We All Need Jesus

Introduction

Think of a movie that you’ve watched a million times. You know the lines coming up, you know the storyline, you know the main characters, you know the plot, you probably have done some research on the actors and actresses, you are a fan of this film and you know pretty well! My wife, Lindsey, and her family have a Christmas tradition of watching the movie Elf every single year - sometimes multiple times during the Christmas season! They know this movie extremely well and I found out about this whenever Lindsey and I first started dating. We were talking about our favorite traditions around Christmas and I talked about visiting family and having Christmas with my parents on their anniversary on December 20th and she immediately talked about their family tradition of watching Elf! There were other good things mentioned, as well, but that was up there! Because they’ve watched this movie a lot, they know the lines really well. Maybe you have a movie that you know really well - or maybe you’re more of a book person and you’ve read a specific book several times and you can summarize it to someone and give them lots of information that an ordinary person might not know. There are some stories in the Bible that we’ve read a million times that we just seem to know really well and some of you all can probably think of some of those stories really quick. Maybe the birth of Jesus or the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. For others, though, the story of the Prodigal Son might be the same way. We’ve heard of this story a lot and some of us have had lots of Sunday school lessons about it as Jesus tells this parable or story to show how amazing His love and grace are for us.

How many brothers are there in the story of the Prodigal Son? 2!

Which brother do we usually focus on? Younger!

How many brothers are lost in this story? Both!

Both brothers are lost and need to be saved by Jesus. One brother was a rebel and left home and lived a worldly life… but the other son did all the right things but he did them with the wrong motive and he needed to be saved by Jesus too. Tonight, some of you might relate with the younger brother in this story because you might not come to church and you might not know much about the Bible and Jesus wants you to understand that you need Him to save you tonight and to free you from the things of this world. But for many others, you relate more with the older brother. Maybe you’ve come to church your whole life and you try to do the good things but you need to understand that coming to church by itself doesn’t make you a Christian. Every single one of us are made in God’s image and have a purpose from God and part of that purpose includes us asking God to forgive us from our sins, trusting in Him to save us, and to walk after Him in obedience in this life. Let’s read this awesome story in Luke 15

Luke 15:11–32 CSB

11 He also said, “A man had two sons. 12 The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate I have coming to me.’ So he distributed the assets to them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered together all he had and traveled to a distant country, where he squandered his estate in foolish living. 14 After he had spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he had nothing. 15 Then he went to work for one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to eat his fill from the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one would give him anything. 17 When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have more than enough food, and here I am dying of hunger! 18 I’ll get up, go to my father, and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. 19 I’m no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired workers.” ’ 20 So he got up and went to his father. But while the son was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him. 21 The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I’m no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 “But the father told his servants, ‘Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Then bring the fattened calf and slaughter it, and let’s celebrate with a feast, 24 because this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ So they began to celebrate. 25 “Now his older son was in the field; as he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he summoned one of the servants, questioning what these things meant. 27 ‘Your brother is here,’ he told him, ‘and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ 28 “Then he became angry and didn’t want to go in. So his father came out and pleaded with him. 29 But he replied to his father, ‘Look, I have been slaving many years for you, and I have never disobeyed your orders, yet you never gave me a goat so that I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your assets with prostitutes, you slaughtered the fattened calf for him.’ 31 “ ‘Son,’ he said to him, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ ”

The Younger Brother - the Rebel

The younger brother thought that he knew what would make him happy in life and he asked his dad for the money that he was going to get whenever his dad would one day die. Does that sound like a nice thing to do? To go to your dad and ask for all of his money? The Father goes ahead and gives his son his money and possessions and the younger son leaves and goes to another country and thinks that he has a perfect plan that will lead to happiness and a lot of fun. But eventually he runs out of stuff and he wastes all of his money.

Can sin make us permanently happy?

NO! Look at what King Solomon said about the things of this world, like we’re talking about this week

Ecclesiastes 2:11 CSB

11 When I considered all that I had accomplished and what I had labored to achieve, I found everything to be futile and a pursuit of the wind. There was nothing to be gained under the sun.

He shares that it’s like chasing the wind. It’s a waste of time. It doesn’t satisfy. This is what the younger son discovered. He thought that if he just had money and friends and stuff then he’d be happy - but those things left him emptier than he had ever been before. This doesn’t sound like a very positive story but it does lead to something good as the younger son comes to his senses and decides that he is going to go home to his dad. In order for him to do this, though, he was going to have to apologize or repent from his actions.

Why is it hard for us to repent whenever we do something wrong?

Because of shame/pride/because we don’t think we’ve messed up!

The younger son repents and decides to go home and whenever he’s walking to the house, his father see’s him and runs after him and they throw a big party with the fattened calf. Why did the father want to throw a party?

Because the son (was dead) had returned (is now alive)

How many of you have ever lost something? (ask for examples)

One time I was at Table Rock Lake with some friends for the 4th of July and we had just gotten done fishing and cliff jumping and we were getting ready to go out to watch the fireworks at Big Cedar. I put my phone in my pocket because I wanted to take some pictures of the fireworks and sure enough, I do and we have a lot of fun out on the lake watching fireworks and eating brownies and drinking soda and other junk food that you get away with as a high schooler. Fast forward about 30 minutes and we get back to my friends lake house and I use my phone as a flashlight to make sure that I have all of my other things off of the boat before we go inside. I grab some snacks, my towel, and my shirt and start talking with another friend… but the next minute I start to panic because I’m reaching in my pocket for my phone and I can’t find it. It’s not in my shorts… it’s not in my towel… it’s not where I was sitting… Everyone else has made it back inside and here I am at the dock still looking for my phone and I’m shining my flashlight everywhere trying to find it. After about 5 minutes someone comes back outside and asks what I’m trying to find and I say that I can’t find my phone… Y’all, where was my phone? It was in my hand the whole time! That was a silly thing to forget and think that I lost, but it happened and whenever I realized that my phone was in my hand, I threw a little party because I thought the thing had fallen into the lake!

