The book of Luke, chapter 15, on page 1048.
And we're going to be thinking together about what will be for many of us a very familiar parable.
From verse 11 onwards, but we're going to read the whole chapter.
The parable of our generous, joyful God.
So Luke 15, page 1048, beginning at verse 1.
Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering round to hear him.
But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered,
This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.
Then Jesus told them this parable.
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?
And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home.
Then he calls his friends and neighbours together and says,
Rejoice with me, I have found my lost sheep.
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.
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?
And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbours together and says,
Rejoice with me, I have found my lost coin.
In the same way I tell you there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God
over one sinner who repents.
Jesus continued,
There was a man who had two sons.
The younger one said to his father,
Father, give me my share of the estate.
So he divided his property between them.
Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had,
set off for a distant country,
and there squandered his wealth and wild living.
After he had spent everything,
there was a severe famine in that whole country,
and he began to be in need.
So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country
who sent him to his fields to feed pigs.
He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating,
but no one gave him anything.
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.
I will set out and go back to my father and say to him,
Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.
I am no longer worthy to be called your son.
Make me like one of your hired men.
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.
The son said to him,
Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.
I am no longer worthy to be called your son.
But the father said to his servants,
Quick, bring the best robe and put it on him.
And put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.
Bring the fattened calf and kill it.
Let's have a feast and celebrate,
for this son of mine was dead and is alive again.
He was lost and is found.
So they began to celebrate.
Meanwhile, the older son was in the field.
When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing.
So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on.
Your brother has come, he replied,
And your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.
The older brother became angry and refused to go in.
So his father went out and pleaded with him.
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.
But when this son of yours, who has squandered your property with prostitutes, comes home,
you kill the fattened calf for him.
My son, the father said,
You are always with me and everything I have is yours.
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.
Stories are powerful things, aren't they?
Salman Rushdie, the author,
said that those who do not have the power over the story that dominates their lives
truly are powerless because they cannot think new thoughts.
And if we were to ask someone who was always told,
You'll never amount to anything, I'm sure that they would agree.
If we were to go into a culture where your class or your caste determines your work and your future,
your friendships, your station in life,
I'm sure they would understand that stories can become like weapons.
They can be a way to keep people down.
In a way, they can extinguish hope.
They can say, Well, we are on the side that is right and you, you are permanent outsiders.
Just ask the religious outsiders of Jesus' day.
What was the story that they heard?
When we look at these first couple of verses,
as we have the scene,
why Jesus tells the parable,
we've got tax collectors,
we've got sinners gathering round to hear Jesus
because they knew there was a different story.
And then you've got the Pharisees and the teachers of the law
complaining about Jesus spending time with the sinners
because the story that they told,
the dominant religious group,
they told the story that the world is divided into good guys and bad guys.
There is them and there is us.
The good guys, well, we are pure.
We keep God's law.
Well, God is pleased with us.
But for the bad guys,
the ones who are not like us,
well, there's no hope for you.
You can't make the grade.
You are outside of God's care.
Jesus offers hope.
But sadly, sadly, this is how some people think about Christianity.
Maybe this is the story that you grew up with, perhaps,
that Christianity is about keep these rules,
attain to this standard,
and if you do, God may be happy with you.
But if not, you are doomed to be on the outside.
Jesus is someone who knows the power of story,
which is why he tells so many stories.
He tells those stories, those parables,
to correct distortions,
distortions,
to bring true thoughts of God,
where the story of God's mercy and grace
had been sidelined.
He brings stories that bring hope,
that extend hope to all.
And Jesus also tells these stories in particular
to defend and to explain his mission.
He spends time with the social,
moral, religious outsiders,
and people looked at him
and wondered why in the world he would do that.
And so Jesus tells these stories
to say that his mission is rooted in the mission of God
and displays the heart of God to us.
So let's look at this story that Jesus tells
in order to fix the distortions that were around in his day,
perhaps distortions that exist in our own hearts
as we come to think about God.
But the story begins in verse 11
with a rejected father.
We're going to concentrate on the father in the story
and it begins with a father who is rejected.
So we discover in verse 11,
there is a man, he has two sons,
and one of those sons, the younger,
comes with a very shocking request.
Shocking in any culture probably,
but here in a culture where to disrespect
or to abandon, to fail to show care to your father
could be considered a crime,
this is a truly horrible thing to say.
Effectively saying,
Father, I can't wait till you're dead.
I want my share of the inheritance right now.
Here is a son with very little care for his father.
He just wants his father's stuff.
And we see that because very quickly after,
in verse 13,
he leaves home.
He wants to run wild and free.
Life with the father is restricting my freedom.
Now the shackles are off.
Now I can have the kind of life I always imagined.
