1 Series: Our Prodigal Family Sermon: The Prodigal Celebration Scripture: Luke 15:1-10, 21-32 Focus: As we have walked through Luke 15 we have seen Jesus stack story on story to communicate to His listeners hearts the profound lostness of all of humanity, the need to be found by a persistent Seeker, and the stunningly gracious and yet costly forgiveness which reestablishes lost rebels into found children of God. There has been a lostness through foolishness [sheep], carelessness [coin], and willfulness [sons], the last illustrating clearly that human separation from God can come through both our badness and our goodness through selfish self-discovery that seeks to find its own way to happiness and selfcentered self-righteousness which performs to win approval. Both are so utterly lost that they need a Savior but the focus is actually on the older brother who, like the Pharisees in Jesus audience and many of us in church today, is in a sense more frighteningly lost because his lostness is disguised in good behavior. As we look over the three parables again, we re struck by another theme wrapped around the amazing grace of God the celebration over repentant hearts come home. The shepherd, the woman, and the Father upon recovering what was once lost gather their friends and neighbors to rejoice. We are told that even angels are rejoicing. And as the chapter concludes, Jesus has circled back to his listeners to ask them, to plead with us Will you truly hear why the Father had to celebrate the salvation of these people you despise? And will you too come home? Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found. See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. And how amazing that the Father should not only save us, calling us His children, but also celebrate the reality of our salvation. We aim to understand and truly know: 1. Our reluctance to celebrate what the Father celebrates 2. The Father s prodigal celebration over saved sinners 3. How we respond to and join Him in His celebration INTRO: Family Month As we come to the close of Family Month, we take one more look at God our heavenly Father. As we do, we have to ask ourselves, do we truly relate to God as our Father? Or do we come to Him as Lord, Savior, and Master but not as a family member, not drawing close to Him in such intimacy that we cry out Abba, Father. The famed parable which takes up most of Luke 15 has been called
2 The Prodigal Son but could rightly be re-titled The Forgiving Father as the Father is indeed the main character and the focus of Jesus as our Savior reorients His audience to see kingdom life ruled by a gracious and good, good Father. The older brother, like the Pharisees Jesus addresses, is living in the Father s house but is not in relationship with the Father. Instead he lives more as a boarder in a contract with Him. The older brother is living out an economy foreign to God s house he believes his right actions and moral standing somehow pay the rent and deserve acknowledgment. I ve done my part, he fumes to his Father, now hold up your side of the bargain. You owe me. Isn t that so often the case with us especially when things don t turn out how we wanted? Our hearts scream at God for some kind of justice we feel hasn t been served and we defend ourselves by pulling out our moral report card. But I did all the right things, I slaved for you, I worked hard, I paid the rent, I did what I was supposed to, but And far from being great news, the Father s celebration over lost sons now found is actually infuriating to older brother types. As we look through Scripture that we have read many times we suffer from familiarity. As you read Luke 15 today, ask the Spirit to reveal afresh Jesus profound messages here. As you read and dig into God s word, remember that for most of us in church, we re far more likely to live like older brothers than younger ones. Ask as you go through the verses: Am I relating to God as a boarder or His child? Do I see why He has to celebrate over saved sinners? Do I celebrate like He does? Do I see myself as lost apart from my relationship to the Father? Luke 15 can be read through several lenses which help us understand what our Lord is teaching to his audience of Pharisees and tax collectors, insiders and outsiders, and self-righteous and sinners. We could see this as: Man s Response vs. God s Response to sinners (and self-righteous); Man s Kingdom vs. God s Kingdom; Man s Blindness vs. God s Revelation; Man Running From vs. God Running To. Lastly, we might see it as Celebrating Apart from the Father vs. Celebrating With the Father. 1. Both Brothers Won t Celebrate with the Father a. Vv. 13-14 The younger brother went to a foreign land to celebrate b. Vv. 28-29 The older brother wants a goat to celebrate with his friends; He says I ve always obeyed you but he won t even obey to go in with the Father to celebrate which the Father has commanded, ordered