Have you ever had something like that happen? We rejoice over little things like that or whenever we find some extra money in our clothes or whenever we find something that doesn’t matter a whole lot in the big scheme of things… Look at what Luke 15:10 tells us

Luke 15:10 CSB

10 I tell you, in the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who repents.”

Whenever a sinner gets saved, there is a party in Heaven! Do you think that God’s party over someone being saved is a little bit bigger than ours whenever we find a lost phone? I’d say so!

The father threw a party because his younger son came home. He lived a life of rebellion, but he repented and told his father that he was sorry, and the father welcomed him home. Whenever you and I realize that we have sinned against God and we repent from that sin, He welcomes us into His house - remember, we get adopted into His family! We’re called to repent of our sins and trust in Jesus and when we do this, we’re saved, and heaven throws a party. That’s pretty awesome. Let’s see how the story wraps up after the party because we see that there’s another son

The Older Brother - the Rule Maker and Breaker

Some people think that they keep all the rules and that they deserve good things to happen to them because of their works. Do you remember what the Bible tells us that we all have done? We all have sinned against God. This means that we need help! The problem for the older brother in this story is that he doesn’t see his need for help. He thinks that he’s fine just as he is.

Where was the older brother whenever the younger brother came home? See verse 25

Working in the field - maybe he was hard at work… but don’t you think someone would have come and gotten him before the party officially started? This seems a little strange.

Did you know that in this world in Jesus’ day, it was actually the older brother’s responsibility to go and look for the younger brother and bring him home?

See, the younger brother ran home and he asked the father for forgiveness… what does the older brother do? He gets made at his dad.

Why do you think the older brother was mad at his father?

Because he never was given a party

Isn’t it easy to get a little jealous whenever someone gets something that we don’t get? The older brother gets jealous that his younger brother has come home. He’s upset because he stayed at home and worked for the father… he thought that he had followed all the rules and was doing everything perfect. But if he was following all the rules, he would have been happy to see his younger son, just like his dad was. What point do you think Jesus is making in this story about the older brother?

The older brother isn’t saved either!

What does this story have to do with us here at Camp Joy in 2023? Jesus told this story 2000 years ago to a different group of people in a different culture than ours today. Why does this matter?

Here’s why: Each one of us here fit into one of those categories.

We are either rebels or rule followers

We are either lost or found

We are either with God or angry at God

This is what God wants each of us to do tonight. To evaluate where we’re at with Him. To go back to the baseball diagram and see which base we’re at. Some of us here tonight are still at home plate and we’re in need of Jesus to save us. Some of us are like the older brother in Luke 15 as we might go to church and do nice things, but deep down we’re still lost and confused and we haven’t repented of our sins and asked Jesus to save and change us. Some of us are here and we are saved but we need God’s help to grow deeper in our walk with Him. Every single one of us tonight need Jesus Christ in some way or another! Some of us need Jesus to save us. Others of us need Jesus to change us. Some of us need Jesus to give us wisdom and patience. Others of us need Jesus to give us strength to stand up for Him because lots of people don’t.

In about a month from now, there are 24 people from our church and a few from other churches going to Guatemala in order to share the Good News of Jesus, build 10 houses, feed 200 families, do a VBS, and teach kids English. Last year whenever our team went to Guatemala, we encountered people who had next to nothing. Literally, their houses were smaller than this stage… They didn’t have much money. They didn’t have much food. But do you know what some of them had? Some of the people in this tiny mountain village had heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ and they had Jesus living inside of them and they had so much joy in their lives because of Jesus. What we came to realize was that lots of these families didn’t have a Bible. If you have a Bible with you, hold it up. Do you remember what we talked about on Monday night about the Bible? Is the Bible the opinions of people or is it God’s Word? It’s God’s Word!

There are so many people all around the world who would love to have a Bible to call their own. And so often in our lives, we have multiple Bible’s that we don’t even read very much. Guys, God has brought you to camp for a reason and one of those reasons is for you to evaluate where you’re at with Him. Have you repented of your sins and placed your faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior? Have you asked Jesus to forgive you and do you believe that Jesus really did what the Bible said that He did? That has to be question #1 - what have we done with Jesus… but we also have to ask a second question: What have we done FOR Jesus? Jesus wants you and I to live for Him. He wants us to read the Bible. He wants us to be nice to other people. He wants us to serve other people. He wants us to tell other people about Jesus. He wants us to seek the things above that really matter most. But before we do that, we have to know Him and we have to have Him save and change us just like the Father did to the younger son in the story.

Tonight, if you need to know Jesus. If you need Jesus to change you and to save you - I’m going to ask you to do something that might sound crazy. Sometimes people ask for everyone to bow their heads and close their eyes and if you want to do something to raise your hand. Throw that out the window tonight. If you have questions about what it means to be a Christian, or if you need to ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins and save you, or if you just want to know more about God’s plan for you, I’m going to ask you to do something really brave because Jesus wants us to be bold for Him

I want you to stand up and I want to pray with you and talk with you about what it means to be saved

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If you’re not there yet, I know that a handful of you are close, talk with your cabin counselor tonight and I’d love to visit with you more about this tomorrow morning!