Sermon Title: Why Isn't Life Fair?
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. “He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. “He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’ “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’ “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’ “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
This coming Sunday we will begin a new sermon series entitled, "Life Questions: Answers to Life's Most Important Questions." The first question that we will attempt to answer is, why isn't life fair? Pastor Joseph Vest has written the following on the subject: "Maybe our problem is that we mis-define fair because how we define what is and isn't fair is really important. What really is fair? A more important question is, 'Do we really want fairness...do we really?' In our society we have expressions like, 'I want my fair share' and we hear kids all the time saying, 'No fair.' What we're really saying is, 'I want mine even if nobody gets theirs.' It's funny but things really only seem unfair when they're going against us. If things are going for us then all of the sudden fairness never enters our minds. If your neighbor gets a huge bonus from work or inherits some money, or wins one of those lottery games, that seems pretty unfair that someone should have that much money. On the other hand, if I receive an inheritance from a long lost uncle, or if I get a bonus or if something wonderful falls into my lap, now that's a different story; that seems perfectly fine."
As Pastor Vest wrote, our sense of "fairness" is often times wrapped around our own selfishness. There is a bigger picture that goes beyond our own interests, and we cannot always see that picture - but God can, and He is in control. This is the message behind the Scripture passage that we will be reading on Sunday, and it shows us that we often wrongly define "fair", we often overstate our troubles and while doing this, we miss the "big picture." I hope to see you Sunday as we kick off this new sermon series!
