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SOMETIMES GOD AND I DON’T AGREE
Matthew 20:1-14
Sunday Morning Sermon
November 8, 1998
Fair Avenue Baptist Church
We read a few minutes ago where a man needed some workers for his fields.
He goes out early in the morning, 6:00 AM, and hires some workers.
At 9:00 he hires more workers,
Then at 12:00 noon he hires more workers,
At 3:00 he hires more,
And then at 5:00 he hires some more.
And all the workers worked until 6:00 at night.
Some worked 12 hours,
Some worked 9 hours,
Some worked 6 hours,
Some worked 3 hours,
Some worked 1 hour.
Now, when pay time came he gave them all the exact same amount of money.
And those that started at 6:00 in the morning began to complain Abu it.
They said, “This is not fair because we’ve worked 12 hours. And the guys over there got the same amount and they worked only one hour. It’s not fair.”
This is an usual parable.
These guys got the same wages.
The guy who worked 1 hour get the same as the guy who worked 12 hours.
What is God trying to teach us here?
Don’t miss this, I believe God is trying to teach us that we do not always agree with Him.
I know I don’t always agree with God.
Do you think it is fair for the guy who works 12 hours to get what the guy who worked 1 hour?
Be honest, do you think it is fair?
I know I don’t believe it is fair - but God does.
I just don’t agree with God in this parable.
I cannot see that it is right for a man who works 12 hours to get the same pay as the guy who works only one hour.
By the way, that’s what faith is.
Faith is believing God is right even when we disagree.
You and I don’t think like God.
It doesn’t make sense to me.
But since you and I are flesh, it’s not always going to make sense.
And I believe God is trying to teach us that we are not always going to see eye-to-eye.
I cannot see the logic, but I know it is right.
You say, “Preacher, do you think it is right to give a guy the same wages who worked from 5:00 to 6:00 as the guy who worked 12 hours?”
Yes, I do.
“Preacher, that can’t be right. Do you believe it is right?”
NO, I don’t believe it’s right, but I believe it’s right.
WHY? Because I trust God’s judgment more than mine.
It doesn’t make sense to me, but it doesn’t have to make sense to me.
Let me give you our definition of faith,
the 20th century Christian’s definition of faith,
and I quote,
“I have confidence to believe that God will do what He will do like I think it ought to be done.”
We prove it when we say something like, “Well, I lost my faith in God.”
What it means is that He finally did something like you didn’t think it ought to be done.
But, that’s not faith at all.
We even say, “Well, I lost my faith in so-and-so.”
No, you never did have faith.
You didn’t have faith in Mrs. Way in the Academy when you agreed with her, you have faith in her, UNTIL she did something to your child that you didn’t agree with.
“Well, I lost my faith in her.”
No, you never had any faith in her.
You only believed she was right when you agreed with the way you would have done it, but it just so happens you’ve never taught in a school.
We say, “I have confidence to believe that He will do it like I think it ought to be done.”
And that’s the kind of confidence most people have in God and in their leaders.
And that’s not faith,
You have faith in you.
You don’t have faith in a youth pastor if you only have confidence in him when he does it like you think it ought to be done.
Don’t we get it?
That could be the secret of a great church.
It would be a great church if we could grasp this principle:
I sometimes don’t agree with the pastor, but I realize I’ve never pastored before, I’ve never had to carry the load he has to carry, SO, I don’t agree with him all the time, but when I disagree with him, he’s right and I’m wrong concerning the work of the church.
NOW, the next step is this,
The sermon will get better in a few minutes,
And some are saying, “I hope so...”
The first step is, “I have confidence that God will do like I think it should be done.”
The next step of faith is this, “I cannot see it, but God will explain it someday, and I’ll understand.”
But that’s not pure faith.
You say, “Wait a minute. If I trust God to explain later, I may not agree with Him, but someday He’ll explain it to me, so I trust Him, isn’t that pure faith.”
NO,
But it’s dead sure better than the first step, but it’s not pure faith.
Someone wrote a song, We’ll Understand It Better By And By.
You say, “Okay, this is what God did. We don’t agree on this, I would not have done it that way if I had been God, but I believe one day God will explain it to me and I’ll understand.”
And that’s better than the first step of faith, but it’s not pure faith.
Here’s the answer,
It’s not - “I believe God when He does it my way.”
It’s not - “I believe God because one day He’ll explain it to me.”
Here’s the answer,
Here’s real faith,
I DON’T NEED AN EXPLANATION.
I don’t agree with God,
And if I don’t see eye-to-eye with God,
I’m still wrong and He’s right.
And if I die and never understand why He did what He did, I still believe God was right and I was wrong.
And if I get to Heaven and into eternity and I never learn why He did what He did, I still believe God was right and I was wrong.
That’s pure faith.
Let me give you the three steps again.
1. I have faith in God as long as He does things the way I think it should be done.
And that’s what most Christians have,
And that’s the kind of faith most Christians have in other people.
2. I have faith and believe God is right and I’m wrong and some day I’ll understand.
3. I don’t agree with God but if I never find out why, I still believe God was right and I was wrong.
Now, I want to tell you about some areas where God and I disagree.
Follow me carefully,
This will shock you,
You may fire me after this,
But listen carefully.
I don’t agree that Achan and his family were stoned because he stole a Babylonian garment and a wedge of gold.
