March 7, 2011
Three Ways To Say Grace Week 3
Posted by Michael
Learn:
Luke 17:7-10
7 “Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? 8 Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? 9 Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? 10 So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”
Matthew 20:1-16
1 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. 3 “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5 So they went. “He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. 6 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?’ 7 “‘Because no one has hired us,’ hey answered. “He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’ 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. 10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11 When 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? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ 16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.
Main Idea:
The lessons that these two parables teach are not necessarily ones we like to hear, but they are true. In the first parable, Jesus is reminding us that grace is not something God owes us. The servant in the parable was expected to do his job because he was a servant. The master was under no obligation to thank or reward him. Likewise, God never owes us anything. Rather, He gives us things out of grace. In the second parable, Jesus tells a story of a master who pays every one of his workers the same wage (an extremely generous wage). The problem is, some of the workers only worked for one hour. This made the workers who worked all day extremely mad. But they should have been rejoicing with their co-workers because they all knew how it felt to go home empty-handed at the end of the day. Envy is the most joyless of sins. We should always rejoice when God pours out grace on others, because He has done the same for us.
Know What: Grace is not fair; but it’s just.
So What: God is never indebted to us in any way, but instead gives us grace through His goodness. Because of this fact, it is not up to us to decide who should or shouldn’t receive grace.
Now What: Rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn.
Discuss…
1. What was your opinion of these two parables before you heard this week’s sermon? Did your opinion change at all after hearing it?
2. Based on what we learned from Jesus’ parables throughout this series, how would you define “grace”?
3. Have you ever tried to “earn” grace from God? Have you ever felt entitled to something from God because of how much you have suffered or how much you have done for Him?
4. What is one sin that you never struggle with because you have absolutely no desire to engage in that activity (say, for instance, randomly slashing tires)? What is one righteous act you do often that doesn’t seem particularly noble to you (maybe feeding your kids)? In Heaven, every sin will seem as absurd as the former and every good deed will come as natural as the latter. What do you imagine that will be like?
5. Consider the parable of the vineyard workers. Have you ever been in the position of the workers who worked all day and felt they got the raw end of the deal? How did you feel/react? Have you ever been in the position of the workers who arrived late and were shown grace? How did you feel/react?
6. Have you ever “romanticized” a season of your life that was particularly hard for you? How can remembering our own struggles help us to show grace to others who may be caught in the same trap we were once in?
7. Isaac says envy is the most joyless of sins. Have you experienced this truth in your own life? How?
8. This week, how can you sincerely rejoice with someone you know who is rejoicing and mourn with someone you know who is mourning?
Next Steps…
This week, as you seek to serve God, try to work from a position of gratitude to Him rather than working to receive His favor. Nothing you can do will make God love you any more or less than He already does, so take that pressure off yourself. Service to God that springs from gratitude will bring you more joy than work that’s born out of obligation.
