The Amazing Love Of God Part 5 Sharing the Father's heart.
Notes
Transcript
Text -
Subject -
Theme -
Thesis -
Principle -
Over the past few weeks we have been looking at the parable of the lost sons together.
Each of the three main characters reflects different lessons.
The prodigal shows us the devastating effects of sin and the nature of true repentance.
The father shows us God’s great mercy toward repentant sinners.
The older brother who we look at today shows us the ugliness and danger of the self-righteous pride that lurks in every human heart.
The entire parable teaches us that …
God welcomes repentant sinners with abundant mercy, but the self-righteous exclude themselves from His mercy.
11 And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12 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. 13 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. 14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything. 17 “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! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.” ’ 20 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. 21 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.’ 22 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. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate. 25 “Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 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.’ 28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, 29 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. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ 31 And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’ ”
So let’s set the stage once again -
The son who had been lost had come home.
The father who had never stopped loving him, restores him to sonship.
He is once again part of the family.
And now there is a great celebration taking place.
Jesus had been giving hope to the lost in the crowd, you can come home to God.
But he also knew the hearts of the scribes and Pharisees.
Those men who inspired this whole teaching sessions when they grumbled saying “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”
They did not believe that these lost people could ever be right with God.
The scribes and Pharisees believed these types of people were too lost, too far gone and therefore should not even be associated with.
The older son, who had been faithful to his father all his life had been out working in the fields.
He approaches and hears the music, begins to see the commotion.
It’s not someone’s birthday, it is not festival time.
No one has gotten married.
What in the world is going on?
26 And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 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.’
This parable when we look at it is so familiar to us, we often think primarily about the younger son and stop there.
We forget is how this story ends.
With this jealous judgmental older brother refusing to share his father’s welcome.
He was angry and refused to go in.
This angry older brother is a picture of the scribes and Pharisees.
Angry at Jesus for being with these - I say normal people - but they call them sinners thinking that they themselves don’t fit into the class of sinner.
The scribes and Pharisees had lost sight of their own lostness.
A warning that we must keep in mind for ourselves as Christians today.
It is not something new.
This is a struggle that continued throughout the church
Paul wrote to the church in Corinth.
9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
The Pharisees forgot where they came from.
And they refused to welcome the joy of lost sinners coming to repentance into their own hearts.
Rather than receiving people who were lost, they rejected them, and therefore they were unwilling and unable to rejoice.
To show these men what was wrong with their attitudes, Jesus put them into his story.
Again - scripture is like a mirror, the more we read it, the more we see ourselves.
The lost younger son represented the ordinary people who turn back to God in repentance.
The father represents God himself, always watching always looking for his lost children to come home.
The older brother represents these proud Pharisees who refuse to share in the joy of Jesus in salvation of sinners.
His younger brother had been recovered out of his lostness, and all this older brother could think about was himself.
Verse 28 says he was angry and refused to go in.
I can be equally as guilty at times as these scribes and Pharisees.
Thinking to myself, oh that person would never come to Jesus.
They are too lost, too sinful, too far gone.
But what I must remember, what we must remember, and what Jesus is trying to show through this parable is that no person, so long as they have breath, no person is too far gone for God to redeem.
Scripture speaks very clearly to the fact that there is only one sin that is unforgivable.
We talked about it back in June going through Luke 12.
10 And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.
In the context - Jesus was accused of being in league with Satan.
It is in this setting that Jesus warns the Pharisees to be careful not to blaspheme the Holy Spirit.
Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit appears to be a verbal sin.
Many theologians link blasphemy against the Holy Spirit with blasphemy against Christ in this way:
when a person has become aware of the true identity of Jesus through the revelation of the Holy Spirit, if that person then calls Jesus the devil, and holds continues in their disbelief, rejecting the Holy Spirit’s leading, that is the unforgivable sin.
When the Pharisees accused Jesus of working miracles by the power of Satan,
Jesus, knowing they didn’t have the Holy Spirit in their hearts, warns them that they should have recognized him by now.
They are perilously close to the unforgivable sin,
and if they continue to make those statements after the Holy Spirit reveals to them that Jesus is the Christ, and they continue to reject the Holy Spirit, there will be no forgiveness.
But so long as they have breath, there is an opportunity to repent and receive the Father’s love.
We know this to be true because of the love Jesus shows us that the father displays for the older brother as well.
His father came out and entreated him.
Other versions say the father pleaded with him some I think go a little to far and say the father begged him.
The father did not beg, he asked his older son to come and be present at his side.
To share in his joy, that his brother who has lost, has now been found.
There is a heart issue at hand with this brother just as there was with the younger brother.
The younger brother’s desire was one of greed, which brought about rebellion.
The older brother’s struggle is with pride.
This older son shared his father's house, but not his father's heart.
He is so close to his father, yet, so far away from him.
This older brother is so prideful that he would rather not have fellowship with his father than to accept his father's acceptance of his brother.
This is exactly the same way the Pharisees treated Jesus who accepted and forgave sinners.
The people in the house are having a great time, but not this man.
