God is Calling You Home

Introduction: A Church for the Sinless

Every reading of the gospel leaves me shocked by the behavior of Jesus Christ. It is hard to read through the pages of any one of the gospels and not be shocked by the way Jesus is portrayed. Virtually every reading of Him leaves me wondering just how close, or at times, far away we are from being the examples of Jesus we read of in Scripture. Today’s reading is no different.

Luke 15 begins with the Pharisees and scribes offering a sharp criticism of Jesus’s ministry practices. This is not the first time they criticized his methods. In fact in Luke 5:30 they wrote, “30 But the Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”” And again when Jesus allowed the woman with the alabaster box to wipe His feet with her hair and tears, they stated Luke 7:39 “39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “This man, if he were a prophet, would know who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him—she’s a sinner!””

Early on, Jesus developed a reputation of hanging around the “unclean” folk. Sinners were generally defined as individuals who behaved or disobeyed intentionally or unintentionally. However, the word tax-collector has a far more drastic connotation. Some translations refer to tax collectors as “publicans” because they were considered apostates and traitors for taking taxes from their fellow Jews on behalf of the Roman government. Only the primitive context can clearly depict the weight of this decision on behalf of the tax collectors. During a time where tensions between the Jews and Romans ran high, the tax collectors decided to side with the Romans for personal and individual gain. They were the originators of the idea, “every man for himself.” Accordingly, sinners and tax collectors were excluded from religious community.

However, Jesus’s preaching resonated with this group and caused them to flock to Him.

Principle: We are not preaching like Jesus until sinners and the most notorious characters of our society want to be in our presence to hear what we have to say.

Yet, it doesn’t stop there. Jesus not only preached to them. He welcomed them to His gatherings and then shared a meal with them. There were two things that prohibited the traditionally religious Jews from participating in this sort of activity:

Pharisees worried that eating with sinners and publicans would violate the food and tithing laws, and

Pharisees worried sharing a meal was an intimate gesture that could be conveyed as acceptance.

However, Jesus was concerned with none of these things. Rather He lived by this very selfless principle: Religious tradition is never more important or valuable than the human soul. When Jesus was criticized for healing on the Sabbath, he proclaimed, “I am Lord of the Sabbath (Luke 6:5). In Matthew 12:6, He declared He was greater than the Temple that was used to institutionalize all of the sacred and traditional laws of worship. Many times, we suggest we will do whatever it takes to win a soul. However, we are never doing whatever it takes to win a soul unless we are abandoning whatever religious tradition is necessary to accomplish such a worthy task.

Principle: It is not enough to preach the right message. We must also share the right expression of fellowship.

Scripture Observations: Luke 15:1-10 | The God Who Seeks

If Jesus wanted to demonstrate how His Father treats sinners and publicans, He gave the following description:

My Father is like a shepherd searching for his sheep and a woman searching for a lost coin.

The interesting thing about these two parables is that Jewish teachers of the time always recognized God’s ability to forgive. However, their idea of God never included Him seeking after someone to forgive Him. In the case of the shepherd, everyone knew shepherding was a dirty job. Therefore, to convey the Father as a shepherd highlights the unpleasant, but necessary work God does in searching after those who are lost.

In the case of the woman’s 10 silver coins, this would equate to 10 days of pay, as 1 coin was equivalent to 1 day’s wage. Furthermore, for a woman this kind of money would have likely been her dowry, which was her’s to take into a marriage and out of the marriage if they were to divorce. The idea here is that this woman has lost something precious, something valuable. Therefore, God seeks after those who are lost as something valuable—contrary to what the religious community of the time insisted.

So we have two take aways:

God seeks after the lost, no matter how dirty the job.

God seek after the lost, because they are valuable to Him.

Yet, there’s a third response Jesus would have given concerning how God treats the sinner and publican, and this, perhaps, is the most important. If Jesus was asked, how does the Father treat sinners and publicans, he would respond,

He’s like a father who runs to meet an obnoxious son who has returned home.

Movements in Luke 15:11-32

The third parable in Jesus’s teaching is unlike the first two in this way:

The thing to be found is running away without a desire to be found.

This passage teaches us three things about those who are on the run from God:

Those who are running away from God always want their blessings now (vs. 12).

Those who are running away from God are always distanced from God and His people (vs. 13).

Those who are running away from God are always trying to cover up what is an obvious failed attempt at doing life our way instead of God’s way (vs. 15).

**Make observations from the text.**

Conclusions

Three notable points about the Father in Jesus’s parable:

He never reacted to the offensive request.

Just because God is silent, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt.

He gave the son what He wanted, even though He knew it wasn’t good for Him.

Just because God gives it to us, it doesn’t mean He wants us to have it.

He broke dignity and ran to his son upon his arrival and gave him more than he asked.