1 00:00:00,640 --> 00:00:03,680 Well, let's jump in here. That's not fair. 2 00:00:03,880 --> 00:00:06,760 Anyone heard that phrase anytime recently? 3 00:00:07,040 --> 00:00:09,800 You know, if you have children, What's that? 4 00:00:09,800 --> 00:00:12,240 You have a teenage daughter. You probably hear it maybe 5 00:00:12,240 --> 00:00:14,520 hourly then. Yeah. 6 00:00:14,720 --> 00:00:15,640 Yes. OK. 7 00:00:15,640 --> 00:00:17,200 Yeah. That's not fair. 8 00:00:17,200 --> 00:00:22,160 I, I, I sadly have uttered that phrase more times than I care to 9 00:00:22,160 --> 00:00:24,720 admit, particularly when I was a child. 10 00:00:24,720 --> 00:00:29,280 I think I've gotten a little bit better as an adult, but it's not 11 00:00:29,280 --> 00:00:31,240 fair. It's, it's something that that 12 00:00:31,400 --> 00:00:34,600 we hear a lot. I've got three stories I want to 13 00:00:34,600 --> 00:00:38,840 share today around this theme of, of that's not fair. 14 00:00:39,160 --> 00:00:45,200 The first story is, Oh, I see. I, you still have to turn it on. 15 00:00:45,440 --> 00:00:48,880 No matter how many times I use the remote, it doesn't work if I 16 00:00:48,880 --> 00:00:53,240 don't turn it on. First story is the strangest 17 00:00:53,240 --> 00:00:55,640 wedding story you will ever want to hear. 18 00:00:56,040 --> 00:00:58,200 I'm not sure exactly how this worked. 19 00:00:58,680 --> 00:01:02,560 I got to think alcohol was involved and and how this played 20 00:01:02,560 --> 00:01:03,760 out. But here's Jacob. 21 00:01:04,040 --> 00:01:08,600 Jacob again fleeing from his brother, whom he robbed of his, 22 00:01:08,920 --> 00:01:11,440 who swindled out of his birthright and then robbed of 23 00:01:11,440 --> 00:01:15,200 his blessing, is now living with his uncle in a faraway land. 24 00:01:15,560 --> 00:01:18,800 And we're going to ignore the fact that this is a love story 25 00:01:18,800 --> 00:01:23,480 where the people or cousins and just kind of pretend that's not 26 00:01:23,480 --> 00:01:27,080 their cultural thing that that we're not going to get into. 27 00:01:27,480 --> 00:01:31,680 But living with his uncle falls in love with Rachel, his uncle's 28 00:01:31,880 --> 00:01:35,280 younger daughter, not Leah, the older daughter. 29 00:01:35,560 --> 00:01:38,520 And Jacob says to Layman, I want to marry Rachel. 30 00:01:38,800 --> 00:01:41,080 Layman says, well, that's going to cost you. 31 00:01:41,080 --> 00:01:44,680 You need to work for me for seven years and Jacob says yes 32 00:01:44,680 --> 00:01:48,160 this is a long term commitment. This is he's serious about this. 33 00:01:48,400 --> 00:01:50,080 Rachel is apparently serious as well. 34 00:01:50,240 --> 00:01:53,200 He works seven years for his uncle. 35 00:01:53,520 --> 00:01:57,960 The wedding time comes they have the festivities during the day 36 00:01:58,440 --> 00:02:02,040 that night again one would assume alcohol must have 37 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:06,080 involved been involved maybe some veils as well. 38 00:02:07,280 --> 00:02:13,560 But Laban, instead of sending Rachel into the tent for the 39 00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:18,320 wedding night with Jacob, sends Leah into the tent for the 40 00:02:18,320 --> 00:02:22,080 wedding night with Jacob. And that leads to what has to be 41 00:02:22,080 --> 00:02:25,840 one of the funniest verses of the entire Scripture. 42 00:02:25,960 --> 00:02:34,280 When we read when the morning came, there was Leah, Jacob 43 00:02:34,280 --> 00:02:36,360 says. This is not the person I wanted 44 00:02:36,360 --> 00:02:39,000 to marry. I wanted to marry your sister. 45 00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:40,120 That's not what you want to hear. 46 00:02:40,120 --> 00:02:44,480 On the morning after your wedding, Jacob goes to Laban and 47 00:02:44,480 --> 00:02:47,320 says, this is not fair. You deceived me. 48 00:02:47,680 --> 00:02:50,880 Now, many folks at this point, knowing the whole story, might 49 00:02:50,880 --> 00:02:54,360 say, well, you know karma, but karma's not a Bible thing. 50 00:02:54,760 --> 00:02:57,480 The Bible talks about the principle of sowing and reaping. 