His brother and the servants have joy, but he is miserable because he feels he has been treated unfairly.
And that really is the key, his pride in his own righteousness makes him feel like he is owed something more.
We find this in his response to his father.
29 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. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’
This brother had been working hard, not just that day, but for years.
He could use the rest and refreshment.
He could use the fellowship and fun.
His bitterness, however, have distorted his values of what is important.
This is what bitterness does to a person.
It robs you of your joy while those who are the target of your bitterness are enjoying life and are happy.
Anger and bitterness distort our view on what is important in life.
What should be considered a wonderful blessing is looked upon as a burden.
This man's repentant brother has returned home in safety and he is angry about it.
He could have been a huge blessing to his returning brother, but is throwing away the opportunity.
No one sets out to be a bitter person.
We don’t encourage others to pursue bitterness.
Bitterness is bad, it is a poison to the soul.
We should all be able to agree to that.
It has been said that fooling around with bitterness is like drinking poison and hoping that someone else will die.
The older brother had every right to be angry at his brother for what he had done.
But he allowed bitterness to set in and missed what his father was trying to show him.
He thought his father owed him because of his faithfulness.
The Pharisees felt the same way in relation to God.
God, you owe me because I have been following the rules.
We look at this and see the older brother’s feelings of injustice.
For us it is not wrong to notice when we have been treated unjustly, the question of us is how do we respond.
The truth of the matter is that there is not injustice present here.
Jesus is trying to show these religious leaders that they are just as lost as that younger son was, just in a different way.
Spurgeon - I hardly know which to admire most, the love of the father when he fell upon the neck of the prodigal,
or the love of the father when he went out to talk with his elder son:
Oh, our God is very good to us when we give way to naughty tempers!
If we begin to think that we are very holy people, that we have been long the servants of God,
and that there ought to be some little fuss made over us as well as over great sinners that come into the church,
then our Father is very gentle, and he comes out and entreats us.
Ray Pritchard has an interesting application of the parable of the prodigal - I begin with a very simple observation:
It is possible to know God and yet be far away from him.
Most Christians know what that is like.
Perhaps you have had the experience of drifting away from God.
You never meant it to happen.
You didn’t start intending to drift away from the Lord.
But somewhere along the way, you made some wrong choices and one day you woke up to find that God was far away from you.
This is something that happens irrespective of your spiritual pedigree.
Church leaders, pastors, elders, deacons can still be a long way from God.
You might teach a class, help with youth group, teach for children’s church, greet people at the door.
Perhaps you grew up going to church as I did but God was not a priority.
You may have been deeply hurt by someone who claimed to be a Christian and that deep hurt has kept you from coming close to God.
You may have decided that no one can truly live up to what the Bible commands.
Perhaps you feel discouraged over repeated personal failure.
You tried and tried and tried … and finally, exhausted, you gave up.
The truth of the matter is that no matter what position we find ourselves in, we have a loving Father who desires to be with us, and for us to be with him.
31 And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’ ”
Commentator Leon Morris applies this parable -
Jesus does not go on to tell us whether the elder son responded or not.
Nor does he say how the younger son lived in response to his father’s welcoming love.
In leaving these points unresolved he throws out a challenge to all his hearers, be they like the elder brother or like the younger.
We tend to see ourselves as the prodigal and rejoice in the welcoming love of God.
This is good, and it is even better if we go on to make the appropriate response to that love.
But we might also profitably reflect that, unless we are very unusual, we can also see ourselves in the elder brother.
It is a common human failing to think that we are not appreciated as we ought to be,
that people do not give us credit for what we have done.
And whether we be religious or not,
we are usually somewhat critical towards those we see as having failed to live up to our standards,
even if our standards are not theirs.
That Jesus leaves the elder son’s reaction open is encouraging.
We can still do the right thing.
God’s love is a continuing challenge to all our self-seeking.
Jesus leaves this parable with an open ending.
An ending that as the hearer, you get to write for yourself.
The most important question for each of us today is how will the parable of our own lives end.
How will I respond to the Father’s welcome?
Will I share in the father’s joy acknowledging that I am both the prodigal and the older brother?
Will I share his joy confessing my need for the grace that he offers through the death and resurrection of Jesus?
Will I share the his joy by pleading with people to be reconciled to God through faith in Christ?
Will I rejoice every time I hear a testimony of someone coming to faith in Christ?
Will I offer the Father’s welcome to prodigal children, both inside and outside the church?
Henri Nouwen writes:
As long as I keep looking at God as a landowner, as a father who wants to get the most out of me for the least cost,
I cannot but become jealous, bitter, and resentful toward my fellow workers or my brothers and sisters.
But if I am able to look at the world with the eyes of God’s love and discover that God’s vision is not that of a stereotypical landowner or patriarch
but rather that of an all-giving and forgiving father who does not measure out his love to his children according to how well they behave,
then I quickly see that my only true response can be deep gratitude.
This parable shows us God’s amazing love for prodigals, whether close to home or far away.
We have a lavishly loving God