Keep the Main Thing, the Main Thing

Changes

A few weeks ago I opened with the famous Ben Franklin quote, “The only sure things in life are death and taxes.” And, I talked about the one edition to this quote, the 3rd thing is change.

A variation, “The only constant in life is change.”

We are constantly changing. Our situations change, our families changes, our health, finances, friends, everything. So, we find ourselves constantly in need of adaptation to our new circumstances.

I didn’t need glasses until started seminary with all the reading. Then, a few years ago, i needed bifocals. Seriously? My contact lenses are multi-focal. Both of them. There is a reading section and a far-sighted section.

But now, I find, the reading strength is not strong enough. So, my next trip to the eye doctor in Nov. will include stronger readers. Which means, probably, reading glasses when I’m reading the newspaper, commentaries, and those new deck-building card games our kids love to play with those tiny fonts on them that tell you what you can and can’t do.

I can’t play those games w/out figuring out how to read those cards. They just laugh at me.

Our family has changed. 2 of our kids are single, room mates in Glendale. The other is married and had our 2 grand children. Sara’s was out visiting them this past week for his birthday.

That changes how we spend our free time, plan our vacations. Hopefully, they will be coming out here to visit us before too long.

Grandkids change so much. Xmas is so much more fun when the grandkids are here to decorate and open presents on Xmas day. When it’s just me and Sara, and our other adult kids, they sleep in, we start slow. It’s an entirely different pace on Xmas day.

But when the littles are here, no body sleeps in. It’s a mad house and when they are finished it looks like a tornado blew thru.

We love the changes. They are not always easy, but we love having the kids around.

Speaking of change that are not always easy, how many of you remember when it looked like this around here?

This was taken in the summer of 2016.

The choir in their robes.

Music projected on the one screen we had up. Choir song, then the hymns out of the hymnal.

The old stage. You see the grand piano, we had an organ. We were a much more liturgical church.

Then, I’d come up, in my sport jacket and slacks, holding my iPad (pretty radical), no pulpit or table, and preach my sermon.

Things have changed quite a bit around here.

If you go back a little farther, my predecessor preached every week in a suit, not just a jacket and tie. His 2 predecessors preached in robes.

We have evolved. I preach sitting on stool, at a table, in blue jeans, and my shirt is not even tucked in.

I still use my iPad. I did hear of one person who stopped coming to church b/c I don’t preach from a bible or wear a suit. Of course, I have about 100 bibles on my iPad. But, that’s not the point.

Some of these changes were thrust on us. COVID and choirs were a deadly combination. W/ ppl singing out and breathing deep it was dangerous when there were bad germs in the air.

That said, when the elders hired me 9 years ago, after I got the formal job description with the bullet points, they told me very clearly, “we hired you to do 2 things. Teach the bible. And, reach younger people in MP.”

Even then there was beginning to be a major turnover in the demographics of homeowners. The 80-year olds were selling and moving to the valley. And, 50-year olds were buying. The pandemic brought even younger adults getting out of metropolitan areas and settling in smaller communities like MP.

God wasn’t caught off guard by any of this. He knew what was coming. He led Jim and Linda to come and join us, remodel the stage, rework our worship services.

We are so fortunate to have them and their skill sets to do what we do.

I will tell you though, while most all of you are thrilled with the changes, a few others were not. They made it clear they preferred the old way of doing things. Most have moved on. Some, to their credit, have stuck it out and evolved with us.

In fact, several of the elders who hired me were not thrilled with the changes. To be honest, I don’t believe they understood what they were asking when they said they wanted us to reach younger people in MP.

We’ve gone thru the same changes that so many other churches have and have gotten younger. But, I don’t think they fully appreciated that two things. Our personnel was changing, that is the ppl leading and their skill sets. Nor did they appreciate that we wouldn’t be able to reach younger ppl while singing older songs in old ways.

