The Best Family Gathering

Luke 15:11-32 | The Best Family Gathering

TENSION NEEDING REDEMPTION:

We all want to belong

CENTRAL TRUTH EXPRESSED (MAIN POINT):

Jesus ushers us into a new family gathering where we are fully known and fully loved

GOD'S CHARACTER REVEALED:

God is love loving

OUR RIGHT RESPONSE:

Prepare THEM room

1 | How have I experienced the tension?

We are merely three sleeps away from Christmas Day!!!

Over the course of this month we have been in a series entitled Best Christmas Ever!!! Looking through the lens of classic Christmas Films at what are the various components which make Christmas epic and how each of those realities find their fulfillment in Jesus.

In the first week we looked under the tree to The Best Present through the lens of Miracle on 34th Street discovering the greatest gift is God’s own presence.

In the second week we became filled with the The Best Hope as we journey with Scrooge through his transformation, discovering the greatest hope for transformation comes through the powerful truth of the Gospel of Jesus.

Last week we took a look at the Best Christmas List which is your list of gratitude for all that God has done for you and provided for you by entering into the story of It’s a Wonderful Life.

So we have with us all this wonderous elements of the Best Christmas Ever, but the Best Christmas Ever is not meant to be experienced in isolation right.

Perhaps you grew up with a family tradition of going out together to a Chinese Restaurant a la A Christmas Story, or celebrating Las Posadas with Tamales, Christmas Day Brunch with grandparents, or a friend inviting you over to their home to open the last few presents and watch Christmas Day sports on TV.

The Best Christmas Ever cannot be the best Christmas Ever without belonging… so tonight we are exploring the theme of the Best Family Gathering.

What does it mean to truly belong to a family?

2 | How have you experienced this tension?

In a culture of isolation and loneliness, truly belonging can feel like a pipe dream.

If you are single, your singleness might feel like it's highlighted during this season as friends spend time with their significant others.

If you are married, you can feel isolation from the type of communal belonging that you experienced as a single person.

If you are married without kiddos but that has been a desire in your heart, Christmas can be isolating watching all the littles running around with Christmas cheer.

If you are married with kids there can be loneliness in the exhaustion that this season brings as you are running around trying to experience everything the season offers.

There are more demographics than just these but all this is to say, to find yourself truly belonging is a longing that has been built into every human heart. And one that is not always easy to discover.

To give us an assist on this journey of what it means to truly belong I wanted to share some scenes from a newer Christmas Film, Arthur Christmas.

In this film, the role of Santa is passed down through the generations within the Christmas Family.

Santa is now considering retiring, fortunately he has a son named Steve who is strategic, capable and innovative to take the gift giving into the future.

But he also has another son, Arthur. Arthur is none of the things Steve is, but this guy loves Christmas, he loves his family, and he loves bringing joy to the world.

And yet because he isn’t the shining star of the family, Arthur still finds himself struggling to find his place to belong.

*Scene of Santa not knowing what Arthur’s role is on the stage / dinner table scene*

Arthur’s love for Christmas and his role of responding to Children’s letters seem trivial to a family focused on making a significant impact on the world.

This tension though spills over into the North Pole and beyond when it is discovered that despite all of Steve’s innovations they still missed a gift for a child!!!

Steve sees this child as a statistical anomaly while Arthur cannot let go of the thought that a child will go without a gift from Santa…

And so Arthur plans his escape from the North Pole to deliver this gift to this child in need.

You sense in Arthur throughout the story that he desperately wants to feel a sense of belonging.

To belong is a great gift.

And yet in our imperfect world with imperfect people who might ghost you, overpromise and underdeliver, and hurt you and more than likely you would do the same to others… how do we belong?

How do we discover The Best Family Gathering?

3 | What do the Scriptures say about this tension?

In the beginning of the Scriptures, we discover humanity was never supposed to live isolated and segmented lives. The nakedness of the humans in the garden inside Eden was a demonstration of the absolute sense of openness and belonging.

Imagine never feeling afraid of rejection? Always feeling secure in the love of God and others?

This was the created order for human flourishing!!!

And yet when sin enters into the story, barriers come up, why?

Because we realize I am a danger to others, and they are a danger to me.

