Cme and Listen: What Des Gd Lk Like? Luke 15:1-32 June 24, 2018 Dr. Steve Hrn Text Intrductin: We are in a series fr the summer n the Parables f Jesus. Jesus was a master stry teller. Peple f Jesus day were nt really any different frm peple f tday in the sense that they related t stries. Jesus tk these stries using the familiar things f everyday life in the first century t capture the attentin f His listeners. When we encunter parables in the Gspels, there are a few basic interpretative principles that we must emply in rder t get the real meaning f the text. 1. Understand the purpse f all parables. The literal meaning f the wrd parable is t thrw beside r t set beside. Jesus used parables t thrw beside a teaching r an instructive principle. That leads us t the secnd cnsideratin. 2. We must seek t understand what that principle is. What is the main pint is the questin we shuld be asking. Mst times, if nt all times, there is smething in the cntext that reveals precisely what the main pint is and the stry simply illustrates that main pint. 3. Because we are lking fr the main pint, it is als imprtant t understand that we need nt press the details f the stry, but rather seek t get the main pint. 4. I als want t remind us that ften times we will discver the main pint in the unusual detail f the stry. Remember, this is the hk that wuld grab the attentin. (And, we must d that frm a first century perspective, nt a twenty-first century perspective.) It wuld seem dd t have a series n the Parables f Jesus withut cnsidering the mst familiar f all f the parables, s Cme and Listen t the Parable f the Prdigal Sn r as I prefer t call it The Parable f the Lst Sn. In rder t truly understand this parable, it is imprtant t hear the tw shrter parables that set the stage fr the lnger parable. Text: All the tax cllectrs and sinners were appraching t listen t him. 2 And the Pharisees and scribes were cmplaining, This man welcmes sinners and eats with them. 3 S he tld them this parable: 4 What man amng yu, wh has a hundred sheep and lses ne f them, des nt leave the ninety-nine in the pen field and g after the lst ne until he finds it? 5 When he has fund it, he jyfully puts it n his shulders, 6 and cming hme, he calls his friends and neighbrs tgether, saying t them, Rejice with me, because I have fund my lst sheep! 7 I tell yu, in the same way, there will be mre jy in heaven ver ne sinner wh repents than ver ninety-nine righteus peple wh dn t need repentance. 8 Or what wman wh has ten silver cins, if she lses ne cin, des nt light a lamp, sweep the huse, and search carefully until she finds it? 9 When she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbrs
tgether, saying, Rejice with me, because I have fund the silver cin I lst! 10 I tell yu, in the same way, there is jy in the presence f Gd s angels ver ne sinner wh repents. 11 He als said: A man had tw sns. 12 The yunger f them said t his father, Father, give me the share f the estate I have cming t me. S he distributed the assets t them. 13 Nt many days later, the yunger sn gathered tgether all he had and traveled t a distant cuntry, where he squandered his estate in flish living. 14 After he had spent everything, a severe famine struck that cuntry, and he had nthing. 15 Then he went t wrk fr ne f the citizens f that cuntry, wh sent him int his fields t feed pigs. 16 He lnged t eat his fill frm the pds that the pigs were eating, but n ne wuld give him anything. 17 When he came t his senses, he said, Hw many f my father s hired wrkers have mre than enugh fd, and here I am dying f hunger! 18 I ll get up, g t my father, and say t him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in yur sight. 19 I m n lnger wrthy t be called yur sn. Make me like ne f yur hired wrkers. 20 S he gt up and went t his father. But while the sn was still a lng way ff, his father saw him and was filled with cmpassin. He ran, threw his arms arund his neck, and kissed him. 21 The sn said t him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in yur sight. I m n lnger wrthy t be called yur sn. 22 But the father tld his servants, Quick! Bring ut the best rbe and put it n him; put a ring n his finger and sandals n his feet. 23 Then bring the fattened calf and slaughter it, and let s celebrate with a feast, 24 because this sn f mine was dead and is alive again; he was lst and is fund! S they began t celebrate. 25 Nw his lder sn was in the field; as he came near the huse, he heard music and dancing. 