Some churches haven’t changed much at all. But their congregations are aging and what will happen when the last one turns out their lights and leaves this life? Many churches are dying on the vine, closing their doors permanently, as they fail to change to remain relevant to the ppl in their community.

They fight it. Those young Jesus-freaks w/ their long hair, tattoos, piercings, rock bands, bare feet, ….

We don’t do church the way my great grandfather’s church did, Broadway Xian in Wichita in the 30s and 40. We worship the same God, just not in the same way. Likewise, my great grandchildren won’t worship the same way we do.

Right now, where we are, we want everyone to feel welcome, be able to connect w/ God, and everyone else to be able to celebrate when someone new comes to Jesus, He changes their life, and lays out a place setting at His table in Heaven.

It is a challenge to keep the main thing, the main thing as we work to fulfill what God has called us to do here.

Which way is better? Hymns, liturgy, robes, and choirs? Or, rock bands, songs w/ repeated lyric lines, preachers in blue jeans, and young attractive worship leaders?

Better? Depends. So many factors. Who are you trying to reach? What’s the demographic of the community? Are we keeping the main thing, the main thing? That is Jesus and attracting ppl to surrender more to Him and walk more closely with Him.

Or, has something else crept its way into a higher priority than it should. Doing things the way we’ve always done them, b/c that’s what worked for us, it should work for you, too.

One of my seminary professors challenged us on this one so many times. He said, “The church is poised, prepared, and ready to leap into the 1960s.” It was the 80s at the time, but the point is the same.

Regardless, the message Jesus wants us all to get is this; No matter how far gone you were and how messed up you got, you can still come to Jesus and He will change your life and welcome you into the family. And, He wants everybody else to rejoice and celebrate with every one who does.

This is the message of 3 of the most well known parables Jesus taught. They are grouped together. All slightly different angles on the same message. The extent that Jesus will go to retrieve someone and welcome them back in the fold, and lead the rest of us in praising God for them.

3 parables in Luke 15. A lost sheep, a lost coin, and a lost son. First, the lost sheep. And the emphasis is on how lost it was.

The Lost Sheep

Luke 15:1–7 NIV

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 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. Doesn’t he 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 neighbors 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.

Notice first the change in the audience. Tax collectors and sinners had joined the group. What had been a group that was made up of disciples and Pharisees. Now was joined by a group of outcasts. Outcasts according to everyone who had been there.

Tax collectors were Jewish traitors. They collected money from their fellow countrymen and gave it to the Roman gov’t. Of course, there was a minimum they were req’d to collect. But they all coerced, extorted, and were involved in racketeering. Any extra, they kept for themselves.

Sinners were ppl whose lifestyle was blatantly ungodly. They flaunted it publicly. No shame. Prostitution, both same sex and oppo sex, gambling, robbers and thieves. No apology. Open decadent behavior. And, they were attracted to Jesus to hear his message.

No doubt, they were given a wide berth when they joined the crowd. The ‘insiders’ didn’t even want to touch the outcasts for fear some of their decadence would rub off and pollute them.

X welcomed them into the crowd. And, He told everyone this parable of the lost sheep.

Now, before I explain even this first parable, I want to explain something else. Christians are split, literally and figuratively, over who the lost one rep’s in all 3 parables. Does it rep someone who has expressed a faith in Jesus and walked away? Does it rep someone who never had faith and did the natural thing by walking and behaving a long way away from God.

Jesus’ point in these parables is, it just doesn’t matter. Walking away is walking away. If they were saved, they did not lose their salvation. But they lost much of what was possible for saved ppl. If not save, they were just dead, as good as dead, living their faithless and disob lives.

So, don’t get hung up trying to ID who the lost one rep’s.

The sheep that was lost was absolutely as good as dead. They have no defense. No hard outer shell. No talons or claws. No sharp teeth. They are as slow as and uncoordinated. They are not going to out run a wolf, lion, or bear.

They are completely dependent on the human oversight and provision of the shepherd and a pen.

