“The Day God Ran”
Luke 22:31-32; 2 Corinthians 5:18-20
Luke 22:31-32 "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers."
2 Corinthians 5:18-20 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were entreating through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
INTRODUCTION
Our lives are built on relationships. Parent/child; siblings; teacher/student; friends; peers; dating relationships; marriage; and the circle continues. None is more important however than our relationship to our heavenly Father because our entire existence hinges on whether or not we are living in healthy communion with Him. Just as Jesus told Simon Peter that Satan wanted to sift him as wheat, so are Satan and his cohorts desiring to undermine our relationship with the Lord. He knows if he can put that wedge between us and God, he has broken the effectiveness of our entire life.
So Paul writes to the Corinthians “Be reconciled to God!”
How can our relationship to God be affected?
I. OUR ATTACHMENT TO THE WORLD
Matthew 6:24 "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and
love the other, or he will hold to one and despise the other.
ILLUSTRATION:
What if Jesus wrote you a letter and said he was coming to spend the week
with you...how would you rearrange your schedule.....how long could you keep it that way
Home (TV - Conversations - Magazines/Books)
Work (“Hey, what’s wrong with you this week?)
Church
David & Michal
2 Samuel 6:13-20
And so it was, that when the bearers of the ark of the LORD had gone six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fatling. And David was dancing before the LORD with all his might, and David was wearing a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel were bringing up the ark of the LORD with shouting and the sound of the trumpet. Then it happened as the ark of the LORD came into the city of David that Michal the daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD; and she despised him in her heart. So they brought in the ark of the LORD and set it in its place inside the tent which David had pitched for it; and David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD. And when David had finished offering the burnt offering and the peace offering, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD of hosts. Further, he distributed to all the people, to all the multitude of Israel, both to men and women, a cake of bread and one of dates and one of raisins to each one. Then all the people departed each to his house.
20 But when David returned to bless his household, Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David and said, "How the king of Israel distinguished himself today! He uncovered himself today in the eyes of his servants’ maids as one of the foolish ones shamelessly uncovers himself!"
Friends
Jesus says to the church at Laodicea:
Revelation 3:15-16 ’I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I would that you were cold or hot. ’So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.
TRANSITION - Satan desires to sift us as wheat and one of the strongest lures in our culture today is that lure to take up the things of the world. To hunger and thirst not after righteousness but after right purchases!! Another area of our life that can affect our Relationship to God is in our relatioships with others.
II. RELATIONSHIPS TO OTHERS
Matthew 5:23-24 "If therefore you are presenting your offering at the altar, and
there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering
there before the altar, and go your way; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.
A. Gossip
B. Motives
C. The good of our Brethren over our own
D. Who we are is affected by who we are around
ILLUSTRATION: Job at Texas
Instruments
Root of Bitterness - Listening is same
as harboring
Who’s affected?? Pastor? no
Friends? no YOU ARE
Hebrews 12:15 See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no
root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled;
.....Satan desires to sift you like wheat and the first place he will try and do that is with your relationship with God!! WAKE UP!!!
TRANSITION - We can damage our relationship with God by dabbling in the things of the world over the things of God. Paul urges us to be reconciled to God and like it or not, one of the major areas we need to be able to examine if we are going to have right relationship with God is our relationships with one another. Am I acting out of bitterness, envy, anger, revenge towards any of my brothers and sisters in Christ?
The last two areas I want us to examine in our own lives today are found in the 15th chapter of Luke. Do we need to be reconciled to our Father today because our relationship with Him has been based on our desire to seek His benefits instead of His person?
III. SEEKING THE BENEFITS FROM OUR RELATIONSHIP
(Luke 15:11-12) And He said, "A certain man had two sons; and the younger of them
said to his father, ’Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me.’ And he divided his wealth between them. "And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living.
A. Son had an attitude prevalent in the world today that can also spill into the
church if we aren’t careful.....“What’s in it for me??.....Gold-diggers....only in a relationship for what they can “get” out of it. Not a give & take relationship but a take & take.