51 00:02:57,680 --> 00:03:01,040 So we have a less elegant phrase than just saying karma as you 52 00:03:01,040 --> 00:03:05,320 reap what you sow And Jacob had dealt deceitfully with his 53 00:03:05,320 --> 00:03:09,040 family of origin and now his marriage family is dealing 54 00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:12,600 deceitfully with him. Jacob still says this is not 55 00:03:12,600 --> 00:03:14,760 fair. I want to marry Rachel, not 56 00:03:14,760 --> 00:03:16,920 Leah. Laban says, well, you know 57 00:03:17,440 --> 00:03:20,120 tradition around here is you can't marry the younger daughter 58 00:03:20,120 --> 00:03:22,200 off until you marry the older daughter off. 59 00:03:22,320 --> 00:03:26,400 So you got Leah instead. Jacob, I'm sure said something 60 00:03:26,400 --> 00:03:29,280 to the effect of you should have told me that before the wedding. 61 00:03:29,840 --> 00:03:31,480 We could have worked something out maybe. 62 00:03:31,800 --> 00:03:36,480 But Layman says I tell you what, work 7 more years, commit to 63 00:03:36,480 --> 00:03:39,840 working seven more years, and after your bridal week with Leah 64 00:03:39,840 --> 00:03:42,200 is over, you can marry Rachel as well. 65 00:03:42,200 --> 00:03:47,000 And that's what they agreed to. So Jacob marries Rachel the next 66 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:50,240 week and then work 7 more years for Layman. 67 00:03:51,800 --> 00:03:59,840 We're also told in this that Jacob loved Rachel more than he 68 00:03:59,840 --> 00:04:03,880 loved Leah. I got to think that somewhere 69 00:04:03,880 --> 00:04:06,800 along the way, Leah was saying, this is not fair. 70 00:04:07,320 --> 00:04:09,920 This is not fair. I didn't ask for this. 71 00:04:10,520 --> 00:04:14,000 I didn't plan for this. I don't want, I get, I don't 72 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:16,800 want that conversation was like, I got to think that we're 73 00:04:16,800 --> 00:04:20,800 supposed to read these chapters a little bit comedically, maybe 74 00:04:20,800 --> 00:04:23,280 even a lot comedically. And that's not to say that this 75 00:04:23,560 --> 00:04:28,800 this subject is trivial. The best comedy deals with very 76 00:04:28,800 --> 00:04:32,200 serious things in a way that allows us to laugh and so kind 77 00:04:32,200 --> 00:04:35,640 of process and Mull through the serious things. 78 00:04:35,840 --> 00:04:37,680 So that's not to say that these are trivial. 79 00:04:37,760 --> 00:04:39,400 These are not trivial matters at all. 80 00:04:39,400 --> 00:04:43,080 This is sibling rivalry. This is family deception. 81 00:04:43,080 --> 00:04:47,120 This is infertility. And, and those kinds of 82 00:04:47,120 --> 00:04:51,680 struggles are very, very serious and, and gut wrenching kinds of 83 00:04:51,680 --> 00:04:56,000 struggles. And so, but there is the way the 84 00:04:56,000 --> 00:04:59,320 story is told, there is an element of humor in it that I 85 00:04:59,320 --> 00:05:02,800 think is there to help us kind of process some of the serious 86 00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:04,920 stuff. I think Mary Poppins had it 87 00:05:04,920 --> 00:05:06,680 right. A spoonful of sugar helps the 88 00:05:06,680 --> 00:05:09,760 medicine go down. And sometimes when we laugh, we 89 00:05:09,760 --> 00:05:13,120 can work through some difficult things that are even harder when 90 00:05:13,120 --> 00:05:16,640 we're not laughing. So, so here's Leah. 91 00:05:16,640 --> 00:05:18,920 I would not have wanted to have been part of that conversation 92 00:05:18,920 --> 00:05:20,880 when dad shows up on the wedding night. 93 00:05:21,080 --> 00:05:25,320 By the way, I got someone distracting your sister, Rachel 94 00:05:25,320 --> 00:05:27,280 Outback. You go in with Jacob. 95 00:05:28,080 --> 00:05:29,840 I wouldn't want to been there for that conversation. 96 00:05:29,840 --> 00:05:33,160 But Leah went. She went in and now she's 97 00:05:33,160 --> 00:05:37,960 married to someone who prefers her sister to her and who loves 98 00:05:37,960 --> 00:05:41,240 her sister more than her. And I got to think Leah was 99 00:05:41,240 --> 00:05:46,000 saying that's not fair. Simple reality is that's not 100 00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:47,320 fair. It's not fair. 101 00:05:47,680 --> 00:05:51,000 The other reality is this life is not fair. 102 00:05:51,920 --> 00:05:53,400 It isn't. I think this is one of the most 103 00:05:53,400 --> 00:05:56,520 important lessons that we can teach our children is that life 104 00:05:56,520 --> 00:05:59,440 isn't fair. And the way social media blows 105 00:05:59,440 --> 00:06:02,520 up on so many different things. I, I, I get the feeling there is 106 00:06:02,520 --> 00:06:05,560 a large chunk of the population, at least the social media 107 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:09,400 literate part of the population that really somehow is convinced 108 00:06:09,400 --> 00:06:13,160 that life ought to be fair. But as much as the Scripture, 109 00:06:14,240 --> 00:06:18,560 and God in the Scripture makes it so clear that God is deeply 110 00:06:18,560 --> 00:06:22,160 concerned with justice, justice for the poor, justice for the 111 00:06:22,160 --> 00:06:25,600 vulnerable, the orphans, the widows, the foreigners among us, 112 00:06:26,400 --> 00:06:30,640 justice for those folks, the Bible seems remarkably 113 00:06:30,640 --> 00:06:35,600 unconcerned about fairness. And, and there's a lot of 114 00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:39,320 unfairness in the Scripture. And God isn't indifferent in our 115 00:06:39,320 --> 00:06:42,040 unfairness, but the unfairness is there. 116 00:06:42,320 --> 00:06:49,600 Life is not fair. Life is not fair, but God sees 117 00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:53,760 and God is faithful. The situation for Leah was not 118 00:06:53,760 --> 00:06:57,080 fair at all. How much choice she had, we 119 00:06:57,080 --> 00:07:02,040 don't know, but she was in a bad spot, spending the rest of her 120 00:07:02,040 --> 00:07:07,200 life married to someone who preferred her sister and sharing 121 00:07:07,200 --> 00:07:12,320 that person with her sister. God sees, God is faithful. 122 00:07:12,320 --> 00:07:16,480 We're told this when the Lord saw that Leah was not loved, He 123 00:07:16,480 --> 00:07:22,320 enabled her to conceive extraordinary thing here is God 124 00:07:22,440 --> 00:07:30,760 saw Leah in her situation. Leah a female in a culture and 125 00:07:30,760 --> 00:07:36,600 civilization that devalued women that had men at a much higher 126 00:07:36,640 --> 00:07:39,720 level of value and importance. Women often in those in that 127 00:07:39,720 --> 00:07:43,880 part of the world in, in, in the ancient times were, were 128 00:07:43,880 --> 00:07:48,840 socially invisible. And if you were a man, you 129 00:07:48,840 --> 00:07:51,360 couldn't even speak to a woman. If you're a woman, you couldn't 130 00:07:51,360 --> 00:07:54,080 speak to a man that you weren't related to in public. 131 00:07:55,320 --> 00:07:58,640 You were socially invisible. But Leah was not invisible to 132 00:07:58,640 --> 00:08:02,840 God. Leah, this unloved daughter 133 00:08:03,440 --> 00:08:07,720 pushed into a marriage by her father with a husband that 134 00:08:07,720 --> 00:08:14,120 doesn't love her, but God sees her and God blesses her and she 135 00:08:14,120 --> 00:08:17,920 conceives. She's pregnant now and that 136 00:08:18,120 --> 00:08:21,640 again, it's a cultural thing, but that was a huge honor for 137 00:08:21,640 --> 00:08:25,000 Leah. It, it, it was, it was a source 138 00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:27,320 of pride. It was a source of personal 139 00:08:27,480 --> 00:08:30,920 honor and public honor, reputation in public. 140 00:08:31,080 --> 00:08:33,520 And not only was she pregnant, but she gave birth to a son. 141 00:08:34,919 --> 00:08:38,919 First born was a son. God blessed her, and then God 142 00:08:38,919 --> 00:08:42,600 kept blessing her and she conceived and she conceived and 143 00:08:42,600 --> 00:08:45,480 she conceived and she conceived. Four sons in a row. 144 00:08:45,480 --> 00:08:48,880 Leah had before and Rachel still hadn't been pregnant yet. 145 00:08:50,240 --> 00:08:52,840 Television and movies compress time on things a lot, and they 146 00:08:52,840 --> 00:08:54,720 make things appear to happen quicker than they do. 147 00:08:54,880 --> 00:08:56,960 You can't compress 4 pregnancies. 148 00:08:57,320 --> 00:09:00,360 You just can't. We're talking four years here at 149 00:09:00,360 --> 00:09:06,360 least, or close to it at least that Leah's having baby boys. 150 00:09:06,560 --> 00:09:09,520 Rachel's not having any babies. Rachel says, all right, all 151 00:09:09,520 --> 00:09:12,240 right, I got to get on this too. This is not fair. 152 00:09:12,840 --> 00:09:17,320 It's not my fault that God or the God that late, my father 153 00:09:17,320 --> 00:09:20,960 that Laban made my sister marry or or or stuck my sister in to 154 00:09:20,960 --> 00:09:22,680 marry my husband. It's not my fault. 155 00:09:22,800 --> 00:09:24,760 She knew that Jacob and I loved each other. 156 00:09:24,760 --> 00:09:26,200 She knew all. It's not my fault. 157 00:09:26,280 --> 00:09:27,880 Why am I not having any children? 158 00:09:27,880 --> 00:09:31,160 So she gets her servant whom her father gave to her, her, her, 159 00:09:31,160 --> 00:09:35,480 her, her maid and, and says, hey, you want to have a baby 160 00:09:35,480 --> 00:09:39,800 with my husband? And Bill Ha's like, yeah, sounds 161 00:09:39,800 --> 00:09:41,840 good to me. I've got to think Jacob was good 162 00:09:41,840 --> 00:09:44,000 looking. I don't think this story works 163 00:09:44,160 --> 00:09:48,920 if Jacob's not good looking. And so Bill Ha goes in and, and 164 00:09:48,920 --> 00:09:52,520 by her servant, her slave, having a baby with her husband, 165 00:09:52,680 --> 00:09:57,840 the child is Rachel's child. And so she's she can take credit 166 00:09:57,840 --> 00:10:00,960 in some way for this baby. It's not quite the same, but but 167 00:10:00,960 --> 00:10:03,680 she's still providing a son to her husband. 168 00:10:03,840 --> 00:10:06,840 And so Bill goes in, she sleeps with Jacob, she gets pregnant, 169 00:10:06,920 --> 00:10:09,240 she has a son. Then she gets pregnant again and 170 00:10:09,240 --> 00:10:12,680 she has another son. And so now Jacob has six sons by 171 00:10:12,680 --> 00:10:17,320 two different women. And roughly six years or more 172 00:10:17,320 --> 00:10:20,440 have passed five to seven years. You know, it's been a long time. 173 00:10:20,480 --> 00:10:23,240 It's been years. Leah stopped getting pregnant. 174 00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:25,760 And so she says, this is not good. 175 00:10:26,240 --> 00:10:27,800 I don't want to lose my status here. 176 00:10:27,800 --> 00:10:31,720 So she says to her maid, Zilpa, hey, you want to have a baby 177 00:10:31,720 --> 00:10:34,320 with my husband? So it was like, OK. 178 00:10:34,800 --> 00:10:38,040 And she goes in and she gets pregnant, and she has a son, and 179 00:10:38,040 --> 00:10:40,080 she gets pregnant again, and she has another son. 180 00:10:40,240 --> 00:10:44,440 Now Jacob has eight sons by three different women. 181 00:10:45,480 --> 00:10:48,560 Rachel still hasn't had a baby. At this point, we get an 182 00:10:48,560 --> 00:10:52,200 interlude in the story and Leah's oldest son, Ruben, has 183 00:10:52,200 --> 00:10:55,600 been out in the fields and he discovers Mandrake plants and he 184 00:10:55,600 --> 00:10:57,920 brings them home. Now, don't panic if you're a 185 00:10:57,920 --> 00:11:00,480 Harry Potter fan and Harry Potter, you can't pull out 186 00:11:00,480 --> 00:11:01,720 mandrakes. They'll kill you. 187 00:11:01,920 --> 00:11:04,440 Those are Harry Potter fantasy mandrakes. 188 00:11:04,440 --> 00:11:07,680 These are real mandrakes, but they were believed, and this is 189 00:11:07,680 --> 00:11:11,560 well documented, that in the ancient times and that region, 190 00:11:11,760 --> 00:11:16,280 it was believed that Mandrake roots were both an aphrodisiac 191 00:11:16,800 --> 00:11:22,960 and an aid to fertility. And Rachel, he's got four sons 192 00:11:22,960 --> 00:11:25,440 of her own and two more through her servant. 193 00:11:25,600 --> 00:11:29,800 She's got the Mandrake plants. She's got the aphrodisiac and 194 00:11:29,800 --> 00:11:32,240 the fertility aid. And Rachel does not. 195 00:11:32,600 --> 00:11:39,200 Rachel says that's not fair and she goes to Leah and says make 196 00:11:39,200 --> 00:11:45,640 your son give me his Mandrake plants, which gives rise to what 197 00:11:45,640 --> 00:11:48,920 might also be one of the funniest verses in the Bible, 198 00:11:48,960 --> 00:11:51,160 which is Leah's response to Rachel. 199 00:11:51,160 --> 00:11:55,120 When Rachel demanded that you give me tell your son to give me 200 00:11:55,120 --> 00:11:59,840 his mandate plants. But she said Leah said to her, 201 00:11:59,840 --> 00:12:02,920 wasn't it enough that you took away my husband? 202 00:12:03,120 --> 00:12:08,760 Will you take my son's mandrakes too, Is Leah's reply. 203 00:12:09,680 --> 00:12:13,880 But Leah has compassion and she has an angle. 204 00:12:14,320 --> 00:12:17,280 She says, I tell you what, Rachel, I'll tell Reuben to give 205 00:12:17,280 --> 00:12:20,400 you his mandate roots. But I get Jacob tonight. 206 00:12:21,880 --> 00:12:25,040 So Jacob comes home out of the fields. 207 00:12:25,200 --> 00:12:28,920 He sees his wife, Rachel. Leah walks up and says, hey, 208 00:12:29,080 --> 00:12:32,760 you're sleeping with me tonight. I bought you with Mandrake 209 00:12:32,760 --> 00:12:34,720 roots. It's right there in the Bible. 210 00:12:34,840 --> 00:12:36,520 Read it. That's what she says. 211 00:12:37,680 --> 00:12:40,840 So Jacob goes with Rachel. Yeah, I'm sorry. 212 00:12:40,840 --> 00:12:44,920 No, Jacob goes with Leah and Leah gets pregnant again. 213 00:12:45,760 --> 00:12:49,320 Rachel uses the Mandrake roots, doesn't help her. 214 00:12:49,440 --> 00:12:54,120 Leah gets pregnant again, has another son, gets pregnant again 215 00:12:54,480 --> 00:12:59,800 and has another son, Ten sons now Jacob has by three different 216 00:12:59,800 --> 00:13:01,680 women. And again, we're looking at at 217 00:13:01,680 --> 00:13:08,760 least a decade here, and Rachel still is infertile. 218 00:13:10,360 --> 00:13:13,960 And she says this is not fair. And it's not fair. 219 00:13:15,000 --> 00:13:20,200 She didn't ask for this. She didn't look for this to have 220 00:13:20,200 --> 00:13:24,840 a it's great that her husband loves her, but she doesn't have 221 00:13:24,840 --> 00:13:28,640 the status, the honor of bearing children of her own or providing 222 00:13:28,640 --> 00:13:30,880 a son of her own for her husband. 223 00:13:34,200 --> 00:13:37,480 She certainly doesn't like the fact that her sister Lords it 224 00:13:37,480 --> 00:13:42,520 over her, which she does. And then we see this. 225 00:13:44,720 --> 00:13:48,480 Then God remembered Rachel. He listened to her and enabled 226 00:13:48,480 --> 00:13:50,720 her to conceive. God saw Leah. 227 00:13:51,680 --> 00:13:53,880 God saw Rachel. God remembered Rachel. 228 00:13:54,680 --> 00:13:56,640 God sees. God doesn't forget. 229 00:13:57,480 --> 00:13:59,480 He doesn't forget the unfairness. 230 00:13:59,640 --> 00:14:02,320 He doesn't forget our heartache. He doesn't ignore us. 231 00:14:02,320 --> 00:14:05,800 We're not invisible to him. When life is unfair and life is 232 00:14:05,800 --> 00:14:10,840 hard, God sees. God remembers and God bless us. 233 00:14:13,040 --> 00:14:15,200 No, it's important not to trivialize this. 234 00:14:15,400 --> 00:14:18,080 It's important not to oversimplify this just, well, 235 00:14:18,080 --> 00:14:21,720 you know, God closes the door, he opens a window or, or, or, or 236 00:14:21,720 --> 00:14:26,320 particularly to someone in the throes of a, of a, of a tragic 237 00:14:26,320 --> 00:14:29,920 kind of situation, whether it's it's a, a person who wants to be 238 00:14:29,920 --> 00:14:33,520 pregnant but can't get pregnant and fertility or some other 239 00:14:33,640 --> 00:14:36,560 stress or strain on their life. And, and just to pat them on the 240 00:14:36,560 --> 00:14:38,560 shoulder and say, well, God will bless you in other ways. 241 00:14:38,560 --> 00:14:42,840 That doesn't help. That doesn't help, but it is 242 00:14:42,840 --> 00:14:47,720 important for us to know and to remember that life is unfair. 243 00:14:48,360 --> 00:14:50,680 In that unfairness, God is not indifferent. 244 00:14:51,440 --> 00:14:55,800 God sees, God remembers, and God blesses. 245 00:14:56,440 --> 00:15:02,160 And so when life seems really unfair, these scriptures invite 246 00:15:02,160 --> 00:15:08,960 us to look for God's blessing. That blessing can take a long 247 00:15:08,960 --> 00:15:18,360 time, can take a long time and and and we can't rush it. 248 00:15:20,800 --> 00:15:22,680 Rachel gave birth, she had a son. 249 00:15:22,680 --> 00:15:27,440 The son was Joseph. Joseph that Joseph, Joseph with 250 00:15:27,440 --> 00:15:30,720 the multi colored cloak. Joseph, Joseph the dreamer. 251 00:15:30,880 --> 00:15:35,400 Joseph who saved his entire family after he was sold into 252 00:15:35,400 --> 00:15:39,760 slavery in Egypt. Not fair, but found himself in a 253 00:15:39,760 --> 00:15:45,480 position of power to save his family because of that second 254 00:15:45,480 --> 00:15:50,400 story in this unfairness. It's the story. 255 00:15:50,960 --> 00:15:52,960 Well, you know the story. The story of the prodigal son. 256 00:15:53,400 --> 00:15:55,680 Another great story of unfairness in the Bible. 257 00:15:56,920 --> 00:15:59,800 Jesus told that story. Father had two sons. 258 00:15:59,960 --> 00:16:04,200 The older son, diligent, loyal, faithful, hard working and 259 00:16:04,200 --> 00:16:07,080 responsible. The younger son, a knucklehead 260 00:16:07,240 --> 00:16:11,680 who's greedy and wasteful and and the younger son gives the 261 00:16:11,720 --> 00:16:14,600 ultimate insult to his father when he says, I want my 262 00:16:14,600 --> 00:16:18,760 inheritance now, saying to his father, in effect, I wish you 263 00:16:18,760 --> 00:16:20,880 were dead. You're more valuable to me dead 264 00:16:21,040 --> 00:16:22,800 than alive. I don't want you. 265 00:16:22,800 --> 00:16:25,400 I just want your money. The father gives him his and 266 00:16:25,400 --> 00:16:27,920 share the inheritance. He leaves, goes to a foreign 267 00:16:27,920 --> 00:16:31,840 country, squanders it all, finds himself in abject poverty during 268 00:16:31,840 --> 00:16:34,840 a time of famine and saying I would be better off as an 269 00:16:34,840 --> 00:16:37,200 employee, a servant in my father's household. 270 00:16:37,400 --> 00:16:40,120 I'll go back and throw myself at my father's mercy. 271 00:16:41,800 --> 00:16:43,400 And he walks back and you know the story. 272 00:16:44,200 --> 00:16:47,800 The father sees him from a distance, and he runs to meet 273 00:16:47,800 --> 00:16:52,320 him, and he welcomes him and he smothers him with hugs and 274 00:16:52,320 --> 00:16:54,400 kisses. And he takes his robe off and 275 00:16:54,400 --> 00:16:56,400 puts it on him. He takes fingers off his own 276 00:16:56,400 --> 00:16:58,200 hands and puts him on his son's hands. 277 00:16:58,440 --> 00:17:00,720 And he calls for the fatted calf to be killed. 278 00:17:00,880 --> 00:17:03,640 And he throws A tremendous feast to welcome the son home. 279 00:17:04,480 --> 00:17:06,760 And while the feast is happening, the older son comes 280 00:17:06,760 --> 00:17:10,520 in from the fields and he hears the party and he finds out 281 00:17:10,520 --> 00:17:12,880 what's going on. And he says to his father, 282 00:17:13,040 --> 00:17:17,440 that's not fair. That's not fair. 283 00:17:19,920 --> 00:17:21,760 I've worked my whole life for you. 284 00:17:22,960 --> 00:17:25,880 I've been faithful to you. I've been loyal to you. 285 00:17:26,359 --> 00:17:28,280 You've never done anything like this for me. 286 00:17:28,280 --> 00:17:32,920 But this knucklehead brother of mine comes home after wasting 287 00:17:32,920 --> 00:17:34,920 all of your money, and you throw a feast for him. 288 00:17:37,200 --> 00:17:40,280 The father says you don't understand the son. 289 00:17:40,760 --> 00:17:44,400 He was lost, but now he's found. He was dead, but he's alive 290 00:17:44,400 --> 00:17:48,040 again. I have to celebrate that. 291 00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:52,200 The story's left open-ended. We don't know whether the older 292 00:17:52,200 --> 00:17:56,320 son goes in and joins in the party or stays outside and 293 00:17:56,320 --> 00:18:00,520 pouts, but we know that he thought it just wasn't fair. 294 00:18:03,040 --> 00:18:08,440 Part of the reality of life not being fair is that it works to 295 00:18:08,440 --> 00:18:12,360 our advantage ultimately in our relationship with God. 296 00:18:13,880 --> 00:18:18,400 It works to our advantage because if God were fair to all 297 00:18:18,400 --> 00:18:25,320 of us, none of us would get much good, if any, if God were fair 298 00:18:25,320 --> 00:18:29,520 to all of us. One of my favorite movies, this 299 00:18:29,520 --> 00:18:32,480 is the third story, is the the movie Unforgiven. 300 00:18:32,480 --> 00:18:34,640 Do you know that movie? It's Clint Eastwood movie. 301 00:18:34,640 --> 00:18:36,920 I think it's wonderful. If you haven't watched it, watch 302 00:18:36,920 --> 00:18:38,760 it. Clint Eastwood plays the main 303 00:18:38,760 --> 00:18:40,360 character. His name is Will Money. 304 00:18:40,480 --> 00:18:44,040 He's an antihero, which is to say he's the main character. 305 00:18:44,160 --> 00:18:47,080 But he doesn't really act like a hero ought to act. 306 00:18:47,960 --> 00:18:50,200 In his younger years, he'd been a very bad man. 307 00:18:50,840 --> 00:18:52,920 His wife helped you get straightened out. 308 00:18:53,400 --> 00:18:57,280 He became a farmer. He has two kids. 309 00:18:57,280 --> 00:19:00,720 Then his wife dies and he's raising his kids on his own. 310 00:19:00,720 --> 00:19:04,800 And then the pigs start to die and the rain stopped to fall and 311 00:19:04,800 --> 00:19:06,800 he's going to lose everything and he doesn't know what to do. 312 00:19:06,800 --> 00:19:09,840 And he finds out there's a bounty on some other bad guy's 313 00:19:09,840 --> 00:19:12,280 head. And he goes with a friend to do 314 00:19:12,280 --> 00:19:15,640 one more bad thing to make enough money to take care of his 315 00:19:15,640 --> 00:19:19,920 family. Goes to this town, and the 316 00:19:19,920 --> 00:19:22,080 sheriff of the town is Little Bill. 317 00:19:22,640 --> 00:19:25,200 Little Bill is supposed to be a good guy, but he's not either. 318 00:19:26,400 --> 00:19:28,080 He's built 2. Main things Little Bill's 319 00:19:28,080 --> 00:19:30,880 concerned about is stopping anyone that's coming to claim 320 00:19:30,880 --> 00:19:33,080 the bounty and building his house. 321 00:19:33,080 --> 00:19:34,920 He's very proud of the fact that he's building a house. 322 00:19:37,120 --> 00:19:41,040 In the process of events, Will Money's friend gets killed. 323 00:19:41,640 --> 00:19:45,320 Will blames Little Bill on a dark and stormy night. 324 00:19:45,320 --> 00:19:49,320 He decides to take revenge and he goes into town where Little 325 00:19:49,320 --> 00:19:52,240 Bill and his posse are in a bar, and he walks into the bar and he 326 00:19:52,240 --> 00:19:56,040 shoots the bar up and he kills everybody except there's Little 327 00:19:56,040 --> 00:19:57,680 Bill lying wounded on the ground. 328 00:19:59,360 --> 00:20:02,280 He's lying there wounded, as Will Money reloads his shotgun. 329 00:20:02,520 --> 00:20:05,080 And he walks up and he stands over him and he points that gun 330 00:20:05,080 --> 00:20:07,280 in his head. And Little Bill looks at him and 331 00:20:07,280 --> 00:20:11,640 says it's not fair. I was building a house. 332 00:20:13,600 --> 00:20:16,240 It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair. 333 00:20:16,720 --> 00:20:19,240 Little Bill was not a worse man than Will Money. 334 00:20:21,240 --> 00:20:24,480 They were both pretty bad. They both had some good 335 00:20:24,480 --> 00:20:27,080 qualities, had done a lot of bad things. 336 00:20:27,200 --> 00:20:31,880 It wasn't fair Little Bill was going to die and Will was going 337 00:20:31,880 --> 00:20:35,080 to live. And then one of the most cold 338 00:20:35,080 --> 00:20:39,080 hearted and deeply truthful lines that I've ever heard is 339 00:20:39,080 --> 00:20:41,600 what Clint Eastwood Will Money delivers. 340 00:20:41,720 --> 00:20:44,880 Little Bill looks up at that shotgun and at Will Money and he 341 00:20:44,880 --> 00:20:48,000 says it's not fair. I was building a house. 342 00:20:48,360 --> 00:20:51,760 And Will Money says to him, fair's got nothing to do with 343 00:20:51,760 --> 00:20:54,200 it. And then he shoots him in the 344 00:20:54,200 --> 00:20:59,360 head. Now can we agree that that's not 345 00:20:59,360 --> 00:21:02,360 a Jesus thing to do? We we're all in agreement on 346 00:21:02,360 --> 00:21:05,520 that, right? Revenge is not a Jesus thing. 347 00:21:07,400 --> 00:21:09,320 But Will Money was not a Christ figure. 348 00:21:09,600 --> 00:21:11,920 He was not a hero. He was an anti hero. 349 00:21:13,120 --> 00:21:19,000 He is the mirror image of Jesus on the cross, the mirror image 350 00:21:19,360 --> 00:21:26,240 Jesus hanging on the cross put there by people whom Jesus 351 00:21:26,360 --> 00:21:31,200 created and who and, and Jesus created them, gave them life, 352 00:21:31,280 --> 00:21:33,800 breath and strength, sustained them. 353 00:21:33,800 --> 00:21:38,400 They used that gift from God to kill God's Son, God in the 354 00:21:38,400 --> 00:21:42,680 flesh, Jesus himself. And Jesus hanging there on the 355 00:21:42,680 --> 00:21:46,720 cross does the most unfair thing imaginable. 356 00:21:46,840 --> 00:21:48,960 And he says, Father, forgive them. 357 00:21:49,960 --> 00:21:51,360 They don't know what they're doing. 358 00:21:53,040 --> 00:21:56,640 That's not fair. How's that fair? 359 00:21:57,920 --> 00:22:03,240 They're killing Jesus, the most wonderful, the greatest, the 360 00:22:03,240 --> 00:22:07,200 most good human being to ever draw breath, and they're 361 00:22:07,200 --> 00:22:12,640 disgracing, torturing, brutalizing, humiliating and 362 00:22:12,640 --> 00:22:17,400 killing him. And Jesus prays for their 363 00:22:17,400 --> 00:22:21,040 forgiveness. That's not fair. 364 00:22:22,160 --> 00:22:26,000 But you can almost hear Jesus saying from the cross, fair's 365 00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:30,160 got nothing to do with it. It's got nothing to do with it. 366 00:22:32,560 --> 00:22:35,120 I'm not after fairness, I'm after relationship. 