Easter Service and Grace Message

Speaker 1 0:30

Well , hey , welcome . It's good to be with you . My name is Larry . I'm one of the pastors here . If you're with us online , so good to have you today . Some of you maybe are even just taking a peek in the window and joining us . I want to give you an invitation to join us in person . Come check us out what a great , messy group of people we are , and you will find yourself here . That's what I'm encouraged about .

Speaker 1 0:53

Maybe a good opportunity or a good time to do that With us is actually Easter . So in just a couple of weeks we're doing Easter . We're going to have three services for Easter , so we normally just have our 9-11 . Easter . We're going to do a 7-9-11 . So if you're a gator or a Northgate person and you have the space and time to come at the 7 o'clock , please do . We're trying to make room for people who are coming that are new , maybe if you've been with us online or this is the son of your coming here as well as for people and their family and friends of those who are getting baptized . So if you haven't signed up to be baptized , this is one of the beautiful things that we're celebrating . We're going to have a woman named Ruthie Kim . She's sharing with us . I'm excited to have her . This is a tradition that we have here at Northgate You'll hear about it on Easter but for years now we see in the scripture in Matthew too that when the gospel story was first shared , it was done through a woman , and so we celebrate the gospel message on Easter that a woman comes in . We're so honored to hear from her and her gifts . And then the other thing we're doing is celebrating the actual resurrection in the baptism waters of new people who are coming and entering into this new life . And so right now I think we've got over 40 people signed up , which is really exciting . Yeah , it'll be great . Yeah , and maybe you want to be a part of that . So we're going to do the exact same service at all three services , so 7 , 9 , and 11 . If you want to pick one of those , the only one that might have something extra like donuts or something , I don't know , maybe not is the 7 o'clock . So we're trying to reward those faithful warriors with something . So , outside of that , everything's the same . It's going to be great . So Easter , a couple of weeks . Oh , in that week we're going to do a Good Friday experience . Maybe some of you haven't been a part of that . It's a really cool experience . You can see that stuff in our newsletter . It's a walkthrough experience thing , not just one service , but you can choose some times .

Speaker 1 2:48

So , like Jeff said , we are walking through the book . It's the New Testament of Matthew . This is written by a disciple of Jesus and we're learning from Jesus . We're learning a ton , and there's times that we're learning what it feels like to be kicked in the face with just the realities of who he is and who God is and what he wants for us . And sometimes we're really excited about it . We're like , oh , thank God , literally that you are a God that cares and is full of love and mercy and grace . And other times we're like , really , that's so upside down .

Speaker 1 3:23

And today , specifically , as we're getting in chapter 20 , we're right down towards the end , as he's working his way towards Jerusalem , ultimately to make his sacrifice and what that looks like . And I think I personally think he's already said a lot of hard stuff , but he's just being so much more clear right now because it's one of those like , if you've only got a few moments left , you're just going to say the things , and so he's saying all the things and helping continually reorient the way that we think about the things . We think about Like what's the thing beneath the thing ? And we're learning , as the disciples are learning , that often we can kind of get it wrong , because the fact is this is a story today that's a pretty famous story that's going to rock some of us a little bit . It's a confrontational story , but that's really good Because what it says is that the way that the world functions is wrong , but the way that the kingdom functions is right . The way that we think about and orient ourselves around , our thoughts about the world and how we treat each other and how we work and through things in which we're working through them , are wrong , but the way of the kingdom is right . It's this upside down backwards , where Jesus is literally pulling back the veil and going like , hey , the way that you naturally move towards or think about things is not correct , which is really good and for a lot of us , it's really helpful to us and it's really helpful to those that we love .

Speaker 1 4:47

This is one of those stories where , if you feel kind of beat up over the last couple weeks , you feel like I'm not living up to it , like these standards like I'm not living up to it . I'm worshiping money or family or comfort or routine or whatever it is . Jesus has been calling me out over and , over and over again and this is the story that's going to go . But we serve a God of such grace , such extravagant grace , that it almost doesn't even make sense . And you're going to see exactly what I'm saying as I read this story to you . You can follow along on screen . It's 16 verses , it's a narrative . You're going to get the idea , but just hang in here with me and kind of see where you fit in the midst of this .

