You get what you deserve. Okay, not really. We've learned that. But at least God should be fair, right? Our expectations are dashed again with Jonah and Jesus' parable of the workers in the vineyard.
Jonah, the pain-in-the-divine-tush prophet, finally goes to Nineveh after learning obedience to God in the belly of a big fish. But he isn't a happy camper. It's an absurd mission, to demand repentance to Jonah's God from a pagan people. Why would they? Yet to compound the absurdity, they actually listen to the demand and repent!
Now Jonah is ticked off again. These people don't deserve anything from God, and yet God is relenting the promised destruction of Nineveh. He storms off to sulk.
Despite Jonah's truculent adolescent attitude, God keeps trying with Jonah and tries to teach him a lesson about God's grace and sovereignty, lessons we need to hold onto.
If Jonah's silly behavior makes you laugh, Jesus' parable of the workers in the vineyard always makes people angry. The notion of fairness is thoroughly violated when the latecomers to the job who only worked an hour get paid the exact same as the first workers who worked all day.
Again, the lesson is grace, and takes our notion of fairness for a trashing. Get the whole story in the sermon video below, and note the downloads available below the video panel.
Jonah, the pain-in-the-divine-tush prophet, finally goes to Nineveh after learning obedience to God in the belly of a big fish. But he isn't a happy camper. It's an absurd mission, to demand repentance to Jonah's God from a pagan people. Why would they? Yet to compound the absurdity, they actually listen to the demand and repent!
Now Jonah is ticked off again. These people don't deserve anything from God, and yet God is relenting the promised destruction of Nineveh. He storms off to sulk.
Despite Jonah's truculent adolescent attitude, God keeps trying with Jonah and tries to teach him a lesson about God's grace and sovereignty, lessons we need to hold onto.
If Jonah's silly behavior makes you laugh, Jesus' parable of the workers in the vineyard always makes people angry. The notion of fairness is thoroughly violated when the latecomers to the job who only worked an hour get paid the exact same as the first workers who worked all day.
Again, the lesson is grace, and takes our notion of fairness for a trashing. Get the whole story in the sermon video below, and note the downloads available below the video panel.
| 09-24-17-ff-answers.pdf |
| 09-24-17-grace-not_whats_deserved.pdf |