The shepherd knew this. He would leave the 99 in good hands, in a pen, safe. And He would go and look for the lost sheep until he either found it alive or found its remains after being ravaged by a predator. He would not quit.

When he found the animal alive, he carried it back to the flock. Then, alerted all his friends and neighbors and they celebrated w/ joy the return of the one who was lost. It was a party.

There was more joy over the one who returned than the 99 who never strayed.

He didn’t scold the sheep, punish the sheep, speak harshly to the sheep. He graciously and compassionately welcomed it back into the fold.

The applications involved the grumbling and complaining Pharisees who resented the special attention given to the outcasts. But X wanted the outcasts to see clearly the app for them. No matter how far they had wandered away. They could always come to Jesus.

Coming to Jesus meant repenting, admitting and owning your bad behavior. Apologizing for it and changing your ways.

No doubt, the sheep that was lost got nasty and dirty wandering around the wilderness. One can never bee too messed up, matted wool or hair, smelly, dirty, fouled up for Jesus not come looking and celebrate when He finds you. Party in town and party in heaven!

The emphasis in this parable is on the ‘lostness’ of the sheep. It was as good as dead, gone. And the joy, not only of the shepherd, but of the entire community when the lost sheep came home.

Next, He told another parable. Very similar in message, but w/ a slightly different emphasis.

The Lost Coin

Luke 15:8–10 NIV

“Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors 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.”

This time it was a poor woman who had 10 silver coins, but lost one of them.

The 2-fold emphasis of this one is the joy when the coin is found felt and exhibited by the entire community, and the search. The sheep was lost. The coin was lost but the search was extensive.

She lit a lamp for the dark room. She moved all the furniture and swept the floor. She turned the house upside down looking for this one coin.

Again, no doubt, the coin got nasty dirty falling into a crack in the dirt floor. But it never lost its value to the owner. And the owner went to great lengths to find it.

Jesus sees us that way when we wander away. We never lose our value. He died for us while we were still nasty dirty. If we wander away and pile the dirt on top of dirt, we still never lose our value to Him.

Once the coin was found and cleaned up, it was returned to the place where she kept the other 9. And a party ensued. Not only the community around her, but also the community of angels in heaven rejoiced when the one who had been lost was found, cleaned up, and returned to its rightful place.

Jesus will come after you. He will not let you go w/out an extensive search. He will turn the world upside down to find you. When He does, and you repent, He will change your life, clean you up, lift you out of that mess of a crack and return you to your place of honor.

The religious leaders of the day did not seek anyone out, esp. the outcasts. They would not touch them for fear that their stench would be cast over on them.

Jesus did not w/draw. Nor does he want us to w/draw from ppl. We don’t need to participate in their ungodly behavior, but we can still befriend them and do what we can to lead them to Jesus.

The 3rd parable is the most famous. There are layers to its meaning. But the point is related and almost the same as these first 2.

This is the parable of the lost son.

The Lost Son

Luke 15:11–32 NIV

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 in 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 servants 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 servants.’ 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. 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.’ ”

3 main players. The younger brother, irresponsible and arrogant, who wandered away. The older brother, self-righteous, egotistical, who stayed home. And the father who loved them and wanted a relationship w/ both.

This parable also speaks to the character of God and how quick He is to forgive and restore. No history of sin is too great. If we will turn to God on His terms, He will forgive us and welcome us into the family.

The 2-fold emphasis of this is also the party when the rebellious son returns, but also the restoration of the son back into the family. He was not treated like a hired hand or servant. He was welcomed by his father back into the family who also tried to get the older brother to recognize him as his brother again.

The younger son wanted his father to give him his inheritance. His father wasn’t dead, but by demanding it, he was saying that his father was as good as dead to him. He wished he was dead.

He had lived in the house up to that point, in the near presence of his father, but had little or not fellowship w/ him. It was a tense situ.

He was tired of living under his father’s authority. He believed he was adult enough to manage his own life. He wanted out from under his family.

