"our Generous God"

“Our Generous God”

Matthew 20:1-16

Remember when Jesus was Crucified, He was executed with two thieves, one on His left and one on His right.

One of the thieves asked Jesus: “remember me when you come into your kingdom,” and Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Well, there is a story about Simon Peter and that thief on the Cross.

Both died—of course--and went up to heaven.

And up in heaven they lived on the same street.

Think about it, Simon Peter lived on the same street as the thief on the Cross.

And Peter wasn’t too pleased about this situation.

One day, God came walking by and Peter said, “You know God, the thief and I are living on the same street here in heaven and we both have very similar houses.

I want you to know that I left everything for you.

I left my fishing nets for you, my occupation, my boats.

I gave all of this up and I followed you my whole adult life and I even got crucified upside down at the end of my life in Rome.

This thief here, he wasn’t a Christian for even fifteen minutes.

I don’t get it.

It’s not fair.”

And that is the attitude this parable is addressing.

It’s the attitude of, “I deserve something for following Jesus.”

“I’m entitled to more of God’s love because of something I have done or for time put in.”

But it’s a lie straight from the devil himself.

I wonder how many of us have been messed up by that one.

Anyway, this parable, Jesus tells it to the disciples right after Peter says to Jesus: “We have left everything to follow you!

What then will there be for us?”

And Jesus answers him: “Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.

But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.”

Then He goes on to tell this parable about the workers in the vineyard.

And, in our way of looking at things, the Kingdom of God may not seem fair.

When we work hard, we expect to be paid more than those who haven’t worked so hard.

If we have put in more hours, we should be rewarded for it.

We live in a competitive world.

This competition is the driving force behind the concept of capitalism.

Not everyone gets paid the same!

Some are rich; some are poor.

Some live in huge mansions--paying more for their beautifully landscaped yards than many of us make in a year or in 10 years.

But, that is not the way it works in the Kingdom of God!

In God’s Kingdom life is so fair that it is difficult to get our minds around it!

It’s fair in such a way that we humans can barely even conceive of it!

Will Peter and the rest of the Twelve receive a reward?

You bet!

And it will be the greatest reward imaginable!

But then, everyone else who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved as well.

Even the ones who come into the Kingdom in the last hour or the last minute or second.

Christianity knows nothing of the concept of superiority nor competition…

…not REAL Christianity that is.

As one person has written, “God does have favorites.

But the trick is that we’re each His very favorite.

And so, when God pours out His love and favor toward someone else, we need not worry.

If we’d just take the time to look, we’d see that God has filled our cup to the brim as well.

In fact, it’s overflowing.

And, when God’s favor is extended toward those of whom we disapprove—well, it’s time to grow up, and begin looking at the world the way God looks at the world.”

I love how Author Phillip Yancey puts it in his book: “What’s So Amazing About Grace?”

“I have meditated enough on Jesus’ stories of grace to let their meaning filter through,” writes Yancey.

“Still each time I confront their astonishing message I realize how thickly the veil of ungrace obscures my view of God.

A housewife jumping up and down in glee over the discovery of a lost coin is not what naturally comes to mind when I think of God.

Yet that is the image Jesus insisted upon.

Jesus says in effect, ‘Do you want to know what it feels like to be God?

When one of those two-legged humans pays attention to Me, it feels like I just reclaimed My most valuable possession, which I had given up for lost.’”