Speaker 1 5:32

Jesus says he's talking to his disciples still here . He says , for the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard . He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and then sent him into his vineyard . Then , about nine in the morning , he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing . He told them you also go and work in my vineyard and I will pay you whatever is right . And so then they went . He went out again then about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing Then about five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around and he asked them why have you been standing here all day doing nothing ? Because no one has hired us . They answered . He said to them you also go work in my vineyard .

Speaker 1 6:25

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 then going on to the first . The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius . So when those who were first hired , they expected them to receive more . But each one of them also received a denarius . And when they received it he began to grumble against the landowner . These who were hired last worked for only one hour . They said why have you made them equal to us who have borne the burden of work in the heat of the day ? But he answered one of them I'm not being unfair to you , friend . Didn't you agree to work for a denarius ? Take your pay and go . I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you . Don't I have the right to do what I want to do with my own money ? Or are you so envious because I am generous , so the last will be first and the first will be last .

Speaker 1 7:40

Now , for some of us , this stirs a little bit of emotion in here . Like some of us chaps this a little bit , because we're like OK , so you're telling me that this is a story . These people were hired at the beginning of the day . They worked an entire day and then these other guys who didn't do anything but stood around all day got invited into the last minute and then they were all treated the same . They all got paid the same exact amount and that's frustrating . I get it . This story tells us really something beautiful and the first thing really , what we just dig into is we're like this is an awful business plan . Like here , the people that this story completely messes up is like any good capitalist in the room , like any good union worker , like everybody gets messed up in their system . You're like this is not how this is supposed to work .

Speaker 1 8:26

But this and what is showing us is actually the mathematics of grace . They don't make sense . He goes out and hires all of these people . There's a bunch of people that come at 6 in the morning . This is the first watch . This is the Jewish work day went from 6 AM to 6 PM . How'd you like to go back to those hours ? Then this last group they work for their one hard hour At 5 o'clock . They come in here and then the bosses comes and then all of a sudden you're seeing he's like rewarding this nonsense , he's rewarding this laziness or procrastination , he rewards the fact that they came and they only worked for one hour and so everybody else was like , and even the listeners are like , what's the deal ? Like , what's the deal with that ? How does that work out ? And yet Jesus goes this is the kingdom .

Speaker 1 9:20

Then the thing that we can learn from this , and the beautiful thing that's really life changing for every single one of us , is that the mathematics of grace is very important when it comes to you and I and our salvation and like the nature of our souls in the universe . Because the reality is , once you and once I've experienced the grace of God in our life , we have no choice but to treat others with grace , the kind of grace that's gonna actually make the world a better place and a place that the world needs to and should learn from . I mean , like , think about that the world , our communities , our surrounding communities should actually take from the church something . Could you believe it ? Like they could actually gain something from the church ? The church would actually provide something , something good where people would go my gosh . Look at the church , look at this group of people , undeserved favor . We need to learn from that , that group of people , the interactions I'm having with the people in my neighborhood , my spheres , can you truly like think about it ? Can you imagine that the world would actually want and have a desire to learn something from the church and to look at the ethic of Jesus and go ? Maybe I have something to learn about how to make the world a better place . Maybe there's something in this that is supposed to actually confront me or change me .

The Parable of the Laborers

Speaker 1 10:49

Let's go back to verse one . We'll just chop it up from there . He starts out and says for the kingdom of heaven is like now , right there , just stop . We're gonna pause for a second underline or highlight . Or if you've got a night phone or a phone , you got a Bible . I think double tap , it'll underline for you .

Speaker 1 11:06

First I wanna say this is what this doesn't mean the kingdom of heaven . It doesn't mean heaven , like going to heaven when you die , like that kind of heaven . This is kind of what the church has done with it and made it this far off thing , that's way into the future . But that's not what this means in this moment . In this instance , the kingdom is this phrase in its original language means the reign or rule of God , and so literally what he's saying is he's like I'm gonna tell you a story right now . He's gonna say that here's the reality .

