- Well, thank you for the kind words, Pastor Mark. I just want to say good morning, Brian, and I send greetings to you from Brian Mission Church in Millbrae. We're so thankful for the relationship that our churches have and also for the gospel partnership that we share together in Christ.
And in particular, I just praise God for this church and for your godly pastors and elders and really the gospel presence that this church has in Orange County and in Southern California. And personally, I've seen BCC's ministry in the lives of so many people I know and I've watched from afar as friends have come to faith in Christ and to see others just growing in their walks with the Lord, some of whom are still here and others who are a part of our church now.
And it just brings me such great joy to know and to see how God is working through your church and through your leaders. And so I want to thank Pastor Peter and just the elders for the invitation to be here. And I'm grateful for the opportunity to bring God's word to you this morning.
And so if you have your Bible, I invite you to turn with me to Matthew chapter 20, and we'll be looking at verses 1 through 16. And as I was thinking about what to preach on, this passage was really on my heart to share. It's become one of my favorite parables and it's not as well known as some of the other ones because it's found in Matthew's gospel alone.
And so I hope just to familiarize you with this story and I trust that it can be encouragement to you this morning. Matthew chapter 20, beginning in verse 1, and I'll read our text for us this morning. For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for the vineyard.
After agreeing with the laborers for denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace. And to them he said, you go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you. And so they went.
Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. And about the 11th hour, he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, why do you stand here idle all day? They said to him, because no one has hired us. He said to them, you go into the vineyard too.
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. And when those hired about the 11th hour came, each of them received a denarius. Verse 10, now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius.
And on receiving it, they grumbled at the master of the house, saying, these last worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us, who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat. But he replied to one of them, friend, I am doing you no wrong.
Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. 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? Or do you begrudge my generosity? So the last will be first, and the first last.
This is God's holy word. Let's pray. Father, we ask that as we approach your word this morning, that you would give us ears to hear and eyes to see and hearts ready and eager to receive your word, that we might be transformed into the likeness of your son, Jesus Christ.
In whose name we pray, amen. One of the first things that we learn to say as children is the phrase, it's not fair. And we weren't taught it. It's not like someone sat us down and walked us through, this is how you pronounce it. Here are all the occasions in life that you'll find it useful.
Let's practice it together. It's not fair. No, it's instinctive. And we see this especially in kids. When they have to share a toy, it's not fair. When they have to stop playing their game, it's not fair. When they don't get their way, it's not fair. It's not fair is one of the first things that we feel and express in life before we even know how to articulate it.
And we discovered that this carries over to adulthood. It's one of the things that we continue to feel most strongly and say most loudly, whether externally or internally, as grownups. We feel like our work situation is not fair. We feel that our pay is not fair. We feel the cost of living in Orange County is not fair.
Think about maybe when the last time was when you said this phrase. For me, it was when my wife, Carissa, picked up Chick-fil-A for me. And she was on her way home from a place called Fairfield. It's my absolute favorite. Chick-fil-A, it is my absolute favorite. I actually just had some yesterday.
And unlike for you guys in SoCal, it's a total treat because we don't live close to one living in San Francisco. The closest one is in San Jose, which is an hour away. And so when my wife brought some Chick-fil-A back home, I was so excited. But when I opened the bag, I found a spicy chicken sandwich with no spicy chicken.
It was literally two slices of bread, and they left out the chicken in the middle. And they had the audacity, for some reason, to leave even the cheese in there. So I was like, "Dang, Chick-fil-A, you wrong for this, all right? It's not fair." Most of us, we go through life feeling and thinking that a whole bunch of things aren't fair.
And don't get me wrong, I'm not dismissing that there is not real injustice in the world. We should want our laws and our justice systems and our standards to be fair. But here's what I'm getting at. All of us put on some lens whereby we look at the world.
Because none of us just experience the world, but we constantly interpret it. And for some of you, it's through the lens of fairness, where we're always assessing what we think we deserve and what others deserve or don't deserve. Where we're keenly aware of what people have and what we don't have.
Where we compare other successes to our failures. Where we're cognizant of whether someone's being recognized and whether we're being ignored. See, we're always sizing up, we're always calculating, we're always feeling like we're owed something by our family, by our friends, and even by God. This has become the socially acceptable and respectable sin.
It is to look at the world in this way, to be discontent, to envy what people have, to resent God and say, "It's not fair." But there's another way to look at the world. It's to get up each morning to put on lenses not of fairness, but to put on lenses of grace.
