Joel M Bradshaw

8“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.’

9“The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. 10So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12‘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.’

13“But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius?14Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’–Matthew 20

1. Some people ponder salvation in terms of fairness.
2. As if God must treat everyone based upon our own standards.
3. The reality is that God’s giving saving grace to people is His own choice and is His own business.
4. The workers in Jesus’ parable all got their pay. Some got more than expected. But fairness is a bad argument. If fairness really were the standard, then we would realize that each one of us is a sinner and our sins condemn us each to hell. That would be fair.
5. If God chooses to save you, then be grateful for that grace. The landowner paid whatever more that he wanted to pay. The ones who received that extra would have been grateful.
6. God handles His business far better than you can gripe about it.
7. Grace is never deserved or earned. It is completely the sovereign choice of the Almighty God.–JMB