73. The Church - Love In Action Series

IN GOD'S IMAGE 73 - THE CHURCH - LOVE IN ACTION

This message is part of a series of 90 sermons based on the title, “In God’s Image – God’s Purpose for humanity.” This series of free sermons or the equivalent free book format is designed to take the reader through an amazing process beginning with God in prehistory and finishing with humanity joining God in eternity as His loving sons and daughters. It is at times, a painful yet fascinating story, not only for humanity, but also for God. As the sermons follow a chronological view of the story of salvation, it is highly recommend they be presented in numerical order rather than jumping to the more “interesting” or “controversial” subjects as the material builds on what is presented earlier. We also recommend reading the introduction prior to using the material. The free book version along with any graphics or figures mentioned in this series can be downloaded at www.ingodsimage.site - Gary Regazzoli

Our focus has shifted to the role and function of the church.

• We are looking at the role of the church through five virtues, faith, hope and love as expressed in 1 Corinthians 13, and worship and service.

• The church as the body of Christ needs to be people of faith, people of hope, people of love, people of worship, and people of service.

Last time we looked at the subject of divine love as God has expressed it on a rebellious humanity.

• As we saw His supreme expression of love to us was the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ.

• We also spent quite a bit of time on how God exercises His awesome power and it is this factor that makes His love such a powerful force.

• Understanding this divine use of power in contrast to the world’s use of force is crucial if we are to become loving citizens of the kingdom of God.

• So to see this divine use of power in a more tangible way, today we are going to look more closely at Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son.

This parable is a fascinating revelation of divine love in action but it also highlights this use of God’s divine power we have been talking about.

• In reality this parable tells us more about the Father than it does about the prodigal.

• A better name for the parable would be, “The parable of the loving father.”

I have mentioned this before but we need to regard this parable in the broader context of the relationship between a loving God and a rebellious humanity.

• The Father had created the perfect environment in Eden for mankind to relate to Him in love and communion, yet humanity rejected His overtures of love in much the same way the prodigal does in this story.

• Yet this same God we rejected provides the means for our reconciliation and then welcomes us back with open arms.

We begin by looking at the preamble to the story in Luke 15 as this sets the scene for what later transpires.

• The chapter begins with the Pharisees and religious teachers criticizing Jesus for associating with sinners and tax collectors—even eating with them!

• Right from the beginning of this story we see a powerful demonstration of God’s love, His concern for the outcasts and the less desirable in society.

• Then to add insult to injury, Jesus responds with the parable of the lost sheep, showing the unconditional love God has for the lost.

• Also it is the good Shepherd who initiates the search for the lost. In fact, He leaves the 99 other good sheep in church while He goes looking for the lost.

• It’s as if the 99 are incidental to the story.

• Neither does He wait for the lost to become good law abiding, God fearing, respectable citizens before going after them.

Jesus then follows up with the parable of the lost coin.

• Again, the emphasis is on the lost. The other nine coins are almost incidental.

• So we need to approach the parable of the prodigal in the same way, with the emphasis on the attitude of the father towards the “lost” son.

Parable of the lost son.

• The story begins with the younger son demanding his father give him an early share of his inheritance.

• He is really saying, “Dad, I wish you were dead, that way I can get on with my life instead of wasting my time in this boring environment.”

• Very similar to what Adam and Eve told God. “We want to experiment a bit ourselves without you constantly looking over our shoulder.”

• And as in the case of Adam and Eve, the father, being the gentleman that he is, and despite the fact he has within his power the right to refuse the son’s demand, he honors the son’s decision and allows him to go off on his own and learn the difference between good and evil.