Pastor John Nixon Sr. | "Is God Fair?”

if they keep you in the hospital more than one night that means either it's serious or they're confused sometimes both so my wife did come to the rescue to the family earlier this week and they appreciated it but I do ask you to pray for your pastor in the family you passed this home he feels better but he still can't stand for a long time without getting the back pain he's hoping to get over that this week so he can stand here next Sabbath if not we'll still be in town I let's pray he feels stronger and better I'm thinking about a Sunday morning some years ago when my wife brought me breakfast in bed it wasn't the only time but this one stands out in my mind because it wasn't a special day wasn't my birthday it wasn't our anniversary it wasn't a holiday it was just Giovanna being a special age of Honor ish that day and she came into the room with a tray with all my favorites she had two eggs scrambled medium the little cheddar not runny but not hard you know medium you got to get that just right she had a stack of pancakes thin crisp around the edges and home fries dark and crunchy she had some strips on there you know fake bacon we toast water orange juice I was in breakfast heaven and I remember a warm feeling coming over me that morning a compulsion to do more than just say thank you and I just felt generous toward her to give back I would have done anything for her that morning I would have gotten up and gone to the mall and shop or three hours and not even buy anything I would have turned from the football game and watch figure skating that morning I would have gotten up and clean all the bathrooms because of pancakes and eggs and it makes you think about how the power of love can touch and move your heart when it comes from a genuine heart it's amazing to think of what a single act of kindness can do to a person and that's and that's what this is about it's not just about food it's about touching hearts right but you know sometimes love comes to us in disguise unrecognized by anyone that know anyone except the one who receives it and sometimes love even appears as a self-contradiction if you don't understand it that's what I want to show us in this morning's message that brand of love that sometimes hard to recognize in this message entitled is God fair let's pray father in heaven make this moment now the moment of salvation for someone who has not yet given their life to Jesus Christ in his name we pray amen Matthew chapter 20 verses one to seven to begin is God fair for the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard he agreed to pay them a Denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard about the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing he told them you also work in my vineyard and I will pay you whatever is right so they went he went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing and the eleventh hour 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 its first century Palestine and agrarian society agriculture is the foundation of the economy not manufacturing not tourism not marketing but the land a society built on wealth of the land their carpenters their fishermen for sure but they don't dominate the landscape nearly everyone in first century Palestine is somehow involved in the production of food and the breeding of animals planting seeds plowing the earth cultivating crops caring for flocks and herds and most important of all reaping the harvest everything depends on the harvest so as Jesus tells his story his listeners know that he is literally talking about survival this is a story about life and death a certain landowner goes out to the Market Square early in the morning in search of workers for his vineyard he has a foreman and hired hands of his own but at harvest time there's always a need for more workers the workday is 12 hours long it starts at 6:00 and ends at 6:00 a.m. 2 p.m. the men looking for employment gather in the town center dressed in their work clothes their sleeves rolled up their tools in hand ready for a full day's work the best workers have a reputation in the community and they are the first hired they're used to being favored and employed and kept busy and to earning a good wage and they go into the vineyard at nine o'clock the landowner feels he needs more help so he goes out and hires more men at noon he does the same at three o'clock he does it again and everything is going along famously then the story takes an unusual turn for some reason at five o'clock the landowner goes out again and takes on more workers men who've been lounging around all day doing nothing it's an odd move for at least two reasons first there's only one hour left and the workday what are these men gonna do for one hour works almost finished second these men have a reputation to they are the worst workers that's why they're still there nobody hired them they are the left over men the useless men the ones you go to out of desperation when there's nobody else they're slow going about their work they take unscheduled breaks and they break too long they're not especially strong and they don't even have their own tools but the landowner takes them on they go out into the vineyard for an easy 60 minutes just as the cool of the day is sweating is settling in they don't even break a sweat and now the story gets stranger still verse 8 when evening came the landowner 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 the eleventh hour came and each received a Denarius so when those who were hired first came they expected to receive more but each of them also received a Denarius