One writer says that when you do this, you'll see that most days are a lot better than you deserve. And on the really hard days, you'll fight to believe that God is working for good. With the lenses of grace, you'll rejoice in the success of others. Instead of experiencing life as a series of disappointments where you weren't treated as you deserve, you'll experience life as a gift.
You'll see grace all around you. Whatever is good in your life, it's grace. Whatever good is in someone else's life, it's grace. It's a profoundly different way of looking at the world. Jesus tells a parable that challenges our tendency to view life through the lens of fairness, and shows us that instead, life is to be seen through grace.
That's what this account is all about. It's a story that highlights the beauty of God's grace to us in the gospel, and it's meant to inform the way that we live life. And as we go through this passage, I want us to see three things here. We see the parable itself, the purpose for why it's told, and then the principle that's found in this story.
If you're taking notes, the first thing that I want to look at is the parable. And I just want to walk us through this account, and so you can follow along in your Bibles. In verse 1, it begins like this, "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." Verse 1 sets the context of this parable for us.
Jesus tells a story to illustrate what the kingdom of heaven is like. And in this story, there is the master. He is the landowner who has a vineyard and is in need of laborers for that vineyard. And at this time, it's likely September, and it's harvesting season. The weather was still hot, and so it was important to gather grapes before the rain came and destroyed everything.
And so harvesting was in great demand at this time. And you never really had enough manpower to do that in terms of a permanent staff. And so you needed to very quickly find part-time laborers to get the harvest in on time. Now in those days, the workday was usually from 6 a.m.
to 6 p.m. The man in the story we're told goes out early in the morning before 6 a.m. to find laborers for his vineyard. And he makes his way to the marketplace of town nearby. And there he would find men standing, waiting for work. It'd be like a scene from that of the Great Depression, where there would be people waiting for someone to hire them, and they're waiting along the docks, just waiting for someone to be able to hire them for work.
These laborers were usually unskilled. They didn't have much to offer. They were desperate for work in those days. They were unemployed except for a day at a time, never knowing when the next job would come. See, life for them was precarious. It was difficult because they had to work in order to eat, and if they didn't work, then they couldn't eat, and neither could their families.
And so they would congregate in the marketplace, and there they would wait for someone to come along to get them work. And so the master in the story went to the marketplace and saw these men on this particular day, and he would say, "You, you, and you, come and work in my vineyard." And he set the terms, "I'll give you one denarius for one day's work." And that would have been very fair.
In fact, a very generous wage for unskilled workers. And so these men agree, and in verse 2, he sent them into his vineyard to begin work. But then we're told three hours later, at the third hour, which is 9 a.m., the landowner comes back to the marketplace to find more workers.
And it says in verse 3 this, "And going out about the third hour, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace." No one's hired this group. They're unemployed, and they're looking for work too. And so to those, verse 4, the master said, "You go into the vineyard too, and whatever's right I will give you." No negotiation of wages takes place.
The landowner simply promises rightful pay for appropriate work, and off they go to the vineyard. But the story goes, the master comes back to the marketplace on three more occasions. He goes out again at noon, at 3 p.m., and once more at 5 p.m. Now this is one hour before the end of the workday.
And he sees men still standing there at this hour. And so he asks them, verse 6, "Why do you stand here idle all day?" And their response is, "Because no one's hired us." And he said to them, "You too go into my vineyard and work." Realize, this master is a compassionate man.
When he finds out the reason that they're there is simply because no one wanted them and no one hired them, though they were willing to work, he hires them for just one hour. They waited all day, stayed all day, likely thinking that with each passing hour they weren't going to find work.
But against all hope, this generous man shows up and he says, "Just go, and whatever's right I'll give you." And you can imagine, they're grateful to have been hired this late in the day. And so that's the first part of the story. A landowner hires five successive waves of workers at 6 a.m., 9 a.m., 12 p.m., 3 p.m., and 5 p.m.
And he sends them off to work in his vineyard. But now it's 6 p.m. The bell is rung, the whistle's blown, it's the end of the workday. And as was the custom, everyone lines up to get paid. But a couple of interesting things happen here. First in verse 8, "When evening came, it says the landowner said to his foreman, 'Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last up to the first.' The owner asked his manager to pay the last hired workers first." And so you think, well, isn't that a little odd?