Maybe some of us have lived that story
as the father or as the son perhaps.
How does this father respond to the disrespect
and the rejection that he experiences?
He doesn't do what some in the culture would expect.
He doesn't say,
absolutely not.
Or he doesn't beat him or disown him
or throw him out.
Rather,
we're told,
the end of verse 12,
he divided his property between them.
That word property is the word bios.
It's a reminder that here he is dividing
those resources that he has for living on.
The father bears the cost of this painful rejection.
And here we find in just a few short sentences
in a couple of scenes,
Jesus invites us into the drama of human history
and the story of our rejection of our creator,
of our father.
Because all of us at some point or another in our lives
have said to God,
I will live in your worlds.
I will enjoy your good gifts.
I will take your generosity,
but I don't want you.
All of us have at different times
and in different ways said,
I love the created things,
I'm just not that interested in the creator.
There are different times
and in different ways
we have chosen to love
and honor
and value
other things
and other people
rather than
giving true worship
and ultimate value
to God.
This is our story.
To turn your back on your family,
it is one thing.
And this disrespect
perhaps shocks us
and it should shock us.
But to turn our back on our God.
And what we discover here
is that all of Jesus' audience
is included
in this rejection
of the creator.
Perhaps the Pharisees
at this point in the story
were sitting by
kind of smugly thinking,
well,
those bad guys over there
might have rejected God,
but not us.
But then you get to the end
of the story,
verses 28 and 29,
you see
the older brother,
the good living one,
the one who represents
the religious folks.
He also treats
the father shamefully.
And what we discover
is that all of us
without exception
are indicted
as we read of
a rejected father.
We're drawn into
the story.
The story moves on.
There is a rejected father,
but we see
the story
of an incredibly
generous father.
So the story
for the younger son
does not go well.
We read it there,
verses 13 to 16.
He'd hoped for freedom.
Essentially,
he found slavery.
Life without restrictions
has not brought him
the endless joy
he was hoping for.
It's brought him
into misery.
It's brought him
into shame.
It's brought him
near to death.
So that in verse 17,
there is a transition.
He comes
to his senses.
He begins to think
in his misery
and he resolves
certain things.
He resolves,
first of all,
to return.
I'm going to go back
to my father's house
because at least there
I won't starve to death.
Crucially,
he resolves
to repent.
He resolves
to acknowledge
that before God
and before his father,
he has sinned
in the way
he has treated
his father.
And he also resolves
in his own heart
that he's going to try
and repay
his father back.
He doesn't expect
to get a place
at the family table again
but he thinks,
well, perhaps
if I work for my dad
then I can repay
some of that disgrace.
Perhaps I can repay
some of the money.
So he comes
to his senses,
he makes these resolves
and he begins
to head
for home.
But what happens
as he gets near
to the family farm?
Look with me
at verse 20.
While he was still
a long way off,
his father saw him
and was filled
with compassion
for him.
He ran to his son
through his arms
around him
and kissed him.
The son hadn't
recognized
the size
of the father's heart.
He hadn't
comprehended
the depth
of his father's
love.
He hadn't
appreciated fully
the extent
of his father's
generosity.
Here we see
a longing father
who saw his son
while he was still
a long way off.
The implication,
he's always looking,
he's always hoping,
and when he sees him,
he's filled with what?
Not bitterness,
not resentment,
but compassion.
His instinct
is to love
and to show
mercy.
It's a longing
father,
it's a loving
father who embraced
this boy
in his filth,
in his shame,
in his starvation,
who doesn't
keep him at a distance
saying,
well,
I told you so.
He doesn't involve
him in some kind
of shaming ceremony.
Rather,
he embraces him
with love.
For the people
listening to Jesus,
they would have been
shocked by this
father's generous
grace.
It shocks because
it is so open,
it's so free.
This father gives
to his son exactly
what he does
not deserve.
In verse 21,
he receives
generous forgiveness.
So notice the father,
the son comes to the
father and confesses
sin.
And if the son
had been able
to continue
with his planned
dialogue,
he would have said,
well,
I know I'm not worthy
to be called a son,
but you can make me
into a servant.
But what does the
father do?
He accepts the son's
confession of his sin
and he refuses
to leave him
outside of the family.
He doesn't say,
okay,
well,
let's put you on
probation for a while
and let's see how you
go with earning
my respect
and my trust.
He doesn't ask him
to prove that he's
really sorry.
He receives
the confession
and he welcomes
him back in.
And it's a generous
welcome.
Look what happens
to the boy
in verse 22.
He's welcomed
not as a hired
worker,
but as a valued
family member.
He gets
the indicators
of being part
of the family.
He gets
the ring.
He gets
the quality clothes,
the robe,
and the
sandals.