when they received it they began to grumble against the landowner these men who were hired last worked only one hour they said but you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the heat and we have to admit they have a point these men have been out there all day working hard when the Sun scorched at midday it burned their skin and made them sweat but they kept on working they bore the heat as they wiped the perspiration from their eyes and stayed on schedule and took their breaks only at a point at times at the end of the day you could see the results they'd done their work the harvest was gathered ready to be taken in but at pay time something looked wrong one hour of work is twelve hours of work a Denarius something's wrong with this picture then the landowner takes it even further too far it seems deliberately provocative he orders his Foreman at pay time to pay the workers in reverse order beginning with the last ones hired first so now not only does he pay the one hour workers the same wage as the 12 hour workers he makes the all day long men stand in line at the back and watch the one-hour men get paid ahead of them no I don't know if you've ever been on the wait list at a restaurant and seeing people get seated ahead of you who you know came in after you or have you ever been in the supermarket that real long line and they come open up a new counter they take the person right behind you to the new counter and now they're first in line and you're last so we understand the 12-hour workers and how they sell we understand it we don't understand is what is this landowner doing he tried to start a riot it's a troubling story to be sure and here's what makes it troubling Jesus introduces the story by saying that kingdom of heaven is like so is a story about how God thinks about how God operates in the world so we can't just write it off we have to learn this Spirit of God is with us so if we want to learn because as much as we want to understand it Jesus wants us to understand it even more so what does it mean I want to show us that these three spiritual truths taught to us by this story related by Jesus in which he said the kingdom of heaven is like this first thing I want us to see is this in the kingdom of heaven reward is not based on works the 12 hour workers complain when they complain they said this they said these last men have worked only one hour and you have made them equal to us and that wording is not incidental because that's exactly what the grace of God does it makes everyone equal no matter when you join the body of Christ no matter how many generations of Adventists are in your family line no matter how many years you've been serving as an elder or deacon or Deaconess or choir director no matter how talented you are how educators you are you belong to the body of Christ on the same basis as everyone else not because of what you have done but because of what Christ has done [Applause] membership in the body of Christ is a gift not an achievement nobody earns it nobody deserves it it is founded on grace the grounders level at the foot of the cross no one stands taller than anyone else who says they amended God's Word so therefore when new members come into the church and we try to keep them down so they won't be a threat to our authority we have forgotten ourselves I'm not better than you because you because I joined the church 20 years ago and you're just showing up now now the talent no education no social standing nor race nor culture nor gender nor any other thing can give us priority over anyone else in God's house we're not here because we deserve to be here we're here by God's grace and God's grace means favor that is undeserved but this to favor that cannot be earned it's always free and it's always a gift there's no other way to receive a place in God's kingdom here's another one another application of the same principle it's a dangerous one especially this time of year you know it's time of year we choose officers if I've been an elder for 10 years and done a good job everyone says so in the eleventh year the church decides to give somebody else a chance and I get angry as though the position was my possession I have forgotten my place a corporation I didn't get fired my term was up you're not an employee you're a servant and guess what you can still serve without holding office some of us are better off not holding office you can go to heaven and never be an officer in the church ever some of us we're more likely to get there if we're not an officer in the church you don't own that position it doesn't belong to even see the good job it doesn't belong to you nobody's entitled to leadership just like nobody's entitled to membership in the family of God I've been here from the beginning of the service those are the weakest amens all day but that's okay with me it's alright with me I'll late dad used to say that Johnny and they don't say Amen that means they think I'm wrong with the head you know I heard we had this general conference session years ago I heard that the executive secretary of the General Conference pastor his name is spelled ng Asian brother I don't know how to pronounce it past it guess what at the end of every Quinn quinium he cleans out his office before the session backs up all his books packs up his desk it's all those things together and moves out to remind himself that his term is up and there's no guarantee he's going to get another term nobody owes him another term so to remind himself to visualize it in his mind to impress on his own he moves out in order to say my five years are over I'm making room for somebody else if