Speaker 1 11:37

The world is divided up into two different kinds of people the kinds of people who are in the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God , and the people who aren't a part of the kingdom of heaven or in the kingdom of God . And the question right off the bat that we have to wrestle with or kind of distinguish is who belongs to the kingdom of heaven and who belongs to those who are not a part of the kingdom of heaven , meaning who belongs to the people that have the reign and rule of God over their life . That have been people that says I will come under the authority of God and just real quick , parenthetically coming under the authority and living under that authority means that life is chaotic until you come under the authority of a king , which means that there's no peace , no justice , no understanding . There'll continually be brokenness and sin until you let the king sit on his throne and start to reign . It's the people who have come under the authority of God and said you know what this feels counterintuitive to come under authority . But I need to do it for the sake of my soul , like for the peace in my life , to remove the things that continually culture and people in tradition just piles up on top of us . I need to do it for the sake of eternity and there's gonna be moments where it actually then pushes up against you and you've got to choose who has authority over my life . There's gonna be moments when you go .

Speaker 1 13:10

That's not what I naturally would like to do . You know what I would naturally like to do . I'd like to believe that every single religion leads to heaven . I would like to believe that . I would love to believe that , like all seven billion people in the world , that universalism is true , that every single person who has ever existed goes to heaven when they die in their part , in their part of this kingdom , whether they chose it or not , that all these different paths would ultimately lead to the same place . I would love to have authority in myself to believe something like that . But the problem is is then , even in this text , when I push up against the text , when I bump up against God's word , to a spoken in the Bible which says things like in John , chapter 14 , no one comes to the father except through me or acts , for there is no salvation and any other name under heaven except Jesus .

Speaker 1 14:05

I then have to make a decision . Am I going to come under the authority and the rulership ? Am I gonna continue , or am I just gonna continue to do my own thing ? That's the kind of question , right off the bat , we have to wrestle with . These are authority , kingdom questions . It's not about going to heaven when you die . The question is about am I a kingdom person in the present ? Have I not only been invited to go work in the garden , in the vineyard , but then also , am I taking place in that now , not just in this future tense ? That's the question that this story confronts you with . This is a question that's confronted me with all this week , and then you gotta make a decision . Am I ? What kind of person am I ? And actually , am I kingdom person or not ? Am I gonna live my life in a way where I put my money , sexuality , family , whatever it is that actually put it under the rulership of God or not ? And do you wanna serve this kind of God or not ? That's what it's talking about .

Speaker 1 15:12

So then , when he says this , for the kingdom of heaven , the rulership , reign of God , the sphere of God , is like a master of house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard . So just so we can understand this holistically God , he's the ruler . Then he has a foreman which would be represented through Jesus , and he goes out . The laborers in this story are you and I , and our denarius is eternal life , and the workday represents our lifetime , and in the evening , when he shows up to pay us , it's eternity . This is how the story is working . This is how the parable works . And so he goes down , he hires laborers for the vineyard and , after agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day , which was basically an average day's pay for work then it says this that about nine in the morning , he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing . He told them you also go and work in my vineyard and I will pay you whatever is right . And so they went .

Speaker 1 16:27

In other translations it says that he saw others standing idle in the marketplace , just not moving or doing anything , and I think that there's a bunch of people sitting in the marketplace and they need Jesus to walk up to them in their idleness and say wake up . There are a couple layers to this , I think . When we unpack it and we're looking at this and being like , all right , so these people are standing around doing nothing , they're standing idle , they're not going anywhere , and I think that we can then start unpacking a couple of different layers to this . Some of you , if we're gonna get to the thing beneath the thing on a Christian level or a following Jesus level , are like standing idle right now , like you're not in the game , like your money is still in your pocket , you don't serve , you don't get in community , you're sitting doing nothing , you're idle .

Speaker 1 17:28

You were never given a vision for your life and no one's ever looked at you and said like there's more to your life than what you're doing , than what you're participating in , than what you're producing and the comfort you're creating . And you're just sitting idle right now Like you've been given gifts in your workplace or in your life that you can actually produce and be a gardener , in the vineyard and do these things , and Jesus , like even you as a believer . He's just walking up to you right now in the marketplace and he's saying wake up . You're just standing around doing nothing . You've had an invitation to come and produce and participate . And he's saying you want vision ? I'll give you one . Go in the vineyard and do kingdom work , get busy , use the gifts and the skills that you have to care for in love for another person that is made in my image . You might have to do like another human care for them . He's saying that this is a war that you're in the midst of and you need to wake up and just stop coasting . He's saying I want to give you a new vision for your life . I want you to do something . Stop standing in the marketplace doing nothing .

