Hands and Feet of Jesus: Kindness, Patient, Goodness, Gentleness, Love

What do I believe God wants them to know? He is Good Good Father who is kind, patient, good, gentle, full of love

Why? We all long for the Father’s love

What do I believe God wants them to do? Come and stay home

Why? We receive the Fathers love

We are finishing the fruits of the Spirit this Sunday doing a wrap up on the aspect of GOODNESS, KINDNESS, GENTLENESS and we will also get a retelling of the aspects of LOVE and PATIENCE

We are going to hear the story of TWO lost SONS…the ELDER SON and the YOUNGER SON and about the PRODIGAL FATHER…PRODIGAL MEANS TO SPEND LAVISHLY, PROFUSLY, and we are going to see the person in the story who spends lavishly the most is the FATHER

ME/WE

A.W. Tozer says

“What comes into our minds when we think (or believe) about God is the most important thing about us.”

“What comes into our minds when we think (or believe) about God is the most important thing about us.”

Why!?! That’s a pretty big statement

Tozer continues

“We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God (our belief in God). This is true not only of the individual Christian, but of the company of Christians that composes the Church. Always the most revealing thing about the Church is her idea of God.”

WE MOVE TOWARDS

WE SEE THIS WITH THE 4 PROMINENT VIEWS OF GOD.

We see in 4 of the views of God that are prevalent today

1. MTD (Moralist Therapeutic Deism) view of God this is new modern/post-modern view of God…Christian Smith

M: God wants you to be moral

T: (Theraputic) God wants you to be happy so do whatever makes you happy, hard things ehh,

D: (Deism) there is a god but he is distant, he is not really involved in your life down here.

What kind of mental images of God does this bring up?

It is a presenting a view of God our Father as a distant, non-present, passive, absent dad

God just says DO GOOD, BE HAPPY, and I AM TOO BUSY TO BE WITH YOU

If you have a need God may eventually get to it....if you are in need of love and have a hard sitution God has to check his calendar.

Ho w

If we view God this way how does this practically live out in our life today?

how loved do we feel?

How valued do you believe you are?

How much do you believe God will hear and answer you prayers?

We can become like kids when their parents are not home and set our own rules....anybody every done that

We become perfect right? NO....mom and dad are not here let’s do what we want

I WILL SET MY OWN RULES

2. BOSS OR JUDGE (ANYBODY HAVE THIS BEFORE?)

You better behave because if you do not obey, God is going to be so mad at you and get you

I GREW UP THIS WAY

BIBLE WAS A WEAPON NOT IN AS in the sword of the Spirit but as the SWORD of ABUSE

IT creates a performance Father that often leads to an abusive Father.

If you perform God is going to bless you but if you don’t and we all don’t perform at some point or another…God is mad at you and you are in serious trouble

Which then creates

What this view creates

LOST YOUNGER SONS/DAUGHTHERS…who say I cannot live up to the rules of the boss or judge so I am going to run away.

IT ALSO CREATES LOST RELIGIOUS PEOPLE…HOW? RELIGIOUS NOT IN A GOOD WAY, BUT A PHARISEES

- LOST ELDER SONS/DAUGHTERS…these are people who obey the rules to the things form the FATHER....if I am good God our Father will have to give me things

3. OUT DATE/ OUT OF TOUCH....ANYBODY EVER FELT THAT WAY ABOUT THEIR EARTHLY DAD OR FATHER FIGURE?

We hear this all the time…I heard this week on a Christian podcast where a Christian leader was interviewing a spiritual person and this person said I take things for all different religions; I pick the what he sees as the best of all religions”

The author said what things do you not like about Christianity or other major religions

Hell

LGBTQ

IF WE VIEW GOD AS OUT OF DATE WE WILL CREATE OUR RELIGION THAT WILL LEAD TO HELL ON EARTH AND INTO HELL

IF GOD IS OUT OF DATE.....HE IS NOT APPLICAPABLE TO OUR LIVES

4. THE CHRISTIAN VIEW ABOUT GOD IS THAT HE IS A GOOD GOOD FATHER A PERFECT FATHER

189 times the word Father is used of God in the New Testament

ABBA

that is not passive, abusive, absent, performance oriented, dictator

GOD is

PRESENT

ACTIVE IN YOUR LIFE

WORKS ALL THINGS FOR GOOD IN YOUR LIFE

KIND

GENTLE

LOVING

GOOD

PATIENT

He is a GOOD GOOD FATHER

I LOVE WHAT C.S. LEWIS....WE CAN HOLD THIS IN TENSIN TO WHAT TOZER SAID

C.S. LEWIS SAYS THIS IS A VITAL QUESTION

I read in a newspaper the other day that the fundamental thing about us is how we think of God.