the church says serve another five I'll come back I'll pack up again and I'll serve five more years but guess what I am not entitled to a leadership position because in the kingdom of God nothing no reward is based on works it's all about grace that's the underlying principle of everything in salvation for by grace are ye saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God not of get this not of works so that so that what church no one can boast no one can boast in God's kingdom this is a recurrent theme in Scripture no boasting no pride why because pride pride is a destroyer of spiritual life you know what I'm gonna take this thing off and I want to hand my gut and I use this right here let's make sure this works this is the white I have this thing about I get distracted probably I'm gonna use this thing right here I hope this won't skip okay not of work so that no one can boast pride as a destroyer of spiritual life pride serves you well in the natural realm you can get ahead you can advance you can have confidence in yourself but in the spiritual realm pride destroys spiritual life so the Bible is constantly telling us not to boast not to think much of ourselves put others ahead of ourselves don't deceive ourselves into thinking that was something great the Bible Scott because the Bible knows if we ever get into that mindset we're going to ruin ourselves for salvation not of works so that no one can boast nobody walks into the kingdom of God with his chest out when we get in we come in humble humiliated because we know we don't deserve to be it's only by grace reward is not based on achievement not only that the kingdom of God is not a democracy so therefore that means it's not American right but he answered one of them and said friend I'm not doing you I am doing you no wrong did you not agree with me for a Denarius take what is yours and go your way I wish to give to this last man the same as to you is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things or is your eye evil because I am good notice something there's a little bit of hypocrisy in the 12 hour workers demand for more pay their complaint was that the one hour workers didn't deserve to get paid for a whole day that only worked one hour but if you think about it they were demanding the same thing they'd work 12 hours they were asking for more pay than they deserved so they weren't against somebody getting more pay they were against it not being them and the hypocrisy is revealed the kingdom of God does not run on democratic principles there is no government by the people in God's kingdom the majority does not rule redemption is not up for a vote and Jesus is not on the ballot we don't get a say regarding our salvation or anyone elses we don't have input into who gets in and who's left out God sets the terms and there's an end of it there's no discussion there's no debate they no follow-up questions God doesn't consult us or explain himself to us and frankly he doesn't care about our opinions don't know we're talking about half the time anyway he says I am God and beside me there is no one else Isaiah 44 have you ever read these verses psalm 115 3 the Bible says but our God is in the heavens look at this he does whatever he pleases how about this one whatever the Lord pleases he does in the heaven and in the earth in the seas and in all the deeps all creation he does what he pleases a landowner put it this way can't I do with what I want with my own money God isn't fair God is creator he's sustainer he's Redeemer he's the lover of our souls but he's not fair if God was fair we would get what we deserve but thanks be to God he's chosen to be unfair but he's unfair in our favor [Applause] thanks be to God he sent His Son Jesus volunteered to come Jesus turned what we deserve into what he deserved and took what he deserved and gave it to us which we did not deserve say what you want about it is not fair thanks be to God salvation isn't there thanks be to God it's by grace it did this movie some years ago quite a while now called The Last Emperor that dramatizes the story of the young child who was the last ruler of China back when it was a kingdom from a day of his birth he lived a storybook life of privilege and luxury his every wish his every whim his every whim fulfilled no matter what the cost one day his brother asked him what happens when you're bad when you do something bad what happens he said when I'm bad somebody else gets punished then he took a priceless vase and smashed it against the wall to show the point and the moment it hit the wall and broke somebody took out a rod and beat a servant standing next to him who had nothing to do with it when I'm bad somebody else get punished he said Jesus is the king become a slave he's the servant who takes our stripes for the evil we have done well he never committed a wrong we should rejoice that the kingdom of God is not a democracy and that God is not fair but one more thing we should rejoice that God provides according to our need not according to our achievement according to our need noticing the story the progression of faith required of the various groups of workers the later in the day they were brought on the more faith was required of them stay with me now the landlords relationship with all of them was based on faith the 12-hour workers had to trust the master that at the end of the day he would honor the verbal contract he had with them and pay them what was fair that is the Denarius he agreed to the nine six and three our workers had no contract they had the Masters word that at the end of the day he would quote paid them what was fair that's