Speaker 1 18:36

And , friends , I will say it this way it is very easy to be a professional Christian and not do the hard , hard work of following Jesus . So there's an idleness amongst Christians , but then there's another layer to it . There's an idleness amongst them on a bigger level . With the agnostics maybe they're in the groomer , the atheist , or with us online . That life without God is ultimately life without him . It doesn't have any meaning . Like a car , it's just running and not really going anywhere .

Speaker 1 19:13

And I'm not saying this to be offensive . It's not like your life isn't happy or you've got this bad life , there's just more . I look at my friends and sometimes , frankly , I'm like people who aren't in the vineyard yet and chosen to be a part of the kingdom . You know , they seem perfectly fine and happy . They're doing things that seem well , fine and happy and like they're producing . But there's just more , which , we've been learning , ultimately means less . We've been talking much of this lately . What is the more Like ? What is the more ? It's more freedom . It's more freedom , it's more grace . This is more mercy . It's more peace , it's more hope , it's more joy , it's more strength , it's more support , and with that comes less . What would be the less ? It's less stress , it's less weight , it's less shame , it's less guilt , less judgment , less condemnation , less pressure , less performance .

Speaker 1 20:22

And then at the end of this story , it's like the best and the worst part , like , depending on where you land in this story . I think it's one of the most beautiful parts of the story , but it's difficult because everybody gets in and everybody gets the same . Everyone who's invited in and accepted it . They all get the exactly the same thing . And the guys who've been there for a while they actually end up complaining about it because they look and they say these infamous words that's not fair , that's not fair . So when Eveen came , the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman call the workers and pay them their wages , beginning with the last ones hired , going to the first . I kind of love this part , right , I don't know why In some of you hate this right now .

Speaker 1 21:22

You're like ugh , it's because he wants the guys who are hired first to see what the guys who hired last gets . It's like rubbing it into his face a little bit . Make sure you pay the guys who showed up an hour ago first , the guys who just are undone from the day . They're just drenched in sweat , they smell , they're dirty , and then the guys who have been there for an hour and they still got energy to go and do things . The other people are , they're just watching . They're like are you kidding me ? Right now he wants you to see it .

Speaker 1 21:55

And this is what we've learned from . This is the mathematics of grace . Say no , no , no . Anything that anyone got was undeserved . And so now these guys start complaining about it , wouldn't you ? That was a real question . I'm just trying to get you to be . It was a safe place . I know you would . I know you because I know me . This is what most of us would do . We've been here all day . We've been here for a long day of doing work and we've been doing way more work than that person and we should be getting more . This is like how we spend our days Half the time we're doing our work , half the time we're watching someone else , you doing your part , because I got some opinions about that , unsolicited or not , they're coming , so what they already worked out , like they had agreed upon , had been given to them and they grumble about it .

Speaker 1 22:52

Not like any other Christians do this . Like I don't see any of you guys in the story at all . Like , as a pastor , you've never grumbled . Like you're not a grumbling person . I get it . I'm just saying this . Other churches I talked to my friends , their pastors , their . Like this happens , there's grumbling . I hear right , look at what it says . You made them equal to us Grumble , grumble , grumble . Isn't this what we do ? Like we experience life and then we grumble to God Not good enough , like that was close . Where's your justice ? Like , come on , lord , bring it all the way . This is what I think you should do Now . Do it . That's not fair . What I see over there is not fair . I have followed you my entire life , I have sacrificed for you for years in my life and now I get the same as the person who joined in the final hour . I mean , frankly , let's just get real right now . I mean not like we haven't been real , but like let's just get all the way .

Speaker 1 23:59

There are some of you potentially , that are going to struggle watching people walk into the baptism . Hi , ladybug Walk , just chillin' . I'm sorry , burn . It's like I'm distracting . There are some of you who are going to struggle with those who are going to . Sorry , I've got to move that on . There it goes . I didn't squish it . I promise it's still alive . It's walking around . There's some of you struggling right now with the way I'm treating an insect . All right , Come on back to me . Here we go .

