I’m not sure if I have ever had so many things happen in a short time that would point to this being the very passage I need to teach from today.
For example, about 10 days ago we received a prayer letter from missionaries we support in the Netherlands, the Van Dillens. They had mentioned in a previous letter that two of their young adult sons were estranged from God and largely estranged from them. I’m always concerned about the spiritual welfare of the children of believers, so I replied to them to ask if there had been any contact with their two sons at Christmas time. I immediately received a very sad reply from Sandra Van Dillen that it had been minimal. One of her sons only contacts them when he needs someone to watch his dog. The other had blocked them from all his social media accounts, had sent back the monetary Christmas gift they had sent to him, and had been bad-mouthing his parents to their mutual acquaintances. The heartache she was experiencing for her babies was palpable.
And then last week as I was engaged in a Bible study with three godly women in our congregation, I asked for prayer requests to start out. All three were involved in similar situations in which adult children were not only estranged from God but also from their parents.
It is such a common theme among Christians of our generation. I see it on the prayer requests that I receive from all of you every week. Every week there are multiple requests for adult children who have strayed from the Lord, and sometimes even have rejected relationship with their parents.
And for those and other reasons this morning, the Parable of the Prodigal Son seems like a message that I’ve been prepared to preach this morning, because it is so relevant to so many of us here.
It’s famously known as the Parable of the Prodigal Son, but more appropriately it might be called the Parable of God’s Heart.
And my question for each of you this morning is this: Do you have God’s heart for his straying “children?” Do you have God’s heart for His babies who are lost and want nothing to do with Him. He feels about them the same way you do about your own estranged children. He yearns for their return and rejoices when it happens. God’s heart, as we’ve seen from these three parables in Luke 15, bleeds for the estranged and lost among his offspring.
In Luke 14, Jesus has just stated the exacting demands of being one of his disciples. For instance, in Luke 14:33, He had just said, “none of you can be my disciples who does not give up all his own possessions.”
Not exactly a way to win friends and influence enemies, is it?
But guess who shows up to hear him in the wake of those comments. And it’s not whom you would think. It’s not the religious people, or the godly, that are showing up to hear more from Jesus. Of all people, it’s the non-religious people, the people of ill repute who are held in contempt by every religious Jew. It’s the proverbial tax-collectors and the sinners who were coming near to listen to Jesus.
Now the self-righteous religious leaders are there as well, but not to hear Jesus but to criticize Him. And it’s on this very point that they are critical. Verse 2: “Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, “this man receives sinners and eats with them.” Again, Jesus is accused of being a friend of tax-gatherers and sinners. The tax-gatherers were hated because they were the agents of the Gentiles, namely the Romans, against their own people, and they made themselves rich at the expense of their own people, by charging far more for taxes than the Romans required. More than that, they associated with Gentiles, which was not Kosher. The rabbinic teaching on the matter was that righteous Jews were not to associate with non-law keepers and especially Gentiles even if it was motivated by a desire to bring them into obedience to the Jewish Law. And then there were the sinners, the people that every religious Jew knew paid no attention to the Law, they were the spiritual rabble, unclean because of their obvious involvement in sin. So the common phrase “Tax gatherers and sinners” was used of people who were held in contempt by the self-righteous religious elite of the day--the Pharisees and scribes, who were scrupulously devoted to following not just the Old Testament laws, but also all the man-made rabbinic traditions which had been handed down to them. So, they grumbled about Jesus’ association with these sinners, because, in their view, if He were the godly man, even the prophet, He was claiming to be, He would have had nothing to do with such spiritual scum.
So, it’s in this environment that Jesus tells consecutively three different parables, that all building upon one another and intended to emphasize the same thing—God’s bleeding heart for the lost—how his heart loves and yearns for those who have been estranged from Him.
The first is the Parable of the Lost Sheep. Verse 4: “What man among you if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not lev the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds it.’ Jesus reflects on the common practice of the many shepherds among them. It’s apparent that it was taken for granted that if a shepherd lost just one of his sheep among a hundred, absolute priority would always be given to finding the one who had strayed. That’s emphasized by the fact that the normal shepherd would leave his flock of 99 in the open field, abandoning them temporarily, all for the sake of a single sheep that had strayed. And he would do so until he found the lost sheep.
Verse 5: “When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he called together his friends and his neighbors, saying, to them, “Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!” There’s a minor celebration that takes place when there’s a reunion.
And then Jesus in verse 7 brings his point home: “I tell you that in the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine who need no repentance.” In other words, God feels the same way about the lost sinner who is found, who repents, as a shepherd does about his single lost sheep. That lost sheep is His priority until he’s found, or until he repents, and when he repents, there’s a party in heaven. God is more excited at that moment about the repentance of that single lost sinner, than he is for the moment about the 99 who never needed repentance.
