes, it does have a beautiful picture of a father’s grace and mercy on a sinful younger brother.  But what about the older brother. He is furious.  He said, Father I have been with you all this time, and now my brother who went on MTV spring break on steroids- he wasted your money on booze, strippers, and drugs, he denied himself nothing- and you have welcomed him- made him equal to me, and thrown him a party- are you serious???

F.     The older brother is longing for the younger brother to get what he deserves. Punished. Thrown in jail. Something.

G.    The early workers in the landowner parable are upset by the latecomers being made equal to themselves. They aren’t as competent as me, they didn’t work as hard as me. And the landowner says, “are you envious because I am generous?”

H.    Do you want them to get what they deserve?  Do you really want for them what they deserve?

I.      Illus- schadenfreude. Yet another form of sinful stratification. Spiritual superiority. If they are down, then I am up. Jesus rebukes this idea, first shall be last, last shall be first. It’s all grace and it is all undeserved.

J.      Illus- Imagine your dismay in finding out Charlie Sheen had come to Christ.  He of the porn star girlfriends, he the famous, rich and arrogant actor who gallivanted around the globe, got to be on tv, did drugs wantonly. He was denied no pleasure in this life.  You might be prone to think, he is not getting what he deserves- he had so much fun- he never fought temptation.  This thinking has two preposterous fallacies at its root. 1) While the gallivanting and the fame and the riches and the deprivation of no desire or want may seem somewhat temporally appealing, you have not seen the nights he spent in misery. All of those nights he proclaimed himself to be winning when in all reality he knew he was desperately losing 2) All sin is horrible.  And you do not want him to get what he deserves. Hell and separation from Christ is the most irreversibly horrible destiny. 

K.     Our calling is to be exceedingly joyful when all come to Christ.  Your reward is found in the heat of the day.  Abundant life is not a close mirror of the pagan life of indulgent fleshly behavior.  Abundant life is found in the work, the persecution, the struggle.  While it may not seem fair to our sensibilities that God saves some who do not seem worthy of saving, who are we to presume on His grace.

L.     Illus- Put yourself in the sandals of a 1^st century Christian. You and your good friend Stephen had been on fire for the Gospel.  It was changing lives, you and Stephen were up and coming leaders, and then you met Saul.  He hated Christianity and he hated you.  He incited a riot, and presided over the stoning of your good friend Stephen.  It is easy pass over that death sentence without picturing, but you were there and it runs through your mind every day.  The stones pummeled Stephen for at least an hour before he died. Some stones simply struck him in the arm or torso, causing massive pain and massive bruising. But finally the perfect blow struck him in the side of the head and cracked his skull open.  It did not kill him only concussed him.  He lay there perfectly aware. Bleeding from his head and ears.  Still feeling every blow, and for the next hour he bled to death before your eyes.  This friend in ministry who stood for the Gospel died humiliated and in anguish in front of the whole city, and you look up through the tears and see the man Saul sneering up above, nodding his head in approval. Now imagine years later sitting at a church meeting, and this man claims to not only have become a Christian- supposedly Jesus came to him in a bright light, supposedly he has been made equal to you, and now he wants to preach, now he wants to go on mission trips.  Was no one else there while Stephen bled out in agony- this man is at fault.  He needs to get what he deserves. You would shriek out as the people in this passage- “are you making him equal to us?”

M.   In the KOG- no one gets what they deserve. With that in mind, don’t feel entitled to what you have received, and don’t long for what you think others deserve.

N.    Jonah didn’t understand this- he was upset when the Ninevites received grace. The older brother didn’t understand this.  We don’t want people to get what they deserve.  Don’t be stingy with his grace. When you remember how great it is, and how bad hell is you will share the Gospel truth with your best friend and with a muslim terrorist. You will share it with your friendly neighbor and the most obnoxious pagan in your office.

Conclusion- This July will mark the 150^th anniversary of the first battle of Bull Run. The first major battle of the Civil war. The tension had been building, the battle lines had been drawn and the rumors of imminent battle were finally coming to fruition. The people of the north and the south gathered on a lawn up above the hill to watch the traitors from the other side get what they deserved.  They stood for everything you did not, they wouldn’t live life like you knew they should, so finally they were going to get what they deserved.  Now I am not sure what the people that day thought they were going to see, some kind of genteel fighting, some bloodless wrestling where one side would give in and cry uncle.  But what they saw was brutality as their sons, brothers and fathers were massacred before their eyes.  Limbs were blown away, lives were lost in great numbers. Of the 60,000 men in battle that day, over 3000 died and the rest realized that this war would be in no way civil. Suddenly, no one wanted to see anyone getting what they deserved.  As a follower of Christ I confess that I have sought for those outside of the Kingdom to stay that way so that they would get what they deserved.  As a pastor I feel the mocking arrogance of unbelievers on the fringe, and if I am being honest there have been times of weakness where I have sneered and looked forward to that judgment day when they would cower before X and finally be put in their place, they would finally get what they deserved for mocking me and mocking X. This passage reminds us that God’s wild grace should constantly remind us that we should never look for what people deserve. God’s wild grace should be happily shared with everyone. We serve an unfair God and we should be thankful for that. For all those inside, the KOG- none of us get what we deserve.  We should be exceedingly thankful for that.

List by: Choose...Series Category Month Preacher