26 S he summned ne f the servants, questining what these things meant. 27 Yur brther is here, he tld him, and yur father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sund. 28 Then he became angry and didn t want t g in. S his father came ut and pleaded with him. 29 But he replied t his father, Lk, I have been slaving many years fr yu, and I have never disbeyed yur rders, yet yu never gave me a gat s that I culd celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this sn f yurs came, wh has devured yur assets with prstitutes, yu slaughtered the fattened calf fr him. 31 Sn, he said t him, yu are always with me, and everything I have is yurs. 32 But we had t celebrate and rejice, because this brther f yurs was dead and is alive again; he was lst and is fund. Intrductin: A grup f psychlgists recently cnducted a study n 551 Americans n what they believed Gd lked like. Each f the participants were randmly shwn tw pictures and asked t chse which, in their pinin, mst lked like t them the face f Gd. Frm thse different selectins, a cmpsite image was cnstructed. I knew yu wuld be interested s here is the final cmpsite sketch. (Reprted by Jim Denisn quting an article frm The Charltte Observer, June 12, 2018) Shw picture here! When I read that stry I recalled the stry that I have tld abut the little by wh was busily drawing a picture when his teacher asked him, What are yu drawing? Gd, he answered. His teacher said in return, That s impssible, n ne has seen Gd. N ne knws what Gd lks like.
Undeterred, the little by fired back, They will when I am finished. Indeed, we cannt knw what Gd lks like physically r even fr that matter if He even has a physical descriptin, but it seems t me that in Luke 15 we get a great descriptin f Gd maybe the best descriptin f all f what Gd lks like. Luke 15, in many ways, is the heart f the Gspel f Luke. When I teach n the whle bk f Luke, I ffer that the thesis f Luke is fund in Luke 19:10 Fr the Sn f Man has cme t seek and t save the lst. The cntent f Luke 15 is three parables the parable f the lst sheep, the parable f the lst cin, and the parable f the lst sn. The three parables in Luke 15 shuld be read as ne unit. Each f the three parables builds n the ther. The cntext f the parables is the grumbling f the Pharisees in 15:2. The cmmn denminatr in the three parables is the jy assciated with finding smething f value that is lst. Jesus used these three parables as a prgressin. In the first tw parables (a lst sheep and a lst cin), Jesus established that celebratin ccurs when a lst bject f value is fund. The third and final parable advances the truth because the lst bject is a persn a belved sn. The first tw parables really set-up the third parable. In each case, smething f value is lst. T Gd, every persn is a persn f value. The Surprises f this Stry: Befre we get t the applicatin, let me just take a cuple f mments t help yu t understand the details f this stry. Jesus use f the parable is mre than just simple illustratin f spiritual truth. Jesus used the parable t capture the attentin f his hearers. The way that he captured attentin is t present a stry that wuld be almst ppsite f cultural expectatins f His day. The surprises f His stry wuld arrest the attentin f the hearers. As I understand it, there are a number f very unusual cultural features f this stry. Asking fr the inheritance early This is mre than a selfish and greedy by. This is a by wh is saying, Yu are as gd as dead t me. Amng the swine In Jesus day, speaking t Pharisees, nthing culd be wrse than a by wrking, yea, even lnging t eat amng the pigs in a freign land. Culturally speaking, he cannt be wrse than having brken the fifth cmmandment (hnr father and mther), living in Gentile territry, wrking amng ceremnially unclean pigs, lnging t eat what they eat, but nt even being able t d that. He is as far away frm hme as he culd get. The Father s Acceptance Perhaps what ften gets verlked in this stry is the father s reactin. We kind f get caught up in ur 21 st century lk at this family and cnsider the jy f the by s return. In the first century wrld, fr a father t shw emtin tward an bedient sn wuld be ut f the rdinary. Fr a father t run and embrace and kiss his wayward sn was smething nt just unheard f, but unimaginable. The Meal Meat was rarely eaten, let alne butchering an entire calf. All f these details arrest the attentin f the Pharisees. What is this man saying? What is He Saying t Us? Gd lngs fr relatinship t us.