Now think for a moment what that means for this morning. It means that yes, God is pleased that his flock is gathered here this morning and we’re worshipping Him. But what really excites Him, what causes God to celebrate, is if there’s one person here who has not formerly followed Jesus who decides to do so this morning. That’s the big deal to God.
That means, also, that if one of those folks who walking his dog this morning out in the park instead of worship God, if that person were to repent this morning, that would be a far bigger deal to God than the 99 of us here who don’t need repentance. That’s His priority. And that’s His heart. And we might ask ourselves whether it’s ours.
And just in case Jesus hasn’t gotten his point across, he then begins to talk about what happens when we misplace a substantial sum of money. It becomes a priority to find it! Verse 8, “Or what woman if she has ten silver coins and loses on coin does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost!”
Now when Jeanie and I were in Israel we had the privilege if visiting a restored first-century home, in the daytime. And it was dark inside. There were hardly any windows, and of course there was no electric lighting. If you lost something in such a house, it would be difficult to find. You would have to light whatever primitive lamp they had back then and make a diligent search to find it, not knowing whether you would find it. And maybe it was a day’s wage or the equivalent of a couple hundred dollars. That would matter wouldn’t it? And it did to this lady. She worked hard at it, and when she found it, it was time to share her joy with others.
And then again, Jesus makes his point: verse 10: “In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
Two things to notice about verse 10: First, “There is joy in the presence of the angels.” He doesn’t say the angels are celebrating, though I suspect they are. But who are the angels of heaven in the presence of? God Himself. They experience the joy of God Himself over how many sinners who have repented. Over a single sinner who repents. Wow, each one of us matters to God, and we matter a great deal. On the day we repented and came to faith in Jesus, there was great celebration not just among the angels, but joy for God Himself. You matter to God. And so does even the sinner whom you know who might be most despised by you—someonewho is on the other side of the political, social or racial spectrum..
Now I think it was about 20 years ago that one of our girls in their early teenage years became extremely frustrated with her life was going, as young adolescents often do. She responded by pushing one of her sisters out of the way, and suddenly exiting our house and just walking away, without a goodbye. I think she’d been gone for about 10 or 20 minutes when we realized what had happened. And she was nowhere to be found, at least initially, not in our neighborhood or anywhere nearby. Because we stopped everything, and began looking intensely, as you might imagine. When about a half hour or so had passed, and we couldn’t locate her anywhere, we called our friends from church and asked them to join the search for her. And eventually, about an hour or so later, she was found walking on a street about two or three miles away. You better believe Jeanie and I were relieved, and celebrated, and shared the news joyfully with all who had joined in the search. God feels the same way about his offspring, I could say, his kids, using the term loosely, as you do your own. As Jesus said about His coming, He came expressly to seek and to save that which is lost, and it’s borne out of his great love for us. It’s His priority, It’s His heart. Is it ours?
God wants us to cultivate his heart for the lost. We should seek to have and pray about a godly heart that searches diligently for the lost and rejoices with Him when they return.
Now if Jesus hasn’t made his point powerfully enough, he will drive it home with his final very powerful parable.
Yes, a man had two sons. As they matured, into their young manhood, the younger of the two tells his father he wants the share of his father’s state that belongs to him delivered to him immediately. In other words, he wants his inheritance, and his father complies. And the son in a few short days packs everything he wants and takes his money to live in a distant country, far from his father and family, and he squanders his estate with loose living. That’s what the word prodigal means—wasteful spender. And it doesn’t take much imagination to figure out what he’s wasted his money on—immoral behavior, wine and women. He was drinking around and sleeping around, fulfilling whatever wanton pleasure he had without regard to God, hiss father, or anyone else.
Until the day came when he had spent everything. It was all gone, and it so happens at the point he ran out of money a severe famine overtook the country in which he was living, and as it says, he became impoverished—absolutely destitute. So, in the crisis, he went and hired himself out as a man who keeps pigs. Now, you’ve got to know what this represented to any godly Jew. Pigs were unclean, and so he had really hit bottom when he had to go to work at a hog farm. And then he found himself longing for the pods that the pigs were eating. The pigs were doing better than he was doing, and finally he hit what we call rock bottom.
At this point, he had what we might call a revelation. His father’s hired hands had had more than enough to eat, and here he was dying with hunger. And so, he decided to return, to humble himself and admit to his father—verse 18: “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son, make me as one of your hired men.”
And so here is where the story gets really interesting. Verse 20: “So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, Qujickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet and bring the fattened calf, kill it and let us eat and celebrate, for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again, he was lost and has been found. And they began to celebrate.”
