Anchored: The Joy of the Lord

Introduction

Luke 15:11–32 ESV

And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. 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. 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. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything. “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! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.” ’ 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. 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.’ 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. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate. “Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 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.’ But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, 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. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’ ”

There’s a particular anxiousness, anticipation, and even stress that parents and families experience when a child is engaged in the college application process. The selecting and ranking of what schools to apply to, what schools to visit, what’s the order of preference, what’s the dream school or the reach school, what’s the safe school, how are we going to pay for the tuition - all of these questions and more make it a daunting process. This is especially the case when it’s the oldest child and the first time you’re experience it as a family.

For Kim and I that was 2009. Our firstborn was a senior in HS and he had his heart set on Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC. We had visited the campus as a family in the spring of that year when he was still a junior. It shot to the top of the list after that visit. He started the application process when we got back home. Then that summer, my family was rocked when my father unexpectedly passed away. It hit our son particularly hard because he was on a mission trip with our church’s youth group when his grandfather died. He was upset with God. I’m serving you on this mission trip and you take my grandfather away from me.

And so this whole application process is also wrapped up in a season of grief for our family. He and I make another trip to Wake that October for an overnight visit and his in-person interview. After this interview he was bleeding black and gold. He’s wearing his new UA WF hoodie on the drive back home. They told us after the interview that we should hear from them in 4-6 weeks.

So, in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, our anticipation grew and the trip to the mailbox was nerve-wrecking. The problem is that no one from his high school had ever been accepted to Wake. He personally knew someone who was an outstanding student, who applied the previous year, but had been rejected. (We’re now + in a family competition to get to the mailbox first everyday.) “Is it here yet?” Now, it was never the case that the whole family was together when going to the mailbox. But, as God would have it, on Friday, Nov. 27, 2009 we had lunch with another pastor’s family. So we all went from there to swim team practice. Therefore, we were all together when we came home and stopped at the mailbox. To add to the drama, Nov. 27 was five months to the day that my father passed away; which was still weighing on our family. 

We pull up to the mailbox, I get out of the van, open the box, and lo an behold, what do I see? A white envelope addressed to Jelani Ince from Wake Forest University. I calmly walk back to the minivan and hand him the envelope. His eyes light up as he opens it. “I got in! I got in!” He hands the envelope to his mother, and runs out the van shouting in disbelief. Kim is sitting in the van screaming. Nabil, Zakiya and Jeremiah are all shouting with glee and laughing. I’m overjoyed, but I’m thinking, let’s get back in the van and go in the house where we can shout all we want. We’re out here in the street! It’s nighttime and ya’ll are making to much noise. 

The anticipation, expectation, and longing exploded into exuberance, joy, and delight for all of us as God gave Jelani the desire of his heart. And oh, that we could bottle that joy and have that sense of joyous satisfaction everyday. Is that even possible? I’m not talking about running down the street shouting with glee everyday. I’m talking about the daily sense of unparalleled, unequalled satisfaction that comes when one receives good news of great joy. 

I have no doubt that all of us have had experiences of great joy and exuberance, where you can’t help but shout! And it’s particularly significant when that joy comes on the heels of sorrow. Here’s the deal. We’re talking about joy this morning, but what we’re focused on isn’t primarily what makes you and I rejoice. Our focus from our text is the joy of the Lord. God’s joy. What makes God rejoice!

Let me ask you this. How do you think of God? Are you able to have a vision of God’s joy? Understand this. We are able as people to rejoice and have joy because we are image bearers of a God who rejoices and has joy. Our ability to have joy is a derived ability. It is a reflective joy with God as the source.

What we find out this morning is that God takes particular joy in seeking and saving the lost. He grieves over our lostness and rejoices when we are found. This is what I want us to take home from this message today. Our sermon series in Luke is titled, Anchored: A Sure Hope in Uncertain Times. Today we’re talking about being anchored in the joy of the Lord. What is going to keep you in these uncertain times? Our current reality is so grievous with another war, seemingly deepening polarization, we have personal losses and longings that weigh us down. I stopped by to tell you this morning that in Jesus Christ the Lord rejoices over you. His rejoicing over you is not just when you repent and turn to him in faith. It is an eternal joy. The father says two times in our passage, v. 24 and v. 32, “My son was dead, and is alive again, he was lost, and is found.” In v. 32, “Your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.” This celebration and joy the Lord has is about resurrection life. There’s no going back in the other direction. You don’t go from resurrection life to death. The joy of the Lord is that you’ve been raised to new life in his Son. And he rejoices over you in that life.