his estimation of what's fair they had to trust his word that fair would be good enough but now look at the one our workers and compare their situation they had no contract they had no payment agreement a landowner just said to them go to work didn't say I'll pay you didn't say how much he just said you've been standing here all day just go to work and they went hoping that somehow they'd get something and they knew they couldn't argue about whatever it was because they had no argument they'd only been there an hour let me ask you a question whether twelve our workers going to work on that basis of all the workers that went to the Masters vineyard that day a one our workers have a greatest test of faith didn't have a contract they didn't even have a promise they only had a command in what your promise was implied roll up your sleeves get in there and get to work and here's where the issue of need comes in you see in first century Palestine the day worker who was a peasant was not a landowner he was one of the most vulnerable members of the society because he was not attached to a great house his provision was not guaranteed from one day to the next in this way he was the most vulnerable person even more vulnerable than a slave at least a slave knew he had a place to sleep and food to eat but not the day worker when famine struck where there was a disaster he was the first one to starve he had to work everyday hoping to get hired or he wouldn't be able to eat the next day a Denarius was the minimum amount a person needed to feed a family for one day he had to work every day or he couldn't eat the next day that was the day worker so you see the landowner wasn't paying the men based on what they achieved he was paying them based on their need even the one hour workers had families hopeful wives back home hungry children waiting they had the same need as a 12-hour workers so the landowner paid them according to what they needed they all needed the same thing so he gave them what they needed that's the kingdom of God God isn't fair god is love and we praise and thank him that he has been unfair to us providing for our salvation something we could never deserve or do on our own God is unfair in our favor and in order to be unfair to us in our favor he had to be unfair to Jesus for our benefit as I've a just says in an eloquent way Christ was treated as we deserve that we might be treated as he deserves he was condemned for the sins in which he had no share that we might be justified by his righteousness in which we had no share he suffered the death which was ours that we might have the life which was his with His stripes we are healed and God is unfair every time he forgives the sin we promised never to commit again God don't say every time we come to the altar and we were just here last week confessing the same sin listen to me God's unfair when we put him in the back of our mind to collect him later when we have a need like a stand by God a bellhop there to carry your bags once the bags are carried you want him to get lost don't stand around like you want a tip go your way God's unfair every time the answers that prayer knowing that we have shoved him aside well thank God is unfair but unfair in our favor here's the question though when are we going to stop taking him for granted give him the love that he deserves not just in word but in life let me close with this story it's about Fiorello LaGuardia mayor of New York City during the waves worst days of the Great Depression and during World War two when the most popular mayor's New York ever had New York City has two airports Kennedy and LaGuardia wildly charismatic the people loved him they called him the little flower because he stood five foot four and always wore carnation in his lapel lapel unconventional they loved him sometimes he would jump on the firetruck and ride with the firemen to go put on a blaze he was the mayor sometimes he'd give it the police and joined them in a raid as they were raiding a speakeasy LaGuardia some days he show up at the orphanage unannounced and take all the kids out to a baseball game and buy them popcorn and hot dogs when the newspapers went on strike he got on the radio and read the funnies to the children every evening they loved him LaGuardia one cold night in January 1935 he showed up at night court in the poorest ward of the city dismissed the judge and took the bench himself they brought before him a tattered old woman charged with stealing a loaf of bread and she was guilty she told the mayor her story of how her daughter's husband had abandoned them and her small grandchildren at home were hungry crying because their stomachs were empty so yeah she went to the store and she stole some bread she told she told the store owner her story but the still want to said your honor her story is the law is you shalt you can't steal and if she gets away with it somebody else can get away with it too I'm sorry she stole the Guardia said you know what he's right the law is the law and you can't change it no matter what your circumstances so therefore I have to pronounce sentence on you I find you ten dollars if you can't be there ten dollars ten days in jail but even as he said it was standing up reaching into his pocket and he pulled out a ten dollar bill he said with this ten I now remit the fine you're free to go not only that he said he said I fine every person in this courtroom fifty cents for living in a city where a woman has to steal to feed her grandchildren bailiff go around and collect the fire everybody had to go 50 cent including the red face storm and the mayor took the money and gave it