Not My Way Is Still a Good Way

I want to build upon what we started last week with the Parable of the Talents. Do you remember the words the parable started with?

“It is like a man going on a journey who entrusts his property to his servants. . .”

It is like. . .what is it? The Kingdom of God is it. The kingdom is the way God does things – his rule, his order, his values, his demands and his rewards; God’s economy if you will.

This week, we get another the Kingdom of heaven/God parable. It is like this. . .

A landowner went out early to hire workers to pick the crop and he agreed on the usual wage with them. Then the owner went out mid morning and found some other guys and put them to work. The owner went out again at noon and then yet again at three in the afternoon, hiring more people each time.


How is the kingdom of God like this? How is life like this?


We are not all the same. We are equal in eternal value and the love of God, but we are not all created the same. I remember when the boys were little they watched a video of the Muppets. This one was called Billy Bunny. The story is, Billy Bunny goes around and meets new friends and each time he meets a friend they sing a song for him. One song I remember all these years later was a song called, “We are Different.” It was sung by a large group of moles that looked exactly the same. They kept popping out of their holes in different order and places singing we are different, and maybe because they looked exactly alike and you were tempted to want to play a game of Whack-a-Mole on their heads, the point of their song was oddly, well-received.

We are all different, even if we look a lot alike on the outside. Just as when someone looks a lot different from us on the outside we can’t assume we have nothing in common or treat them with suspicion, we in the church can’t assume we will always agree on the same issues and same courses of action.

How we disagree is more important than what we disagree about. The best way to work through differences of opinion is for everyone involved to begin with an attitude of humility. This is, after all, the Church of Jesus Christ. It’s not my church or your church alone. Church is not about me.

Here’s a video that reminds us of this truth – it’s called MeChurch:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGEmlPjgjVI

This is not about me. Let’s all say that together:
This is not about me!


The early church had issues of disagreement over issues like, Is it better to eat only vegetables? Stuff like that. Good thing we don’t disagree over stupid stuff like them, huh?

Personally, I’m a meatatarian. I eat meat whenever I can get it. It’s a lifestyle choice.

The early church argued over whether everybody should abstain my meat on Fridays as a holy day. Some said isn’t this a great way to honor Christ and the meatatarians among them said hey, I honor Christ in my freedom to eat.meat.

How did Paul speak to this?

“Welcome those weaker (or younger) in the faith but not so you can foist your opinions upon them.” (my paraphrase) Romans 14.1

We’re not supposed make our own little disciples, our own mini-mes. We’re supposed to make disciples of Jesus!

When you are tempted to give someone “a piece of your mind,” stop. Ask yourself, what might this look like if I give that person a piece of Jesus mind?

“Jesus’ mind is like this: . . .he didn’t regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself. . .humbled himself and became obedient even to the point of death – death on a cross.” Philippians 2.5-8

Jesus is God. He’s right all the time. But instead of taking advantage of that, he deferred. He got low. He never used the truth as a bludgeon on people.

I don’t know how it is at your house or your work, but I know that in my world there are different ways of doing about everything – different ways of doing dishes, different ways of folding the laundry, different ways of cooking bacon. Some ways probably are better than others. Some ways are not better or worse, they’re just different. Marriage has taught Jennifer and me that we both have our preferences and we do things differently, but we’ve learned that “their way is still good.”

Not my way is still a good way.


The Food Channel was doing a feature on donuts yesterday. We must in America. We have a Food Channel and there is a whole episode on donuts! Anyway, this one donut shop was called Voo doo Donuts and they were known for their crazy concoctions. Bacon-Maple Donuts is a feature. The owner said, “Many people balk at that when they first hear it, but I say. . . it’s a good thing. Bacon-Maple donuts are not my thing, but they are a good thing. Because variety is good.

Diversity and difference of opinion can be a very good thing. The Trustees found that out over the course of this summer as they asked questions about our Fresh Air Project. The Trustees have done tremendous work because they were not afraid to voice their opinions and discuss the issues.

I was in a church once where there was never any disagreement, diversity, or minority opinions. Everyone pretty much agreed on everything. That church had seven people for worship on regular Sunday. It was basically one family. Even in that one family, I bet half of them just stifled their opinions to stay in lockstep with the hierarchy.

So if I’m going to think like Jesus, then I welcome the gifts and passion I see in others. Variety and diversity are a good thing for the church. The more the church grows the more diversity there will be.

In Jesus’ parable, the workers all come in from the fields. They look around, and especially those who went out first thing in the morning, finally see just how many workers there are. They might have been inclined to say, “Wow, great! The owner hired more help. I bet we got more done than we ever imagined! Good job everybody!”

They might have said that.

But they didn’t say that. They grumbled and complained. They said it wasn’t fair that the workers who came late to the job should also be paid well. They said it stinks how generous the owner is being with those Johnny-come-lately’s.

Is this gonna be us? Are you going to spend your time complaining about other people who think and do things differently than you do? Are you going to complain simply because they arrived later than you did to this church?

Or are you gonna rejoice that God is blessing the church with new workers, new disciples of Christ? Are you rejoicing that God is doing a new thing among us?