Luke 15:11-32 UNDERSTANDING THE FATHER’S HEART
What is God really like? The Bible says He is a Father to us, we are His children.
It is not enough to ask, “Do you believe in God?” What is more important is “What kind of God do you believe in?”
Jesus tells us here in this chapter through 3 short parables.
In order to understand the parables, we need to start with verses 1-2: “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!’”
We can almost feel the tension here - Jesus likes to spend time with the worst kind of people and it bothered the self-righteous religious people. They wanted Him to spend his time with good people.
Jesus went on to tell three stories – from these we can come to understand our heavenly Father.
Who is He? What is He concerned about? Hopefully we will get a better understanding of the heart of our Father today. As His children, we need to know what our Father is concerned about.
In the first one, a farmer has 100 sheep and one gets lost. Jesus shows how the farmer leaves the 99 and goes on a search and rescue mission for the one that is lost. In the second story, a widow loses one of her 10 coins and searches intently until she finds it. These coins represented her life savings!
In the third story, a son is lost and eventually returns home.
There are many things that could be said about these 3 parables but we see one common thread in all three - whenever the lost is found, there is great rejoicing! In Verse 6, the farmer calls his buddies together and says, “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.” In verse 9, the widow says, “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.” And when the lost son returns home, the father throws a big party.
Jesus is making the point that when the lost are found, heaven throws a big celebration! Whenever a lost person repents, spontaneous joy breaks out in heaven.
Why do we want to spend time with the lost? Why preach the Gospel? Why share our testimony?
Because that’s what the FATHER is concerned about. Because that’s where His heart is.
We want to please our Father – we want to do what He longs to see.
Our Father has a HEART FOR THE LOST. He wants man to know Him and return to the blessed way.
It is LONGING HEART – in the last story, we see the father waiting for his son’s return.
Luke 15:20 "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.”
This is a great moment. His father saw him and was moved with compassion. Have you ever wondered how long the son was gone? It was probably at least a couple months, if not longer. Day after day the father watched for his son. Night after night he waited for his return.
It is a LOVING HEART – filled with compassion FOR him
It is a GRACIOUS HEART – threw his arms around him and kissed him. No reprimand, no judgment.
This is a “Grace Encounter” – because the father has already forgiven him. He restores him back as his son by giving him the robe, the ring and sandals. The boy repented. He was prepared to be a slave for the father, but it was not necessary. The father has prepared everything.
This is the same encounter we have today – when we come to God, we realised He has prepared everything we need. When we confess our sins and repent, God gives us the right to become His children (John 1:12). Jesus paid the price; we don’t have to be slave, to do something to repay for our wrongs. In fact, we can’t. Only Jesus can.
Now what is left for us is to turn back – like the younger son – to realize our wrongs, repent and return home. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)
A beggar stopped a lawyer on the street in a large city and asked him for some coins. Taking a long, hard look into the man’s unshaven face, the attorney asked, "Don’t I know you from somewhere?"
"You should," came the reply. "I’m your former classmate. Remember, 2nd floor, old Oxford High School?"
"Why Sam, of course I know you!" Without further question the lawyer wrote a check for $1000.
"Here, take this and get a new start. I don’t care what’s happened in the past, it’s the future that counts." And with that he hurried on.
Tears welled up in the man’s eyes as he walked to a bank nearby. Stopping at the door, he saw through the glass well-dressed tellers & the spotlessly clean interior. Then he looked at his filthy rags.
"They won’t take this from me. They’ll swear that I forged it," he muttered as he turned away.
The next day the two men met again. "Why Sam, what did you do with my check? Gamble it away? Drink it up?"
"No," said the beggar as he pulled it out of his dirty shirt pocket and told why he hadn’t cashed it.
"Listen, friend," said the lawyer. "What makes that cheque good is not your clothes or appearance, but my signature. Go on, cash it!"
Acts 2:21 "And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
And as sinners, all we need to do is "exchange" it by faith for eternal life.
Don’t let the past or present failures keep you from the salvation He has prepared.
Verse 24 brings the first part of the story to a close with these wonderful words of hope: “So they began to celebrate.”
This is what our heavenly Father wants to see – His loved ones coming home. This is what brings joy to the heart of our Father. This is what brings celebration in heaven among the angels.
God wants to see you come home. If you’re still wandering around, the Lord wants to return to Him.
The Lord wants to see your parents come back to Him. He wants to see your schoolmates, your colleagues, coming back home. We need to bring them home with us, because our Father is waiting for them.
SADLY the older son do not understand the HEART OF THE FATHER
The older son is working in the field when the younger son returns and does not get home until after the party had started. One of the servants tells him that his brother has come home and his father is very happy about it. He was angry and refused to go into the house. The father comes out to urge him.
In this story, this is the 2nd time the father comes out – first was to receive his younger son, how he comes out to urge the older son…. who was filled with self-righteousness – he was good and worthy..
In this story, Jesus was teaching the Pharisees and teachers of the law.
Self-righteousness is one of the world’s most deadly sins. Jesus dealt with it more severely and more sharply than any other sin. He could be tender, gracious, and accepting toward those who were involved in adultery or drunkenness, but when he faces self-righteous Pharisees, His words were stern.
Dear bro/sis, we need not be angry with people who sin. Lost people are going to sin because they’re lost. Christians do sin because they’re not perfect. Someone once said, “Let’s refuse to be angry with people who sin differently than we do.” The church of Jesus Christ is to be what Christ longs for it to be - a gathering place for forgiven sinners.
Look at the father in this story.
First, he comes out to meet the angry son. Just as he went out to meet the returning, rebellious one, so he goes out to seek this complaining son.
God the Father loves everyone - the self-righteous, the self-centred, as well as the downright rebellious and defiant. When the father finds his oldest son, he does not scold or rebuke him harshly, but rather pleads with him. The tense of this word in the original language indicates that the father invited his son again and again to come in to the party.
This reveals that the older son is actually more lost than the other was. The younger son was far from home, but his heart was back at home, thinking about home and his father. The older son was right at home, but his heart was not there. He was far from understanding the HEART OF THE FATHER.
He does not understand the Father’s LOVE and JOY for someone LOST but now RETURNED. Do we? DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE HEART OF OUR HEAVENLY FATHER?
Are we working hard for OURSELVES, or for Him?
Jesus ends the story with this boy standing outside the house. We do not know what happened next.
Jesus does not tell us what became of these two sons. He just leaves the ending hanging. I think He does so because He wants His listeners to see themselves in the story.
Where are you today? Are you the younger son who needs to turn around and come back to God?
Are you already home and need to come into the party?
The Father has enough grace for all. He’s looking for prodigals and He’s looking for the proud.
We need to understand the heart of God.
A loving Father, full of grace, extends his warm welcome to all who belongs to Him.
The heartbeat of God is for the salvation of your parents, your children, your schoolmates, your colleagues, your friends…
Pray for them.
