God is Generous

Fairness

If you work, assuming you’re not self-emplyed, you are probably on some sort of wage, and regardless of what the hourly rate is, we will generally feel comfortable if we feel that the rate is roughly equivalent to other people doing similar work in similar conditions.

In this way, we won’t kick up a fuss, at least, not until someone else comes along doing the same work and getting paid significantly more. Despite the fact you were previously very comfortable - now it is just unfair.

Camp leader

When I was in my early twenties, I remember once being a leader on a primary aged camp. On one of the days we took the kids on a day trip to the reptile park. To make the trip manageable, we broke the large group into smaller groups of roughly half a dozen kids, and to each group were assigned a few leaders.

Well, in my group was one particular child that had proved quite a handful throughout the week of the camp. Due to his erratic behaviour, I had given him significant individual attention. Though this was hard work, it was also rewarding as I was slowly able to gain his trust.

Well, at the reptile park, my job was to keep my eye on him the whole time. And so, while we were part of this other group of half a dozen kids, I would constantly be trying to some how herd him back to where the other kids were.

Now, towards the end of the trip, the kids had an opportunity to spend a little money to buy a snack, and being a hot day, they all bought ice blocks. My little friend however didn’t have any money, and so I made a decision that I would buy his for him.

Now whether it was wise or not, I decided to let him choose whatever sort of ice block or ice cream he wanted - and of course, he decided on a Magnum, the most expensive of them all. But I’d given him the choice, so I went through with it, after all, with the bond we were developing, I actually felt like being generous.

Well, the other kids in the group saw what happened - and I can tell you that they were not happy with my generosity. And to be honest, I can see why they thought it unfair. They had all been good kids. Always obeying the rules. Always being polite.

And this other kids had not. In fact, in some ways they suffered because of this other kid. When they wanted to go somewhere, at times they had to wait while I rounded up this other kid.

And then, while they sucked on their far inferior ice blocks - they see this other child be rewarded for his bad behaviour with the top of the line ice cream. It was too much for them, and they let me know about it!

The truth is, from their perspective it was unfair. But then again - these other children were actually having a great day, and were enjoying a very refreshing ice block - don’t I have a right to be generous?

Desire for fairness

I think we all want fairness. Generally, when we think of fairness, we often think in terms of ourselves not being treated more harshly then we deserve. But the flip side, is we also seem to not want others to be treated more generously then they deserve.

Take for example the workplace. You have a job and you get paid a certain hourly rate. Let’s say the rate is roughly similar to what other people earn who do similar type work in similar type conditions. Now let’s say a new employee starts and they do similar work, but they get significantly more per hour - we would call that unfair.

We would be outraged - but then, let’s imagine the situation slightly differently.

If you work, assuming you’re not self-emplyed, you are probably on some sort of wage, and regardless of what the hourly rate is, we will generally feel comfortable if we feel that the rate is roughly equivalent to other people doing similar work in similar conditions.

In this way, we won’t kick up a fuss, at least, not until someone else comes along doing the same work and getting paid significantly more. Despite the fact you were previously very comfortable - now it is just unfair.

Let’s imagine that the pay you are getting is far in excess of what you deserve. In fact, imagine if what you are doing hardly deserves payment at all - yet you get a very generous payment. Then someone else comes along, and they also get a generous payment, but their payment is more.

Now the idea of being jealous of other having things a bit better seems petty.

For the reason, we are in need to re-think God’s generosity.

In particular, we need to stop thinking about God’s generosity from our own personal view point, checking up to make sure everyone’s equal, and instead just stand in awe at a God who gives far in excess of what we deserve.

The False narrative

Well, the series we’ve been doing helps us to examine who is the God I know. Each week we are looking at a different aspect of his character, and I think in each case, it is clear that for most Christians we would readily assent to them.

But what we’ve also found is that niggling beneath the surface are some narratives that are not from God, but rather start pulling us away form the truth. Quite often it is very subtle, and we hardly realise how poor an understanding of God’s true character we really have it - so the task of this series is to bring to light these false narratives and compare them with what Jesus taught.