Yu will never get beynd the lve, grace, frgiveness, and mercy f Gd. The father s respnse in this stry is breath-taking grace. Bth sns were disbedient. The actins f the yunger sn shw his bvius disbedience. Ultimately, the sn in asking fr his inheritance has said t the father, Yu are as gd as dead t me. But the actins f the lder sn, thugh nt as bvius, indicate the same kind f disbedience. The lder sn s actins upn the yunger brther s return shw that his bedience has been a cld bedience. He is wrking, beying the cmmands, but when the chips were dwn, we see his true heart. When he said, This sn f yurs (v. 30) he is essentially saying, he s nt my brther, which translates int yu are nt my father. What cnstituted snship fr each f these shamefully disbedient sns? Certainly nt acts f bedience, fr these were betrayed by a cld heart! Mre certain still, nt being brn sns, fr their behavir belied that reality and frfeited that legal right. What in the parable cnstituted snship fr bth f these sns? The reality f snship is fund in the gracius wrd f the frgiving father, which recnstituted snship after the snship was brken. That the father said s (my sn in v. 31) was the reality f creating snship, nt wh they were brn nr what they did. The wrd f the father alne made them sns.s wh was really lst here? The yunger sn wh returned hme, r the elder sn wh refused t gin and celebrate? (Gerald Stevens, The Thelgical Educatr, Fall 1997), 75.) Again, yu will never get beynd the lve, grace, mercy, frgiveness, and lnging fr relatinship that the Father has fr yu. This is the reasn fr Jesus cming t seek and t save the lst. Because f this, He rejices ver everyne wh is recnciled t Him. As smene has said, Let ne child cnsent t be dressed in righteusness and begin the jurney hme and heaven purs the punch, strings the streamers, and thrws the cnfetti. It s the cmmn denminatr in all three stries. That ught t give us a great clue as t the primary meaning f this parable. The rute t recnciliatin is His grace which is evidenced by repentance. I am nt sure that we will find anywhere else in Scripture a better picture f what the Biblical nature f repentance is than what we find in the picture frm the yunger sn. Ntice that repentance is a change f... Attitude He came t his senses. He changed his mind. Actins He gt up. Smetimes, we change ur mind abut sin, but never change ur actins regarding sin. Affectins He changed what he lved. In sum, repentance is a change f desires accmpanied by a change f directin!
As recipients f His grace, we jin Him in begging thers t be recnciled and then rejicing ver thse wh are. Here s a great wrd fund in 2 Crinthians 5:21. Therefre, we are ambassadrs fr Christ, since Gd is making his appeal thrugh us. We plead n Christ s behalf: Be recnciled t Gd. The Gspel Summarized: FAITH The intentinal evangelism strategy and tl that we teach as a church is called FAITH. By the way, we will begin a new semester f training n August 14. I believe that every Christian ught t be frmally trained in sme means and methd f sharing the Gspel. Anyway, the tl is called FAITH because it uses the wrd faith as an acrstic t share the Gspel stry. It ccurred t me this week that this parable incrprates all f thse elements. Let me share it with yu. Frgiveness We are all in need f frgiveness. The lder sn and the yunger sn were bth in need f frgiveness. Sme think they have n need fr frgiveness. Others think what they have dne is s terrible that they culd never be frgiven. Available The wnderful gd news is that in Jesus, frgiveness is available. As we say in the Gspel presentatin, frgiveness is available t all, but it is nt autmatic. Frgiveness is available t all, but nt all chse t receive Gd s frgiveness. Impssible Outside f Christ, His persn and His wrk n the crss which paid the penalty fr ur sin, and because f His resurrectin, it wuld be impssible t be recnciled t Gd. Turn S, we must be willing t turn, t repent. Heaven And, if we are willing, there will be the biggest party yu have ever seen in heaven. Here s what Gd lks like. It s the Father saying, This sn f mine was dead and is alive again; he was lst and is fund. S they began t celebrate!