He would have recieved 1/3 of his fathers estate. In that culture, the eldest son received a double portion. So, 2 sons would divide the estate by 3 and the eldest would get 2/3.

His father agreed and gave him his inheritance. He promptly converted it to cash and went on an irresponsible and foolish spending spree.

His life spiraled downward and collapsed in his ungodly behavior. He squandered the entire amount. Wasted it. Nothing to show for it.

Mostly of his own doing, but then a severe famine struck the land. Nature took his bad situ and made it worse. Everyone suffered. But esp those who had no resources to fall back on. Few jobs. And what there were, didn’t pay well.

He had no place to turn. In a foreign land. No family nearby. No money. No hope for anything to change any time soon.

To his credit, things changed a bit when he decided to get a job. It wasn’t much. It was all he could find. Low man on the seniority ladder, he was sent to take care of a herd of pigs.

If you’ve ever been around a pig farm, you know that the smell is one of the most offensive known to man. Animals smell bad. Pigs are the worst. And this was the absolute worst work for a Jew. Pigs were unclean animals. They would have nothing to do w/ them. But he was desperate.

It didn’t pay enough to meet his needs. He stayed hungry. He was starving to the point that what he was feeding the pigs tempted him. Pigs eat garbage. He was tempted to take a bite.

You can imagine the day he had the pod of trash up to his face considering putting it in his mouth. And in that moment, a flash of memory came to him.

He remembered his father’s servants ate better and were paid more than he was getting there. Even the day-laborers. Their lowest position fared better than he was.

He came to his senses and realized his father was a better master than he had been to himself.

He hatched a plan. Admitted to himself the mistakes and foolish behavior he had committed, changed course, and immediately and humbly headed for home.

He knew he had forfeited all rights as a son. But it would be better to ask for mercy than remain estranged. He had nothing to offer his father except and apology and a commitment to be faithful from that day forward.

The plan did not call for him to ask to be allowed back into the family. He was willing to start out as one of their day-laborers. He didn’t deserve anything. He was just hopeful that by offering to start at the bottom and surrender to his father’s authority, beg for mercy and humbly ask to be saved; His father would respond favorably out of love.

This is what repentance looks like.

How would his father receive him? How does God receive us when we realize we’re messed up and need to be saved?

His father had been keeping an eye on the road ever since the son left. When he finally say what he believed he would never see again, he ran to him. He embraced him. W/ all the compassion and love. W/out any condemnation. He received him and welcomed him back.

The father never gave him the chance to recite his rehearsed lines about being a servant. His father immediately dressed him like a son. Covered his tattered and smelly clothes with a beautiful robe fit for royalty. He gave him the signet ring off his own finger. It signified wealth and standing. It also allowed him to sign contracts on his father’s behalf, making business decisions and sealing them w/ the ring. His father trusted him to do this.

And he put sandals on his nasty, dirty feet. His old shoes had long since worn out. Poor ppl didn’t wear sandals.

This was a pic of pure joy and triumph. His father declared a feast. Every wealthy family had at least one calf that was set aside, fed extra, and cared for w/ a special occasion in mind to slaughter it and eat it. In the father’s mind, there was no more special occasion than this.

He never expected to see his son again. He was a good as dead. The last thing the son had said to him was he wished he was dead. The sheep, as good as dead. The coin, lost seemingly forever. But now they were found. Let the party begin!

The reaction of the older brother was just a little bit different than the father. He came home from working the flocks and fields that day. It was late. But he had been doing what he always did. He performed his tasks, did his duty, and came home at the end of a long day.

As he neared the house, he heard the band. What? Why the party? What’s the occasion?

One of the servants clued him in. Your brother has come home and your father is thrilled beyond words.

He was not happy. Irate. Angry. Ticked off! At his father. At his brother. At the whole sorry affair.

Immediately, he was afraid his father would further divide his estate taking away from what he was supposed to get, he bel’d he deserved as the oldest and most obedient son.