So our theme today is - God is generous, and the narrative that erodes a proper understanding of this is: we have to earn God’s favour.

The idea is: we are only going to experience God’s blessings if we try really hard to the point that God will want to bless us.

Parable of landowner

Well, to help us explore this idea, I’m going to use the parable I read earlier from which in my NIV is given the title “The parable of the workers in the vineyard”.

The parable start with a landowner who goes out to find some hired workers.

Interestingly, it has been noted that in the day of Jesus they was apparently quite a significant level of unemployment. Those that were unemployed had a place that they would hang out - which you could imagine as a sort of Centrelink of the day.

So it essentially became the place that people looking for an extra pair of hands would go.

If you get there early, you could have your pick of man.

And so in this parable, that’s what happens. But before they go in, they do their little negotiation - the final terms being one denarius. To put that into perspective, a denarius was a fairly typical payment for one days work, so the negotiation shouldn’t have been too hard.

Well, with clear expectations they head out, but some time later the owner decides he wants more workers, and comes to terms with some others. This happens at 9am, midday, 3pm and 5pm.

Eventually they get to the end of the day and also their payments.

And would you believe it! The people that were hired at 5pm got one denarius!

Now the people who started at the beginning, well that can mean one of two things. Either, one, the owner has decided to up the rate of pay, in which case they are about to be up for a bonanza. Or two, they’re about to be completed dudded.

Unfortunately from their perspective, it was the latter.

Despite having worked about ten times as long, they ended with the same total pay. That’s unfair - and they let the owner know.

An alternate ending

Now before I look at the ending of this parable according to Jesus, I was interested to find out in my preparation for this message that scholars have found a very similar parable that was doing the rounds in Jewish teaching at a similar time to Jesus - only with quite a different conclusion.

Now it is unsure whether on this occasion Jesus took an existing parable and to change the ending so as to correct a misunderstanding about God, or whether some of Jesus contemporary Rabbi’s took Jesus’ parable and changed the ending so it was less shocking.

Either way, I think the alternate ending reveals how the false narrative stands out.

So what is the alternate ending?

Well, the parable goes along much the same story with the worker doing only one hour earning the same as the person working since the start of the day.

And like Jesus’ parable, we get the complaints as well.

But we experience the false narrative when the owner then gives his explanation for this apparent disparity.

You see, in this alternate ending, the landowner explains that the first hired workers had been slack and not worked hard, whereas the last workers had put in an extraordinary effort. The end result, they had done equivalent work, and hence the equivalent pay.

Can you see the narrative that I was talking about? This alternate parable teaches that to get God’s favour you have to earn it.

Jesus’ ending

Let’s look instead at how Jesus ends it - because in his ending, we learn something truly extraordinary about God.

A matter of fairness

Firstly, the parable addresses the accusation of unfairness, and we see this in verse 13.

The accusation of unfairness is unwarranted when the landowner does exactly what he says he will. The landowner had generously offered the man work who was otherwise standing around earning nothing, and then at the end of the day paid him the precise amount that they both agreed to at the start. This is not unfair - rather it is in essence of fairness.

Now it’s on this matter of fairness that we need to be very careful. You see, before you go accusing God of being unfair - think about what you actually deserve!

The reality is, we actually don’t deserve to be in God’s vineyard at all!

But God has allowed us in, and what he has offered us, he will give us. He will never go back on his word.

A matter of generosity

But the beauty of this parable is that it doesn’t end there. You see starting in verse 14, the landowner explains his reasoning for giving the same amount to the person who only worked one hour - and what you’ll notice is that it has nothing to do with earning it.

Let me read from part way through verse 14:

He simpl

“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?”

…and here’s the real kicker...

“Or are you envious because I am generous?”

You see, the reason the landowner gave the same to the person who worked one hour compared with the person working the whole day is simply because God is generous.

Shouldn’t he be equally generous?

Now, this is all well and good, but I think a question remains: Shouldn’t God be equally generous?