I have three focal points for our message this morning; A Despicable Demand, A Desperate Descent, and A Delightful Devotion.

A Despicable Demand

The parable of the prodigal son is one of the most well known parables or stories in the Bible. Even though the story is two millennia removed from our current day, the story of a young adult child wanting to break away from the seemingly restrictive bonds of his home and be free to do his own thing on his own terms without any accountability or oversight is extremely relatable. You’ve either felt it or said it as a child, “I want to be free to do what I want to do.” Or you’ve experienced it as a parent, “This boy, or girl, is gonna have a hard way to go if they keep acting like this.”

In spite of the familiarity of the story, Jesus is telling it to his audience and to us for a reason. The situation driving Jesus to tell this parable is the marvel of Luke 15.1-2

Luke 15:1–2 ESV

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

This whole chapter is about the lost being found. Vv. 4-7 is about the shepherd searching for and finding his lost sheep. Vv. 8-10 is about the woman searching for and finding her lost coin. Our passage is about the lost son. Lost sheep. Lost coin. Lost son. What we see from vv. 1-2 is that a characteristic of the lost described in this chapter are people whom the religious leaders of the day did not deem worthy of being found. Here we are again, y’all, talking about people on the margins. Last week it was the woman with a disabling spirit. A few weeks ago it was the woman described as a sinner. And here we find this common pairing of undesirable people with the phrase “tax collectors and sinners.” This phrase appears several times in the gospels. In Luke 5:30 Luke says,

Luke 5:30 ESV

And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”

In Luke 7:34 Jesus says,

Luke 7:34 ESV

The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’

In 15:1 Luke says that all the tax collectors and sinners were drawing near to Jesus to hear him. We’re not talking about a few people. The number of people being drawn to Jesus who can be described by the phrase “tax collectors and sinners” is so large that Luke simply says that all of them are coming. The grumbling Pharisees and scribes would have not only been offended by the greed of tax collectors, they would be further offended by the fact that tax-collectors had to maintain continual contact with non-Israelites in the course of their work; this made an Israelite tax-collector ceremonially unclean.

Tax collectors were not poor, but they were despised by the people. The grumbling of the Pharisees and scribes was due to Jesus’s expressing such a welcoming posture that the tax collectors and sinners were comfortable around him and he was willing to have table fellowship with people whom no self-respecting rabbi would be seen around. In our parable of the prodigal we see the despised sinner in the younger son and we see the self-righteous religious leaders in the older son.

And the first thing we notice is that the younger son is rightly understood to be a sinner. He makes a despicable demand. Jesus says the son says to his father in v. 12,

Luke 15:12 ESV

‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’

This is a demand, not a request. Give me my inheritance now. We find this offensive today, but it was even more so then. We understand individualism and wanting to be our own person, carving out a life that we get to define for ourselves. But that’s because we live in a society that prioritizes individual liberty and expression. Jesus is addressing a more collectivistic culture. The demand is despicable because the son is, NT Wright puts it

Luke for Everyone The Parable of the Prodigal: The Father and the Younger Son (Luke 15:11–24)

abandoning his obligation to care for his father in his old age.

He’s saying, “Dad, you’re as good as dead to me. Give me now what I’m going to get when you die.” This is meant to deliver a punch to the gut kind of shock response. He deserves nothing from his father. He has brought shame on his family. And what do you expect the father to do in response to this demand? You definitely don’t expect the father to honor the demand.

Parents, let me ask you this. What do you do when your child says, “Give me this. Give me that?” “I want it now!” Who you talking to? I ain’t one of your little friends! That child is setting themselves up for some strong correction.

The father would have been expected to respond harshly. You’ve gotten too big for your britches. You need to be put back in your place. (Mom…”I still wield the power.”) In this case, the unexpected happens. Jesus says the father divided the property between the sons. He gave the younger son what he demanded. What can we say about the father in this parable? It is indeed the same things we can say about God. He is generous. He is patient. He is loving.

