Grace is not about finishing first or finishing last.  It’s about not counting at all!  Chris Brannon continues in our Parables series with Matthew 20:1-16.  This is the parable of the laborers in the vineyard.  Our culture does not operate on the principle of grace.  Thankfully, God does.  His ways are higher than our ways; and his thoughts are higher than our thoughts.

There are two lessons that are taught in this parable.  The first is that life is not always fair!  The workers hired last were paid as the workers hired first, but the landowner paid them all the same.  The second lesson is that there is a bigger picture that we are not seeing.  We ought to be careful about challenging God in what He does because we don’t see everything that He sees.  Sometimes it looks like we are not getting what we think we should get.

There are three things that Jesus is teaching us through this parable.  The first is that God is just and he treats everyone justly.  The second is that God is sovereign and He can do what He wants.  The last is that God is generous.  This should eliminate pride.

What should we conclude?  If you want more than you contracted for, don’t contract.  It is the same old issue of legalism versus grace.  We think we want legalism or justice, but grace is so much better.  Chris gives us six truths about God’s grace.  The first is that grace is a gift that costs everything to the giver and nothing to the receiver.  Those who don’t deserve it, barely recognize it and hardly appreciate it still get it!  Another truth is that grace shocks us in what it offers.  Grace also teaches us that God does for others what we would never do for them.  The next truth is that in the end, grace means that no one is too bad to be saved.  God specializes in saving really bad people.  Grace also means that some people may be too good to be saved.  Lastly, Grace is scandalous.

Chris closes his sermon with two truths that can radically transform your thinking and your way of living.  The first is that there is nothing you can do to make God love you more.  The second is that there is nothing you can do to make God love you less.  Like a gift, the only thing we can do with grace is to receive it.

Do you want a fresh start today?  Do you need a new beginning?  You can have one!  How do you find God’s grace?  You just ask for it!  That’s it!  It is that simple.