Speaker 1 24:31

All right , there are some of you who are going to struggle on Easter and I'm going to tell you why . Like , this is the thing that's going to happen internally . You're going to know somebody that walks into those waters and you're going to be like . I know their life , I know who they've been , I know what they've done and now they're just going to get to walk in here into these waters of baptism and get a new and fresh and be part of the kingdom . I have sacrificed , I have done these things and now we're like the same , like that's the tension . This is like a thief in a cross , like in their final hour type of moment . So is that ? But I think there's actually more to it all that I just want to lean in and focus in this last part and what this brings up in us . So , wrapping up the story , we'll start landing the plane , verse 13,

The Dangers of Envy

Speaker 1 25:24

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Speaker 1 25:25

But he answered one of them . I'm not being unfair to you , friend . I love that . It's like , hey , we're in relationship . I'm not being unfair to you , friend . Didn't you agree to work for a denarius ? Take , take your pain , go . I want to give the one who was hired for the last the same as I gave you . Don't I have the right to do what I want to do with my own money , with my own grace , with my own mercy , with the gifts that I'm giving ? Don't I have that right Right here ? Or are you envious Because I'm generous , so the last will be first and the first will be last . It's right there . I think this , I think this is the whole thing for us today . Let's just focus on verse 15 . This is the question . I think that this is actually the goal that we must mine today .

Speaker 1 26:23

Envy Are you envious Because I'm generous ? I mean , when it comes to us receiving generosity , zero envy attached . Here's what I want to say about envy that when there's envy attached because of someone else's gifts , that they received the grace that they received the mercy , that they received the generosity they received , it kills our souls , it kills our relationship with God , it kills our relationship with the world . Let me define envy for you as the dictionary defines it . Envy is a feeling of discontented or resentful , long-tailed roused by someone else's possessions , qualities or luck . In other words , we're sad that something good happened to someone else . That's envy , and isn't that messed up ? Right ? That is messed up .

Speaker 1 27:24

Aristotle defines it this way pain at the sight of another's good fortune is stirred by those who have what we ought to have , and that's what we want . Thomas Aquinas said envy , according to the aspect of its object , is contrary to charity , where the soul derives its spiritual life , charity rejoices in the neighbor's good , while envy grieves over it . See , it's this comparison to other people's what kills contentment in our life and that's the toxicity of it . But contentment is really what we all want , what we strive for for our culture . It's our way of life and we actually do some things to protect it , to even cover it up , right ?

Speaker 1 28:10

We live in the age of social media and pictures and trying to put on the good life so others can be jealous or envious of like oh man , they've got it together . Oh , that's so good , and it's almost a facade that we even try to carry and put up so we can feel better about oneself . Right , here's a picture from Disneyland , the happiest place on earth , and so you got the photo . This is as good as it gets with kids that are that age , so just FYI . But it's like , oh , look at the stuff in the background . We're here in this location and we're like look , how awesome , what a great time we're having . The sun's out , it's beautiful . But in real life , in reality , no one realized at the moment that the plumber had shown up to fix some things that were broken . So if you zoomed out a little bit . You're gonna be like , oh wow , but that's real life , right , that's real life . It looks all great and good , but like it kind of stinks at the same time , like it's just , it's messy , right , that's what envy is . It creates messiness and the inability to grasp it and to see it .

Speaker 1 29:18

The Bible actually says a lot about envy . I would encourage some of you that wanna dive even deeper into this subject . Just do a word study on envy throughout the scriptures this coming week and you will come back as a different person . Because , see , envy is a sin that's deeply ingrained in human nature . It comes into being when a man lacks certain things . We're envious of each other regarding , like hundreds of things wealth , power , beauty , espouse fertility , social , set miracles and happen healings that happen in other people's lives . And then we're jealous . Right , they're more popular than me , more successful than me , or they have a relationship that even seems more robust with God than me .

Speaker 1 30:10

And throwing away envy is crucial . It's a crucial condition in our path to salvation . It's when it becomes haunting over our lives and you feel it , because you resent people you like deep down desire . They're downfall , and here's why that's bad , because the Christian life calls us to love God and love who , your neighbor , your neighbor . Our very goal in life should be literally to will good things for our neighbor . That should be our goal . To will good things for our neighbor , not to be sad about them . And what good things have taken place .

Speaker 1 30:54

And so then we find ourselves , we gossip about people , we put them down . That is not to love them . That actually comes from envy , and so much of our hidden motives that we draw in our lives is from envy . It's the I wanna be them . I wanna be bigger than them , stronger than them , richer than them , smarter than them , more beautiful than them .

