When It Seems Unfair…

When It Seems Unfair…
Pastor Blake Hanson | 8.21.22

Parable: A riddle that illustrates

Matthew 20:1–16 (NLT)

1 “For the Kingdom of Heaven is like the landowner who went out early one morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 

2 He agreed to pay the normal daily wage and sent them out to work. 

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.’ 

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. 

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. 

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.’ 

13 “He answered one of them, ‘Friend, I haven’t been unfair! Didn’t you agree to work all day for the usual wage? 

14 Take your money and go. I wanted to pay this last worker the same as you. 

15 Is it against the law for me to do what I want with my money? Should you be jealous because I am kind to others?’ 

16 “So those who are last now will be first then, and those who are first will be last.”

When it seems unfair… 

1) Stop your story to the moments of others. 

Matthew 20:12–14 (NLT)

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.’

13 “He answered one of them, ‘Friend, I haven’t been unfair! Didn’t you agree to work all day for the usual wage? 

14 Take your money and go. I wanted to pay this last worker the same as you.

2) Remember we what we’re looking for. 

Matthew 20:10–11 (NLT)

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. 

11 When they received their pay, they protested to the owner, 

Colossians 3:2 (ESV)

2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

3) Be thankful life’s falls in our favor. 

Matthew 20:1–2 (NLT)

1 “For the Kingdom of Heaven is like the landowner who went out early one morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 

2 He agreed to pay the normal daily wage and sent them out to work.

Hebrews 12:28–29 (NLT)

28 Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe. 

29 For our God is a devouring fire.

4) Have for the grace we’ve been given. 

Matthew 20:15–16 (NLT)

15 Is it against the law for me to do what I want with my money? Should you be jealous because I am kind to others?’ 

16 “So those who are last now will be first then, and those who are first will be last.”

Matthew 19:27 (NLT)

27 Then Peter said to him, “We’ve given up everything to follow you. What will we get?”

Matthew 19:28–30 (NLT)

28 Jesus replied, “I assure you that when the world is made new and the Son of Man sits upon his glorious throne, you who have been my followers will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 

29 And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or property, for my sake, will receive a hundred times as much in return and will inherit eternal life. 

30 But many who are the greatest now will be least important then, and those who seem least important now will be the greatest then.

NOTES:

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