The comparison should be clear. You and I are breathing God’s air. You and I enjoying the resources that God provides. You and I laid our heads down to rest last night and woke up this morning because God kept us through the night. And apart from the work of God’s spirit lighting the lamp like the woman searching for the coin, we are just like this younger son. It’s not just him who’s making demands of the father, “Give me what I’m owed.” It’s us. The younger son’s arrogance resides in every human heart.

Can I tell you how this is descriptive of the human heart and predicament? The son’s despicable demand is a direct line from our first parents in Genesis 3. Adam and Eve were in the garden and they had everything. But what they desired more than that was independence from their God. And by their sin they cut themselves off from their Father’s presence. And we have done the same ever since.

A Desperate Descent

And what the son finds out is that the life of freedom apart from the father isn’t the good life he thought it would be. His desire to make his own way following his despicable demand takes him on a desperate descent.

Luke 15:13–16 ESV

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. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.

The younger son is getting what he wants because of the father’s kindness. He takes everything he has and goes far away. As much as is possible he is severing all ties to his father and his family. He’s probably 17 or 18 years old. Listen y’all, the Bible says that there’s nothing new under the sun. It ain’t new that 17 and 18 year olds think that they’re the best judges of how to live their lives. That’s what I thought when I was 17, and it is a common testimony. In the case of this young man, two disasters hit back to back. First, he blew through all of his money. Jesus says he squandered his property in reckless living. Treating his money like it’s going to last forever. And we get some color commentary from the older son in v. 30 of the text when he says to the father, “this son of yours devoured your property with prostitutes.” The younger son’s reckless living wasn’t just an unwise use of his money, it was deeply immoral and ungodly. Then, just after his self-imposed disaster is complete, a disaster hits that’s out of his control.

He’s broke and now here comes a severe famine. He began to be in need, Jesus says. It is as bad as you could imagine for this Israelite young man. He has to hire himself out to a Gentile in this far country. And this Gentile boss sends this Jewish young man into his fields feed the pigs. Not only that, he is so hungry and desperate that he is longing to eat what he is giving to the pigs. But no one is willing to feed him even what the pigs eat.

Remember our context. The tax collectors and the sinners, the people who are unclean, are drawing near to Jesus. And everybody believes that these unclean people do not deserve to be welcomed into table fellowship with a rabbi. You do not get more unclean that this younger son is described by Jesus. To wish to share his food with pigs was, as one commentator put it, “the nadir of degradation.” It was as low as he could go. But Jesus has come to set the record straight on what God’s welcome looks like.

What are the people thinking when they hear Jesus telling this story? For sure the Pharisees and scribes are thinking that the younger son is getting exactly what he deserves. But what is more true is that he is precisely where he needs to be that he might be found by God.

Have you been to the bottom? You might have money. You might have health. You might have access to resources. You might have a job, and a home, and healthcare, and a family, but have you been to the bottom? Have you come to the end of yourself? Have you come to the realization that you want to take credit for your life? You’ve got to get to the bottom. The bottom isn’t a happy place, but it’s a necessary place if you’re going to know the delightful devotion of God’s joy.

A Delightful Devotion

It’s at the bottom where the son comes to himself, Jesus says.

Luke 15:17–20 ESV

“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! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.” ’ And he arose and came to his father.

Here is why we take the parable of the prodigal son together with the two parables that come before it. The son didn’t come to himself by himself. The shepherd in the first parable is going after the lost sheep. The woman in the second parable is lighting a lamp to find the lost coin. It may seem as though the father in this parable is passive, but no. He’s ready to run and embrace his son!

When the light comes on, what we hear from the son is not sorrow over losing his material possessions and blowing his money. His sorrow is over his sin! “Father I have sinned against heaven and before you. I see my sin clearly and I recognize my unworthiness to bear your name.” He practices his speech in v. 18-19. He makes his journey back home from the far country. How many times on the journey does he practice his speech to make sure he gets it right. He knows that he deserves nothing but rejection and judgement from his father. Those who are listening to Jesus tell this parable also know that he doesn’t deserve to be received after what he’s done.

