When God’s Grace to Others Bothers Us (Luke 15:30 and Matthew 20:1-15)

We like God’s grace to us, but we don’t always like God’s grace to others. Grace is unmerited favor. It is undeserved, which means by nature it is unfair. People are being given what they did not work for or earn and that upsets us. We will look at two examples of this in Scripture and then discuss the application for us. https://youtu.be/fPcXHwCBxZ8 We like God’s grace to us, but we don’t always like God’s grace to others. Grace is unmerited favor. It is undeserved. It seems unfair. Table of contentsFamily Worship GuideSermon NotesIf We Don’t Understand God’s Grace to Others, We Will Be Jealous of What Others HaveIf We Don’t Understand God’s Grace to Others, We Will Be Discontent With What We HaveIf We Don’t Understand God’s Grace to Others, We Will Be Frustrated with OthersLesson One: If we don’t understand God’s grace to others we will be (Part Four) frustrated with God.Lesson Two: Our view of God’s grace to others reveals our understanding of God’s grace to us. Family Worship Guide Directions: Read Luke 15:24-30 and Matthew 20:1-15 and then answer the questions: Day 1: Why would God’s grace to others ever bother us? Why was the older brother so upset with his younger brother? Why was he so upset with his father? Why were some vineyard workers upset with other vineyard workers? Do you think you would be upset in the same situation? Day 2: Why does God have mercy and compassion on some, but not others (look for the answer in Romans 9:17)? Describe the jealousy you can see in the parable of the prodigal son and the parable of the vineyard workers. Do an honest assessment and consider in what areas you are tempted to be jealous of others. Day 3: What areas of your life do you have to resist discontentment? What helps you be content? Can you describe a time you felt frustrated with others because of God’s grace to them? Can you describe a time you felt frustrated with God because of His grace to others? How does our view of God’s grace to us shape our view of God’s grace to others? Sermon Notes Would you believe me if I told you that we don’t always like God’s grace…at least in other people’s lives? We like God’s grace to us. But we don’t always like God’s grace to others. And why is that? Grace is unmerited favor. It is undeserved, which means by nature it is unfair. People are being given what they did not work for or earn and that upsets us. We will look at two examples of this in Scripture and then discuss the application for us. Last week we made it through verse 29. Look at verse 30… Luke 15:30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ Whenever God spoke to Moses when he was upset with the Israelites he called them, “Your people.” Sometimes spouses do this when they are upset with their children. They talk to their husband or wife and say, “Your son,” or “Your daughter.” That’s pretty much what’s happening here. The older son says, “This son of yours.” He could not bring himself to call him, “my brother.” The older brother was upset about all the grace shown to his younger brother. He knows about the fattened calf and celebration. Wait until he learns about the robe, ring, and shoes. And the whole situation is made even worse by the way the younger brother acted. The older brother said, “He devoured your property with prostitutes.” It’s like he says, “He’s been living terribly, and this is how you treat him?” The older brother wanted his younger brother to be punished, regardless of whether he was repentant. Again, this makes him look like the religious leaders who didn’t like seeing sinners forgiven and shown grace. Let me show you the second example to further drive the point home. Please turn to Matthew 20. I’m going to go through this parable quickly, because I am looking at it to support what we are learning about the older brother, versus diging out each truth like I’m doing in Luke 15. Matthew 20:1 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2 After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. Early in the morning is probably about 6:00am. A denarius is the wage for a full day’s labor. The word agreeing is important! These men knew ahead of time that they were receiving a denarius, and they agreed to that amount. This is a perfectly fair arrangement. Matthew 20:3 And going out about the third hour (9am) he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4 and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ Notice these workers were not told what they would receive. They were simply told whatever is right I will give you. They were desperate for work, so they didn’t even try to negotiate a price. Matthew 20:5 So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour (1PM) and the ninth hour (3PM), he did the same. 6 And about the eleventh hour (5PM) he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ 7 They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ These guys are even more desperate. They waited all day and hadn’t been hired, so they also went to work without knowing what they’d be paid. Surprisingly, watch what happened… Matthew 20:8 “And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ 9 And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. These guys must have been ecstatic. Even though they only worked one hour they were paid first, and they were paid for a full day’s work. Matthew 20:10 Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. 11 And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, 12 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.’ Notice the words, “heat of the day.” The people who started work earlier had to endure the heat. This also didn’t go over well. Matthew 20:13 But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Now two questions… First, was the landowner unfair? No, which he pointed out: I am doing you no wrong. Second, why wasn’t he unfair? Because he gave them exactly what he agreed to give them, which he also pointed out: did you not agree with me for a denarius? Matthew 20:14 Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. 15 Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ Let me get you to notice three things in these two verses… First, notice the word generosity. This is synonymous with the word grace, and it helps interpret the parable: it is about grace. If it was fair for vineyard workers to receive one denarius for one day’s work, then it wasn’t fair for vineyard workers to work less than one day and still receive one denarius. But grace is not fair, because it is unearned or undeserved favor. If you’re going to have a parable about grace, it must demonstrate unfairness. If everyone in this parable received exactly what they deserved, it wouldn’t be a parable about God’s grace. Also, one more important point about the parable… This parable is not about rewards. There are places in Scripture that teach that we will be rewarded for what we’ve done for the Lord, but that’s not this parable. That parable is about the opposite of that, because if you are rewarded for what you did or worked for, that is not grace. It’s wages… Romans 4:4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift (or grace) but as his due. Instead, this parable is about salvation. People get saved at different times in their lives represented by the different times of day. Some people get saved early in life at 6 AM. Some people get saved later in life, at the eleventh hour, or at 5 PM. Who is the premier example in the Bible of getting saved at the end of like without working much? The thief on the cross. He received salvation just like people who were saved early in life. When I first became a Christian and shared the gospel with some of my Catholic family members, because they were part of a works-based religion that required doing enough to be saved, one of the most frequent criticisms I received was, “Oh, right, you’re telling me if people reach the end of their lives and just believe, they will be saved? What if they lived wicked lives? Suddenly, just like that, they get to go to heaven?” My Catholic family members struggled with this because they didn’t understand God’s grace. If we understand God’s grace, we will never get angry at others being saved, whether at the beginning or end of their lives, because we also recognize that we did as much as them to be saved…which is nothing. Second, notice the repetition of the words I choose… 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? This is the only explanation given for the vineyard owner’s actions. It’s what he chooses to do. The reasons for his generosity, or graciousness, are known only to him, and nobody else. This is what it means to be God: you get to do what you want without having to explain yourself to anyone. It’s almost like Romans 9:14-19 where God says He has mercy and compassion on whomever He wants… Romans 9:14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! 15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion....