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It's Not Fair

 
Carl Laferton | 30 Nov 2011

Judging by the interviews on the radio, the watchword of those striking today over their public sector pensions is fairness.

Repeatedly over the last few days, union leaders, picketing workers and the compulsory “man-on-the-street-who-supports-the-strike” have essentially said about the changes the government are making: “It’s not fair”.

This post isn’t supporting or opposing the strike. There’ll be Christians on either side of this political dispute. But isn’t it interesting how “fairness” has become the word used to criticise policy? How deeply entrenched in our psyches is the notion that life ought to be fair?

How often do we honk our car horn at someone nipping in ahead of us, because, well, what they’re doing isn’t fair to us. Or become embittered about someone else’s promotion because we feel we’re better at our job than them, and so what’s happened isn’t fair. We want life to be fair.

And then the gospel comes along and turns it all on its head. Because it says to us: You really, really, really don’t want life to be fair. You really, really, really don’t want God to treat you fairly.

“We were by nature all objects of wrath” (Ephesians 2 v 3). Treated fairly, we would all face God’s right anger at our sin. If life were fair, we would all go to hell.

The gospel message is that life can be unfair:

“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ … it is by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2 v 4-5, 8).

Sinners can receive mercy instead of wrath. That’s not “fair”. Rebels can be loved by God. That’s not fair. God can treat imperfect people like us as perfect children like His Son, because His Son died in our place. That’s certainly not fair.

The best news of all time is that life doesn’t have to be fair. We live in a world where sometimes we’re treated unfairly by others; if we’re Christians, we live in a world where we are always being treated unfairly by God. And we live in a world where God calls us to respond to unfairness in life with grace, with mercy, with love.

That’s a far, far better world to live in that one where everything is totally fair. Maybe I’ll stop at a picket line on the way home and point that out…

3 Comments

Laura Anne

11:01 PM AEDT on January 8th
I have to confess I'm struggling to find words as this post leaves me almost speechless.

Let's not bother fighting for just laws and policies then if life is SUPPOSED to be unfair.

No it's not fair what Jesus went through, and yes, absolutely respond to unfairness with grace. But that doesn't mean you take it like a doormat.

The civil rights movement still protested, but did so without violence. Yesterday people took to the streets as the government has stopped listening to them, is making decisions about their future, pulling back on their promises.

Maybe we should have been stopping at a picket line hear from those people, why they were out there and maybe offer them a flask of tea or coffee. And thank them for their service to our communities.

Carl Laferton

11:01 PM AEDT on January 8th
Laura Anne,

I'm so sorry that my post upset you - it wasn't meant to be divisive. In fact, quite the opposite; over the next few years, there are going to many more disputes like this, and the rhetoric will probably become more entrenched and more attacking, on both sides. And there will be Christians who hold both sides firmly, and many in the middle who can see both points of view. It would be lovely to think that Bible-believing Christians could agree to disagree over these disputes, while reminding each other of the gospel of grace: that in Christ we receive forgiveness, not fairness, and that we're to try to work out how a Christlike attitude looks in terms of every area of public and private life, and what "generous justice" for all looks like. I think it would be great if every time I said, or heard, the word "fair", I praised the God of grace for giving me grace instead - and thought about how I could show grace to whoever happens to be in my eyeline at that point. But my post clearly didn't set that out anywhere near clearly enough!

I would just question the "Civil Rights argument", which has been used a fair amount. I'm not sure it's helpful because civil rights was about a biblical issue, that all people are made in God's image and equally valuable to him (and so should be to us). To oppose Civil Rights was to oppose the teaching of the Bible. The current dispute is about how long people should work before being supported, and at what level - and how far it is legitimate for a government to change the decision of a previous government based on current reality. I think it's legitimate for Bible-believing Christians to come down on either side of this debate - and so it's not at all like the Civil Rights movement. We really don't want to divide, loudly in our churches or quietly in our hearts, with Christians who take the opposite view from us.

Hope that's mildly helpful - do come back at me(!), and it would be wonderful to know what others think.

Carl

S Cooper

11:01 PM AEDT on January 8th
"To oppose Civil Rights was to oppose the teaching of the Bible"
I'm sure you are aware that the Bible does not condemn slavery, in fact, it refers to debt bondage, conjugal slavery, and permanent slaves with a non-judgemental view. It is a regulated practice spoke of both in the old and new testaments.
"Slaves, obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear. Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ" (Ephesians 6:5)

Carl Laferton

Carl is Editorial Director at The Good Book Company and is a member of Grace Church Worcester Park, London. He is the best-selling author of The Garden, the Curtain and the Cross and God's Big Promises Bible Storybook, and also serves as series editor of the God's Word for You series. Before joining TGBC, he worked as a journalist and then as a teacher, and pastored a congregation in Hull. Carl is married to Lizzie, and they have two children. He studied history at Oxford University.