We doubt the Father’s care and so we hide from him.

We attempt to discover belonging on our own terms. Which is a patchwork approach, of getting close to others so that we feel connected but not too close where they can do real damage.

For all the talk in our culture about the beauty of vulnerability, we don’t mean true vulnerability…

true vulnerability is not beautiful. It is terrifying!

A friend of mine once explained vulnerability is like wearing armor in a warzone and then saying to your enemy, hey! I am on your side now, and you can be on mine!!! Btw right here in my armor is a flaw in my armor… if you hit me there I would keel over, I trust you won’t! O thank you for that!

Vulnerabiity is not cute nor is it for the feint of heart.

And yet this is how humans were created by God to operate.

So how do we bring reconciliation to this tension???? Better question… how will God?

This tension remained at the heart of the human story until a light was born.

The very light of God born in the flesh of humanity.

See when Jesus was born he came to proclaim really good news! That the days of darkness were coming to an end, that a Kingdom of his own light was coming to envelop the world!!!

But what does this mean for humanity? Are we too far gone? Too untrustworthy? Unrecoverable? Incapable of belonging.

Jesus taught one of my favorite stories of his about a father and two sons. If you have been around here for any length of time you are likely familiar with it, but as I read it this time I want to focus in on the theme of belonging.

Read Luke 15:11-16

So we are introduced to two sons, the younger chooses separation from the family through his rebellion and rejection. He has it in his mind that to not belong is a better choice… so he does his thing and takes off.

But we are also introduced to an older brother, he stays! We could consider him a good son! He stays, he works, he is responsible…

Read Luke 15:17-24

Where is the Father’s heart in this story?

He is desperate to restore his son back into the family. For him to understand that he does belong. Not because his actions have earned him a place in the family… anything but! But that is not the relevant piece of the puzzle! The Father’s heart is the only thing that matters.

The character and nature of the Father undoes all of the broken realities of the reckless son!

And the Father’s heart and generosity is not limited by scarcity! The Father doesn’t forget that he has another son as well.

Read Luke 15:25-32

The older brother cannot understand that the Father’s generosity is not limited… We live in a world of scarcity where there is only so many steaks for dinner, so much attention that a Father can pay to his children, in other words only so many resources to go around…

And yet that totally misses the heart of the Father and his desire for his kids to discover how fully and richly they belong in the family.

And yet the older brother doesn’t understand how he fits into this new family dynamic… He had it in his mind this whole time that he was a part of the family because he was the good son! His identity seems attached to his accomplishments…

What is so tragic is that he has spent all of this time living geographically close to his Dad and yet relational distant from him.

The older brother clearly has not belonged to his Father’s true family any more than his rebellious younger brother because his heart has not been formed by his Father’s.

So the Father brings the older brother up to speed… it can be BOTH all yours and all his!!!

For the younger brother he needed to know that he absolutely belonged in this family, and the Father wanted his brother to understand that and be a part of the family gathering.

Jesus never gives us as the audience the older brother’s response… leaving it up to all of us to decide the answer within our own hearts…

Will we avoid the Father invitation to go join in the celebration or not? Will we understand what it means to truly belong?

To understand the incredible love of the Father for his children who are near and far!

Arthur ends up going on the adventure of a lifetime in pursuit of delivering this gift by Christmas morning to this one child, and he does it even though he an older brother who has no faith in him.

Steve’s ambitions to the role of Santa have pushed out any room for deep emotional connection with his family. He treats his Father as an obstacle for staying in the position and his brother as an inconvenience that doesn’t belong in his tech heavy vision of the North Pole…

Eventually when Arthur’s quest ends up making headlines in the global media Steve and Santa both end up going after Arthur, but not to join him, but out of a lack of confidence in his ability to do the job.

Finally they all converge at the child’s home.

*Roll Clip of Fighting over the Christmas Gift / Steve handing the Santa board game piece to Arthur / Arthur looking like Santa in the snow*

We find out that Steve ends up becoming the Executive COO for the North Pole.

Santa retires and enjoys his retirement taking up Salsa dancing with Mrs. Santa.

And Arthur finds his place as the new Santa.

Each member of the family belongs there.

