Last week we looked at the slowness of Easter’s arrival for the disciples. They were locked away in a room. They were full of fear and doubts. Jesus appears, it would be easy to claim that that fixed everything for the disciples.
But it did not; we know that if we read through the different accounts. It will actually take 50 days for the power of Easter to take off in these followers. It will take 50 days for the spirit of God to draw the disciples back into public and ultimately create a group of people that are bold enough to speak the good news in spite of the dangers.
Last week I asked what it was that was keeping us in this closed room? What things we need Jesus to show us so that we need in order to really celebrate the good news in order to allow people to see Jesus in you and your actions.
Ok, let’s set the stage for today’s scripture, at this point in Luke, Jesus is at the peak of his teaching. Religious leaders are following him around watching him and listening to his every word. But they are not alone….
In Luke 15:1-2 It says, “Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering around to hear him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them."
Jesus tells three parables in response. We will look at the third one in our discussion today. Luke 15:11-32
Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ’Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
"Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
"When he came to his senses, he said, ’How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’ So he got up and went to his father.
"But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
"The son said to him, ’Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
"But the father said to his servants, ’Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
"Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ’Your brother has come,’ he replied, ’and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
"The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ’Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
" ’My son,’ the father said, ’you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ "
What God is looking for…..
Luke 15:11-31
For the next few weeks we are looking at vision. Not the eyesight kind but more of the picture of the mind. We are going to try to find out what God sees and see if we might move our perspective to be closer to God’s point of view.
As with most of you, my parents raised me up in church. It did not matter if I like my Sunday school teacher or not. We were there mostly on time go to Sunday School and worship and then again in the evening for MYF – Methodist Youth Fellowship.
That was the pattern until I moved out of their home ( 19 ) in preparation of getting married.
-- One of the lessons in our scripture today teaches the hearers about God’s viewpoint. His parable is being spoken to the “tax collectors” and “Sinners” but, the “Pharisees and teachers of the law” were also listening to the message.
He is also speaking to us today; basically, no matter what category we happen to be in.
What does this message say to us today?
Normally, we read this story and we focus on the relationship between the younger son and the father or the older son and the father. Today I want to examine the parable – a story told for teaching to start out thinking about a vision for our church and ourselves.
What we are here for? What are we supposed to do with our days and nights?
I believe that God’s vision starts in his heart…We don’t really know if He has a heart like we have so, let me say from the core of his being.
In our scripture today, it is commonly understood that the father represents God, the younger son- the known sinners of the day and the older son plays the role of the Pharisees and teachers – the religious community.
We are focusing on the interactions with the father to help us with what is important.
The first place that includes a mention of the Father is in Verse 12. It says,
“The younger one said to his father, ’Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.”
This statement by the younger son was a big break with acceptable behavior.
To paraphrase, “I want my inheritance” means “father I wish you were dead.” I want to move on with life and I don’t need you….just our money. It would have been an absolute statement of disrespect.
The father was within his right to turn this son across his knee…but, it would have more traditionally been that he would beat him with a whip or a stick. In the day, this mythical father had the real right to kill this disrespectful son and the community would have considered it to be a just act.
-- Kids think that their punishment and discipline is rough and unfair today.
In my situation, I had a reason to move out. I was not rejecting my parents. For me and most of us it a relatively natural stage of life to get a job and become independent.
However, it was not the normal step back then. It was farming and herding culture. You needed family to stay around; because, you needed people you could trust working and supervising.
The listeners of the day would have a fairly limited perspective of what the father would be like. The Father was the head of the household and king of his castle no matter how small and limited. If the son lived, he would probably not be welcome there ever again.
The idea that the son would disrespect the father was strange enough to the hearers…But the father’s response was even more radical in that culture.
Jesus said, “So he divided his property between them.”
I can only guess what the looks of the people’s faces would have been, confusion, surprise, disbelief. There might have been gasp or sighs heard from the listeners.
If this is God’s perspective as described Jesus it might seem surprising even to us today.
The Father in the story allows the younger son to break off the relationship without a word, no warning or pronouncement of condemnation.
-- Folks, that is a description of free will.