By God Himself, it is not! What is more important than how we think of God is How God thinks of us is not only more important, but infinitely more important. Indeed, how we think of Him is of no importance except in so far as it is related to how He thinks of us.

C.S. LEWIS

GOD

One of the places we see this come to life about how God feels about you is in the story of the Prodigal Father/GOD…two lost sons…elder son and younger son

it is third parable Jesus gives about finding lost things…LETS READ THE FIRST TWO PARABLES TO SHOW WERE JESUS IS GOING

Luke 15:3–9 ESV

So he told them this parable: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’

JESUS IS SHOWING THEM LOST PEOPLE MATTER TO GOD

GOD REJOICES OVER LOST PEOPLE BEING FOUND

Who was Jesus sharing this parable with? I love Jesus heart....Two opposite groups of people.

Luke 15:1–2 ESV

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

The tax collectors (extorinonist) and sinners and Pharisees and scribes.

Tax collectors and sinners they are the license group who “find there way to god” through self discovery

YOUNGER SONS

Pharisees and scribes who find their way to God through legalism

ELDER SONS

They know the law but don’t know the Lord or His heart....we see this when they say “This man eats with receives and eats with sinners”

EATING WITH SOMEONE IS A SIGN OF ACCEPTANCE

Surely no Son of Man would do that!!

Luke 19:10 ESV

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

PHARISEES did not know they were lost too

Jesus is going to tell this story and as the story goes on THE LOST ELDER SONS ARE GOING TO GET MAD....AND THE YOUNGER SONS ARE GROWING WITH EXCITEMENT

Luke 15:11–12 ESV

And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them.

What is happening here?

A man has two sons and the younger son comes to his father and says give me my the younger one says I am want my inheritance now and how it worked in that day was that when the Father died the elder son would received 2/3 and the younger son would receive 1/3

but what’s the huge problem and offense with the son’s request?

WHO’S STILL ALIVE? DAD

When do you typically get your inheritance? When someone passes away

but the younger son is saying I want it now and in effect he is saying I am done with you, and you are dead to me!

CAN YOU IMAGE THE PAIN THAT CAUSED THE FATHER…I CAN’T IMAGE IF MY SON CAME TO ME AND SAID I WANT MY INHERITANCE NOW!

What does the Father do?

Does he scream at him, lambast him, through him out?? NO…THAT WHAT THE RELIGOUS LEADERS ARE THINKING NEEDS TO BE DONE....THE SINNERS ARE THINKING THAT’S WHAT DID

You could probably feel the anger of the religious leaders hearing this parable, their blood is boiling, thinking if their son did something like that, their

He gives the son the inhertiance

WHAT!?! NO WAY!!!

Then what does the younger son do with the inheritance, put it in an investment, start a new business, build a huge house???

No

IF HE WAS NOT WISE BEFORE HE GOT THE MONEY, WILL HE BE WISE NOW???…THAT IS MISTAKE PEOPLE THINK…WHEN I HAVE MONEY THEN I WILL BE WISE....I LOVE WHAT PRO ATHLETS SAY WHERE 75% ALL NBA PLAYERS END UP BANKRUPT…WHO YOU ARE BEFORE YOU HAVE MONEY AND WHO YOU ARE AFTER YOU HAVE MONEY ARE OFTEN THE SAME PERSON BUT NO THE STAKES ARE HIGHER

Luke 15:13 ESV

Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living.

What does the son do with the money?

He goes to Vegas and spends on debauchary, wild living, He lived it up

Seeking to satisfy every desire of the flesh

THEN WHAT HAPPENS

Luke 15:14–16 ESV

And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.

