A FATHER AND HIS TWO SONS (PART III)

Transcription

1 A FATHER AND HIS TWO SONS (PART III) LUKE 15:11-32 M.I. OUR ATTITUDES TOWARDS OTHERS ARE A GOOD INDICATION OF OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD. I. THE BLESSINGS OF HOME (VS 11-12) Fully Enjoying The Blessings Of Home Depends On Our Recognition, Acknowledgment, And Thankfulness For These Blessings. A. RECOGNIZING THE BLESSINGS (11) B. ACKNOWLEDGING THE BLESSINGS (12) C. THANKFULNESS FOR THE BLESSINGS II. THE BLESSINGS OF FORGIVENESS (VS 25-27) If We Are Truly Believers We Have The Holy Spirit And The Holy Spirit Prompts Us To Identify With God s Heart. A. THE FATHER S EXAMPLE (25) B. AN EXPLANATION OF THE FATHER S EXAMPLE (26-27) III. A CHANCE TO BECOME A BLESSING (VS 28-32) How We Respond To Those Who Need Grace Is A Clear Demonstration Of Whether Or Not We Have Truly Received God s Grace. A. AN OFFER OF GRACE (28) B. REFUSAL TO EXTEND GRACE (29-30) C. A FAILURE TO UNDERSTAND GRACE (31-32)

2 A Father and His Two Sons (Part III) Luke 15:11-32 I would like to take this opportunity to remind us that this will be the last sermon in this series on Luke. This coming year, I am going to preach through the religious calendar year. Most of the Christian Churches that follow the religious calendar year follows the readings laid out in the Book of Common Prayer or a book called the Lectionary. I am going to do this for a couple of reasons. First of all, it will give us a chance to experience the rhythm of the seasons of our Christian faith. In doing this, we will be reading much more Scripture as an act of worship. Secondly, it will give us a chance to study through the major events and theological doctrines in the Bible. Finally, it will connect us to the church around the world. It will be a good evangelistic tool or provide a fellowship opportunity at school, play, and at work. If the people we come in contact with are Roman Catholic or mainline Protestants, the chances are that they would have used the same readings as we will be using. It will be a good chance to engage our friends in conversation for fellowship or evangelism. And so I have chosen to end our present study in Luke here at chapter 15. It is an incredible description of God s love for us. It describes God s extravagant love, grace, and mercy. When we resume our study through Luke in the future, we will start with Luke 16. On November 21, we will celebrate our Thanksgiving Joint Service. Notice, we will start that service at 10 AM. It will be followed by a Pot Luck luncheon. It is a real chance for us to sample food from all over the world. Please see Aiko for details. And then on November 28, the 2011 Religious Year begins with the first week of Advent. As we go through the religious year, we will explain the colors on the altar and on my stole. In addition we will explain the meaning of the candles, and other worship utensils as the year progresses. And now let s get into this morning s text. Luke 15 is all about God s love for us. The religious people of the day criticized Jesus for spending time with not only common sinners, but with notorious sinners; in particular taxcollectors. In fact, not only did Jesus spend time with them, He shared table fellowship with them. At this point, Jesus is addressing these sinners who were shunned by the religious elite of the day. Jesus told three parables in order to drive home the point that both He and God the Father loved them. He told the parables of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, and the Lost Sons. In preaching through the Parable of A Father and His Two Sons, we have looked at this parable from the younger son s view and the father s view. This morning we will look at this parable from the older brother s view. Page 2 of 12

3 The older brother is the good son from his own perspective and from a cultural, social, and religious view, he is good. But in reality he is just as lost and dead as his younger brother was when he was living the wildly sinful life in that foreign country. The problem with those of us who think we are good or even better than others is this. We tend to become so self-centered and self-referential; we miss the true evaluation of self and others. For example the first assignment for Fred in his beginning art class was to sketch the San Luis Rey mission in Oceanside, California. Everyone turned in their sketch and the teacher began his oral critique of each student s work. When he came to Fred s he held it up and said, Who is the figure in the doorway of the mission? That s the Padre. Well, said the professor, don t you think your padre looks a little sick? He could be, said Fred. I m an artist, not a doctor. You see it is easy to blame our problems or lack of success on others. It is easy to pick out the sins of others while totally missing the sin in our own lives. My hunch is that many of you are not all that different from me. When I stop to think about what I am praying, and I hear the words I m saying, I become a little more than anxious. When we pray the Lord s Prayer, we say, Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Do we really believe that? Do we really want God to forgive us of our sins in the same way we forgive people who have hurt us? Last time we were together we saw the way the prodigal son s father ran out to meet him, forgive him, welcome him home, and restore their relationship. Is that how we approach others? It seems to me that there is a message just below the surface. If we only focus on the prodigal son and the father, we may miss an important point Jesus is making. I. THE BLESSINGS OF HOME (VS 11-12) His point is the main idea of this morning s text. OUR ATTITUDES TOWARDS OTHERS ARE A GOOD INDICATION OF OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD. If we cannot love others, then perhaps we have not received God s love. If we cannot be generous with others, then we have not acknowledged God s generosity towards us. If we cannot extend grace and mercy to others, then perhaps we have not received grace and mercy from God. If we are not willing to forgive others, then that could be an indication that we have not received forgiveness from God. Let s look at this parable from the older brother s point of view. We could also call him the good brother because from all the outward signs, he was good. He didn t blow his money on wild living. He stayed at home with his father and ran the family business. He did everything right but Jesus wants us to question whether this good son was really good or not. Page 3 of 12

