I’ve been musing lately about the parable Jesus told involving the workers in the vineyard. You’re probably familiar with it; it’s the one where the vineyard owner hired guys throughout the day, and when it came time to get paid at the end of the shift, the ones hired last — who worked only a couple of hours — got paid the same wages as the ones hired first, even though they had put in a full day’s work. The latter were a bit torqued, even though they received exactly what was promised them. You can read the parable in the first part of Matthew, chapter 20.
About 2,000 later, a guy named J. Stacy Adams figured out a label for the phenomenon Jesus described. Adams called it the Equity Theory of Satisfaction, and in a nutshell it holds that employees decide how satisfied they are with their work based at least partly on how fairly they think they’re being treated, and a great deal of that fairness is assessed based on whether they perceive their fellow employees are being treated better or worse than them.
If you take the Equity Theory seriously, you can even come up with a scenario in which an employee is being treated horribly — overworked and underpaid, for example — but who will still decide that things aren’t really all that bad because he perceives that his co-worker is being treated even worse.
Jesus was the second management consultant in history (you have to go back into the Old Testament, book of Exodus, to find the first…that’s your assignment for the day), and he really knew his stuff. Well, I suppose it’s pretty easy to be an effective consultant when you know your clients’ every thought and feeling, so he did have that going for him.
But this parable is not really about how to run a business. It’s about how God deals with his children. It’s about grace…unmerited favor. It’s about getting what’s not coming to us, at least not as our human minds and spirits would work things if we were in charge. Grace is why the thief on the cross got the same kind of cool digs in heaven that John the Baptist and the Apostle Paul dwell in.
Anyway, while refreshing my memory on Adams’s Equity Theory (it’s been a long time since grad school) I ran across the text of a sermon by Dr. George R. Sinclair, Pastor of the Government Street Presbyterian Church in Mobile, Alabama. He titled the sermon “Grace Unequaled,” and I recommend taking the ten minutes or so it will take to read it. It’s funny, insightful, challenging, encouraging and it nails the truth up for all to read. And, it will explain the title of this post.
When it come to God’s grace, we shouldn’t worry about whether someone else is getting more than their share, because none of us has done anything to deserve any of it…and yet we all can have all of it we want, just for the asking. That’s a management theory I can get behind.
That assignment is too easy.
And as soon as I saw the title of this post, my first thought was “mmmm, grace.” I love grits, especially when they’re unmerited and unearned.
That sermon was tasty too.
Both this parable and that of the “Prodigal Son” have always deeply troubled me, Eric.
If everyone who eventually repents before their death will be forgiven and share in God’s reward for the faithful, then what motive is there for following God’s law (outside of doing so for its own sake)?
Why be the “older brother” or the “early worker” and abstain when a person can revel in sin, repent (old age and the fear of hell, being great motivators) and then still be forgiven and receive the same eternal reward as those who were faithful all their lives?
In the end, both sides get the same thing, the difference is sinners have the benefit of both enjoying the sins the commit and God’s forgiveness/ eternal reward.
Amen, Bro. Siegmund. And amen.
There were grits on my plate this morning!
Mr. Freen, thanks for sharing your questions, as I suspect they’re common to many people. There are a number of Gazette readers who are better qualified than me to answer them, but I will give you the two answers that come immediately to my mind (and one of which you’ve touched on).
First, let’s listen to those words of that great theologian, Dirty Harry, whose immortal question, “Do you feel lucky, punk?” is the clue to one answer for why we ought to claim God’s grace. If you guess wrong about the time of your death, thinking it’ll come later than it does, and you’ve never “gotten right with God,” the consequences are eternal. Living life in anticipation of a deathbed salvation is a crapshoot for fools, if I may be so blunt.
But that’s a pretty negative way of viewing things, isn’t it? It also assumes that living life without God is preferable to living it with Him…that the only benefits of His grace come after death. That’s just plain wrong. The joy, power and peace of knowing that you’re saved and knowing that He will never leave you or forsake you…well, I just don’t think one can put a price on that. And there’s no other way to get it, regardless of what the world will try to sell or tell you.
Then there’s this, a corollary (or an outcome) to that second thing I just described. God’s grace and salvation changes you. It makes you want to live in a way that’s pleasing to Him, as best you know how (and we don’t know how, perfectly, not immediately. There’s a growth process — aka sanctification — that’s gets us closer, but I don’t think any of us ever really get there in this life). I don’t believe that good works save you, but I also don’t believe that you can be saved and not do good works. The evidence of salvation is a changed heart and a changed life and a changed outlook on that life.
