2. We Want Fairness George Burns Baby with cancer

3. We Even Expect Fairness

4. God Desires Us to Be Fair You shall not bear a false report; do not join your hand with a wicked man to be a malicious witness. You shall not follow the masses in doing evil, nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after a multitude in order to pervert justice; nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his dispute. If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey wandering away, you shall surely return it to him. If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying helpless under its load, you shall refrain from leaving it to him, you shall surely release it with him. (Exodus 23:1–5).

5. Fairness looks like… (Luke 3:10- 14) A man who shares one of his tunics with another who has none. A tax collector who collects no more than he’s been ordered to. A soldier who does not take money from others by force, nor accuses another falsely, and is content with his wages.

6. Fairness is full of justice but the least of goodness.

7. God is Just… and a Whole Lot More! The parable (Laborers in the Vineyard) clearly makes this point. Mt. 20:1ff In the least God is fair. V. 2, 9-13 Obviously, He is more than fair, He is gracious! Vs. 14-15

8. Regardless of how the parable is interpreted, we can learn the simple: God is “beyond fair” or “unfair” in a good and gracious way.

9. The Gospel’s Application If God was only fair we would get what we deserve: the wages of our sins. Rom. 6:23a The Good News is that we are offered (and given to those who believe) much more than we could ever deserve. Rom. 6:23b