This is a
personal message
to the son
who was afraid
of what response
he would get.
You are my son
and I love you.
And this is also
a very public message
because the whole
community will be
involved in the feast
and the whole community
will see this father
receiving the son
back with joy.
This grace is to be
celebrated and shared
and there is this
celebration.
And again,
it's not just
the basics.
The boy comes back
starving close to death.
The father doesn't
throw him a crusty
loaf of bread.
What he does
in verse
23 is
he orders
that the fattened
calf
be killed.
That there be this
great feast
where only the best
will do.
This fattened calf
usually saved maybe
for a family wedding.
Here there is
celebration because
this boy to all
intents and purposes
was dead.
But now
to the father
he is alive.
And so
there is
celebration.
What is Jesus
doing here?
He's recovering
for us
the true
story
that the Pharisees
had lost.
The true story
of God's
character.
Of God's
heart.
God is not
mean
spirited.
If that's your
picture of God
then it's not
a true picture
as Jesus
points out
to us.
God is
generous
to prodigal
sons.
To prodigal
daughters.
To those
who have
made a
mess of
life
perhaps.
He doesn't
leave us
asking
have I
been
sorry
enough?
Have I
repented
enough
that God
will
take me
to be
one of
his?
Rather
what we
discover
this is a
love that
is not
earned.
It's a
love that's
freely given
to all
who come
to him.
And it's
a love
that it's
extravagantly
given.
Grace
is beautiful
in its
expansiveness.
So here
is hope
for prodigals
everywhere.
A hope
that the
Pharisees
tried to
deny.
The hope
that a
works-based
religion
most certainly
denies.
There is
hope
here.
No matter
who we
are,
no matter
what we've
done,
no matter
what our
experiences
have been,
here is
a loving
father.
God the
loving
father with
arms open
wide to
receive any
who like
this son
will say
sorry for
sin,
who will
turn to
him in
faith.
Here is
hope to
for our
prodigals,
the family
members,
the friends
that cause
us heartache
because of
life choices
and where
they're at
right now.
Here is a
reminder to
us,
God is
generous in
his grace,
so we are
to keep
praying for
them,
to keep
loving them,
to keep
looking to
this father
that Jesus
speaks of,
to remember
the hope of
the gospel
and Jesus,
the one who
goes to the
ends of
the earth
in order
to bring
people back
home to
God.
How do we
see this
generosity
working itself
out in the
story of
Jesus?
In verse
24 we have
these words
from the
father,
this son of
mine was
dead and
is alive
again,
he was
lost and
is found.
How is it
that spiritually
dead people
find life?
How is it
that people
who are
lost and
far from
God are
found by
him and
find a way
home?
What's
through Jesus?
Remember,
this parable
is Jesus
defending his
mission and
what characterizes
Jesus'
mission?
It's a
rescue mission
of grace.
That's why the
Pharisees couldn't
understand him.
He spends
time loving,
serving,
seeking to
save the
weak,
the lost,
the sinful
because that's
what he came
to do.
That's what he
came to do
for us.
He came to
do that
ultimately
at the
cross.
He would
give himself
to death
for our
sin so
that through
him we
might know
true life.
He was the
one on the
cross who
became lost
to his
father so
that through
faith in him
we might be
found by
the father
and welcomed
home with
joy.
The generosity
that is spoken
of in this
parable we
see most
clearly at
the cross.
That's the
generosity that
we are invited
to respond
to.
Jesus knew
the generous
grace of
God and he
came to
demonstrate for
us the
generous grace
of God.
That influenced
his rescue
mission.
For those
of you who
are part of
this church I
hope you had a
chance to read
the latest
newsletter from
Emmanuel
Rianno, one
of our members
who's serving
in Colombia.
If you haven't
it's out on
the board
there.
There's a
great story
there of a
pastor, a
pastor by the
name of
Pastor Amilcar
and he felt
God calling
him into a
new sphere of
service, called
to go and
make disciples
of a particular
kind.
And so what
Pastor Amilcar
now does in
his Colombian
town is he
will drive
around in his
pickup truck and
he'll look for
the guys who
are lying drunk
on the pavement
or drugged on
the pavement,
those who are
kind of in a
real state because
of various
circumstances.
And he'll take
them into his
pickup, he'll
take them back
to church, he'll
give them a meal,
he'll wash them
up and he'll share
the good news
of Jesus with
them.
Why?
Because he is
somebody who has
known the grace
of the Lord Jesus
in his own life
in that same
way.
God's rescue
mission to us
influences the
rescue mission we
are to engage in
for others.
And here's this
wonderful reminder
that no one is
beyond the grace
and forgiveness
of our generous
and joyful God
that by trusting
in this Jesus
to forgive and
save us
that you and I
we can be
welcomed into
the family of
God, whoever
we are, whoever
we've been, because
God is this
generous Father.