4 In verses Jesus points out that this older son enjoyed all the blessings of home along with the younger brother. However, this is something we must come to realize in our own relationship with God. FULLY ENJOYING THE BLESSINGS OF HOME DEPENDS ON OUR RECOGNITION, ACKNOWLEDGMENT, AND THANKFULNESS FOR THESE BLESSINGS. When we have been Christians for a long time we tend to little by little forget that our eternal destinies were hell before we met Jesus. When we enjoy a measure of success in our Christian lives we tend to think we are more mature than other believers. We forget that moment by moment we are totally dependent on God s love, grace, mercy, generosity, and forgiveness. We tend to think that now we have become pretty good people and we are pretty good at following the rules. I m begging each one of us here this morning. We must never think of ourselves as good. There is never a moment in life when we are not in need of God s mercy and forgiveness. If we forget that for a moment, we will end up bitter like the older brother in this morning s text. A. RECOGNIZING THE BLESSINGS (11) In verse 11, Jesus encourages us to recognize the blessings we enjoy at home. Verse 11 simply states that there was a man who had two sons. From the rest of the passage, we learn that this family is pretty well off financially because they employ servants and hired hands. We learn that there was plenty of food at home and time to enjoy life. Further we learn that the leader of this family is a loving, generous, merciful, and forgiving father. Think for a moment how it would be to live in a setting like this. Think about if our family owned a great deal of fertile land that produced bumper crops each year. Think about how we could rest and enjoy the beauty of the countryside once the crops were harvested. Think about what it would be like to have a father who was tender, loving, generous, and non judgmental. In reality, that s the way it is if we recognize the loving hand of God in our lives. He is always there and available to us. Did you ever think about the privilege we have of entering God s throne room by simply pronouncing the word Jesus? This is our responsibility as a church family. God has provided us with all sorts of blessings in life. He has saved us from the fires of hell. He continues to forgive us of all our sins and extends all sorts of grace to us. As a family, we are to do the same for one another. We are to extend grace, mercy, love, and forgiveness to one another and to all who come here to join us. We are a family and we have a loving Father. Please, let us never take God, His blessings, and one another for granted. Let us look at one another, recognize the blessings God has given us and fulfill His command to be a blessing to one another. Page 4 of 12

5 B. ACKNOWLEDGING THE BLESSINGS (12) We must also take time to acknowledge the blessing described by Jesus in verse 12. The younger son forced the father s hand and made him divide up the inheritance. What we tend to forget is this. Since we focus on the prodigal son, we overlook the fact that the older son also received his inheritance as well. Look at the last phrase in verse 12, So he divided his property between them. According to Hebrew law, the younger son received 1/3 or the estate. But what we tend to gloss over is that the older son received the other 2/3 of the estate. When the younger son left, the older brother now owned everything. It all belonged to him. And yet from the rest of the story, it appears that he doesn t even understand how rich he actually is. C. THANKFULNESS FOR THE BLESSINGS I can t tell you how many Christians I have ministered to that don t realize how many blessings God has given to them. Again I think it comes back to this feeling of entitlement. There was this big shift in the country between the time I went into military service and to my returning home. I left in 1969 and returned in the Since I was overseas, I didn t go through the gradual change. It was a big change for me. Between the 60s and 70s there was this extreme change from people looking how they could serve the community to individuals looking how the community can serve them. In today s culture people are so saturated with the thought they are entitled to everything they want when they want it, they don t realize or enjoy what they already have. Many people today focus on what they don t have and that prevents them from enjoying what they do have. This young man was now the owner of the entire estate but doesn t seem to realize it at all. He could not even acknowledge that he was the sole owner of the family fortune now. We see in his testimony later that he seems to simply be living as a hired hand when in fact he is the owner. If we are believers then we are children of the King of the Universe: yet to see Christians walking around unhappy, angry, depressed and discouraged is really sad. I want all of us to think about this. If you and I are Christians, then we are princes and princesses in God s Kingdom. Can we acknowledge that fact? Can we let that sink in? It s important for us to recognize and acknowledge all the blessings we have in Christ because it will make us thankful for all the blessings. I m not sure if we take enough time to think about the fact that God created us, Jesus redeemed us, and the Holy Spirit comforts us. The Bible promises that God will never leave us nor forsake us. It further promises that there is nothing that can ever separate us from His love. Let me read the promise: Page 5 of 12