3 everyone else is celebrating with the Father but not the older son, who is outside of the party. c. Both brothers have seen the Father as a means to an end They wanted the Father s stuff (blessings, possessions, approval, etc.) but they did not want the Father. They lived with the Father but the He was not the center of their joy or happiness their rejoicing, their party was someone else, somewhere outside in false promises that meaning and happiness were someone outside of relationship with the Father. Their true joy lay in idols (even good things) and not in the Father. 2. Older Brothers Can t Celebrate Younger Brothers vv.28-31 a. The Father is lovingly pleaded with the older brother; He has sought the older brought as He did the younger brother, going outside of the house to meet them so that they can be restored to right relationship b. The older brother isn t merely reluctant but angry (v.28) and unabashedly rude to the Father (v.29 Look!) c. The older brother immediately brings up his good record - Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command. i. He reveals that his identity and value are as a boarder; he hasn t understand the relationship with the Father ii. He is delusional about his moral record Can you really claim I have never disobeyed you? to your biological father much less to God? Even now he is disobeying his father. iii. He actually calls his service slavery - For all these years I have been working like a slave for you (NRSV). d. The older brother brings up the record of the younger brother It is a structure of contrast. I did everything right, but got nothing; He did everything wrong but got it all. e. The older brother can t celebrate because he doesn t know the Father and our need for His grace in forgiveness. 3. Jesus doesn t see our distinctions of good vs. bad but children vs. boarders and rebels a. While we make scales of great to worst, placing ourselves conveniently somewhere in the upper-middle of the scale, Jesus sees all of humanity as in one of two categories sons and daughters or rebellious outsiders (either in their self-righteousness or self-discovery); either repentant lost children come home or grumbling folks blind to their own lostness. b. Jesus tells us we are all profoundly
4 lost without hope of finding our way home on our own i. Lost sheep and lost coins aren t just a little lost, they are hopelessly, desperately lost. They don t persist in trying to find their way home; they are persistently sought by a seeker who desperately desires to find them ii. If we miss the reality of our condition if we don t understand how lost we are we will never truly know the prodigal forgiveness our Father has extended to us nor the stunning cost Jesus paid to bring us home. And we will never be able to understand why the Father would celebrate nor join in with Him to celebrate. Do you know how lost you were? Do you know how lost you are? Do you feel the distance between you and the Father today? Do you know it is not He that has run away but it is we who have slowly, sadly moved away to find joy in things outside our Father s house. Do you know what it cost to come and save you? Do you know for what you have been saved what it means to come into the Father s house as a son, as a daughter? Do you know why He had to celebrate? How the Father celebrates It is pretty amazing language music, dancing, the best food, a true party. Who said God was some angry authority figure waiting to punish us? He is a Father throwing a party for His son, sparing nothing and inviting in friends and neighbors; in the ancient world such a feast would include the whole town. In Chapter 14, Jesus has just described the kingdom as a great banquet to which many are invited. We are even told here that angels are celebrating. Why the Father Celebrates a. Israel was told to Celebrate in the feasts and especially the Passover. The celebration was to remember their salvation by the Lord s mighty hand in astounding grace. The celebration commemorated the reality, helped them never forget, and to taught their children who didn t experience it firsthand. Perhaps the ultimate is the year of Jubilee (Lev.25:10-11): This fiftieth (Jubilee) year is sacred it is a time of freedom and of celebration when everyone will receive back their
5 original property, and slaves will return home to their families. This is a year of complete celebration, so don't plant any seed or harvest what your fields or vineyards produce b. Here though we are told that the Father celebrates and has to celebrate. V.32 properly states what must happen, i.e. what is absolutely necessary; inevitable; it is a duty, what is proper. 32 It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found. The father was under compulsion to respond with joy. He had to; it was the only way he could respond. He is so moved to celebrate because simply He has found what was lost; what had such value has been found by Him What was He seeking? Worshippers. Again and again, our hearts and minds and those of our culture need a stark reminder: We are not seeking God, rather, God is seeking us. And why? Jesus was speaking to an outsider, a Samaritan woman who was broken and lost, and He told her: 3 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. The Father wants neither our self-discovery nor our self-saving; our Ok just tell me what I need to do to get the reward, or our confused quest to find my own truth, live my journey, and be true to myself. Instead, He wants right relationship. Is that limiting? Yes, by definition relationships are limiting or else there is no intimacy, no trust, no fidelity, no true family relationship. God isn t celebrating because He has found slaves but because He s found sons and daughters. The Father is celebrating people who had life sucked out of them by incorrect worship (idols, including their own freedom, their own goodness) now have life abundantly as worshippers of the only One deserving of our worship. Everyone worships something. God is seeking those who will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. He is overjoyed when He finds these, when they are brought back into the right relationship with Him through Jesus Christ. What our Father Celebrates: The Father is celebrating our transformation into true worshippers. We can ask what that looks like. Here we see 3 things about this that our Father is celebrating. He is rejoicing over: 1. Repentant children in all 3 stories, vv.7, 10, 21 (*I have sinned against you and heaven, I am no longer worthy to be your son)