In the context of the parable, we can think, well, even if we accept that it is a false narrative to think that we earn the generosity, but why couldn’t the landowner also be equally generous with the first man?

The truth is, this question fails to see the benefit of being in the vineyard.

You know, I think we sometimes see work as a necessary evil. We don’t like it. We’d much rather be at home relaxing, but we recognise that we have to do it, so we get on and do it.

But what if we see work - whether secular or ministry, as a means of honouring God and drawing near him, then we can actually see the blessing of being able to use our gifts.

The person hired first had to work hard, but there is a sense in which the whole day was a blessing for him.

As I reflect on it, I think I’d prefer to be the person working, rather than be the person who waited in the waiting zone for the entire day, probably getting entirely bored.

You see, when we ask the question “why isn’t God equally generous to everyone?” I think we fail to see the many ways in which he expresses his generosity to us.

Humbling, but liberating

Now the thing about this lesson, is that it is extremely humbling. I think it is because it is so humbling that we often want to fall back on the false narrative of earning Gods favour.

You see, when we are blessed, particularly if that blessing might take a material form, the temptation is to become filled with pride because of how well we’ve done.

I can easily fall into this trap. You know, I can point to many blessings in my own life. I have been blessed with a beautiful family. My family has been blessed with good health. We also have the blessing of not being under financial stress.

The temptation can be to think that this blessing is because I’ve somehow been extra good.

But do you know what? According to the narrative that Jesus teaches, those blessing are not because I’ve done extra well, but because God has chosen to be generous to me in this particular way.

The reality is that I can’t take any credit for it at all.

But here’s the thing. While it is very humbling, I believe it is also very liberating.

You see, it takes the pressure off. Your job is to accept Christ . The rest you just leave in his hands.

Example of children

Jesus spoke on a few occasions of using kids as an example of the faith we are to have. Well, I think in the same way kids also provide an example of how liberating it is to know what it means to just accept a parents generosity.

Now I do recognise that parents can use rewards as incentives for good behaviour, but for the most part, the reason you throw kids a party for their birthdays, or treat them to an ice cream on a hot day, or take them to nice places is not because they’ve earned it, but because you love them - and in healthy relationships the kids know this.

When I take my kids on holidays and give them special treats, I have never once had any of my children remark - well we must have been extra good to deserve this. The reason, is because they just expect that this is what their parents do.

More than works

At the end of the day, this has got nothing to do with how hard or how clever we work. It’s got everything to do with love - the love that God has for us.

Once we accept that our hard work will not earn us any more favour with God, we are left with love.

And so, this is how we should respond. We respond to the generosity of God with love - both love for God and love for others.

This is in fact central to our vision statement here at Tanilba Bay.

Our vision statement is to Love, Share and Serve.

We first love because God loved us in the most generous way possible. We then share and serve out of the overflow of love that God has for us - this is the generosity I’ve spoken about.

When it doesn’t feel like generosity

Now, before I bring things to a close, I do recognise that at times, particular during the rough seasons of life, it doesn’t feel like God is being generous. It might even feel he’s being mean.

If this is you at the moment, then I would encourage you to hang in there. There are some times that will seem to make no sense, but the beautiful thing is that with a generous God, even in our lowest point, or to use the language of , even when we walk through the valley of death - we do not need to fear because God’s rod comforts us.

Well, in part of already dealt with the issue of why his case shouldn’t

In fact, to keep in the language of , though our table is set before our enemy, our cup overflows.

The point is, even in the tough times, we can still find a God that is generous beyond our wildest dreams.

Conclusion

At times, life will feel unfair. We want our hard work to count for something. Thankfully, our hard work does count for something - but it is not for God’s blessing.

The reality is that what we deserve is death - not God’s blessing. The only reason we can experience God’s blessing, is because of Jesus and the work he did in bringing about salavation.

This truly is the most generous thing we can ever know.

While this can be very humbling, it should not act as a discouragement to work hard for God. Rather it should be liberating, as we know that God loves us, just the way we are, and as a result we should love him by serving him.

Let’s pray...