“The Good & Beautiful God:
God Is Love”
Luke 15
February 13th, 2011
"‘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.'"
Luke 15:31-32 (NIV)
Introduction:
> Last week we looked at two parallel truths that exist in our world. You reap what you sow in this world. However, God is a generous God who looks past the evil we have sown and reaps where he has not sown and gathers to Himself where he has not spread seed.
> I felt it was important to show that not all world-narratives are false. We do reap what we sow. We do suffer consequences and reap rewards. There are consequences to our actions.
> But,
How many of us here are glad that we don’t always get what we deserve?
How many of us here are glad that we don’t always get what we have coming to us?
> God generously gives us multiple chances to call out to Him. He extends His grasp of love to us and invites us to draw up close to Him.
> Romans 5:8 says…
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:8 (NIV)
> We don’t deserve what God did for us through Christ Jesus. We were still sinners, yet Christ came and gave His life as a sacrifice for our sins.
> This brings us to today’s message, “God Is Love!”
A close kin to the narrative that we reap what we sow is the narrative that God’s love is based on our performance. If we are good, God will give us His love, but if we are bad, God will remove His love from us and look away.
> James Bryan Smith writes…
It’s as if God were on a kind of swivel chair, looking at us and smiling when we keep our minds, hands and hearts pure, but the moment we sin God turns His back on us. The only way to get God to turn back to us is by resuming our good behavior (Smith, The Good & Beautiful…, pg. 94).
> God is not fickle. He is not so easily controlled. How foolish we are to imagine that we can control how God feels about us.
> We like to believe that we have the power to control God’s love. This is legalism, the attempt to earn God’s love by our actions—to earn God’s favor and avoid God’s curses through pious activities (Smith, The Good and Beautiful…, pg. 96).
> God’s love is not under our control.
Jesus’ narrative says,
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."
John 3:16-17 (NIV)
> I like what James Bryan Smith wrote about this verse…
“Many people believe that God is mad at them, but for some reason he has yet to punish them fully. Such people would be more comfortable had Jesus said, “For God was so mad at the world that he sent his Son to come down and tell them to shape up, that whosoever would shape up would have eternal life. Indeed, God did send his Son into the world to condemn it, in order that the world might be saved through good works.”
> It doesn’t say that does it! NO! God sent his son into the world, not to condemn the world, but to save the world through HIM! God sent His son for all of us. The Greek word for love that is used here is the word, “agapaô” which is the verb form of the noun, “agapç.” Agape is one of five Greek words for love. It is the word used most often when describing the love God has for you and me!
> Since it is Valentines Weekend, I think it would be appropriate to review the five Greek words for love quickly.
Eros — Eros is the Greek word describing romantic love. It is the love that will be expressed in abundance tomorrow. Romance is a fickle type of love, however. For example, have you noticed that before marriage, men have no difficulty with eros? But, once their married, flowers and candy and dating sort of go out the window. It’s hard to keep romance alive. It is easily influenced by circumstances.
Storgé — Storgé is the Greek word for belonging/security love. It is the word that encompasses that secure feeling one gets from feeling wanted and feeling like they belong to another—they have a place. The recent Christianity today has a great article in it about human sexuality and the failure of the church to give Godly guidance on the matter. In the article, it points out that we were created in God’s image for physical community, to give oneself to another. This is storgé.
Phileô — Phileô is the comradeship between brothers. It is friendship and closeness. It is having things in common. Doing things together as buds. It is known as brotherly love.
Epithumia — This is the act of making love. It is physical intimacy.
> These four words for love are very familiar to us and these are what we think about when we think about the word “Love”. However, these four have to be worked at and require effort from both parties in order for them to exist.
You can’t have storgé if nobody will make you feel like you are safe and secure and that you belong with them.
You can’t have phileô unless you have someone who will spend time with you and be your friend. As I have said to my children before, “you have to be a friend if you want to have a friend.”
Of course, you have to work together to have çros and eventually epithumia in your marriage.
> These four are conditional forms of love.
But,
> Agape is the only form of love that is not conditional! Agape can be given even when the other person repels it and works against it. There is nothing another party can do to Agape—it is a choice, made by the individual, to give love under every circumstance and condition.
> God made a choice to give love to humankind no matter what.
God so loved the world (even when we didn’t deserve it, and we did nothing to earn it) that He gave His Son to us.
> Jesus gave a parable to us that describes perfectly the narrative of God’s unconditional love. It is affectionately known as the parable of the prodigal son. However, as James Bryan Smith says, it should be known as the parable of the Prodigal Father (pg. 99) because prodigal means “recklessly extravagant.” Smith writes…
We attach the word to the younger son, the one in the story who spends all of his inheritance on sinful living. But it is the father who is the most recklessly extravagant, offering his wealth to an ungrateful son and lavishly loving the son when he returns.
> The parable is so familiar to us that it is difficult for us to truly grasp the meaning that is found within the story.
> Luke 15 begins with these words…
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."
Luke 15:1-2 (NIV)
> Jesus had a tendency to attract the unsavory people of Israel. Sinners, prostitutes and those who were hated by others often drew near to Jesus. Some became disciples—Matthew, Mary Magdalene and Zaccheus are a few examples.
