a drop of water

Scandalous Grace

A Message from Matthew 20

Jamie Wilson – Coast Vineyard – March 29, 2009

Lost in a Religious Mindset

• Anger and resentment are symptoms of the religious mindset.
• Obedience to God seems empty when we’re stuck in a religious mindset.
• The insecurity of a religious mindset drives us to feel superior towards others.

A Kingdom Full of Grace

• The desperate receive special grace in God’s kingdom.
• Our reward comes out of the Father’s heart.
• We all have the potential to be offended by God’s grace.

Seeing Life through Eyes of the Kingdom

• Pay attention to the overlooked.
• Expect God’s generosity, even when it seems too late.
• Celebrate grace wherever we find it.

A few reactions, thoughts and conclusions:

Title - It almost seems scandalous, to describe grace as scandalous.  Scandalous makes me think of disgrace, moral depravity, shame and those are words that I would not typically associate with grace.  However, scandalous can also describe the shock, the ridiculousness and the undeserving characteristics of God’s grace.

Section 1 – What does it mean to have a religious mindset?  I guess it means to have a mindset that does not consider God’s grace.  Instead of focusing on what God is doing, the focus is on what we are doing.  In the first point, with the focus on ourselves and what we’ve accomplished, we gain a sense of entitlement that grows into anger and resentment at someone who, by our discernment, has accomplished less, yet receives more.    In the second point, our focus is on proving the worth of our own life, instead of an expression and response of love to God who first loved us.  And in the third point, our focus is on our position in relation to others, providing us with grounds to elevate ourselves above others.

Section 2 - Jamie pointed out that the day workers in the story were still waiting for work at 5pm.  They were desperate since most workers would probably head home earlier and give up on work for the day.  It is beautiful to consider that the source of grace, the amount of grace is rooted in the father’s heart.  It was also a good mental check to realize that we can be offended by God’s grace; when someone who seemingly needs the grace more than me, gets the same amount that I do, seemingly underservingly.

Section 3 - These are such world changing visions for how life could be lived daily.  Being sensitive to the people who are overlooked for whatever reason — class, status, belief, gender, education, race, ethnicity, theological camp, etc; expectantly depending on God’s generosity to meet the needs around us even when we’ve seen God rejected and rejected his grace ourselves; to actively looking for God’s grace wherever we see it in order to celebrate it without the cycnicism, anger and resentment that cripples the life infusing power in God’s grace — it is visions like these that I want my life to be built on.