6 a. Again our lostness is from willfulness; we have decided to leave the Father and abuse all that we have been given. Truly returned children must be repentant children. This is not a cheap I m sorry, but the admission that you know fully what you have done coupled with a desire to never want to do that again. It is a 180 degree turn from the old self to God and the new self; Repentance takes responsibility of both our actions and attitudes. The younger son knew he did not deserve to be a son. He had nothing to stand on and owned up. He rightly knew against whom he had sinned is sorry not for consequences alone but for the shattered relationship with the Father. He seeks restoration. b. Repentance is a turning from and a turning to. We see the older brother will not turn from his self-righteousness and thus he cannot turn to the Father; v7 is ironic there is no one who does not need repentance, only those who think they don t need it; When we think we re OK without God we will never turn and go to the Lord. Like Jesus said about the sick, those who think they re healthy never go to the doctor or simply keep self-medicating. c. Repentance is an act of grace the Spirit draws us to repent, reveals to us how dark we are and glorifies Christ to show us His greatness and truth: John 6:44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day; John 6:65 And he said, This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father. In convicting grace, the Holy Spirit reveals light in our dark hearts to draw us to repent in Christ (2 Cor. 4:6; Eph. 5:13) d. Repentance is a Lifestyle We aren t constantly repenting for the same things or it isn t true repentance and we need more changing by the Holy Spirit. Yet we are people for whom it should become more and more natural and regular for us to repent to our Father and to one another as our identity is not based on our moral record by on Christ. As we grow in Christ, we become more and more aware of our need
7 to repent and we more easily repent as we more fully understand the Father and His grace through the Word and experience May this be true in our homes Repent as often as necessary and do it quickly, listening carefully, and asking for power by the Spirit to change. May this be true in God s house the Church. 2. Resurrected children He was dead but is now alive. We were not bad people who became good. The lostness Jesus describes is complete, deadly, and so unable to be undone by the thing that has been lost or lost itself. Jesus emphasizes that the lostness of the son was so profound by in v. 27 with the servants words: Your father is celebrating because he has received him back safe and sound; and then twice (vv. 24, 32) having the Father say the son was dead and is now alive. Again we re reminded that our sin does not have degrees which we scale there is only one kind of deadness. You aren t kind of dead or really dead you re simply dead. Dead people don t save themselves, don t fix themselves, nor do they resuscitate and resurrect themselves. The Seeker who saves, from lostness, who forgives, is also the Savior who resurrects to life with the Father. Actually, the Seeker is the cause of the celebration God in a sense is saying YES to his Son s work. Jesus tells us how severe is humanity s condition in John 5:24-25 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. Resurrected people are no longer under the penalty or power of sin and spiritual death. Scripture tells us such people are new creations in Christ Jesus, there is a new self. God isn t celebrating people who have morally improved or modified their behavior but people who have been transformed, resurrected, in Christ Jesus.
8 3. Restored children My son, your brother. We have to ask, Saved to what? Resurrected to what? Found for what purpose? Is it to my own personal heaven? To my own freedom or agenda? To my happier life? To be able to now fully save myself. Look again at vv. 30-31 and the contrast of relationship. The older brother distances himself from relationship with the Father and his brother. But the Father changes the son s words Your son to Your brother. 31 And he said to him, Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found. God celebrates as His children are restored to sonship, to purpose and meaning, to right relationship, which in a word is worship in spirit and truth. Like Israel out of the slavery of Egypt, Jesus as delivered us in our own exodus. We have been sought, found, saved, resurrected and restored from slavery and idolatry to relationship and correct worship. Application Know your Father; rejoice over His rejoicing for your salvation don t be a boarder, be a child of God; relate to Him as Father; contemplate and live out the reality that you have such a good, good Father who has persistently sought you, redeemed you, restored you, resurrected you and celebrated that all this has happened. Remember and celebrate your salvation: In six places in the Exodus text it says that the Lord brought the people out of Egypt. Four times it says he brought them out with his powerful hand. The emphatic call is to remember what the Lord did in bringing them out of Egypt. The emphatic call is for us to remember how the Lord brought us out of our own Egypt - how he saved us through his Son Jesus Christ. As believers in Christ, we are often likely to brush aside our salvation as old news. We want to know how to make life work in the present. The tragedy is that if we spent more time appreciating the Lord's salvation, life in the present would work better. The key to life is being thankful. Remembering the Lord's salvation will fill our hearts with thankfulness.
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