Series: Lost
Message: Exile and Return (Jesus Wants to Save America; Jesus Wants to Save the Church; or Jesus Wants to Save “Christians”)
Text: Luke 15; Romans 4:1-8; Genesis 27-35
Date: August 28, 2011
Pastor: David McBeath
As Jason’s song suggests—God’s Love is all we’ll ever need. And Romans 5:8 tells us that “God demonstrated his love toward us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” God came to us and saved us!
With my message this morning, we go from Good News Jason sang about to Bad News! This bad news comes in the form of statistics about the church in the United States. These statistics are depressing and sometimes they are hard for Christians to hear.
According to The America’s Research Group survey, 95% of 20-29 year old evangelicals attended church regularly during elementary and middle school. That sounds pretty good. But really it’s not. Here’s why: Only 55% of them attended church when they got into High School. Worse still, only 11% still attend church today! Young Americans are deserting the church in droves. Sobering isn’t it!
This survey goes on to say that the number of Americans who call themselves Christians has dropped 11% since 1990. (The survey is a few year’s old—so the percentage is likely greater than this.)
Lifeway research (an entity of the Southern Baptist Church) predicts that membership in Southern Baptist Churches will drop 50% by the year 2050 if current trends continue. Dave Olson, the director of church planting for the Evangelical Covenant Church has done research that suggests that only 18.7% of Americans regularly attend church today! Only 18%! And he suggests this number will drop to 9% by 2050.
According to the Barna Group, 15% of Americans now say they have “no religion.” Only 8% said this in 1990. But the news gets worse. 46% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 34 say they have no religion. None! With all the different religions in the US, imagine how low the Christianity number must be!
With these statists we see a clear trend: The percentage of Christians in the US has been declining more and more with each successive generation.
Here’s the bad news. With these statistics, we can honestly say that we DO NOT live in a Christian nation. In fact, most-people say we live in the Post-Christian West. Western Europe and The United States were once Great Bastions of Christianity. 50 years ago Christianity in Europe became a mere shadow of its former existence. And, Christianity in the United States has and is quickly moving the same direction.
The result is this: Christianity is no longer the valued, prestigious, privileged, powerful, influential institution it used to be in our country! Our high school students don’t understand what I just said. They have not experienced a United States culture that has valued Christianity, or appreciated its influence. They have not experienced Christianity as a powerful, influential, prestigious, and valued institution in the US. Same goes for our 20 year olds.
Our 60 and 70 year olds have experienced this. They lived in a Christian Nation. Those were the good old days in the church. People went to church because you should. You joined a church because you wouldn’t be respected in society if you didn’t. But beginning in the late 60’s and picking up speed in the 70’s and 80’s the church lost its privileged, prestigious, powerful position in America. And most of us here this morning have experienced this loss.
Is it any wonder many Christians feel persecuted? Is it any wonder we feel isolated? Is it any wonder we feel pushed to the side? Is it any wonder our opinions don’t seem to matter? Is it any wonder we don’t enjoy the same privileges we had? Is it any wonder we don’t have the same political clout we once had? Is it any wonder morality is changing around us? Is it any wonder Christianity isn’t respected? Is it any wonder Christians now feel like outsiders?
Have you ever felt this way as a Christian? Do you feel “exiled” from your country or what you thought your country should be about and used to be about—because you are different than the majority of people around you? Have you ever felt like our country is being occupied by people who don’t value the Christian principles our nation was supposedly founded on?
What can you do about it? What can we do about it? The original title for my message this morning was Exile and Return. Indeed, American Christians are exiled in their own country! ...How do we return Christianity to its place of prominence in America? How do we make this a Christian land once again? Jesus has the answer. Jesus wants to save America! That’s my new title! Jesus’ answer is found in his parable of The Prodigal Son from Luke 15. Let me explain.