So it's the story
of a generous
Father, it's also
the story of a
joyful Father.
Father.
It's a really
interesting parable
this one because
it almost has
two endings.
You know we
could stop at
verse 24 and
we'd have the
happily ever after
ending, the
ending most of
our children's
storybook Bibles
have.
But this
parable has
a twist.
It's got as it
were a second
ending because it
reminds us there's
another brother in
the story and as
the story goes,
as this brother
hears the good
news of his
brother being
safe and alive
and there being
joy.
We see in
verse 28, we
see anger, we
see refusal to
come in, we hear
this brother's
accusations against
the Father, we
feel his anger and
injustice burning.
What's happened is
the generous grace
of his father has
now exposed what
lurks in this
elder brother's
heart.
So he'll say to
his dad, this
dad, this dad that
we've just met,
verse 29, you're
like a slave driver.
That's how distorted
his thinking was
about his father.
He thinks that a
place in the family
is based on
earning approval.
He's got it so
badly wrong.
And this father, this
generous father, this
joyful father, in
verse 28, goes out
to plead with this
son, saying to him
in verse 31, my
son, you're always
with me and
everything I have is
yours.
In other words,
remember the right
to sonship is
yours.
Just ask.
Don't stay outside in
your misery and your
anger.
Just ask.
And you too can be
experiencing this
joy.
And then he says to
this son who's
harboring so much
anger, who's so
disgruntled, verse
32, we had to
celebrate and be
glad because this
brother of yours was
dead and is alive
again.
He was lost and is
found.
It is essential to
the character of his
father.
It's essential to the
heart of his father
that he had to
rejoice at this
great restoration
that's taking place.
That he gets to
welcome this son
home.
But we have an
older brother who's
miserable.
He's miserable
because he's
trying to earn by
merit what can
only be enjoyed by
grace.
And that's a
miserable place to
be.
Where you're always
comparing just like
this brother.
Well hang on a
minute.
I live better than
this guy.
Never confident of
the father's
unconditional love
because we make it
about ourselves
rather than the
generous grace of
father God.
That was the way the
Pharisees minds
worked.
And that's the way
a religious system
based on works and
performance operates.
that I can feel
good if I think
that I have made
the grade.
But will I ever
know if I've made
the grade?
And then there's
moments of despair
when things go
badly.
Perhaps again this is
your idea of how
Christianity operates.
And Jesus tells this
story to bring us
true thoughts about
God.
And true thoughts
about the way into
God's kingdom.
It's not God's way
that we have to
slave and earn to
be accepted.
Jesus teaches God's
joy in forgiving and
God's generous grace.
Jesus as it were wants
to give us new lenses
through which to view
reality.
You know if I take my
glasses off to
snipe that's quite
disconcerting.
If I do that two
things happen.
One is immediate.
Everybody becomes
fuzzy.
Really fuzzy.
And two if we were to
continue this out on the
street I would most
likely walk past most
of you without knowing.
Because I cannot see
clearly the reality in
front of me.
Jesus is trying to do
that with this parable.
He's trying to bring
reality into sharp
clarity for us.
To see on the one
hand that when it
comes to God truly we
are guilty.
That none of us can
stand before God and
say my record is good
enough for you to
accept me.
And also to see with
clarity God's generous
grace.
And he is telling us
this story so that we
won't walk by.
So we won't think well
it's all right.
That we would see this
as a wonderful, as a
glorious thing.
That it would change
our hearts and our
lives.
So Jesus in this story
is pointing us to the
problem of our hearts
whether we are sort of
the religious good guys
by nature or whether
we're the not religious
the bad guys of the
story.
That both whoever we
are in different ways
reject and treat the
father, our father, the
creator, shockingly.
So that everybody stands
in need of grace and
forgiveness.
And the good news is that
everybody is freely
offered that grace and
forgiveness in Jesus.
So here is Jesus giving
us this beautiful picture
of the love of God.
Here is a father who pays
the price to restore
relationships that have
been broken.
Here is a God who goes
seeking and searching for
those who are lost and on
the outside.
Here is one who forgives
generously and joyfully
welcomes prodigals in.
Stories are powerful.
The stories of Jesus are
powerful because they point
us to great truth.
And in this truth there is
freedom.
Freedom to live with hope
and to live with joy.
Knowing that we've been
forgiven and accepted if
we're trusting in Jesus.
And also to live with
purpose.
Because this is a story not
just for ourselves.
This is a story for
everyone.
So our mission is to take
this great story.
This great gospel story.
And to share it with
others.
With our friends.
With our community.
Thank you.