B. Son had grown up in his father’s house. Worked beside him been trained by him. Had all the luxuries that a person of wealth could have and something was missing from his life.
C. He was not satisfied, wanted more.
D. Wanted a life outside the covering of his Father, thought this was best for him.
E. It didn’t take long for the son to pack up and leave his Father
TRANSITION - Now I would like us to look at the 2nd of the two areas and that is the relationship the elder-son had with his father. If the Prodigal son’s relationship had been based on what he could get out of the relationship the Elder-brother’s relationship with his Father was based on what he thought he had “earned”
IV. ‘Elder-brother’ Syndrome - RELATIONSHIP BASED ON EARNINGS
’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 kid, that I might be merry with my friends; but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with harlots, you killed the fattened calf for him.’ "
A. Judgemental
1. We are smug and superior when we consider the plight of the
lost sinner. Sometimes we are
skeptical when a lost soul
repents and turns to God. How
tragic! Only by purging the
“elder brother syndrome” from
the Church can we ever hope to
win the world for Christ.
B. Conditional Love
C. Worth is built on what you
can or can’t contribute to the
relationship
1. The elder brother’s
complaint toward the father was
a laundry list of everything he
had self-righteously done and
which had not been rewarded.
2. He spoke of his
relationship with the father as
less than that of a son, for his
words could be literally
translated, “Behold, these many
years I have slaved for you.”
These words reveal he did not
know what being a son really
meant. He considered service
to his father a duty, not a
privilege. He therefore could
not understand what being a
father meant.
And he certainly could not
know the father’s joy in the
return of a son.
TRANSITION - Satan does desire to sift us like wheat but we have an intercessor that is ever before the Father and that is Jesus Christ. Do you know what God’s reaction is to those who “come to their senses” and reconciled themselves to Him?
V. SON WAS PART OF THE FAMILY BUT NOTICE THAT THE FATHER MADE NO ATTEMPT TO STOP HIM!
A. God does not force men to remain in fellowship with Him.
- The father LET him go (He divided the wealth between them) IT IS OUR
CHOICE!
- Unlike the lost coin or the lost
sheep...which are not capable of moral
choices and action....the Father didn’t go seeking after the son because he
was personally responsible for coming
back home.
- Notice it was the son who moved,
the father remained (James 4:8)
- He was empty in BOTH places
C. v. 17-19 "But when he came to his senses,
- Having pictured the young man as
wallowing in the depths of depravity.
Jesus now described him as “coming
to himself.” - Self-realization of the
hopeless and futile predicament of the
sinful life is the first step towards
true repentance.
- One must see that his own actions
have led him away from the loving
father (God). One must realize that
the seeming pleasures of the sinful
life are fleeting and unsatisfying, while
life with the Father is full and rich.
- Rehearsed his speech all the way
home
D. GOD’S REACTION TO OUR DESIRE FOR RECONCILIATION
1. Earthly Father’s sometimes bring
fear; condemnation; rejection
2. We can put that kind of
anticipation on God’s reaction to us
when we reconcile with Him but we
are wrong.
"And 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 slaves, ’Quickly 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 be merry; for this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found.’
D. When the prodigal son came home the father went out to greet him. Now
the father went out a second time to bring in the elder brother.
1. Represents those in the church
who will not “come in” to what God is
doing. He wants a relationship with
his sons and daughters that hear and
understand his heart.
2. He does not want any to perish,
likewise He doesn’t wish for anyone to be left out of the “party”.
3. The elder son refused to come
in because he disapproved of the
father’s treatment of the younger son.
4. Do you think the Father would
have moved the party out onto the
porch for that son?? No, it was his
choice to go in!
CLOSING/ALTAR
SONG - “SOFTLY AND TENDERLY”
· Are you in a distant country this morning?
Have you been asking yourself where’s
God?
· Satan is sifting.
Do you want a relationship so badly that
you will go to any lengths to get it
· Is there a celebration going on inside the
house and you feel as if you are
stuck out on the porch.
· Relationship