God allows people to choose their path and relationship.
When I moved out of my parents home, I also dropped out of church. I had all kinds of excuses when I was asked about it.
I think of the period of the next 14 or so years as being my prodigal experience.
My wild living was a bit limited unless you count going to our friend’s parents home to play UNO or video games until 1 or 2 AM. The refreshments were sometimes pretty strong, diet coke, cheese and onion dip and a variety of chips.
Radical life style, long hours, strange foods….. wild living.
I have always felt that my personal testimony was pretty boring. My prodigal experience would not be called wild my most people. While not sinless, it would hardly be considered heathen.
I was a good guy and maintained my nerd tendencies which I still exhibit today.
But, it was still an experience that was comparable to this story. I went off to live life the way I wanted, I dragged the good Baptist girl into this lifestyle that also separated her from her church family. We choose to leave church family and go our own way.
The parable goes on where the money gives out, the economy where the younger son crashes and the son wakes up standing in the Pig pin feeling the hunger for food and fearing for his life. It said that, “he came to his senses.”
Back in my story, we thought we were happy enough. We moved around the country pursuing our life and our happiness. We had opportunities for work, we had children and things were doing fine.
Then we hit a time when I started to REALLY pray again… at least for a time.
I prayed out of guilt and fear and pain.
It was a time when I cried out to God and felt like there was no answer to my offer of a deal. “God, I know I have been gone a long time but, I do believe…and IF you will help us…if you give us a miracle, I will come back to you.”
The requested miracles never came.
In the times of trouble we failed to recognize the constant blessings that God never removed form our lives. We failed to recognize the angels that attended us or the embrace that kept us sane and together.
Verse 20 starts , “So he got up and went to his father.
It took another 5 years to come to my senses and think about returning to the church, to the father.
-- I think that when your memories about God are really old, you tend to remember the hard stories more than the gift of grace.
You tend to remember judgment instead of salvation and the comfort of belonging.
Eventually, I recognized that there was something, a voice, calling out to my soul. A voice that helped me to realize that I was lost and that I needed to return to something from my youth.
The scripture returns to the father:
"But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.”
The Father sees the son a long way off and has compassion….No building up of anger or remembrance of the disrespect. There are more cultural things about running and the protocol between a father and son….especially a disrespectful son. But we will not go into them now, just know that it is another stretch of normal expectation.
This part of the story tells me that God is always watching for your return for our desire to have or renew our relationship.
-- No matter how far we have gone or wasteful we have been. He is ready to run to where we are and embrace and welcome us back.
The son starts asking for forgiveness and starts to insist that he is unworthy of being called a son.
In verse 22 we get another snapshot of the father. "But the father said to his servants, ’Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
The Father is not looking for more repentance or begging, He had already accepted his son back. There is no discussion, no limits, He dresses him like family, he calls for a celebration.
The love of the father in the story never stopped, even when the son denied the father.
That tells me that God’s love and forgiveness is unrestricted, unrivaled and absolute. That means that we are really welcome and loved. God’s only requirement is that we are willing to return home.
It took me a long time but that is what I learned, about the heavenly father. He wanted us to come back home. He sent invitations that I ignored and disregarded because, I knew what I was like. I had been gone too long. I feared what people might think of me. I was undeserving. On top of all of that, any church I might try, the people were all strangers.
-- The younger son headed home out of hunger. When I went back I felt that I had to have an excuse. I decided to head home – to church - for the kids.
I tried to claim that …. But I quickly knew it was not true. On the first Sunday I reentered my fathers’ house I realized that I knew the language. I was welcomed by people that could not see my past and did not question my worthiness. It was just a matter of weeks before we were regulars.
In less that a year we were active in the different ministries and committees of the church.
One last glimpse of the father involves an interaction between the Father and the oldest son. The oldest son is stomping around in the yard refusing to go in the house and join the celebration.
Starting In Verse 31 we read, " ’My son,’ the father said, ’you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ "
The oldest son is willing to hold a grudge, and be disappointed and angry because of the father’s love for the younger son. He is jealous that the father would take him back.