Usually we pay workers in order of hiring, the first to the last. But this master instead gives specific instruction to do the opposite. The workers who are hired last get paid first, and those who are hired first get paid last. And so these men who work for one hour, maybe even less when you account for travel time from the marketplace to the vineyard, they're in the front of the line.
And those who worked all 12 hours are in the back of the line. And so that's unusual. But then a second unusual thing happens. Verse 9, "And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. So, the workers who were hired at the end of the day, worked less than one hour, got a denarius.
How do you think they reacted? Like, well, this is crazy. We work less than an hour and we get an entire day's wage. This is unbelievable. Life is good. And so they're feeling that way, right? Now how do you think those at this point are feeling in the back of the line?
They see this and they're getting excited. They're thinking, "What are we going to get? If they get a denarius for one hour of work, do the math, we work 12 hours, we get 12 denarii, right? We're going to have a little extra in the bank. We're going to buy that Tesla Model X, right?
We're going to have a happy commute home, right?" But in verse 10, it tells us that when they got to the front of the line, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. They had this silent expectation that when their turn came, they would receive more because they'd worked longer than everyone else.
And when that didn't happen, they couldn't hide their disappointment. It says this in verse 11, "And on receiving this one denarius, they grumbled at the master of the house, 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.'" They were saying, "These guys who worked in the cool of the day for one hour, and we worked in the scorching heat for the entire day, they get paid what we get paid?" And so the master replies to this group of men.
And this is really the heart of the story. So let's finish reading the account together. Verse 13, "He replied to one of them," notice what he calls him, "Friend, friend, I'm doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go.
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? Or do you begrudge my generosity? So the last will be first, and the first last." So that's the parable. It ends just like that.
It's a simple story, but we know it's more than that. And so what's the point? What's the purpose of this parable that Jesus tells us? I believe there are two purposes that we can find here for why Jesus tells this story. One, I believe this parable is told to show that God's grace is manifested in our salvation.
See, this parable is really about Christ. He is front and center in the story. Our Lord is unmistakably cast here as the landowner. He is the master of the estate. He owns the vineyard. And specifically, the story is about his grace and the salvation that he offers to sinners.
That's what the denarius in the story represents, salvation. So how do we know this? Well, this parable, if you read it in its context, is a continuation of what Jesus has been teaching on in the chapter before in Matthew 19. And there we have an account of the rich young ruler.
And if you remember the story, in verse 16, this young man approaches the Lord and he asks him this question, "Teacher, what must I do to inherit what? Eternal life." That's the topic of discussion here. And so from there, Jesus begins to teach on eternal life. And he then tells the story about the vineyard to illustrate truths regarding this eternal life.
And he highlights specifically God's compassion and his love and his grace towards sinners as the one who gives eternal life. And this truth is found throughout the entire story. Jesus cast in the story not only the landowner, but the hired workers. And as I alluded to, life for them was desperate.
What they were in the marketplace tells us that they were in need of some kind of work. In those days, these workers were near the bottom of the socioeconomic scale, just above a beggar. So you realize that day laborers were regarded as the lowest class of workers. Why? Because they were unskilled.
They were untrained. They were unemployed except for a day at a time working from job to job to job. Simply, they didn't have much to offer. And so each morning they would line up in the marketplace in hopes of being hired. And on this particular morning, this landowner, he goes out and he finds these men waiting there.
And so he brings them to his vineyard to work. Now at this point, nothing really seems out of the ordinary. And it's what happens in the third hour and beyond that tells you something more about this master. This man goes back out not once, not twice, not three times, but four more times to bring more workers into the vineyard.
And each time he found them, the story emphasizes that these workers were what? It says that they were idle. Not that they were willfully idle, but they couldn't find work. And so they waited. And as they waited, it was the landowner himself who initiates, who seeks out, who calls for these laborers and brings them to be part of his work.
And as we read this, the question that we inevitably ask is, why does he keep coming back out? Does he not know how many people it takes to harvest this? This master not have foresight to plan accordingly. You think that after a while, he would say, "Okay, well, there's this much land and it takes this many people working this many hours to gather this many grapes." So why does he keep coming back out?
The only answer is that he represents God. And he's coming back not because he needs more workers, but because he wants to give work. He wants to give of his riches. He goes to the marketplace and he sees these men in their situation, unhired, unwanted, unneeded, and his heart breaks for them.
And he has compassion on these workers who really had nothing to offer. And this is so evident that the quality of workers who are available lessens as the day goes on and each time that he comes out. See, because it would be the young, the strong, the capable who are gone first on any occasion, and yet this master, he goes and he finds these second, third, fourth-tier men.
