You’re Welcome At This Table
Luke 15:1-2
Woodlawn Baptist Church
March 27, 2005
Introduction
Turn with me to Luke 15:1-2. It is good to be in the Lord’s house with you all on this Easter morning. I want to welcome our guests again and thank you for being with us today. I hope and pray that your time with us will be a blessing to you, and more importantly, that our time together will be a blessing to God. We have no greater privilege than to join together in the worship and praise of our heavenly Father, and today in light of the resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ we have even greater reason to praise Him. If there were no resurrection from the dead, then we can shut all this down and go home, but we believe that God did raise Jesus up, and because of that belief we can rejoice today knowing that just as God raised up Jesus the firstborn, even so will He also raise up those who have trusted Him at the last day when the trump of God shall sound!
Join me as we turn our hearts and minds to His Word. I want to encourage you to follow along in your notes, and to ask God right now to use today’s message to minister to your heart’s greatest needs. In Luke 15:1-2, we read these words,
“Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.”
The verses I have just read are only a small portion of a lengthy conversation Jesus was having with the two groups mentioned: there were the Pharisees and scribes, and then there were the publicans and the sinners. The Pharisees and scribes were the religious leaders of the day. They were the teachers and rulers of the Jewish synagogues. They were the religious watchdogs of their day, making sure that everyone was living according to God’s laws and according to their interpretations of those laws. The scribes were the men who spent their days handwriting copies of the Old Testament. They were the Xerox machines of their day, and they would have known the Scriptures forward and back. The publicans and the sinners on the other hand were men and women of ill-repute. They were not respected in their communities as moral people, and most often were treated with contempt by those in religious circles.
Now in Luke 14, Jesus got invited to eat in the home of one of the chief Pharisees, but when He got there He started stirring things up. It was a Sabbath day, so He healed a man in front of the Pharisee and his friends to provoke them. Was it wrong to help someone on the Sabbath? Then he pointed out the way they were all working to sit in the best seats at the table. He pointed at a man who was sitting close to the head of the table and told him that he’d have been better off had he started down low. He was going to look pretty foolish when someone more important than him came along and he had to move down. It was better to start low and get moved up.
Jesus then began to press the Pharisee who had invited him about the way he invited his friends to eat with him. Why had he invited all these men? To impress someone? To prove something? If he really wanted to impress someone, then go out and invite the poor, the maimed, the lame and the blind. In other words, why not do something that benefits those in need rather than just inviting people to move up the social ladder?
The more time Jesus spent in the presence of the Pharisees, the more they made Him sick. He had been invited to come and eat with them, but He got up and left, and walked across town to where the publicans and prostitutes and sinners were eating and joined them for lunch. Some of the Pharisees followed Him, which leads us to what we read a while ago,
“This man receives sinners and eats with them.”
I want to tell you this morning that I’m not sure there is a more wonderful statement about Jesus in all the Bible than this one! They had no idea of the truth of their statement. God does receive sinners! God wants to commune with them, and that desire has never and will never change! Today I am talking about acceptance, and more specifically, I want you to know that God wants to accept you, to receive you and commune with you the way He did in this passage, because His love for you is immense and unfailing.
Any time I talk about God’s acceptance, I know there are several kinds of people that I will address. Some of you have never known what it means to be accepted by God, and perhaps even by anyone else. All your life you’ve been living in a performance trap, having to do this thing or that thing to gain someone’s acceptance.
Keith Hernandez was known as one of baseball’s top players. He carried a lifetime batting average of 300 and won numerous Golden Glove awards for excellence in fielding. He won a batting championship for having the highest average, the Most Valuable Player award in his league, and even the World Series. Yet with all his accomplishments, he missed out on something crucially important to him -- his father’s acceptance and recognition that what he accomplished was valuable. Listen to what he had to say in a very candid interview about his relationship with his father: "One day Keith asked his father, ’Dad, I have a lifetime 300 batting average. What more do you want?’ His father replied, ’But someday you’re going to look back and say, "I could have done more."’"
Sadly, that’s the story of many people’s lives: maybe yours. Your grades weren’t good enough. Your job isn’t good enough. Your house or car or clothes aren’t good enough. You don’t play good enough. You’re too young, or maybe you’re too old. Your mother thinks you should have done this. Maybe you made some mistakes and your father pushed you away.
Some of you tried to respond to God’s leading by attending church, but you still weren’t good enough, didn’t wear the right clothes or just didn’t feel like the people wanted you around. Church people have been notorious for accepting everyone, so long as they look right and dress right and act right and think right, which really means that if you’re going to fit in here then you need to look and act and think like we do, like the man I heard about who was about to commit suicide.
A man was out on a walk one day when he saw another man about to throw himself from a bridge into the river. He ran over to save him.
"Why are you killing yourself?" he asked.
"I’ve nothing to live for!"