to the grandma she came in owing ten dollars she left with forty seven dollars and fifty cents and we have however dim a symbol a display of how the love of God works LaGuardia was gracious and generous but he was no Jesus nor is anyone else nor can they be because Christ permitted the fine with his blood and bestowed not just 4750 but eternal life we don't understand the sacrifice it was not it was not his blood like you are my blood Christman Christ remitted with his blood that is the blood of the second death separation from the father he came back from the real penalty of sin which is not just death in this lie everybody dies in this light the real wages of sin is the that's the wage Jesus paid on our behalf so the Weiner could go free but so that we could go with $47.50 symbolizing eternal life who believes God's Word today say man if you do let me close with this let me let me let me give you an opportunity to respond to God's Word teaching the preaching class I told the students if you preach a sermon don't give folks opportunity to respond to it that wasn't a sermon that was just a motivational talk because when the word of God goes out you have to answer you can't pretend you didn't hear anything or it didn't mean anything you can't chasing just say congratulations to the speaker at the door and go your way the Word of God demands a response God speaks its for purpose so I want to give you now a chance to respond is my question respond the way you fill that but here's my question if today as you listen to God's Word you felt conviction in your heart conviction if you felt that word was saying something for you something for you to change something for you to do or stop doing give you a chance right now to make that decision give your life to Jesus have you been holding back stop that sin that's been going on in your life on and on you know what it is start doing that duty that you have neglected making excuses for yourself contact that person you haven't spoken to in years and make things right apologize ask for forgiveness and settle it once and for all do what's right not just praise and sing but go from God's house when you hear his word and do do what's right don't ask me consult your own conviction God speaking to your heart listen to him today and do what's right that's my appeal that's what I confront you with that's what I give the opportunity to respond to right now and don't mistake it salvation is hanging in this room right now salvations here for whosoever will whosoever will that's what God says let him come he that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out that's his promise so what's your response today consult your heart ask yourself what is God saying to me take that thought that's in your mind right now make a decision about it I gave some suggestions maybe is something else altogether in your life you know what it is you know what God wants of you he's made it clear again and again you know why cuz he loves you he sent his spirit again and again to convict you you know why because he loves you wants you to be saved consult your conscience now and tell God yes break off that sinful relationship make it right with somebody you've wronged they might be right in this church just sitting on this side they're sitting on that side and you don't even speak to them make it right today that's not Christian give up something that you know you've stolen give it back pay it back if you Oh God pay God back before this year is out tell God 2019 is not going to come with me still owing you I'm gonna make it right with you before this year is over make that commitment to God who apologize to your spouse you or your wife or husband an apology go apologize don't wait for them to apologize to you don't wait for it to be 50/50 go make it right with your spouse otherwise why do we come here what are we here for consult your conviction do what's right here's your big chance the Holy Spirit is here he's speaking to you right now this is your chance make a decision between you and God I want to pray and give you a chance to do so right now right now in this prayer father in heaven your spirit is here to move upon our hearts as we've listened throughout their service and especially in this message we have felt today you speaking directly to us we know what it is you want us to do or stop doing we know what it is Lord we're not confused about that how confusing comes in with our commitment are we willing to pay the price of following you all the way and Lord we know there is a price it never comes without a price are we willing to pay the price that's the question in this house today father our hearts say yes whatever it is we say yes today we ask you to give us the strength to carry it through Lord that the test of our worship today be not how joyfully we sang not how much we gave not how pious we were that the test of our worship today be what happens when we leave God's how to go back to our lives male worship be true in that moment Oh Lord we pray in Jesus name Amen

Channel: Takoma Park SDA Church

Views: 4,516

Rating: 4.8297873 out of 5

Keywords: Sabbath Worship, TPC, Takoma Park SDA Church Live Stream, TPC Live Stream, SDA, Seventh Day Adventist, Seventh-Day Advenist, Sabbath, #TPC, Pastor Henry Wright, Pastor Jeff Taylor, Pastor Chris Cheatham, Pastor Will Smith, Pastor Kosly Joseph, Pastor Anwar Ottley, #Connect, Pastor Gary Patterson, Pastor John Nixon II, Takoma Park, Takoma Park Church, Takoma Park SDA, Pastor John Nixon Sr., Pastor John S. Nixon

Id: o_aPStCLCT8

Length: 43min 49sec (2629 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 25 2018