367 00:22:37,400 --> 00:22:44,120 I'm not bent on fairness. I'm bent on love and care and 368 00:22:44,120 --> 00:22:49,800 compassion and forgiveness. And so even though it's not 369 00:22:49,800 --> 00:22:54,600 remotely fair, Jesus forgives. Even though it's not remotely 370 00:22:54,600 --> 00:22:58,120 fair, Jesus forgave those people who crucified him. 371 00:22:58,360 --> 00:23:01,240 Even though it's not remotely fair, he forgives us. 372 00:23:03,160 --> 00:23:07,680 No matter what we've done or what we failed to do, no matter 373 00:23:07,680 --> 00:23:12,000 the wrongs we've done, the mistakes we've made, Jesus 374 00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:17,000 offers us forgiveness. God has the ability to do an 375 00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:20,840 extraordinary thing that I'm convinced only God can do. 376 00:23:21,640 --> 00:23:24,840 As much as we're created in God's image, I don't, I don't 377 00:23:25,880 --> 00:23:30,480 know that Scripture says that, that we can even come close to 378 00:23:31,560 --> 00:23:33,800 being God. Like in this way. 379 00:23:34,400 --> 00:23:37,240 We can love, we can serve. Jesus loved and served, but 380 00:23:37,240 --> 00:23:39,200 there's something that Jesus did that we can't do. 381 00:23:42,160 --> 00:23:49,520 Jesus, God has the power to take a person who has done or 382 00:23:49,520 --> 00:23:56,680 experienced an awful thing and make their life after that awful 383 00:23:56,680 --> 00:24:02,840 thing better than it would have been had the awful thing never 384 00:24:02,840 --> 00:24:07,400 happened. The word we use for that is 385 00:24:07,400 --> 00:24:10,920 redemption. That's what redemption is. 386 00:24:11,120 --> 00:24:14,200 Redemption is not just setting the scales right. 387 00:24:14,640 --> 00:24:17,120 It's not just mending what was broken. 388 00:24:17,600 --> 00:24:22,600 It takes the thing that was broken and makes it better after 389 00:24:22,600 --> 00:24:25,120 it were broke. It was broken than it ever would 390 00:24:25,120 --> 00:24:27,680 have been if it had never been broken to begin with. 391 00:24:29,720 --> 00:24:32,760 I have a hard time wrapping my mind around that concept. 392 00:24:33,920 --> 00:24:37,960 A person who experienced great brokenness and great heartache 393 00:24:37,960 --> 00:24:40,920 and great stuff, great suffering, first shared that 394 00:24:40,920 --> 00:24:45,960 insight with me. And they were on the other side 395 00:24:46,880 --> 00:24:49,400 of the horrible, traumatic thing that they've been through. 396 00:24:50,880 --> 00:24:55,480 And they said, Scott, I'm, I'm convinced, I'm convinced that 397 00:24:55,480 --> 00:25:00,880 God's going to make my life better now than it would have 398 00:25:00,880 --> 00:25:03,080 been if that awful thing had never happened. 399 00:25:03,520 --> 00:25:08,200 And it was an awful thing. I don't know how God does that. 400 00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:12,360 I don't know how, but that's the resurrection. 401 00:25:13,840 --> 00:25:19,160 That's the, our life after the resurrection will be better than 402 00:25:19,160 --> 00:25:22,640 our life here would have been had we never sinned and never 403 00:25:22,640 --> 00:25:26,360 needed a Savior. I don't know how God does that, 404 00:25:28,120 --> 00:25:30,040 but that's the promise that we have in Scripture. 405 00:25:31,440 --> 00:25:36,640 It's not fair, it's not fair, but it's the blessing that God 406 00:25:36,640 --> 00:25:40,320 offers to us. Life is not fair. 407 00:25:42,160 --> 00:25:45,920 Life is not fair. And that means we will, in the 408 00:25:45,920 --> 00:25:50,080 course of our lives, experience pain, heartache, and trauma, 409 00:25:51,040 --> 00:25:56,240 sometimes, maybe often far in excess of anything we really 410 00:25:56,240 --> 00:26:01,600 deserve from the people around us and the world around us. 411 00:26:03,920 --> 00:26:09,200 But it also means that we will experience grace and mercy and 412 00:26:09,200 --> 00:26:16,040 forgiveness and redemption far in excess of anything we ever 413 00:26:16,040 --> 00:26:21,200 deserved or have ever earned. That's the hope and that's the 414 00:26:21,200 --> 00:26:25,000 promise that we have in Jesus. In Jesus name, Amen. 415 00:26:25,600 --> 00:26:26,000 Amen.