Achan just got a coat and some gold, that’s all he did.
Now, maybe he should have gotten into trouble.
But he got stoned to death.
And his wife was stoned to death.
And she didn’t have anything to do with it.
Before I got through,
You’re not going to believe in God,
JUST KIDDING.
See, your God has to do it like you see it and that’s not faith.
Let’s move on.
I don’t believe God should have killed Ananias and Sappira - that doesn’t make sense to me.
Now, God,
I love you,
I trust you,
but I don’t always agree with you.
I EXPECTED LIGHTNING TO STRIKE!
I think God overdid it with Ananias and Sappira.
Here is a couple,
They may have even tithed,
They sold a house and did not give all the profits to God,
And God killed them,
Right there in church.
I don’t agree with that.
Something else,
I don’t agree with God letting Peter preach on the Day of Pentecost.
I think John should have preached.
Only 50 days ago:
Peter was cussing,
He was denying Christ,
He denied the faith,
He said he didn’t belong to the First Baptist Church of Jerusalem.
50 days ago he left Jesus in His darkest hours.
I don’t think Peter should have preached on the Day of Pentecost,
I think John the Beloved should have preached.
I’ll tell you something else I don’t agree with.
Anybody here still believe in God,
JUST KIDDING.
I don’t think God made a good choice of making Saul the king of Israel.
I don’t think God should have chosen Jacob to be a Prince and change his name to Israel and name the nation Israel after him.
Jacob was not the right one.
He was home making chili while his brother was out hunting.
He deceived his brother,
He got the birthright of his father’s inheritance,
He got to be in the lineage of the Messiah,
He stole that from his brother,
And then when his father was sick,
He tricked his father,
He lied to his father,
He was a deceiver,
And do you know what God did?
God named the whole nation after him,
He named His nation after Jacob.
It should have been Abraham.
I’m saying I don’t always agree with God.
I don’t agree with God for allowing three murderers to write a third of the Bible.
4/11 of the chapters in the Bible were written by murderers:
Moses
David
Paul
You wouldn’t choose three murderers.
I’m just saying I don’t always agree with God.
Who did God say was the wisest man in the world?
A guy who had 700 wives and 300 substitutes,
or as the kid said, 300 combines.
Sometimes I disagree with God.
I don’t agree with God calling David a man after His own heart.
I don’t agree with God not allowing Moses to enter the Promised Land.
All Moses did was lose his temper.
Have you ever lost your temper?
Moses lost his temper,
And God would not let him enter the Promised Land.
I don’t always agree with God.
I don’t agree with God when He turned Lot’s wife into a pillar of salt.
She just turned around - that’s all she did.
I don’t agree with God.
She just looked back.
And I don’t agree.
I don’t believe God should have chosen Jonah for the great revival of Ninevah.
I don’t believe God should have made Isaac marry someone he had never seen.
She could have had a wart on her nose.
She could have weighed 500 pounds.
She could have just one tooth.
It didn’t matter.
I don’t believe a fellow should have to marry someone he didn’t know.
It’s obvious that’s what your wife did.
I don’t believe in God blessing Old Testament saints who had more than one wife.
I don’t agree with God in giving the prodigal son more attention than the faithful son who stayed home.
I don’t agree with Billy Melton being taken.
I wish I could have gotten to know him better.
What little I knew, I liked.
I don’t agree with what my grandmother had to go through.
I don’t agree with what my mother has had to go through.
I don’t agree with what some of our young people have to go through.
I don’t agree that some of these precious young ladies have to grow up without a father.
Sometimes God and I don’t agree.
And, how do you explain the plan of salvation?
It seems to me that a guy who lives a real good life ought to go to Heaven.
There’s that thief on the cross,
Never did one solitary thing except trust Jesus and he goes to Heaven.
But here’s another man,
Not a criminal,
Never stole anything,
Never robbed anyone,
Here’s a guy who dies and goes to Hell.
It doesn’t make sense to me.
BUT BLESS GOD,
IT DOESN’T HAVE TO MAKE SENSE TO ME.
I believe God is right.
I’m just saying that I would have done all things differently,
BUT IN EVERY AREA,
I BELIEVE GOD IS RIGHT AND I’M WRONG.
He may choose someday to explain to me why He’s right and I’m wrong,
BUT HE DOESN’T HAVE TO EXPLAIN IT TO ME.
I still believe that God is right.
I believe that God was right to choose Peter to preach on the Day of Pentecost.
I believe God was right to take Billy Melton onto Heaven.
I believe God was right to kill Ananias and Sappira.
I believe He is right.
I don’t always agree with Him,
But I’m flesh,
And He’s God.
I’m weak,
He’s strong.
I’m sinful,
He’s perfect.
He’s God,
He makes no mistakes.
“Well, Preacher, we’ll understand it better by and by.”
We may,
But I don’t have to.
If God never tells me when I get to Heaven why He did what He did - He’s still my God, and I trust Him.
He’s God,
He’s good,
He’s omniscient,
He’s right.
Listen carefully,
The greatest joy in the Christian life is to trust Him and not need an explanation.
The greatest thing you can do for God,
And since faith pleases God,
The greatest thing you can do for God is to trust Him and ask for no explanation.
Not here,
Nor in eternity.
So, God was right when Achan was stoned.
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