To see how Jesus answers our question, “How do we get Christianity to reclaim its honored/privileged position in America?”, we have to understand that Jesus is speaking to a group of people that feel the same way we do! You see the Jewish people were living in exile in their own land. The Romans were occupying it. They were ruling over them, in many ways like non-Christians are ruling America which was founded by Christians. … Judaism had lost its influence! The Israelites had lost their religious influence, their religious power, their religious prestige, and their religious privileges in their nation much like Christians, here, in the United States, today.
1st Century Jews were asking the same question we asked this morning. How do we reclaim or land? They wanted to know how 1st century Judaism could reclaim its power, prestige and privileged place in Israel. Just like we do! This is the context of the world where Jesus lives. This is all going on underneath the surface as Jesus tells the parable’s of the Lost Sheep, The Lost Coin, and The Lost Sons here in Luke 15.
What did the religious people of Jesus’ day think was the answer to their question about how to restore their religion to the prominence it once had? Look at Luke 15 verses 1and 2: They read:
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.
According to the religious people of Jesus’ day, the problem is sin and sinners. People are not obeying the Law, God’s Word. We call it the Bible today! Their answer as to how to get their religion back to the place of prominence it once had in the land is this: Get people to obey The Law! Get people to do what’s right! Quit sinning! …Sounds like a good answer! Doesn’t it! For those of you who have grown up in the church, how many of you have heard similar answers from our pulpits the past 20-40 years as we’ve experienced this decline in American Christianity?
Why did they think this would work? Well, they think God is punishing them for their sins as a nation. They believe God sent them into exile in other countries because of their sin and they believe that God has allowed foreign countries, with their foreign religions, to occupy them and control them because of their sin.
You know what they are right! That is what the prophets told them would happen. If you read the prophets in the Old Testament—you see this theme throughout! Let me give you a quick example. Listen to God speak thru Isaiah in chapter 1, verses 2-4:
Hear, O heavens! Listen, O earth! For the Lord has spoken: “I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me. The ox knows his master, the donkey his owner’s manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.” Ah, sinful nation, a people loaded with guilt, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken the Lord; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him."
And it goes on and on and on like this. God is a bit upset! Throughout the following chapters the prophet Isaiah keeps explaining what God has revealed to him about Israel’s sin. Then in chapter 5 verses 12 and 13, Isaiah tells Israel that God said they will go into exile as a nation because of their sins. Look what God says:
…they have no regard for the deeds of the Lord (how he’s taken care of them), no respect for the works of his hands. Therefore my people will go into exile for their lack of understanding.
It’s pretty obvious. God’s let this happen to them because of their sin! And, if God let this happen to them and their religion because of their sin, …they need to encourage the people to quit sinning! How do they do it?
Well, there are a few different groups within Judaism, their religion, that have a couple of different ideas. These groups are: 1. The Scribes (or Teachers of the Law) and Pharisees; 2.The Sadducees; 3.The Essenes; and 4.The Zealots.
Let’s start with the Scribes (or Teachers of the Law) and the Pharisees. They would be the equivalent of today’s evangelicals. How do they try to get people to quit sinning, obey the law and do what is right?
Teaching and education of course! They are the ones that study the Bible and teach it! They also apply subtle social pressure—you can’t hang out with us or eat with us if you are a sinner. Why? Because you are the reason God has put us in this mess. They also add some extra laws to follow. The say the Torah says this: and to make sure we don’t break this law, we are going to add this to it so we don’t even get close! They say, Repent. Quit sinning. Follow our teaching! And things will get a lot better around here!
Next we have the Sadducees. They are the rich. In that, I liken them to our mainline denominations. They are very much like the Pharisees—but they don’t add any extra’s to The Law. However, they are very severe on anyone that breaks it. Much more severe than the Pharisees! In that, maybe they are like our fundamentalists!
Then we have the Essenes. They are our modern day doom and gloom fundamentalist Christians. They are like—this ain’t working. No one’s listening to these Pharisees and Sadducees. Let’s separate ourselves from everyone. Let’s just go hide out in cave by the Dead Sea. We will be really righteous too! We will develop a little community with even more rules to follow. By following these rules we will show God how good we really are. Then maybe he will get rid of these sinners all around us that are running our land!
