The love of a father

June 16th, 2024

Luke 15:11-32

Intro:

In the beginning of chapter 15 we see that Jesus was among tax collectors and sinners. In vs. 2 the pharisees and the scribes where obviously close by. Jesus takes this time to instruct the Pharisees and scribes without them even seeing it coming.

1. Jesus did this using parables.

a. Adrian Rogers says in his sermon “mysteries of the kingdom of heaven” About parables:

“Jesus was the master teacher. He taught in parables—earthly stories with heavenly meanings—which are meant to both reveal and conceal. The meek, the teachable and guidable, could understand, while the scholars could not.”

Luke 15:1-2 (NIV)

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus.

2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

Three words summarize the message of this chapter: lost, found, and rejoice. We will be looking at the last parable today which is a lesson on rejoice.

1. Jesus spoke these parables to answer the accusations of the Pharisees and scribes who were scandalized at His behavior.

a. It was bad enough that Jesus welcomed these outcasts and taught them, but He went so far as to eat with them!

2. The Jewish religious leaders did not yet understand that the Son of man had “come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).

a. Even more, they were still blind to the fact that they themselves were among the lost.[1]

1. The father’s response drips with tragedy, expressing both sadness and disappointment.

a. He first addressed the fairness issue by clarifying the nature of their relationship.

b. Employees depend upon fairness, receiving just compensation for deeds rendered. Sons live in grace, enjoying full access to everything their fathers own.

c. The older son could have slaughtered a calf and celebrated with his friends anytime he wanted. As a son, he owns the whole herd!

2. The father then addressed the issue of values.

a. Whereas he valued the son’s life more than possessions, barely giving any thought to the fortune squandered, the older son couldn’t see past the fairness issue long enough to celebrate his brother’s return.

i. This fact proved beyond any shadow of doubt that the older brother was no less a wayward sinner than the prodigal who actually left the country.

b. Sadly, there were two rebels living under one roof. They just carried out their rebellion in different ways.

i. In the end, however, the father gained a genuine son for the first time.

ii. Repentance and forgiveness gave birth to an authentic father-son relationship based on grace.

iii. The future of the other son, however, remains in doubt by the end of Jesus’ story.

1. The Lord left the ending unresolved, most likely to prompt a response from the Pharisees.

2. In the first parable, the shepherd “called together his friends and neighbors” to rejoice with him.

3. In the second, the woman “called together her friends and neighbors” to rejoice with her.

4. Both stories use almost identical language, suggesting everyone responded. After all, why would they not?

3. The father’s explanation that he “had to celebrate” left the son with a decision: either continue in his own brand of rebellion or repent and join the celebration.

a. It is Interesting, rarely do we encounter people who see themselves reflected in the older son.

i. Almost everyone identifies with the prodigal’s need for grace, and they long for the father’s response to their sinful, selfish wanderings.

ii. As Christians mature, they often identify with the father as they must learn to forgive deep hurts caused by estranged loved ones.

iii. But only a rare few recognize that they, too, share the older son’s arrogant sense of entitlement.

4. The truth is, we play all three parts.

a. We are foolish sinners in need of God’s forgiveness, and we owe many apologies to the people we have harmed and hurt.

b. We also know many people who need our forgiveness.

5. The father’s example calls us to extend grace to others with eagerness and to restore them as quickly as wisdom allows.

a. But let’s not overlook the ugly reality that lurking in the shadows of every heart is the sulking older brother who feels entitled to just rewards for good deeds.

b. We resent trials when we feel like we have been so faithful.

i. We consider grace an entitlement, and we dispense justice like it’s our right. How seldom do we rejoice when others rejoice!

ii. How suspicious we can be of another’s repentance!

Beware the pointing finger of the older brother. The finger is yours, and it invariably points to everything resembling yourself.[2]

Conclusion:

There is a story that goes like this.

A man had the duty to raise a drawbridge to allow the steamers to pass on the river below and to lower it again for trains to cross over on land. One day, this man’s son visited him, desiring to watch his father at work. Quite curious, as most boys are, he peeked into a trapdoor that was always left open so his father could keep an eye on the great machinery that raised and lowered the bridge. Suddenly, the boy lost his footing and tumbled into the gears. As the father tried to reach down and pull him out, he heard the whistle of an approaching train. He knew the train would be full of people and that it would be impossible to stop the fast-moving locomotive, therefore, the bridge must be lowered! A terrible dilemma confronted him: if he saved the people, his son would be crushed in the cogs. Frantically, he tried to free the boy, but to no avail. Finally, the father put his hand to the lever that would start the machinery. He paused and then, with tears he pulled it. The giant gears began to work and the bridge clamped down just in time to save the train. The passengers, not knowing what the father had done, were laughing and making merry; yet the bridge keeper had chosen to save their lives at the cost of his son’s. In all of this there is a parable: the heavenly Father, too, saw the blessed Savior being nailed to a cross while people laughed and mocked and spit upon Him and yet, “He spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all.”

Isaiah 53

1Who has believed our message

and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

2He grew up before him like a tender shoot,

and like a root out of dry ground.

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,

nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

3He was despised and rejected by mankind,

a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.

Like one from whom people hide their faces

He was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

4 Surely, he took up our pain

and bore our suffering,

yet we considered him punished by God,

stricken by him, and afflicted.

5But he was pierced for our transgressions,

he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was on him,

and by his wounds we are healed.

6We all, like sheep, have gone astray,

each of us has turned to our own way;

and the Lord has laid on him

the iniquity of us all.

7He was oppressed and afflicted,

yet he did not open his mouth;

he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,

and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,

so he did not open his mouth.

8By oppression a and judgment he was taken away.

Yet who of his generation protested?

For he was cut off from the land of the living;

for the transgression of my people he was punished. b

9He was assigned a grave with the wicked,

and with the rich in his death,

though he had done no violence,

nor was any deceit in his mouth.

10Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,

and though the Lord makes c his life an offering for sin,

he will see his offspring and prolong his days,

and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.

11After he has suffered,

he will see the light of life d and be satisfied e ;

by his knowledge f my righteous servant will justify many,

and he will bear their iniquities.

12Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, g

and he will divide the spoils with the strong, h

because he poured out his life unto death,

and was numbered with the transgressors.

For he bore the sin of many,

and made intercession for the transgressors.

[1]Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 233. [2]Charles R. Swindoll, Luke, vol. 3, Swindoll’s Living Insights New Testament Commentary (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2017), 428–429.