So, no doubt this had been a long time in coming. Did you notice even though it had been a long time, the father saw his son coming from a long way off? My bet is that the father’s eyes never strayed for long from that point on the horizon where had last seen his son trudge off into oblivion, wondering whether he would ever see him again. He was always yearning, praying and hoping that this day would finally come. And so, one day, hoping against hope, here comes a distant and dark figure that appeared on that horizon. His dad notices immediately and wonders if it couldn’t finally be his long-lost son. He’s skeptical at first, hopes had been dashed too many times, and the figure is a bit lean and scraggly, a little harrier than he remembered from before, but that gait, it’s familiar. Yes, it must be his son, his long-lost son! And as soon as he recognizes him, that old man in his old age, gets up and runs like he had never run in his old age to meet his long-lost son. And when he gets there, he hugs him for all he’s worth, and the Greek here indicates he absolutely covers him in kisses, he is so excited to see his long-lost son again. And he doesn’t even hear his son’s confession, or his offer. “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son, make me as one of your hired men.”
Nope, the excited Father will have none of that. Instead, he calls his servants, and has them bring out his best robe, his best sandals, and a ring on his hand, and he calls on his servants to kill the fatted calf, reserved for only the best parties, and it’s time to celebrate, for this son of his who was lost has been found, this son of his who was as good as dead, is alive again from the dead.
This is how God feels about one sinner who repents. This is how God celebrates over one sinner who repents. This is the bleeding and now celebrating heart of God for every lost sinner who returns to him—a heart of compassion that forgives lavishly and immediately and welcomes the repentant for a party!
God wants us to have his same heart for the lost—the heart that yearns for the lost, longs for their return, and celebrates when they do. Glory Hallelujah!!! He who was dead is back from the dead!!!
Have God’s yearning heart for the lost as though they are your own lost babies. Make them your priority. Have compassion on them and seek them out even as Jesus did, no matter who they are or what they have done.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, all is not well. Someone is not happy with the course of events that day. It turns out it’s the self-righteous older brother. He’s been in the field and overhears the commotion of the party and investigates. He gets the story of what has happened from one of his father’s servants, and he is not happy. He refuses to come in and join the party because he’s sulking outside.
His father goes out and begins to plead with him to join. Instead of listening, the son provides this bitter reply: Verse 29: “Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you heave never given me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends; but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.”
You know who Jesus is talking to here. The self-righteous religious elite who were critical of the fact Jesus entertained tax-gatherers and sinners, and to any of us who might share their attitudes. And I want you to notice in verse 29 who this self-righteous older brother is really concerned about. Notice how many times “I, me and my” occur in verse 29: “Look for so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours, and yet you have never given me a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends.”
You know what this reveals about the heart of the self-righteous older brother, and religious leaders of Jesus’ day. They had a self-righteous, self-serving heart that bled only for themselves. And I encourage you to reject that kind of heart, because that is not God’s bleeding heart for the lost.
And so the prodigal’s father in reply to his self-righteous older son, reflects the heart of our compassionate God for every single lost sinner, whoever he might be: Verse 31: “And he said to him, ‘Son you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live and was lost and has been found.””
Have God’s bleeding heart for the lost, pray and seek for their repentance, and celebrate when they turn.
I didn’t have a prodigal son, but as many of you know, I had a prodigal father. I came to Christ in my late teens and my dad wasn’t exactly a big fan of the change. He once confessed to me that he had been fully involved in every vice, except gambling—yes, wine, women, porn and profanity. And he was puzzled why I wasn’t plunging headlong into the same sorts of things. He chided me for reading my Bible too much; he overtly rejected my purposes in life, he discouraged my involvement in evangelism.
And once I became convinced he was lost, I began praying for him diligently, and did so for eight years, which is a long time when you’re in your twenties.
I moved far away. Then my mom revealed that Dad had nearly lost his job after dressing down his boss in front of the air force brass, and as everything he had counted on in his life for security and significance was about to fall apart, I received a very rare letter from him. Though he had tried to disguise the letter as really being about something else, he let me know that he had begun reading his Bible, of all things. He had gotten as far as where Jesus had talked about an eye for an eye, and a toot for a tooth, and said it all sounded awfully harsh. And so, seizing the opportunity, I immediately wrote him back explaining how the mercy of God could trump the justice of God for him if he would only receive God’s gift of forgiveness through Christ’s death for his sins.
Another letter immediately came—and I could see dad’s figure coming home on that distant horizon. He asked, “Seeing that I have committed various sins, how do I go about receiving God’s gift—i.e., the giving of Christ’s life for my sins.” I sent another long letter back and explained how. Then, a week later I got a call late at night from my sister telling me my dad had finally come home.
And I’ll tell you what, though it was late at night, there was not only a celebration in heaven, but there was also a non-stop celebration in Jim Wallace’s basement apartment that night. There were hallelujahs and shouts of joy and thanksgiving that I’m sure reached the rooftop—I don’t know that anyone in that house slept that night because my joy could not contained!!!
And you know what, that’s one experience I want to repeat over and over again in my life. And my question for you, is how about you?
If so, make God’s heart your heart—the heart bleeds that for the lost, and it will!
Let’s pray.