They were the ones who were idle. Remember when he asked, "Well, why are you standing there idle?" They more or less replied, "Well, because no one wants us." They were the leftovers. They were the scraps for work because they were older, they were slower, they were less capable. They didn't have as much to offer.
And yet the landowner looks upon them with a heart of compassion. He tells them, "You two, go to my vineyard. Do my work. And whatever is right, I'll pay you." And with gratitude they go. And he does this up until the very last group of workers and he's saying, "There's only an hour left in the workday.
I don't need you. You can't do much. You can't contribute much to my vineyard. But I want you anyway. I want to set you to work. I want to pay you." Do you see? This was us in the marketplace. The marketplace is where religion has left each of us.
Religion has told us that we need to work in order to earn our way to God, in order to earn salvation, but religion always leaves us desperate, always looking for more work to do, always falling short, never doing enough to earn heaven. And the result isn't being with God.
It is separation from God. And as sinners, we were hopeless and condemned in our situation. And it is here that God meets us where we're at. He sees our sin and our desperate situation and He has mercy. He comes to the marketplace of this world and He seeks to bring those undeserving into His kingdom, not because He needed us, but because He loved us, because He sought after us and He has made a way for us to be brought into the kingdom.
The Bible tells us that God would provide a Savior for our sin. He sends His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for our sins and in our place to pay the debt that we owed and take the judgment that you and I deserved. But on the third day, He rose from the grave for our justification, conquering sin and death.
And as the living God, He promises that if you renounce your sins and works and instead trust in My work on the cross, you can be saved. See, God is looking for those who are willing to say with a humble heart, "We're not good enough." He wants a heart that says, "I have nothing.
I can do nothing. I offer nothing. But I need God for all things." God seeks those who don't trust themselves for salvation, but those who throw themselves at the mercy of God. And it is when men and women are at this place and they acknowledge their sin and their need for grace and mercy that God will bring us to His vineyard, His kingdom, and to give us eternal life.
God is trying to impress to us the futility of the religion of works where man tries to do as much as he can to be saved and instead points us to the gospel of grace where God has done it all for us to be saved in Jesus Christ through faith in Him.
So we see that God's grace is manifested in our salvation. Second, we see that God's grace is manifested equally. This is the other purpose for why the Lord tells this parable. All who come into Christ's kingdom to serve Him, no matter how long, no matter how short, will in the end equally receive the same reward.
In this parable, if you go back to it, some worked 12-hour days, some worked nine, some worked six, some worked three, some worked less than one hour, but realize that in the end, they all received the same pay. The point that Jesus makes is those who come first to God will receive no more than those who come last.
And those who come last will receive no less than those who come first. The same eternal life will be given to the sinner who turns from Christ at the end of his life, who turns from sin to Christ at the end of his life, as is given to the missionary who spent 50 years in a remote tribe in Africa.
Brothers and sisters, I want to tell you that is an encouraging thing, that while life may be inequitable, God isn't, and eternity won't be either. Every believer, no matter when converted or what manner of service or for how long, will receive the same reward of heaven just like everyone else.
But there's another aspect to this, because this issue of equality of grace doesn't just deal with length of time, but notice here also to experience. You go back to the parable. See for the earlier group who worked, their complaint was it wasn't just that they worked all 12 hours, but you notice their response upon receiving the same one denarius as everyone else.
Verse 12, it says, "These workers, these last workers who worked only one hour, you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat." See what they appealed to and why they accused the master of unfairness wasn't how long they worked, but how hard they worked.
These men, it says, bore the burden of the day. They were under the scorching heat. They felt the oppressive sun of Palestine. It was painful labor. They were hungry. They were thirsty. They were tired. These men had worked long and they worked so hard for their denarius. This parable is in fact told as a response to what Peter says in the chapter right before.
In verse 27 of Matthew 19, Peter says, "Lord, we've left everything to follow you. What then will we have?" See these disciples were saying this to our Lord. "Jesus, we've left everything and we've already endured three years of deprivation in the summer heat of working the harvest. We've been out here in the hot sun and we felt the persecution.
We've endured opposition. We've experienced the hostility and yet we see others now following you and they get the same thing we do?" That's what Peter is saying here. It's coming from a place where they felt that things were unfair. Let me try to give you a sports analogy to maybe illustrate this truth.