Speaker 1 31:17

And here's what ends up happening . Envy ends up being a lonely sin . It's focused only on oneself . Like why can't I have that ? Why did they get that and I didn't ? And viewing the world through that lens will only lead to a deeper and deeper misery . Self pity is born out of envy . Like I got the bad end of the deal . And we must , friends , understand that to follow Jesus we have to destroy a peace of ourselves . That's what discipleship is . It's pick up your cross and follow me that there's no room for envy of a life of discipleship , because we fully accept our lives , and then we deny those things , and if we don't do that , we will never have true happiness , which is what this all derives us . It's what moves us forward . When , then , we find the hard way , is this lack of self worth and a lowered self esteem and wellbeing that because that's just what you've gotten that in the end , you realize that envy has ruined your life and you know that this is a sin . This is how you can easily identify it . You know this is a sin when you can't celebrate other people's wins , when you just can't be excited for them and proud for them .

Speaker 1 32:49

I give you a really quick real life example . Yesterday , my kids playing basketball and they went to overtime . They went in the Southern death . It was a great game . I mean , like talk about ups and downs and I'm telling you right now I'm competitive , but I was so proud of the other team they won and this kid had missed a bunch of shots . He missed some shots to actually win the game and then he got kind of like this redemptive moment and it could win with a free throw and he switched it and I celebrated him .

Speaker 1 33:20

But you know that part of me like I'm not saying you're a bad person . These are like little identifiable , so like , yeah , you can be bummed about something , but can you also just be like man ? They got married , they got a new job , they ran into all this money Instead of going yeah , that's cool , but when is it going to happen for me ? Their kid did something awesome , when is my kid going to do something awesome ? And you start to resent them . And the difference between envy and jealousy is this Envy is more like coveting , jealousy is more about possessing .

Speaker 1 33:56

Envy is the one , frankly , that's just no fun . It's just pain that's involved here . Honest , talk about this . Out of the big seven , out of the big seven sins , the seven deadly sins pride , greed , wrath , envy , lust , gluttony Envy is the only one that's not fun . If you just honest conversation , right , like some of those , you're like pride man , I can feel good about that , right ? Greed man , that feels kind of nice . Wrath , yeah , that needs to happen sometimes . Right . Lust , right Gluttony sometimes I just got to eat my feelings like sloth . I want to be lazy , some of that stuff has like things . But envy you're just like that's just a crap shoot , like it's just no good , like it doesn't do anything for anyone , including myself .

Speaker 1 34:41

Envy is the one that's like no fun at all . It's like a litmus test of how we like love our neighbors right ? Can we bless others Like ? That's the question . Can we actually encourage others ? Can we champion and celebrate their wins and promote them , versus shriveling inside when someone else is winning ? So here's the solution , here's how we fight it . We do the opposite . See , here it is .

Speaker 1 35:07

Contentment is the key , and this is what it's contentment in and I know it sounds so cliche , but this is the thing . I am a person in Christ . Contentment , I am a person found in Christ . Whatever he has given me , I'm going to slay that thing and then envy dies . And when kindness and a desire for good things come towards other people , this is where grace abounds . This is where the cure actually flows from our identity in Jesus and we've got to grow in our charity and our hearts for everyone around us , even if it means we don't benefit .

Speaker 1 35:56

That's the beautiful part of not just loving someone as you love yourself , but loving someone as loving another person as he has loved you , for the benefit of them , with no gain yourself . See , envy is not only where you feel you deserve His or her state , it's like , quite literally , you don't think that they deserve the state that they're in . And if you believe that you cannot truly love them , your discontentment then also , you'll find , extends itself towards God , because he's the one who blessed them and that other person the way that you want it to be blessed and because you are discontent with the amount of blessing God's given you . And the end what you're saying is it's not fair . And you're right .

Speaker 1 36:52

That's what this whole story is about . You think it should be fair , but really it's grace , it's all grace . And when we think it through we can see the reason we're envious of another person is because we think that their happiness is a sign that they are loved and accepted and we are not . And that's the fight , and it's just not true . And then envy leads us to this desire to harm the other person . In the end we find ourselves where we're nursing grudges and brooding over things , we gossip , we plan , we revenge , and it shrivels our soul and we've got to fight it . And this is all countered with kindness .

