Grateful for Grace or Greedy Ambition? (2)
Notes
Transcript
Handout
I loved seeing AWANA start this week. The kids had a great time. Lew gave a powerful lesson on Grace and the need for Christ. That sets the kids minds and hearts on their need for salvation this year. The study of the word of God will keep the Gospel front and center.
AWANA also means the AWANA store and the race for AWANA bucks. The kids earn AWANA bucks for completing lessons, bringing their Bible and participating in projects.
Some time back when my kids, specifically Abbey, Emma and Lauren, were at AWANA age, we had a canned food drive. The way the AWANA bucks would be distributed would be 1 buck per can… But, if you brought 4 cans, it would double to 8. Well, each of my kids had two cans. I did the math and said, girls, if you combine your cans you can each get at least one more AWANA buck, so you’d get 3 buck instead of 2. What do you think?
Abbey, my oldest, quickly did the math and realized that one extra AWANA buck floated out there. She asked, “Dad, who gets the 4th buck?” I said, well Abbey, you can decide as a group. She then said, well, if I don’t get it, I don’t want to do it at all? I said, well we could just leave that extra buck on the table and each of you get three. She remained unmoved. If I don’t get the extra buck, I’m not doing it.
I cross examined her. Abbey, you’d rather only get 2 bucks and not at least three so that someone else doesn’t get the EXTRA BLESSING? Yup.
She was a young kid and I can report that because of your love and the many Godly influences she has a generous and glad heart. This only illustrates the nature of our hearts.
You have a tendency to think about fairness and justice strictly from how it affects you. And we don’t rejoice when others receive Grace and goodness as much as we shouuld.
Matthew 19:27–20:16 (NLT)
27 Then Peter said to him, “We’ve given up everything to follow you. What will we get?” 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. 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.”
The Great Lie of man made religion focuses on our view of justice. (20:9-11)
Leon Morris : I do not know of any way of bringing out the point of this parable better than referring to a parable uttered by the rabbis (as far as our information goes, it was later than New Testament times, but, of course, we have no way of knowing how long it was passed on by word of mouth before it was recorded). It concerns a king who hired workmen to work in his vineyard. One of them worked skillfully, and the king took him by the hand and spent most of the day talking with him. When the laborers were paid, this man received the same as the others. They grumbled and said, “We toiled all the day, whereas this man toiled for two hours, and yet the king has given him his full wage!” The king said to them, “What cause have you for grumbling? This man in two hours did more good work than you in a whole day”
(Eccl. Rab. 5.11.5; McNeile cites it from Jer. Ber. 2:5c, and it is found also in Cant. Rab. 6.2.6). Clearly the story made quite an appeal to the rabbis, and we can understand that. The natural man assumes that reward is geared to merit. Jesus is pointing out that God does not deal with us on the basis of merit but of grace. The love of God in all its fulness is poured out on sinners, and they receive infinitely more than they deserve. The parable underlines the truth that God’s way is always the way of grace.
Leon Morris, The Gospel according to Matthew, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press, 1992), 505.
Most people I come across have some sense of justice and mercy. But they lack a clear understanding of the need for Grace!
You naturally, the Bible calls this thinking “fleshly”, like you to compare yourself to others. You could add self-centeredness, selfishly, pridefully. (20:15-jealous; evil eye)
The Truth about Us: The Very Good News about How Very Bad We Are Paperback – April 21, 2020
Brant Hansen
Our Moral Superiority
Researchers at the University of London concluded that “a substantial majority of individuals believe themselves to be morally superior to the average person” and that this illusion of ours is “uniquely strong and prevalent.” They write, “Most people strongly believe they are just, virtuous, and moral; yet regard the average person as distinctly less so.”
And among their study participants, “virtually all individuals irrationally inflated their moral qualities, and the absolute and relative magnitude of this irrationality was greater than that in the other domains of positive self-evaluation.”1 And we have a lot of self-delusions. Perhaps you’ve heard that 93 percent of us genuinely believe we’re above-average drivers.
Perhaps you’ve seen studies that show we also think we’re smarter than average. And we’re friendlier too. Plus we’re more ambitious than average. You might think with all of this awesomeness, we might have an ego problem, but good news: we also rate ourselves as more modest than others!
So, yes, we’re better at everything than everybody, but at least we’re humble about it. That’s not surprising because we’re us, and, you know, we’re cool like that. But what about people we assume simply must be less moral than us? Murderers, thieves, and the like—surely they’d have a more reasonable assessment, right?
Why, no, actually. The incarcerated population also thinks they’re more moral than everyone else. Prisoners find themselves to be kinder than the average person. And more generous. The professor who conducted the study of prisoners wrote, “The results showcase how potent the self-enhancement motive is. It is very important for people to consider themselves good, valued, and esteemed, no matter what objective circumstances might be.”
The Truth about Us: The Very Good News about How Very Bad We Are, Baker Publishing Group.
The religious sinner likes to think, “I’m not irreligious like them, so God must reward me.”
The irreligious sinner tends to think, “I’m not a hypocrite like those religious people, so I’ll be better off than them if judged.”
The workers illustrated the religious people who wanted to start with themselves as the measure rather than God’s glory and righteousness as the measure, which gives us the proper measure. ONly then will you truly assess the depth and richness of God’s mercy and Grace.
The Bible Presents the Unique Religion that reveals the Lord’s great Grace and upholds His Justice.
John 1:14 “14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
a. God upholds Justice Himself. (Matt. 20:13 “13 “But he answered and said to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius?”
Romans 3:25–27 (NIV)
25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. 27 Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith.
How did Christ perform justice for the penalty of our sins? He paid the penalty. He the only truly innocent One, took the punishment for our sins. So justice get served in the Heavenly court. He then gives us the merit of His work when we put His faith in Him. Our guilt has been removed and thus in God’s eye, we legally are clean. Thus we receive His righteousness.
b. Everyone who comes to God, does so through GRACE.
Lew gave an excellent lesson to the Awanas TNT this past Wednesday. He emphasized Grace.
Grace is not a reward we receive for how much work we do.
It is a gift we receive because of the work of Christ offered because God is gracious, merciful, loving and kind to His creatures.
Grace is not earned by our works.
Grace means more than mercy. You don’t get the punishment or rejection deserved, you also get a gift you didn’t deserve.
8 For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 it is not from works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are his creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, so that we may walk in them.
Understanding Grace and receiving the gift changes your mindset and attitude.
15 He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.
Things that reveal a grateful heart:
A generosity with your finances.
More blessed to give than to hoard.
Kevin gives from his blessing so our young
Generosity with your time.
Do you take ministry at for the Lord as a solemn and sanctified opportunity?
Generous with your relationships?
Do you make room for new people in your Life Group?
Emotionally? Do you check on people to celebrate and/or pray with them? Can they share their heart?
With space? Do you have extra chairs if everyone on your roll attends plus one more? (And then the next week, another chair, and so on?)
Spiritually? Can they make mistakes or ask tough questions?