His irresponsible and foolish brother had squandered his fortune and now his dad was celebrating it like it was an okay thing to do. He had spent his life doing what he bel’d to be the right thing always. His rep in the community was that of a good son, faithful to his father’s business interests.

But what began to appear was that, he too had been in close proximity to his father all his life. But he had a distant relationship w/ him. It was based on obedience. Not love and trust. He didn’t trust his father to do for him what he felt he deserved. He bel’d his behavior earned his father’s favor.

When the father realized his older son was not coming into the feast, he ran to him, just like he did the younger son. He pled w/ him to come in and join the feast. But the older son could not get past what he deemed to be so unfair.

Jesus set this feast up in the parable on purpose to resemble the feast in heaven. The one where ppl from all over the world, throughout history, who had not been in close proximity to the temple in the middle east, but had a closer relationship w/ God than the Jews who had been right there for centuries were welcomed into heaven and those who resented them being there were about to get locked out.

God wants everyone to repent and be a part of the celebration forever in heaven. He receives no pleasure in anyone choosing to remain on the outside.

The son who was lost and outside was then inside while the ‘insider’ son complained outside.

The son who worked like a slave had no reward while the son who wandered away and squandered his fortune but owned his foolishness and apologized for it was celebrated.

Just like we are to quick to try to ID the condition of the lost one, we are too quick to ID the older brother as just the Jews who resented these Gentile newcomers.

We, as the established church, must be careful to not take the same attitude and resent these long-haired, hippy freaks w/ tattoos, body piercing, rock bands, bare feet, and don’t appreciate the way we do things; but are coming to Jesus in repentance to be saved.

Jesus will run after everyone. Outsiders who’ve never been in. Outsiders who used to be in. Insiders who are out now. Whomever. Every single one of us who will own our past mistakes and repent from them, Jesus will clean us up, change us from the inside out, and welcome into the family.

And, He will expect all of the rest of us to celebrate with him when someone who was lost is found. Someone who was dead, is now alive.

3 parables for us to digest and understand how much God values us no matter how messed up we make ourselves and what He expects of the rest of us when one person chooses Jesus over their old life.

Applications

Outcast?

Do you ever think you are so far out, so messed up that Jesus will just let you go?

Never. You can never be so far gone that Jesus won’t come and get you. Give up trying to run away. Run to Jesus. He will accept you, redress you, welcome you into the family, and save you.

Never believe you could ever get too far away.

Joy

Always rejoice when someone repents and comes to Jesus no matter how different from you they are. Never expect someone to change to be like you.

Our mission is to lead ppl to Jesus to become like Him. Let them. And praise God, that not only did he save them when they were lost, He saved you too.

Master

God will always make a better Master for your life than you ever will. Do you need to get off your own throne and let God take the seat?

Let Him have authority over every area of your life. You will never be disappointed with what He does with you and for you when He is your Master

It is a challenge to keep the main thing, the main thing as we work to fulfill what God has called us to do here.

Which way is better? Hymns, liturgy, robes, and choirs? Or, rock bands, songs w/ repeated lyric lines, preachers in blue jeans, and young attractive worship leaders?

Better? Depends. So many factors. Who are you trying to reach? What’s the demographic of the community? Are we keeping the main thing, the main thing? That is Jesus and attracting ppl to surrender more to Him and walk more closely with Him.

Or, has something else crept its way into a higher priority than it should. Doing things the way we’ve always done them, b/c that’s what worked for us, it should work for you, too.

One of my seminary professors challenged us on this one so many times. He said, “The church is poised, prepared, and ready to leap into the 1960s.” It was the 80s at the time, but the point is the same.

Regardless, the message Jesus wants us all to get is this; No matter how far gone you were and how messed up you got, you can still come to Jesus and He will change your life and welcome you into the family. And, He wants everybody else to rejoice and celebrate with every one who does.