But, Jesus says in v. 22, while the young man was still a long way off, his father saw him. He didn’t only see him, he felt compassion for him. And the old man gets up and runs to his son. He hugs him and starts kissing him. Even though I’m calling this a delightful devotion to align with the first two points, what we see here is unmitigated joy! The son recites his practiced speech, but his father cuts him off. It’s time to party!

He tells the servants, “Bring the best robe.” Far from being a hired hand, he’s being restored to the position of a beloved son. “Put a ring on his hand.” This is likely a signet ring. He’s got the family seal and authority again. “Put shoes on his feet.” The son was likely barefoot in his destitute condition. He’s no longer a slave, but a son. “Kill the fattened calf so that we can eat and celebrate.” We’re going to feast because my son was not just gone, in his lostness he was dead. But now he’s alive. They began to celebrate, it says at the end of v. 24. But notice again that the focus of the joy in this parable is the father’s joy!

Let me make this connection for us again. Last week, when we were in ch. 13, what did we hear Luke tell us in the story of the disabled woman? Luke13.12

Luke 13:12 ESV

When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.”

I said then that Jesus looked at her with the intent to act with compassion. I reminded you of the account Luke gives us in ch. 7 when Jesus encounters a large funeral procession in the town of Nain. A widow has lost her only son.

Luke 7:13 ESV

And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.”

When the father sees the son in his state of need, the father has compassion. When the biblical writers repeat themselves, we need to pay attention. God delights to show compassion to us in our state of need. A grieving widow who is destined for a life of destitution because her husband and only son are now dead. What is God’s response? Compassion. A disabled woman who is no doubt poor and marginalized because of her condition. What is God’s response? Compassion. A wayward son who rejects his father’s love and is the cause of his own destitute condition. What is God’s response? Compassion!

Here’s what you and I can be sure of. Whatever we’re dealing with, whether it’s something that happens to us through no fault of our own, or it’s something that has been caused by our own recklessness and foolishness, God sees us and desires to respond to us with compassion.

And he rejoices when we turn to him. Not only that, he expects this joy to be contagious. The father’s joy is in the younger son repenting and returning to him. And the father expects the older son to share in that joy. But there’s a problem. This is a story of two lost sons. The older son is lost in self-righteousness and doesn’t know it. He responds to the father’s joy with anger. The older son is in the field working. He hears the sounds of the party as he approaches the house. When he finds out that this is a celebration for his younger brother, he’s indignant and refuses to join party. When his father encourages him to come join the party, the son doesn’t even acknowledge his younger brother. “This son of yours,” he says in v. 30. He’s filled with jealousy. I never left. I served you. And you never threw me a party.

In the first parable of this chapter, Jesus says in v. 6 that the shepherd who finds the lost sheep calls his friends and neighbors and says, “Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.” Then, Jesus says in v. 7,

Luke 15:7 ESV

Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

What we find out from the older brother’s response in our parable is that there are no 99 who need no repentance. In his self-righteousness he could not find joy in his brother’s return. As one commentator writes,

Luke: An Introduction and Commentary 4. The Lost Son (15:11–32)

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 irreligious, we are usually somewhat censorious (critical) towards those we see as having failed to live up to our standards, even if our standards are not theirs.

God experiences great joy when we repent and turn to him. Both when we repent of our reckless living and decisions and of our self-righteousness. It is good that the end of our text is open ended. The father says to the older son,

Luke 15:31–32 ESV

‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’ ”

We don’t know what the son’s response will be. What we do know is that the father desires to rejoice in the turning of the self-righteous as well!

Let me end with this reflection quote from Henri Nouwen at the front of our bulletin,

The story of the prodigal son is the story of a God who goes searching for me and who doesn’t rest until he has found me. He urges and pleads. He begs me to stop clinging to the powers of death and let myself be embraced by arms that will carry me to the place where I find the life I most desire.

I want you to keep this picture in your mind this week. The memory of the unfettered joy and shouting our family did when our son got accepted to Wake Forest will stand out to us for the rest of our lives. Bring to your mind and experience of great joy in your life. And then imagine that this joy pales in comparison to the joy the Lord has in your return to him. Heaven celebrates when you and I stop clinging to the ways and powers of death and let ourselves be embraced by arms that will carry us in joy forever. May it be that the joy the Lord has in your turning to him be an anchor for your soul throughout this week.