6 28And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. 29For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn, with many brothers and sisters. 30And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And he gave them right standing with himself, and he promised them his glory 35Can anything ever separate us from Christ s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or are hungry or cold or in danger or threatened with death? 37No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. 38And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can t, and life can t. The angels can t, and the demons can t. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can t keep God s love away. 39Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:28-39 / NLT). Can we let that sink deep in our souls? If that can t make us happy and content with life, then nothing can. When we finish reading this we should stand up and shout hallelujah! If we realize who we are, Who God is, what He has done for us, continues to do for us, and will do for us, we should be totally thankful. Instead of living with attitudes of entitlements, Christians who have recognized and acknowledged all of God s blessings should live with attitudes of thankfulness. FULLY ENJOYING THE BLESSINGS OF HOME DEPENDS ON OUR RECOGNITION, ACKNOWLEDGMENT, AND THANKFULNESS FOR THESE BLESSINGS. This older brother owned everything. Everything was his and yet he never seemed to enjoy what he had. II. THE BLESSINGS OF FORGIVENESS (VS 25-27) In verses Jesus describes the blessings of forgiveness. IF WE ARE TRULY BELIEVERS WE HAVE THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THE HOLY SPIRIT PROMPTS US TO IDENTIFY WITH GOD S HEART. As Christians, we don t only receive the blessing of being forgiven, we have the opportunity experience the blessing of forgiving others just as God has forgiven us. We need to stop thinking of forgiveness as a command to be obeyed and start thinking of it as a privilege to participate in the ministry of Jesus. A. THE FATHER S EXAMPLE (25) In verse 25 the father provides us with a great example of what it means to love and to forgive. As the older son neared the house, he heard music and dancing. Let s review chapter 15. When the shepherd found his lost sheep, he rejoiced and even called his friends together to celebrate with him. When Page 6 of 12

7 the woman found her lost coin she rejoiced and called her friends together. Jesus made the point that when someone gave their life to Him in faith, that person would be saved and made to be part of God s family. Further, God called for a celebration in heaven in honor of a soul being saved. Jesus seemed to say that it would be the same type of celebration for someone who was saved and then wandered away for a time and then found their way back to be home with God in a great relationship. Jesus has been saying that God celebrates restored and repaired relationships with each one of us. For some unknown reason, God loves us and desires to be in relationship with us. In this morning s text, a son that insulted and publicly disgraced his father, who spent his entire inheritance on wild living, finally hit the bottom, and now came home with nothing. The father ran to meet him and welcome him home. And because of his happiness, he invited the entire household, servants and friends to come and celebrate with him. Because the older son had been working in the field, he was unaware that his brother returned home. He simply heard the celebration and unrestrained joy in the house. Naturally, he wondered what was going on. His interest was now piqued. B. AN EXPLANATION OF THE FATHER S EXAMPLE (26-27) In verses the servant is invited to give an explanation of the father s example. The older brother calls to one of the household servants. When the servant arrives, the older son asked him what all the celebration was about. Here s what s interesting to me. The servant understands completely what is going on. Perhaps he was a father himself. At any rate, he explains to the older brother that his younger brother returned and was safe and sound. There were no questions as to his failure or success on his own. The only point necessary for a celebration was that this young man had returned home safe and sound. And because the father was filled with so much joy, he ordered the prize calf slaughtered and prepared along with it a full dinner banquet. I can imagine the father just dancing around to the music uninhibited. This is the heart of God. When people come to faith in God, He is overcome with joy. We need to stop thinking of the Greek unmoved mover. God is not without emotion. Can you imagine the party He can throw? Can you imagine the music, the food, and the wine? Parties in heaven have to be awesome. Leading people to salvation in Jesus Christ is a huge part of our mission here as Devon Church. But please remember the church is not just the building. Each one of us is part of the church. Our influence should not only be here in this immediate area. The influence and invitation of Jesus should flow through us at home with our family, our friends, and our neighbors. The invitation should flow through us at work, at school, at the supermarket, at Page 7 of 12