THEN WHAT HAPPENS IF MONEY CONTINUES TO GO OUT AND NOTHING COMES IN…YOU GO BROKE

THEN TO MAKE MATTERS WORSE A FAMINE HITS THE LAND

I have to find a job, I have to find a job and the only job he could get was working with pigs, this is not good because to Jewish people at the time pigs were unclean animals, Jewish people did not work with pigs and they view anyone who did as less than....CAN YOU IMAGE WORKING WITH PIGS, EVEN IF WE TOOK THE JEWISH LAWS OUT.

Not only that he is so hungry that he would have eaten pig food, but no one gave him any.

Can you imagine that? Just a short time early your bank account was full, on top of the world, have these fleshly desires met, and boom just like that you are working with pigs and starving.

The sinners in this story probably could relate at this moment.

The religious people are thinking....that’s right he is getting what he deserves.

What is going to happen now?

Luke 15:17–19 ESV

“But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.” ’

HE CAME TO HIMSELF

I CAN’T LIVE LIKE THIS ANYMORE....I’M SURE HE TRIED EVERY OPTION

WHAT I WILL DO I WILL WORK FOR MY DAD…THOSE WHO WORK FOR MY DAD MAKE MORE MONEY THAN I AM MAKING NOW

Eventually the son realizes it is either go back to dad or die

but he also knows by cultural standards that an apology was not going to be enough, he needed to make restitution. This is what the rabbis taught. You had to earn your back.

o I am going to start at the entry level and earn my way back to being my dad’s son

ANYBODY EVER FELT THIS WAY?

Religious group is saying ya give it to them!

Sinners are saying I really hope there is hope for him to become a son again

What happens when the son meets his dad?

Is his dad going to say oh no you are dead to me too!

You offended me there is no second chance in?

Religious group is saying ya give it to them!

Sinners are saying I really hope there is hope for him to become a son again.

Luke 15:20–24 ESV

And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.

HIS FATHER HAS BEEN LOOKING, HIS FATHER WAS UP WAITING FOR HIM, HIS FATHER WAS

WHAT DOES HE DO

(Father’s did not run in that day, they were stocis and put together)

THEN WHAT DOES HE DO?

SON STARTS THE RESTUTION PLAN

Do you see what happens there?

The Father comes running toward his son.

The Father restores the son to full sonship

Throws a huge party a fatten calf is killed....YOU ONLY KILLED THE FATTEN CALF AT HUGE PARTIES

Luke 15:24 ESV

For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.

THIS IS WHAT GOD SAYS TO THE YOUNGER SONS AND DAUGHTER IN THE ROOM

COME HOME

LOOK HOW KIND, GENTLE, LOVING, PATIENT, GOOD HE IS

HE SAYING THAT TO THE YOUNGER SONS AND DAUGHTERS IN THIS ROOM

NO RESTUTION

How does the elder brother respond?

Is he overjoyed just like his dad

First one at the party? NO

He’s angry

Luke 15:25–32 ESV

“Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’ ”

HE WAS ANGRY: THIS IS NOT HOW YOU TREAT YOUR SON!

THE FATHER CAME TO HIM

HE SAYS LOOK!

I NEVER GOT A PARTY

WHERE’S MY PARTY!!!

ALL THAT I HAVE IS MINE....AND THIS IS TRUE BECAUSE THE REST OF THE FATHER HAS THE 2/3s is the elders son

THE LOST ELDER SON WAS MORE CONCER ABOUT THE STUFF than his brother and than a relationship with Gdo. that his Father can give not a having a relationship with God.

Religious leaders…I am going to obey so I can be blessed not so I can have relationship with God

Jesus is clearly calling out the religious and saying you are the elder brother....

The ironic part of the story is that the story ends and its the elder son who remains lost and younger son who is found.

What Jesus is communicating in the story is my heart is for those made in the image of God to come home, whether they are lost far from God or near to God.

COME HOME

What is also important to know in this story that when the younger brother went away who’s responsiblity was it to help bring him back home?

The elder brother

We are our brothers keeper

This is what the religious leaders failed to live up to

The good news though is we have a perfect elder brother in our life that left heaven to come to earth to be with us and rescue and save us.