Sports analogy is about the Golden State Warriors. I live in the Bay Area with all these Warriors fans and it's terrible. Even worse that they won three championships in four years. Whatever your loyalty lies, I mean, objectively we have to give it up. This was one of the all-time great teams in NBA history.
I'm a Kings fan, so pray for me, but I'm from Sacramento. There was legit happiness that I had for Warriors fans because I know that they've endured the decades of losing. They've gone through the dark ages of the Fontego Cummings, the Bob Sear, the Eric Dampier teams. The reward is that much sweeter for them because they won.
At the same time, living in the Bay Area, I noticed this. I've observed that these same fans aren't happy that they're now sharing this mountaintop experience with people who became fans way back in 2015. They know who they are. It's not fair because they're thinking, "We've endured through all that losing and pain and money spent on Adonofoil jerseys." That reminds me that long-time suffering fans are those who worked the morning and labored in the heat of the day.
The 2015 fans are the ones who worked for one hour in the cool evening breeze. Now older fans are being told, "You guys are actually equal, and we have to share this together the same." In our economy of things, that doesn't seem right. That's how these disciples felt. See, they counted the cost from the beginning, and now there were those who just started following Jesus.
The disciples were thinking, "These guys are jumping on the bandwagon at the last minute here. Surely, we should get more than they, Jesus, because we've been through so much for you already." It really illustrates this truth on a more sobering note that there are believers who come to faith in Christ in some of the most difficult places in the world where they have endured so much suffering.
Their labor is hard. They sacrifice much, even their lives. It's a sobering truth that we at times forget that at this very moment, we are enjoying the freedom to worship while believers around the world are in bondage, are persecuted, are being martyred for their faith in Christ. An average of at least 180 Christians around the world are killed each month for their faith.
In 41 of 50 of the worst nations for persecution, Christians are the group being persecuted most and targeted by extremists. More Christians, we're told by historians, have been martyred in the 20th century alone than all other centuries combined. 90,000 Christians were killed for their faith last year alone, with many more who suffer and die unaccounted for, forgotten, and largely unknown.
See, they are those who work here, the 12-hour days and the scorching heat. They are those workers in this parable who have worked hard, who have suffered much, who have sacrificed greatly under the harsh sun in the vineyard. And they stand in contrast to those who work in the one hour and the cool evening breeze, those like the thief on the cross.
This man who was a criminal for his entire life, living a wicked life, people like him will turn to Christ in the last moment of their lives, and they will get the same eternal life as those who suffer all their lives for the sake of Christ, those who give their lives for Christ, men like Stephen and Paul and John Hus and William Tyndale and Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Richard Wurmbrand, those slaughtered for the faith.
And the question we ask is, is that fair? Brothers and sisters, the answer is no. It is not fair. It is grace. They are those in this parable who have worked the 12-hour days. We know not everyone's faith is like that. They're those who serve Christ in contrast in the coolness of the evening breeze, those like many of us, where there are seemingly no sacrifices for their entire lives.
They are born in free and prosperous nations. They have great jobs. They accumulate wealth. They own their own homes. They drive nice cars. They vacation anywhere around the world. They have good health. They can live out their faith in freedom without any fear of persecution. You look at us, and we've not shed one drop of blood for the gospel, at least to my knowledge.
Sure, I've been criticized. I've been opposed by my parents for my faith for a time, and I've endured mild hostility, but I've not shed one drop of blood for Christ because I am one of those who have labored in the cool evening breeze of the vineyard. And oftentimes I ask myself this question, is that fair?
Is that fair that I would receive this one denarius, this eternal life in the glories of heaven with all those who go through so much suffering? Is that fair? No, it's not fair. It's grace. Jesus is telling us all who come into the kingdom to serve him no matter how hard, no matter how easy the circumstances will in the end equally receive the same full reward.
We ask, why would God allow us to suffer so little compared to those who are in the world suffering so much? Why would God bless us with so much when others have so little? Why would God allow us to enjoy what we have while others are deprived? We don't know.
It's only by his grace. And all we can do is marvel. We bow our knee and we praise God. This leads to the third and final point, the principle here. There's a practical application found in this story, and it's simply this, that the grace of God is to affect the way that we see life.
When it came time for the first workers to receive their pay, they took exception. But notice what the master says, verse 13. But he replied to one of them, "Friend, I'm doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go.
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, or do you begrudge my generosity?" You notice what the master is saying? The master is saying that he kept his end of the deal.