8 the restaurant, and any place we go. Jesus made it clear the invitation is open to every person in this world. We have the potential of making God so happy that He will throw a party in heaven. But further, our church exists to help people grow in their faith. Unfortunately many of us sadden God because of our failure to grow in our faith. This often leads to backsliding into unchristian thinking, speaking, and behaving. We must be the invitation to come back to God. Again, when a backslidden Christian comes back to their relationship with Christ, God throws another party. Let me just make an aside comment here. Actually it s not an aside comment. Jesus imbedded the thought in the parable. No doubt people have done a great deal of harm and have hurt many of us deeply. They have sinned greatly and not only hurt us but hurt God. Let me pose this question to us. If they came back and apologized to us, would be as happy for them as the father was for the prodigal who returned? Let me complicate this a little further. The people who have left over the years have said some unkind things about us, but their real sin and offense is against God; they have attempted to divide His church. That is the real offense. According to the parable, if these people realize what they have done and ask God for forgiveness, will He gladly forgive them? Will He throw a party in heaven over their repentance and return? If I read the parable correctly, God will certainly forgive them and celebrate their restored relationship with Him. Now, who have these people hurt the most? They have hurt God tremendously. They have maybe hurt us with words, broken friendships, and damaged reputations. That is nothing compared to how they have hurt God. Let s take a heart exam. If any of these people came to you or me personally and sincerely apologized, are we as anxious as the father in the parable to forgive them and rekindle the relationship with them? I know it may be difficult but it is necessary. III. A CHANCE TO BECOME A BLESSING (VS 28-32) What would make it difficult? If we focus only on our feelings it will be difficult to forgive them. What would make it easy? If we truly love God; if their relationship with God is repaired through confession and repentance followed by God s love and forgiveness, shouldn t we be happy for God s joy? The Bible is clear that God rejoices over sinners who come back to Him in faith. God celebrates over them and if we are God s children who claim to love Him, then we should gladly celebrate in His joy. How can we not forgive Page 8 of 12

9 them and restore the relationship with them? If God has forgiven them, how could we not? Here is Jesus point. IF WE ARE TRULY BELIEVERS WE HAVE THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THE HOLY SPIRIT PROMPTS US TO IDENTIFY WITH GOD S HEART. In the Army, when the commander gave us a very difficult assignment, he would say, Here s your chance to excel. One truth concerning the Christian life is that God gives us many chances to excel. In verses Jesus points out that God gives us a chance to become a blessing. He gives us many opportunities to check and see if we are authentic believers or just phony Christians. HOW WE RESPOND TO THOSE WHO NEED GRACE IS A CLEAR DEMONSTRATION OF WHETHER OR NOT WE HAVE TRULY RECEIVED GOD S GRACE. When I was young, one of our memory verses went like this: 13I write this to you who believe in the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life (I John 5:13 / NLT). Our Sunday school teachers made us memorize it because it represents God s promise to us that we are saved. However, only when we got older did we realize that this was a summary of the entire book of First John. In the book John gives us several tests that we can apply to ourselves so that we can test our own authenticity. Three of the major tests were living for God, maintaining correct theology, and loving one another. Even though this may be a little long, listen to how the Apostle John summarizes the test of love: 7Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8But anyone who does not love does not know God for God is love. 9God showed how much he loved us by sending his only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 10This is real love. It is not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. 11Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. 12No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love has been brought to full expression through us. 13And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. 14Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15All who proclaim that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. 16We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in him. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. 17And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we are like Christ here in this world. Page 9 of 12