To find a place of belonging is a great gift.

The greatest gift is to find your place of belonging in the Father’s family.

Each of us were once like the younger brother rebelling against the Father’s joy and pursuing life on our own terms.

At the same time we can just as easily live like the older brother, a life of earning without experiencing the Father’s joy.

The story of Jesus’ arrival is the story of the pursuit of the true and better older brother leaving the comforts of the Father’s house to become one of us… finding us while we are in a far off country and carrying us back home into the Father’s embrace.

This is the beauty of the Gospel. That while we didn’t belong. Jesus said it's time to come home.

Not only are we invited home as sons and daughters of the Father, but we look around the table and realize we were not the only ones carried back home by Jesus.

As part of our adoption in God’s family, we inherit not just sonship, but siblings.

Bonhoeffer once wrote, “Christian brotherhood is not an ideal which we must realize; it is rather a reality created by God in Christ in which we may participate”

In other words, what Jesus has done is invited us to become a part of the Best Family Gathering imaginable!

This is exactly what you and I are sitting in right now, a gathering of the family. Except we don’t just get together on major holidays… but we gather each Sunday evening and throughout the week to be reminded that we belong. That we are safe to be known. And we are able to truly know each other.

Do we always get it right? No. You won’t. You will offend. Break promises. Underdeliver. Frustrate. Gossip. And irritate.

And so will I. And so will the person sitting next to you if you hang around them long enough…

Bonhoeffer also wrote, “The person who loves their dream of community will destroy community, but the person who loves those around them will create community.”

It is clear in Arthur Christmas that their family is not perfect, and yet it discovers the capacity to belong and to love.

Each member of the family finds their place to care for the mission they have been given, and each of them discover fulfillment in the midst of that reality.

4 | How can the Gospel bring resolution to this tension in your life?

Christmas is a beautiful time to gather with family and friends. To laugh, cry, get hyped over gifts, and enjoy delicious food and drinks.

But all of this is a mere sign post to a true and better family gathering… when all those who have walked this well worn narrow path before us draw near to the table, are fully known. And live for all of eternity knowing that we fully belong.

Read Revelation 19:6-9

Neither the younger brother nor the older brother earned his seat at the table. Both were invited because of the Father’s incredible generosity and joy was for them.

So if you are here tonight and you are thinking, well all of this poetic language is beautiful but I am a mess.

I struggle with anger and rage, with sexual addiction and substance abuse, I am flaky and I gossip.

Whatever you hold onto younger brother or younger sister… know that the true and better older brother has already went to the fullest extent on the cross to bear your sin on himself so that you could experience the true and better family gathering with your Father and with your spiritual siblings.

And it begins tonight.

Each time we gather, this is an appetizer for a the fullness and beauty of the Family Gathering we are destined for!

*Invite band to come on up*

5 | Communion

All of this is beautiful and yet it is difficult to remember when our feet hit the ground in the morning, when we are struggling in traffic or with a workplace issue, when we are let down by a friend or family member.

We need to be reminded of our belonging.

You do and so do I.

With incredible foresight into the human condition Jesus took a tradition from the Jewish holiday of Passover and used it as a symbol and reminder of our belonging now and into eternity.

He took bread, saying this bread is my body which will be broken for you take it and eat in remembrance of me.

Then he said this cup of wine is my blood shed for you, drink it in remembrance of me.

WHen he said these words he wasn’t try to creep us out or shame us into obedience, well I died for you so you better shape up.

No… he was being a really good older brother, helping us keep our gaze focused on what He has already done for you and me.

We refer to this reality as communion, because it reminds us that we had no right to commune or be in relationship with God at the table, and yet Jesus said its time to come home to you and me.

But its also called communion because it reminds us that the table doesn’t only have two chairs one for Jesus and the other for yourself.. But the table has more chairs than we could count, many of them are represented right here tonight.

Communion reminds us that spiritual formation is not a lone wolf exercise but a reality we enter into with brother and sisters before us in the past, behind us in the future, and to the left and right in the present.

So tonight we are going to take communion by taking the elements from the front and then heading back to your chair.

Once you are seated I would love for you to simply take a moment of quiet reflection.

And then I will guide us into taking the elements of Communion together.