Finally we have the Zealots. They are your real extremists. Like the Muslim extremists or extremist Christians during the Crusades, they follow the Law to the letter and are ready to fight! They want to purge the land of the Infidels. They are ready to go to war against Rome in order to force their religion on the sinners in the land and return their religion to its place of prominence. Now we don’t have any Christians in the US ready to go to war with guns—but I hear a lot of rhetoric that would sound like the Zealots of Jesus’ day.
As a pastor, I get tons of mail relating to ministry. I used to get a letter once a week trying to get me to take high school students to an event called the BATTLE CRY. When I look through youth ministry magazines I see promotions with the words battle, war, enlist, fight, take a stand, and a call to arms. I see pictures of students in fatigues with Bibles in their hands, articles for youth pastors with the title an Army of One, an ad for a youth ministry network that says, “We are in the trenches with you.” When I look at church literature as a whole, I see words like culture wars, crusades, and taking “cities” for Jesus. But it doesn’t stop there, during campaign seasons I’ve received literature that talks about fighting back, mobilizing the troops, take back America and return her to her Christian roots. Maybe we have our own form of zealots?
So how did Jesus respond to the methods his contemporary religious leaders were using to get Israel to quit sinning in order to take Israel Back for God? How did Jesus address the question, How do we return Judaism/Christianity to it place of prominence in our country?
He told the parable of The Lost Sons. And it is this that addresses this national issue, this national question of exile and return. Here’s why.
When Jesus tells the parable of the LOST SON’S, he is reworking the Jacob Saga in Genesis 27-35. Bible scholars suggest that there are 51 similarities between Jesus parable of the Prodigal Son and the Jacob Saga in Genesis. Let me point out the obvious ones. Both stories are about a father and 2 sons. Both stories are about a son that is exiled from his Father. In both stories a son returns… and the list could go on and on. These facts wouldn’t be lost on the Jewish people that were listening to Jesus!
Why does Jesus rework Jacob’s story in Genesis? Jacob’s story is the story of Israel’s birth, literally! Jacob is born. Later, God changes Jacob’s name to Israel. His twelve sons become the tribes of Israel. When he tells this story, he is addressing his nation’s problem. He is addressing their question, “How do we return our religion to its place of prominence and influence again.” And Jesus answer is different than everyone else’s answer. Actually, his answer is so different it gets him killed.
Here’s Jesus’ answer. It’s multifaceted. When Jesus tells the story of The Prodigal Son, he is telling the religious leaders that they are asking the wrong question. The question is not, “How do we restore our religion to its place of prominence?” What’s the right question? I’m getting to it. Why’s it the wrong question. That brings me to the second part of Jesus’ answer.
When Jesus tells the parable of The Prodigal Son it shows that the religious leaders who are asking, “How do we restore our religion to its place of prominence?” are part of the problem. He is saying any one that asks this question is part of the problem!
Let me review the parable. The problem isn’t just sinners! Now, sin is a problem and Jesus doesn’t let the sinners off the hook in this parable. We talked about this in depth several weeks ago when I talked about the younger son in my message “Give Me”.
Remember, when the younger son demanded his inheritance he was saying he wanted the father Dead. The young son goes to a far of country. He wants to get as far away from his Dad as possible. The younger son represents the sinners Jesus hung out with. They wanted God dead. They wanted to get as far away from God as possible. I don’t have time to go over the ways Jesus didn’t let sinners off the hook. So if you didn’t hear this message you can listen to it on our website. It’s called “Give Me”.
So the religious leaders are right. “The Sinners” or “The Younger Sons” are a problem. But they are not the only problem. And, the religious people’s answer to “the sinners” problem, get them to quit sinning, is not the right answer.