10 18Such love has no fear because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of judgment, and this shows that his love has not been perfected in us. 19We love each other as a result of his loving us first. 20If someone says, I love God, but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we have not seen? 21And God himself has commanded that we must love not only him but our Christian brothers and sisters, too I John 4:11-21 / NLT). Did you catch that last test? If I hate a Christian brother or sister, and am not willing to forgive them and be reconciled with them, I cannot claim to love God. The Bible says that if I do this, I am a liar and the love of God is not in me. There are no textual problems with this text. There is no problem with vocabulary or theology. It is plain and simple. If we want to claim we love God, then we must love one another. A. AN OFFER OF GRACE (28) Look at the offer of grace in verse 28. The younger son came home and reconciled with the father, but now the older son wants to rebel against his father. He too is now insulting his father in public. The father has thrown a party and the older brother refused to join it. Look at the tenderness of the father. He doesn t care about being publicly disgraced and disrespected. He is now interested in his relationship with the older son. He went out to plead with him and invite him to join the party. I m always interested to see how religious people, self-righteous people, and legalists respond to other s extending grace to someone. Not only do they become indignant, they don t think they are need of grace themselves. B. REFUSAL TO EXTEND GRACE (29-30) In verses we see the older brother demonstrate a refusal to extend grace. Watch this very carefully because these people are all over the Christian church. That s their area of operation. The father never asked the older brother to play nice with his younger brother. The father simply asked the son to share in his joy. But this brother is now the one who is selfcentered, self-absorbed, and narcissistic. He is only focused on what he deserves. He lists his godly attributes. He stayed home all these years and worked for the father. Notice he uses the word slaving. He viewed his work as slaving for the father. Further, he never disobeyed orders. What seems really unfair to this older son is that the father threw an expensive party for the younger rebellious sons while never throwing such a party for him. Look how easily self-righteous people can point out the sins of others. He doesn t know this for sure but he accused his younger brother of squandering the father s money on prostitutes. How does he know this at this point in time? Page 10 of 12

11 Now let s just back up the train for a moment. There are people who do things because society, culture, and even church tells them these things are good. In church, there are people who read their Bible every day. They pray regularly, they serve at church. They give money to church. When people look at them, they look really good. But remember, God looks at the heart. Most people who are self-righteous look at the Christian life as if it is difficult work. I can tell that there are not many Christians in America who truly love God. They do a lot of Christian stuff but everything they do is drudgery. They give their leftover money to the church. And even those who tithe look at it as a Christian duty not as an act of love for God. People look at serving in church as work and drudgery. That s exactly how this son looked at being a good son to his father. He looked at it as if he were his father s slave. I have to tell you that in all my years as a pastor, you only find a few people who truly enjoy serving God because they love God. If people truly loved God, churches would never have to worry about having enough money. They would never have to worry about finding enough volunteers. They would never have church splits and people would do things in church because they loved God and loved one another. I m praying that God turn us into a church of grace and love; love for God and love for one another. C. A FAILURE TO UNDERSTAND GRACE (31-32) It is important because as Jesus points out in verses this older son fails to understand grace. Again, the father doesn t berate or condemn this older son. He is extending the same grace to him as he extended to the younger son. This father is incredibly patient and steadfast in his love. Do you remember when we talked about the attitude of entitlement? Religious people feel as if they are entitled. The boy s argument was that he lived by the rules. He worked hard in the family business and he obeyed all his father s orders. However, he clearly demonstrated that he didn t love his father. He considered it slavery to do these things. But the father gently pointed out that this son owns everything. Perhaps his son never asked to have a party. Perhaps he thought the father wouldn t give him one. But we can see that that could not possibly be the case. The father went on to say that he had to celebrate because his lost son came home and wanted to repair all his damaged relationships. If this older son truly loved his father, and if he watched his father suffer over the years, he should have been happy for his father that his son returned. But selfrighteous people can t see outside their own little world. Like the Pharisees in Jesus time, they may have perfectly kept all the religious and social rules. However, they never truly loved God. They loved their own status and position. Page 11 of 12

12 We don t know how this story ended. Jesus left us hanging. The story is open ended. This son is left with an incredible offer of love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness. The problem is that we don t know if he ever came to his senses. We don t know if he ever realized that he was in need of God s love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness. If you are like me, we re hoping that he did get it and join in the celebration; because HOW WE RESPOND TO THOSE WHO NEED GRACE IS A CLEAR DEMONSTRATION OF WHETHER OR NOT WE HAVE TRULY RECEIVED GOD S GRACE. I m glad we are ending our study through Luke here at chapter 15 because it is so filled with God s grace and God s love. Jesus has also reminded us that in addition to receiving grace, we must give grace. Jesus makes it a test for us. OUR ATTITUDES TOWARDS OTHERS ARE A GOOD INDICATION OF OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD. Sometimes self-righteous people forget that they will be judged too. Listen to this story about a state legislator. In one particular state a new law on drunken driving was passed and became one of the toughest in the nation. The law mandated a prison sentence for anyone convicted of driving while intoxicated. Getting it passed was a major victory for various groups against drunk driving, and they could not have gotten it passed if it wasn t for the help of one particular state legislator who sponsored the bill. It wasn t long after the law took effect that the first person to be arrested for driving under the influence was brought before the judge and found guilty and was sentenced to his prison term. Who was he? The same legislator who made a name for himself sponsoring the bill! Jesus was clear when He said, For the way you judge, you will be judged, and by your stand of measure it shall be measured to you. Let s become a church who knows how to receive grace and to extend grace. Page 12 of 12