"Don’t you believe in God?"
"Yes I do"
"What a coincidence - so do I! Are you a Jew or a Christian?"
"A Christian
"What a coincidence - so am I! Protestant or a Baptist?"
"Baptist”
"What a coincidence - so am I! Southern or Independent Baptist?"
"Independentt"
"What a coincidence - so am I! Premillenial or Amillenial?"
"Premillenial"
"What a coincidence - so am I! Pre-trib rapture or Post-trib rapture?"
"Post-trib rapture"
At this the first man pushed the suicidal man into the river shouting "Die heretic die!"
Surely you’ve never had an experience that bad, but the reality is that many people live with the perception that they are not accepted, not going to be accepted, and even God will not accept them.
Oftentimes, even those who claim to be Christians live with the fear that God does not accept them. I meet so many people who fear God’s rejection; not necessarily do they fear loosing their salvation. They know they cannot, but instead they fear having to live outside of His good graces. You interpret all the bad stuff in your life as God’s punishment for not living up to His expectations.
• The car wouldn’t start; I knew I should have read my Bible.
• I had a bad week; I knew I shouldn’t have skipped church the other day.
Does God discipline His children? Sure He does! But that doesn’t mean that He doesn’t love and accept you. Quite the contrary, His hand at work in your life means He loves you immensely and that He is working to conform you into what He wants you to be, what He knows you can be, all for the praise of His glory!
Listen, today if you have never trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, I want you to know that no matter who you are or what you have done in your life: no matter what anyone else thinks of you or whether anyone else ever accepts you, God wants a personal relationship with you. If you are a believer; you have trusted Christ, but you live with the fear that God is punishing you or that He cannot accept you, I want you to know that He does.
Men and churches set up a lot of conditions that you have to meet to gain their so-called approval, and all too often even after you’ve jumped through all their hoops you’re still not good enough. I want you to look with me at Luke 15:11 and the story that follows and I want to share with you the only two conditions that you must meet if you want to gain God’s approval.
“A certain man had two sons: and the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his field to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: and bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.”
Jesus told this story about a young man who had made all the wrong choices. He represents all that we are in this life. He represents the young girl who gets pregnant and runs from her parents, or the son who gets messed up on dope and does the same. More than that though, he represents us in the way we respond to God.
God brings us into this life with but one purpose, and that is to glorify Him. I don’t care who you are, where you were born, what color you are, how much money you have or what part of town you live in, you were created with one and only one purpose – to glorify God. As we grow, we develop talents and abilities that complement the giftedness that God gives us, and all combined can and should be used in such a way as to reflect our adoration of God.
However, like the prodigal, we take what our Father has given us and all too often do our own thing, and before we know it, we begin to wonder whether God can ever really accept us. You know all the ways people mess up their lives: they jump in and out of relationships, destroy families, ruin their reputations, fall into gross acts of sin or habits that absolutely destroy their lives.
One of the problems I usually run into here is that someone or several just don’t identify with that sort of life. You are like the other son who said to his father,
“All these years I have served you, neither transgressed I your commandments.”
You’ve lived a good life. You’ve been faithful to your wife and kids. You’ve put in your time at work and have been a good citizen. You’ve not done anything really bad, don’t have any addictions, and work hard at living a good, morally upright life. All this talk about sin and mistakes and destroying a life is foreign to you, and I want you to notice that it was foreign to the Pharisees as well. That’s why they didn’t understand why Jesus was eating with the sinners. They are the reason Jesus was even telling this story, and now I want you to listen to me as I tell you that even you, no matter how good or upright you may think you are, must meet God’s two conditions if you want His acceptance. What are the conditions?
You Must See The Truth
In verse 16 the young man in our story had hit bottom. He was so low he was eating the pig’s slop. Remember that the Jews didn’t just eat pork, they thought them to be unclean and avoided them as much as possible. He’s not just working with them now, but he’s eating their food just to get a meal, but we find out that he realizes how low he’s come. Even his dad’s slaves were better off that this!
But listen, there are so many people who never see where they are. The Bible says that “all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory,” but how many people there are who will argue with you over that. “I don’t smoke or steal or cuss. I don’t kill or steal or have adultery.” But you are at your core a sinner. You were born a sinner and because of that you sin. It may not be the sins others less fortunate or less moral than you commit, but you still sin.
Let me ask you this, has God always, every moment of your entire life been your number one priority? Has He always and today held the greatest place of honor in your life? Can you say that from day one He has been your greatest love? Your heart’s greatest pursuit? If not, then you’ve no need to look any farther, you’ve broken the greatest commandment!
Now watch this. Turn over to Luke 16:14. The Pharisees were still engaged in this conversation with Jesus as He interacted with them, the sinners and His disciples.
“And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him. And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.”