What’s the other part of the problem? In Jesus’ story it’s “The Older Son”. Remember, when we talked about “The Older Son” a few weeks ago we learned that he was closer in proximity to the Father, but their relationship wasn’t close at all. Remember, he was in the field, …away, working, doing what was right, not sinning, but he was far from his Dad. The older son refused to go into the party. He wanted to stay away from his Dad. He wanted his Dad dead too! Why? So, he could get his inheritance! He worked for it! He was a slave for it! And his Dad was wasting his inheritance on his brother—the sinner! He asks, “Why does he get a fattened calf?
The religious leaders are the Older Son. They are sinners too! They slave with good works to get God’s stuff. They slave and do good things to make God give them their country back! They slave and do good things so their religion will have its place of honor, power, privilege and prestige back. They want their religion back for themselves, not God! Jesus is telling the religious people, “You are no different that the sinners you complain about. You just don’t want them to sin so you can have my stuff, so you can be privileged again. You are the problem!”
Let me stop here for a second. Could it be that the church in the US is no different than Judaism and the religious people of Jesus’ day? { }Do we want the benefits of Christianity in our country more than we want God? More than we want a relationship with Jesus? Could the US church be the problem, or part of it? Have we traded a relationship with God, a relationship with Jesus for religion …and the benefits of that religion? Are we only upset about the decline of Christianity because the benefits or the privileges that went along with being a Christian in America are being taken away from us? Have we made church, Christianity in the US, about what we can get out of it, what we can get out of God? …Is the US church the reason the younger generations are rejecting “Christianity” at alarming rates? Are they saying we are no different than anybody else?
That is what Jesus is saying. He is saying there isn’t a nickel’s worth of difference between the religious and the sinners! It just looks like there is!
If this is the case, what does Jesus say the answer is? How do we stop this alarming trend of people rejecting the Christian faith? Here is Jesus’ answer: He says, “It’s me! I’m the solution. I search for lost sheep. I find lost coins. I’m the Father in the parable that embarrasses myself to return a really bad young son (or sinner) to his home.” He says I am the solution. I am the Father who embarrasses myself at the party, that is been thrown for me, in order to get my older son, my “good” son, my son “who call himself a Christian” to come into my house and join the party!
Jesus says, “I gave up all my power, all my prestige, all the privileges of living in heaven to do this! I left my home. I wondered without a home, and was crucified outside the gate of Jerusalem, a sign of exile and rejection to bring both kinds of sinners home.
Jesus experiences the exile our human race deserves. He is alienated and cast out so we can be brought home. On the cross, Jesus loses fellowship and communion with God the Father. He cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me, so we can be brought in.”
Think of it this way, Jesus is the ultimate son, who was dead and cut off, and who is who now alive in order to create a new community of forgiven sinners. Even “Christian” sinners can be a part of this new community. Jesus want’s to save “Christians.” He wants to save “the church” He creates a true church to save America. Not the church we see in the US—that seems to be all about what it can get.
As we close, how do we stop the alarming trend, I talked about in the US? 1. We quit asking the wrong question. We don’t ask “How do we restore Christianity to its place of prominence in the United Sates.” It’s not about Christianity returning to its privileged position. Because most of the time when we ask this question, we are just wanting the privileges or benefits that go with America being a “Christian” nation and we demonstrate we are part of the problem. So 2, we have to quit being the problem 3. We have to realize Jesus is the solution, not doing good things. Not getting sinners to do good things. Not legislating morality. And 4, if we do this—he will make us the solution! He will live in us and we will become like him. We won’t want the benefits of a Christian nation. We will ask the right questions. How do we become like Jesus? How can we give up our power, our prestige, our privileges in order to bring lost brothers and sisters home? Power, prestige, privileges are not what a true Christian nation is about. We will be glad the church is in exile because it means it is more like Jesus! If the church is in exile it can point people to Jesus better! Maybe then our children want leave the Christian faith at the rates they are today! Jesus want’s to save America, but maybe exile is the way to return!!! The way it will be saved!!!! Let’s pray.