Speaker 1 37:45

Kindness desires the happiness and the flourishing of another person , not their harm . Kindness is composed of not heroic acts of virtue , but small , daily , regular acts of goodness towards another person Say that again you can put up on the screen . Kindness is composed of not heroic acts of virtue , but small , daily , regular acts of goodness towards another person . The kind person is ready with a smile or a joke or a word of encouragement or just genuine appreciation of the blessings of life , blessings in which they have and the good things that we all share together . Kindness rejoices in good of others rather than being sorrowful and angry and resentful another , and we can be cured by a profound encounter with the one who loves us beyond our wildest imagination , and our journey's end is to actually have envy . Die because we understand we're so loved , but we have to recognize envy at its root calls in the question really God's very goodness towards us , not towards the person that was in the vineyard for only an hour . Envy demonstrates that we do not love God with all we are , because he is not enough and neither is what he has given us .

Speaker 1 39:07

Now I get it Like this stuff to read and to understand and then to live out is hard . This is hard stuff to talk about , I guess because we're just talking about the thing beneath the thing . For all of us it's way easier . People all the time be like , yeah , I'm struggling the same things . I struggle with anger , I struggle with lust or I struggle with whatever . There's lots of things .

Speaker 1 39:28

I don't think in my whole life anyone's ever sat me down and says I have a problem with envy . I don't think anyone ever said to me like , hey , why aren't we doing more messages and more conversation around envy ? I don't think I've ever said anything that ever happened . But the reality is this no one thinks they're envious . You thought about that one . You're like , yeah , he's talking to that guy . I know exactly the people he's talking about and those people are thinking the same thing about you . I know the exact person . Isn't that the truth ?

Speaker 1 39:59

No one thinks they're envious and you can never appreciate what someone else has . You can't appreciate her beauty . You can't appreciate her or their happiness . You can't appreciate his or her success without comparing yourself . Envy makes it all about you . You just can't appreciate the fact that here's somebody who's happily married without saying I'm not . You can't appreciate that . Someone who's made success without saying I haven't .

Speaker 1 40:27

Envy never feels good . It sucks the joy out of life immediately . Here's the deal , friends . Envy made the devil . Demonic . Envy is what ruined the universe . So please don't underestimate what it can do in your life . It's slavery .

Invitation to Kingdom Life

Speaker 1 40:52

So where does all this lead us ? Wrapping up ? This is the deep question we're thinking If you want these things like , if you want and have desires in life which is fine and good , how are you going to avoid envy when you see how incomplete your life is and how broken your life is ? And here's the hard answer If you know what's coming , if you really know what's coming , if you understand that it's a complete fulfillment , ultimately , of your deepest desires , beyond your wildest imagination , and then , and only then , are you going to be able to live with an incompleteness of this world and those who are given the grace of God , no matter who they are or what their circumstance is .

Speaker 1 41:40

I think one of the most intriguing and important things this shows us in this story is it's not too late , gosh , such grace for that . For those of you in your final hours . It's not too late For those of you who've just been standing idle , chilling , doing nothing , doing your own thing . It's not too late . You're invited into the garden , you're invited to share your gifts , to do your work , to participate , to receive all of those things . It's never too late to be in and experience the kingdom life , now , in the present , then in the internal .

Speaker 1 42:21

You have been , I have been . We have been given grace by our generous Father , and some of us need to learn to give that grace away too , because in the end , there is no such thing as fair , and we can personally thank God that he holds true to that . More specifically , we can thank Jesus for the sacrifice made to create that truth . Would you pray with me as we were prepared to respond in worship ? Heavenly Father , your name is great . It is mighty . Thank you for the invitation , thank you for coming and seeking out and finding us and then inviting us to participate in your kingdom , and thank you what we receive because of that . Thank you for the gifts , thank you that even throughout the day and our moments of weakness and brokenness , you're the one who comes and gives us strength to power through Father .

Speaker 1 43:46

I confess , with many of my friends in the room today , there are times that I find myself envious of your generosity . I just want to hand that back over to you , lay it at your feet that your will would be done with that . Continue to create something new in me that finds joy and solitude , me that finds joy in celebrating the life and the gifts of another . And may we be a people , may we be a faith community , may we be a saint that cares for others like you have cared for , and invites them in to do this very same work For your kingdom come . Your will be done In Bodicia , in Fairfield Martinez , in Vallejo , american Canyon , in Solano County , in the Bay Area . On earth , now as in heaven , in your name , we pray Amen .