Like I said, I’m far from qualified to provide the answers to these questions. Perhaps others will weigh in an correct or expand on my clumsy attempts. But they’re important questions, and it’s important to work through the answers to them. As I said, the consequences of how we answer them will stay with us for a long time.
Oh, and Jim, I didn’t realize you Yankees ate grits. (Yeah, I saw “My Cousin Vinnie.”) Sherry, I understand…she’s a country girl and knows her grits, but you continue to surprise me. 😉
I am a constant source of surprise and wonderment to many… this is not universally seen as a positive trait. But I do love grits.
I heard that a grit is equivalent to what the English call a savoury scone. If this is the case, I’ve tried one – if not, I’ll be trying them in September so I wont have to wonder much longer what they taste like hehe.
Rachel, while there perhaps is such a thing as a “grit” (singular), it bears no relation to “grits,” which are basically hominy ground up into tiny pellets. Some think it’s similar to Cream of Wheat, if you’re familiar with that. It’s usually served for breakfast, especially in the Southern US, and as a side order.
I like Cream of Wheat too but it’s no substitute for a nice steaming bowl of grits (with butter, a little salt).
[I should have known better than to mix food with theology.]
I think it’s always best to mix food with theology…the two most important forms of sustenance. 😉 Your response to Mr. Freen’s very valid questions were reassuring and spot on…God’s grace and salvation DO change you during this life! And I love grits too. 🙂
Gwynne, I was just kidding, of course.
But there is a problem with mixing the two because we often end up like the disciples after Jesus warned them to “beware of the yeast of the Pharisees,” and they huddled to the side and decided it was because they had forgotten to bring any bread to eat. Like those guys, we often end up fixating on the physical food and miss the spiritual nutrition.
Not that any of the Gazette readers are wont to do that. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m getting very hungry. 😉
Indeed.
Er, “Amen!”
I’ve found that my pastor’s recent statement from the bulletin that “To live in the style and spirit of Jesus Christ is good medecine. Even if there were no resurrection His way is, so often, far, far better.” is totally accurate.
One key factor in my recent acceptance of Jesus’ offer is that when I “tried it on” – when I tried living in accordance with Jesus’ teachings – everything (yes, everything) was better in my life.
It used to bother me, too, that the guy who “gets religion” on his deathbead is cheating. He got to have fun in this life *and* he gets the best of the next, too. Hey, no fair!
Now I know that it ain’t only the unbelievers (or procrastinators) that have fun. The best fun is the kind you’re never embarrassed about.
😉
And if you don’t go for that (I wouldn’t have) how ’bout this: Who cares what deal the other guy got? Are you happy with yours?
“I was just kidding, of course.” But of course. But there was “a grit” of truth in it too, as you pointed out. 😉 We’re simple that way.
One key factor in my recent acceptance of Jesus’ offer is that when I “tried it on” – when I tried living in accordance with Jesus’ teachings – everything (yes, everything) was better in my life.
Brian, do you realize that you’ve just provided a sample of the perfect witness? Many people think they have to memorize the New Testament and read all of Spurgeon’s sermons and take a correspondence course in Greek before they can share the gospel, but the most effective witness — the one that no one can ever refute — is the one where a person says “here’s what Jesus has done for me; here’s what my life was like before, and here’s what it’s like now.” That’s good stuff…
Rachel, the “varying rewards” in heaven are where I start to lose comprehension. It’s hard for my limited human mind to imagine that there will be no envy or jealousy in heaven…no “Equity Theory” of eternal reward. I mean, I expect the “heroes of the faith” to score better rewards than me in heaven, but not that guy who sits on the other end of the pew each Sunday. No, that will just be hard to swallow, and I can’t imagine not starting to stew about it after a couple of million years or so. Makes me think that something about me is gonna change between then and now, you know? 😉
Gwynne, I’m simple in many more ways than that. 😉
As usual, you’ve raised a number of things I hadn’t considered and presented them in an exceptionally lucid manner, Eric.
Thanks for taking the time to address my questions in what became a post-sized answer!
I’d also like to thank everyone else who contributed their views on an issue that’s been weighing on me for a while now.
I’ll continue the culinary metaphor because you’ve all given me a lot of food for thought.
One final comment for you Mr. Freen.
You have been in my prayers since reading your post yesterday afternoon–and there you will remain. I’m praying for you what I have in Him. Because there is nothing better……..no matter WHEN you get there.
IHPL,
A friend
…you’ve all given me a lot of food for thought.
Mr. Freen, I’d then have to say that we’ve achieved one of the goals of this humble blog!
What an excellent discussion! And thanks for posting the link to the sermon-good midweek read.
Jennifer, glad you approve. Now, about your next post… 😉