This is how primitive their view of God was right; and so they have a preserved mummy's tomb there from 2200BC, from a town called Giza. Of course they write it all - on the inside of the sarcophagus, there's all these hieroglyphics about what his life was like. So they had a hieroglyphics expert translate it, and this is what it says.
Now you guys know Matthew 25 right - for when I was hungry you get - okay, right. This is what it said. By the way, 2200BC, this is before the Torah, this is before Abraham, or any of them came to Egypt. This is before all that. This is what it said:
I said, and repeated good things; I said what was just, I did what was just. I gave food to the hungry, and clothing to the naked, and I sought to restore dignity to all those who don't have it. I was kind to my mother, and respectful to my father. I did not speak with a malicious tone to anyone, because I desired to be a person of good character, so that I would be noticed by the one true God, and by people, forever.
What! Where'd he get that? Oh wait, there's more. Check this out:
I said and repeated good things. I said what was just, I did what was just. I gave food to the hungry, clothing to the naked. I restored dignity to the broken. I was kind to my mother, I was respectful to my father. I never said anything with malice intent towards anyone, because I desired to be a person of good character, so that I would be noticed by the one true God and by people forever.
How did ancient Egyptians write? Hieroglyphics. Do you know what the picture to “say and repeat good things” is in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics? It's a head under a cross!
It means: to say and repeat good things; so I asked the hieroglyphics person, I said: what is this? He said: oh, the symbol to say and repeat good things, is: to submit your thinking to a higher authority of the cross!
It was before the Roman Empire, there was no cross! Where did he get that? Where did they get that? So I asked the guy there, I said: where did they get this? There's no Roman Empire! He said: maybe God meant what He said, when He said He was writing His ways on the hearts of men. Maybe God doesn't need your help?
So in 2200BC, there's this guy that died, and on the inside of his coffin he had written, that he submitted his thinking to the authority of the cross. Does anybody want to make a case that he's burning in hell today? Is God allowed? Maybe God's been at work in the hearts of people for a long, long time. Can God do what He likes? Yes!
I had no problem with God doing what He liked; so if I have a problem with God giving the same pay to people who've done less work, my problem must be number two: are you envious because I'm generous? What, about the generosity of God, threatens me?
I always find it amazing when I talk to groups of Christians who're convinced they're in; so I've got a group of people, all of you would think you're in right - like when you die, you're going to heaven, correct? Everybody will think they're in? Okay, good. So I agree. I'm with you. Amen right. But I'm always intrigued when I preach in front of a group of people, who all think they're in, that if I make God nicer than they think, they're threatened by that.
If you already think you're in, and I make God nicer than you thought, does that not just further solidify you're in-ness? Why would you be mad about that? There must be something in you, that doesn't like the thought that God's going to treat other people just as nice as He's treating you, because something inside of you thinks you deserve it more.
Are you envious because God is generous? See there's two flip-sides to this; heaven is beautiful, and here's why. Here's one of the things about heaven that's so beautiful:
Heaven delivers me from the notion that I have to outdo Mother Theresa to make it.
Right? Like heaven, the environment Jesus describes of heaven is: it frees me from the notion, that I have to outdo Mother Therese to make it; but it also forces me to give grace to people who haven't done as much as me.