The Religious leaders wonder why God would come and spend so much time with the obvious mess-ups, the sinners, the tax collectors. These people were not welcome in the synagogue and temple for a reason. Therefore, they are probably not as welcoming as they could be,….
The father in the parable on the other hand acknowledges the faithfulness of the older loyal son. And He encourages the older son to the celebration of restoration.
-- Folks there are plenty of lost sons and daughters in our world. I have been one of them and perhaps you have too. No matter the reasons for their separation, their problem boils down to a self-imposed separation from God the father.
They have a problem how knowing how God feels about what they have done and who they are.
They may have a problem with their brothers and sisters that never left home and have never let them forget how bad they messed up.
They may have a problem is thinking they know what God is looking for…..And are sure that they have not got it.
How can they be sure especially if they have never been in a church before?
All too often they meet people that are happy to tell them what is wrong in their life. People that discount their value and look down on their mistakes and choices.
Some of those judges might be Christians…
How can we avoid doing the wrong things….We need a standard….a guide to help us in our thinking and planning. We could also call it a vision of where we are headed.
What is our vision? What is it leading us to do and be?
Are we welcoming and easy to approach? I will suggest that we think so.
We have been going to church all or at least most of our lives. We choose to get up on Sunday and anyone that wants to be here is welcome to come in the door the same as us.
That does not sound that bad. But, isn’t that really setting standards and rules that an outsider would not understand.
Let’s review God’s perspective from our scripture:
- We found in our scripture that God is accepting of free will.
- It is open to a relationship regardless of the past and even watched the horizon in hopes of a change..
- It accepts the returning child with no conditions and even honored and especially celebrated the return.
- It encourages an openness of the people in a full relationship with God to be the same way.
What do we as a church use to chart our course?
As Far as I know, we don’t have a long term plan or map of the direction that we think that God is calling us toward. We end up making our decisions on a month to month and sometimes a year to year basis but that is actually short sited.
For the most part we live within the box of this church thinking that if we keep things going from month to month we are doing fine….
Basically, we aren’t going anywhere because we don’t have a plan or even a direction. The walls limit our thinking and keeping most of us in and accidentally keeping others out.
How can we do something about that….?
The answer is not easy to pin down but I believe it has to do with the vision that the church has for itself and that the members know that we have a mission and a direction that we believe is what we are called by God to do.
Let me share - My personal vision statement: I want to be a part of a church that moves people toward Jesus Christ by being a community church that loves and encourages and equips normal people, (sinners), with knowledge of Christ and sends them out to serve.
-- Notice that I don’t mention a building, or membership goals, or specific events.
To me those are goals which are ultimately limits or walls. Some might be obtainable which we would feel as if we have reached a stopping point. Or they might be impossible for us and we fee restricted and stop short.
Some of you may be wondering how this affects us or you. This is Tom’s vision statement not ours….
That leads me to ask you, What is your vision statement?
What simple statement do you use to help you to focus your spiritual journey. If you have one have you tried to match it to What scripture says is God’s view appears to be.
As we look at this parable as a whole, it is easy to place our selves in the role of the younger son. We came back to church and found God’s love and acceptance.
But there is a big danger for us. The longer you have been a Christian the easier it is to become more like the older brother. We want to remind God of how good and faithful we have been and feel hurt that God seems to be looking past us to people that ate wasting their lives and ignoring Him. Like the older son, there is a danger that we will become unwilling to get involved because we are unwilling to share our father’s love.
The big point is that a church with no vision beyond the walls of the church is self centered, internally focused. A church that hides behind the walls is not useful in the kingdom of God. The point of the parable is to teach us that we should demonstrate the kind of love that the Father has for his wayward children. That is the main mission of the church.
We should have a longing to help people hear about Jesus and find a welcoming invitation to return. We should be willing to offer respect and dignity and the full rights of the household to these people and celebrate when by his grace they return.
This is the love that Jesus shared. This is the love that we received when we came to God. This is the love that we live inside of right now as God’s people. And this is the very love that we are called to share with the world around us and that’s why we want to be a church without walls, without man made limits.
All Glory be to GOD!