The Pharisees never saw the truth about themselves. They justified themselves before men. In other words, so far as they were concerned, they did no wrong. They were so good, so upright, so moral, how could God not accept them?
But God knew their dark and wicked hearts. All the self-righteous pomp and external shows of religion they could muster only made God sicker. The more they tried to act right, the more they revealed how depraved they were. The more they tried to look right, the greater their empty hearts echoed of their sinfulness. The more they tried to think they were alright with God, the farther they separated themselves from Him, all because they could not see the truth about themselves.
God wants to accept you in a personal, loving relationship, but He cannot until you come to the place in your life that you realize that you are the publican and sinner with whom God wants to commune! That’s the truth you must see, but there’s more – no only do you need to see the truth about yourself, you need to see the truth about the Father. This man knew where to turn: I will rise and go to my father. There is no where to turn but to God.
You Must Act On That Truth
It’s not enough to see the truth, you’ve got to act on that truth. The young man recognized how low he had gotten, but what if he had only recognized it? It’s been said that many people will miss heaven by 18”. That’s about the distance between your head and your heart. You can know you need a relationship with God all day long and never do something about it.
What did he do? First he repented. To repent means to turn around, to turn away from. This young man had walked away from his father, and now he was walking back. Once you recognize that your sin has separated you from a relationship with God the Father, you absolutely have to repent – turn away from your sin and the life you have chosen and trade it for a relationship with the Father.
The second thing he did was to confess. He didn’t just show up and act like nothing was wrong. He began to tell his dad how he had sinned against heaven and against him. He confessed. I’m not saying you have to go back and list every sin you’ve committed against God, but you need to confess. You need to confess to Him that you’re a sinner. Confess to Him that without Him you’re nothing. Confess that you need Him because without Him you’re nothing. Confess to Him that you have no righteousness to offer, that you are tired of trying to live up to man’s standards and that you simply want to know Him. Confess that Jesus is the Son of God, the way the truth and the life; that He is the sinless Son of God who was virgin born and died a sacrificial death to pay for your sins. I’m not saying you have to say all of that, but that you should be at the place in your response to God where no matter what He brings to mind, you must confess to Him your need of salvation.
The third and last thing is to trust. The prodigal son trusted in his father’s love for him. Was he afraid? Sure! But he trusted in his father’s goodness and love for him, and that trust guided him as they built a relationship.
Conclusion
Today I want to urge you to place your trust in Christ. Some of you have been let down time and time again, as you have tried to gain their acceptance, but Christ will never let you down. Some of you have made the grave mistake of trusting in yourselves, believing in your ability to be good enough, or trusting that there’ll be another day, or trusting that all of this is nonsense and unnecessary, and to you I want to urge to cast off your self-reliance and see yourself for what you really are. God sees it, but you must see it, and today I am pleading with you to take a closer look.
Day in and day out I meet so many people who are longing just to find acceptance in God’s sight, and today He is calling to you to come to Him.
In "The Whisper Test," a lady by the name of Mary Ann Bird wrote something I want you to hear. She said,
I grew up knowing I was different, and I hated it. I was born with a cleft palate, and when I started school, my classmates made it clear to me how I looked to others: a little girl with a misshapen lip, crooked nose, lopsided teeth, and garbled speech. When schoolmates asked, "What happened to your lip?" I’d tell them I’d fallen and cut it on a piece of glass. Somehow it seemed more acceptable to have suffered an accident than to have been born different. I was convinced that no one outside my family could love me.
There was, however, a teacher in the second grade whom we all adored -- Mrs. Leonard by name. She was short, round, happy -- a sparkling lady. Annually we had a hearing test. ... Mrs. Leonard gave the test to everyone in the class, and finally it was my turn. I knew from past years that as we stood against the door and covered one ear, the teacher sitting at her desk would whisper something, and we would have to repeat it back -- things like "The sky is blue" or "Do you have new shoes?" I waited there for those words that God must have put into her mouth, those seven words that changed my life. Mrs. Leonard said, in her whisper, "I wish you were my little girl."
Listen to me closely as we close today: God says to every person in this room who has been deformed by sin, "I wish you were my son" or "I wish you were my daughter." How do we know this to be true? Because over and over and over in the Bible God tells us as much. He loves you, no matter what you’ve done, no matter who you are.
Jesus came unto his own, the Jews, the Pharisees, the scribes, the nation of Israel, but his own received him not. They could not see the truth: not about themselves, and not about Jesus. “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” If you will repent of your sins, confess them to God and trust Him today, you will have met all the conditions that are necessary, that will ever be necessary to gain the acceptance of God – won’t you come to Him today?
Notes:
Gary Smalley & John Trent, Ph.D., The Gift of Honor, p. 116.
http://www.ozsermonillustrations.com/frames/acceptance_frame.htm
http://elbourne.org/sermons/index.mv?illustration+4650