He was just. He did no wrong here. They agreed to a denarius, and that's exactly what he gave. And when he chooses to pay the latter group, he's saying it was completely his right to do so. And so he says here, the problem isn't injustice, because he gave as he said he would.
Instead, he identifies the problem with you guys. The problem is jealousy. The problem is envy. It is selfishness. See, and the master says this, "Or do you begrudge my generosity?" The literal translation for this in the Greek is, "Is your eye evil because I am good?" The landowner asked whether they were seeing with an evil eye, whether their perception was wrong, whether their perspective was wrong.
And the obvious answer is yes. And this really gets to the heart of the problem here. See, this isn't about the denarius that they received. It's about the denarius they saw others receive. In verse 12, you notice the workers complained, "You made them equal to us," not, "You made us equal to them." It wasn't that they were upset about the pay they received.
They were upset that others received the same pay as them. They resented the generosity of the master to people who they felt weren't deserving. This sort of perception of people in life led to this greater problem that our Lord alludes to. They focused on what others got rather than being thankful for what they got, far more than they deserved.
And Jesus rebukes His disciples for this. When they were complaining, "It's not fair. What more do we get?" Our Lord said, "You're wrong." And I think this speaks to the issue of their heart and it spoke to this really issue of unthankfulness. And I believe that this is a word to all of us.
Because let me ask you this, are you a thankful person? Or are you someone who lacks gratitude? Now if you don't know the answer to that question, let me help you. And I just want to give you a series of diagnostic questions to ask yourselves. Would people who know you characterize you as a complaining person or a thankful person?
How often do you point out something wrong with work, people, and life in your conversations? Conversely, how often do you affirm evidences of grace in your life and in your conversations? Do you look at the world and find many reasons to complain because things aren't going your way? Or do you look at the world and find yourself blown away at the many reasons that you have every day to give thanks to God?
Do you view yourself as someone who has been constantly shortchanged and neglected? Or do you view yourself as one who has been unfairly showered with blessings? Think about the way that you talk. Do you often say, "If only I had this or if this was different." Or do you often say instead, "I can't believe God has given me this." Is that a part of your vocabulary?
Those questions are searching and they're humbling and they sober us. Because far too often we are more like these mourning laborers than we like to admit. We look at life through the lens of our perceived fairness, that he has such a nice job and making good pay and I have this one.
They always get invited to things and I don't. All the guys notice her and they don't notice me. Their marriage and their kids seem so good and ours doesn't. They have everything going on for them in life and life is hard for me and the cry is always the same.
It's not fair. That's coming from a place where you think you deserve better, certainly better than others. And why you feel that way is because you don't really think of yourself as a sinner as you want. But God desires for us to instead put on lenses of grace, to see the gospel, to see the cross, to see that grace is amazing once again.
That the God of this universe would love me and give me the greatest thing in his son Jesus Christ. He continues to give me more than I ever deserve. Jesus is having us recalibrate our view and light of the cross to see who we really are. That we're simply sinners who have been saved by grace and we see that there's nothing good in you and me and we have nothing unless God grants it.
And it's when we see ourselves and life in this way, feelings of humility and thankfulness rather than entitlement and disappointment fill the heart. When we see through the lens of grace and the light of the gospel, you'll have reasons to be grateful everywhere you look. There will even be moments when your life is marked by disappointment and loss and trials and you find yourself amidst your suffering asking, "Why is this happening to me?
Why is this happening to people we love?" And we ask God, "Where is your grace?" And God will say through the lens of grace, "It's there in your sufferings." When we struggle, we're to fix our eyes back on the cross. And as we do so, I'll guarantee you the world will look like a different place, a better place and God will appear as he truly is, the God of grace who gives us better than we deserve.
Is this not the more satisfying way to live? Is this not the more appropriate way to view the world and to view ourselves, to see it all through the grace of God and the gospel? And I'll tell you that every day is a fight in our hearts to do this.
In the exhortation that I give you, Berean Community Church, let us be disciplined to see and to live in light of grace. Let's pray. Father, we thank you that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. We were undeserving of anything but judgment and yet, Lord, you showed us grace.
Help us to be grateful for the salvation that we have in Christ, not feeling entitlement but seeing all that we have as grace upon grace from your generous hand. And in those moments that we complain, when we feel discontent, when we're tempted to be resentful for what we have and what we're going through, help us to see Christ, to look upon the cross, to celebrate your grace once again and to say that Jesus is all we truly need.
He is our everything. He is our great treasure. And it's in his name we pray. Amen.