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Luke 15:1 Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering around to hear him.
Interesting how people loved to be with Jesus, even if they weren't a bit like him... I want to be one of that kind.
2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them."
The good people matter to God. The bad people don't. The good people should stay away from the bad people.
That's the perspective of the Pharisees. Thank God we're not like those people -- we're good.
Then Jesus tells 3 stories that give us HIS perspective.
The lost sheep, the lost coin, the Lost son.
I'm going to read you the first 2 stories, then work my way through the 3rd story.
3 Then Jesus told them this parable:
4 "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?
5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders
6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.'
7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
8 "Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?
9 And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.'
10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."
11 Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons.
12 The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them.
13 "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.
14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need.
15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs.
16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
17 "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!
18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.
19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.'
20 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.
21 "The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. '
22 "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.
23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate.
24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate.
25 "Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing.
26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on.
27 'Your brother has come,' he replied, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.'
28 "The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him.
29 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.
30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!'
31 "'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.
32 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.'"
A few common threads run through all these stories. Jesus tells them three times -- I think he's hoping we'll GET IT! :)
Here are the common threads, the things Jesus wants you to get:
1. In all 3 stories, something of value was __lost____.
Illustration: Following an exhilarating performance at New York’s Carnegie Hall, celebrated classical cellist Yo-Yo Ma went home, slept, and awoke the next day exhausted and rushed. He called for a cab to take him to a hotel on the other side of Manhattan and placed his cello—hand-crafted in Vienna in 1733 and valued at $2.5 million—in the trunk of the taxi. When he reached his destination, he paid the driver, but forgot to take his cello.
After the cab had disappeared, Ma realized what he had done. He began a desperate search for the missing instrument. Fortunately he had the receipt with the cabby’s ID number. After searching all day the taxi was located in a garage in Queens with the priceless cello still in the trunk. Ma’s smile could not be contained as he spoke to reporters.
Citation: Greg Asimakoupoulos, writer and speaker, based on story in Chicago Tribune (10-17-99), in sermon by Larry Sarver here: http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/the-3-things-needed-for-reaching-the-lost-larry-sarver-sermon-on-evangelism-how-to-49316.asp?Page=5
God is a God who is motivated by passionate, wholehearted love. Does he hate sin? Yes, he does. But His hatred for sin motivates him to RESCUE YOU FROM IT!
Now, you see what I mean? For that one, you'd do more than bend down and pick it up, or get out of your car to pick it up... you'd go across town!!
2. In all 3 stories, someone was ___looking for_____ what was lost.
See when God says "I love you" -- he's not talking about just the kind of "i love you" that sounds nice, but doesn't mean anything. It's not lip service.
It's a love that motivates him to REALLY LOOK to really SEARCH!
He said, "babe, I know that cat meant so much to you. It would probably just cost us $100 to get a new one, but I'll put an ad in the paper offering a $5,000 reward for it's return." His wife was so touched -- "oh, baby you'd do that for me? That's why I love you, I'm so lucky!"
Someone questioned the man, "Isn't that a large reward for a cat?"
He responded, "When you know what I know, no price is too high."
Something of value was lost...
Not fake value, or giving "voice" value to something, pretending to e concerned -- but REAL, genuine value, that sends you bending down, changing your schedule, making sacrifices that REALLY COST YOU SOMETHING!
That's what God did. He didn't just lean down. He didn't just go across town. He went from heaven to earth. He went from a cradle to a cross.
You're valuable.
I have no time at all for this kind of stupid "God hates you" message from "churches" which are really cults like Westboro baptist
I don't think they've ever read:
John 3:17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
If you have this picture of God as a villian, waiting to hit you with a club, angry all the time... you need to tear up that picture and see God here in these stories --
a worried shepherd, wandering through the storm, calling out for the sheep...
A desperate woman, on her knees in the dust of the dirt floor, desperately looking...
A faithful Father, looking down the road for a glimpse of a son returning...
God is looking -- God is seeking for you!
3. In all 3 stories, being "found" means repentance.
The first two stories tell about objects, and obviously a coin and a sheep cant repent. In the first 2 stories, Jesus clarifies what he means, when he says, "
7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
You can't just return. You must repent.
What is repentance?
A change of mind demonstrated by a change in behavior.
A deliberate, whole-hearted turning away from sin & toward Jesus.
11 See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter.
4. In all 3 stories, when the lost was found, there was celebration.
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. It was a story reflecting the Old Testament idea of strict legalism. In fact the Old Testament prescribed that a father could have a rebellious son stoned to death. Deuteronomy 21:18-21 says, “If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey…his father and mother shall bring him to the elders and say, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a profligate and a drunkard.’ Then all the men shall stone him to death.” Some of you who have rebellious teenage sons may think that’s a great verse! That was the way the Pharisees expected the father in the story to treat his son.
SOURCE: From a sermon by David Dykes here: http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/what-is-god-really-like-david-dykes-sermon-on-parable-prodigal-son-56833.asp?Page=5
“he was filled with compassion and he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.” The Greek verb there indicates he kept on kissing him. We would say he “smothered him with kisses.”
In the Jewish culture, men wore long robes. In order for a man to run, he had to lift the hem up and hold it high to keep from tripping over it. In doing so, he would bare his legs, which was considered highly undignified. Men of respect never ran; it would have been embarrassing. But can’t you see this father grabbing handfuls of robe and running toward his son? He didn’t wait for the son to reach him, he ran to meet the son. He hugged and kissed his rebellious son before the son said one word! Remember the son had been working in the pigpen. He looked and smelled awful, not exactly the kind of person you want to hug and kiss! The father could have said, “Oh, you’re back–good. Clean yourself up before you come into this house!” But instead, the father accepted him “just as he was.”
SOURCE: Same message by David Dykes
When you _____repent_________, God _____restores____!
"I'll treat you as though you never left."
In his book, Capital of the World, Ernest Hemingway wrote about a father in Spain who had a son named Paco. Because of his son’s rebellion, Paco and his father were estranged. The father was bitter and angry with his son, and kicked him out of the home. After years of bitterness, the father’s anger ended and he realized his mistake. He began to look for Paco, with no results. Finally, in desperation, the father placed an ad in the Madrid newspaper. The ad read, “PACO, ALL IS FORGIVEN. MEET ME AT THE NEWSPAPER OFFICE AT 9AM TOMORROW. LOVE, YOUR FATHER.” Paco is a rather common name in Spain, and Hemingway wrote when the father arrived the next morning, there were 600 young men–all named Paco–waiting and hoping to receive the forgiveness of their fathers.” SOURCE: Ibid, Dykes
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 and she pointed her dirty finger to Luke 15:2. The preacher had been using the King James Version, and it says, “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! Source: Ibid, Dykes