> Those who were law-abiding citizens of the realm didn’t like this. They felt that this was enough evidence to undermine Jesus and His ministry.
> So Jesus tells three stories: The Lost Sheep, The Lost Coin, and the Lost Son.
> In the parable of the lost sheep, we have a shepherd who has 100 sheep. When he realizes that he has lost one he leaves the 99 behind and goes out and searches for the one lost sheep.
> And Jesus says…
And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.
Luke 15:5-6 (NIV)
> In the parable of the lost coin, we have a woman with 10 silver coins. When she loses one she sweeps the entire house searching for it until she finds it. Then Jesus says…
And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.'
Luke 15:9 (NIV)
> At the conclusion of both of these parables Jesus declares, “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Luke 15:10 (NIV)
> Then Jesus begins to tell a story about a man who had two sons. The younger son considers his father as dead to him. He tells his father that he wants his father to give him his share of the estate. This is an astounding act of rudeness and disrespect.
> According to Deuteronomical Law this father could have his son stoned to death for such a thing. Deuteronomy 21:18-21 says…
If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him, his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town. They shall say to the elders, "This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a profligate and a drunkard." Then all the men of his town shall stone him to death. You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid.
Deut 21:18-21 (NIV)
> Of course, I cannot image that this happened, but it was within the parents’ legal right to do so.
> Then Jesus tells that the younger son took the money and went away and squandered all he had on wild living. He became so desperate that he hired himself out to the citizens in that foreign land. The only job he could get was feeding pigs.
> Jesus tells us that…
"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! I 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.
Luke 15:17-20 (NIV)
> Scholars have discovered a similar story to this existed among Jewish rabbis for many years before Jesus told it. In the earlier form, the younger son ran away and spent all his father’s money and when he came crawling home, the father rejected him. So, as Jesus was telling this story, the Pharisees and tax collectors were thinking, “Yeah, I’ve heard this one before.”
> His audience of Pharisees and tax collectors expected Him to say, “One day the father saw his son returning. He waited with his arms crossed. The broken-down son begged his father to take him back. But the father looked away from him and said, ‘Forget it! You had your chance. You’ve chosen to love like a pig, now go back to your pigs. You’ve made your bed, now lie in it!’ In the original story the father turned his son away and told him he was getting exactly what he deserved.
> But Jesus gives a different ending. He introduces a twist in the plot. Jesus tells the story…
“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.”
Luke 15:20 (NIV)
> The father was “filled with compassion” for his son! This tells us about the agape love of God for his children. The father made a choice to love—not based one what the son did, but based on the heart of the Father! Of course the father was disappointed in the choices the son made, but his love superseded his disappointment.
> This doesn’t mean that sin will go unpunished. Notice that the father didn’t not seek out the son when he didn’t want to be found. The father never forced him to come home and be restored. But when the son chose to come home, the father was waiting and the scripture says he ran out to meet him!
> Years ago, there was a bag lady in New York City who attended a preaching service at a Manhattan Rescue Mission.
> Afterwards in the line to receive soup, she mentioned to the preacher she was now ready to give her life to Jesus. She said, “I never knew until today that my name is in the Bible.”
> The preacher smiled and said, “What’s your name?”
> She said, “Edith. My name is Edith. And my name is in the Bible.”
> The preacher said, “I’m sorry ma’am but you must be mistaken. The name Edith never appears in the Bible.”
> She said, “Oh yes it does, you read it a few minutes ago!”
> He opened his Bible to the scripture he had read and she pointed her dirty finger to Luke 15:2. The preacher had been using the King James Version, and it said, “This man receiveth sinners and eateth with them.”
> She said, “There it is! Jesus receiveth sinners and Edith with them!” And indeed, the good news is Jesus does receive sinners, and Edith, and David, and Jane, and Mary, and John and anyone else who comes to Him!
> Notice the response of the father to the younger son. He restores him completely.
Robe—clothes him, covering his shame.
Shoes—slaves didn’t wear shoes, but a son wore shoes.
Ring—probably a family ring representing family authority.
> Then the party began. Killed the fatted calf and celebrated.
But,
> The parable doesn’t end there. The second part of the parable tells us of the older brother who is working in the fields. When he comes in for the night he hears the celebration and inquires of the servants why there is a party going on.
> One of the servants informs him that his brother has come home.
> Notice what the scripture says…
"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!'
Luke 15:28-30 (NIV)
> Notice what he says about what he has done:
All these years I’ve been slaving for you…
I never disobeyed your orders…
> This is the voice of one who believes that you earn the love of the Father.
> Remember that Jesus is teaching the Pharisees who grumbled because Tax Collectors and Sinners were gathering around Jesus.
> The Pharisees had to decide whether to accept that God welcomes sinners and to share in their joy. Sadly, they refused.
> It’s not that God ignores sin. But notice the response of the Father to the older son…
"'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.'"
Luke 15:31-32 (NIV)
Conclusion:
> When we live by the narrative that we must earn God’s love, then we have the power. This seems fair to us. It’s fair that we can decide who is loved and who isn’t.
> But Jesus teaches us that God’s love is not under our control. God’s love is given to the whole world and whosoever receives him and believes in his son can have eternal life.
Closing Prayer:
Closing Song:
