Luke 15
1/20/2001 and 1/21/2001
Luke 15
1 ¶ Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering round to hear him.
2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them."
3 Then Jesus told them this parable:
4 "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?
5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders
6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbours together and says, `Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.'
7 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.
8 "Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins {Greek ten drachmas, each worth about a day's wages} and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?
9 And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbours together and says, `Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.'
10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."
11 ¶ Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons.
12 The younger one said to his father, `Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them.
13 "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.
14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need.
15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs.
16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no-one gave him anything.
17 "When he came to his senses, he said, `How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!
18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.
19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.'
20 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.
21 "The son said to him, `Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' {Some early manuscripts son. Make me like one of your hired men.}
22 "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.
23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate.
24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate.
25 "Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing.
26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on.
27 `Your brother has come,' he replied, `and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.'
28 "The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him.
29 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.
30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!'
31 "`My son,' the father said, `you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.
32 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.'"
BACKGROUND:
Jesus is in Israel teaching when the religious leaders mutter about the kind of people who were showing up at church. They knew the private lives of the type of people who were showing up to hear Jesus.
The entire story with the three parables is given by Jesus to show the attitude of God towards people.
We often tell this story as the prodigal son. The truth is that it is a story of the prodigal father. The word for prodigal means : LAVISH, UNRESTRAINED, EXTRAVAGANT. It is more about the loving acceptance of the Father than it is of the son.
1. LOST SHEEP
Verses 3-7
-The shepherd loses a sheep. He leaves all the others to go after the one who is lost.
-I hate to lose something. With my personality it drives me whacko to misplace something.
-The point here is that when the shepherd finds the sheep…he rejoices and celebrates. He has a party and he is very happy.
-The point is the attitude of the shepherd not the sheep.
2. LOST COIN
Verses 8-10
-Again, the point is the attitude of the one losing the coin.
-She tears the house apart to find it and when she does find it she is happy.
-In the time she lived in women carried their dowry in a headband.
-That is the equivalent of a girl losing her wedding ring.
-The Bible then says that heaven is happy when a sinner repents.
3. LOST SONS
verses 11-32
-This is a parable about two lost sons.
-Jesus isn’t comparing the son who stayed home with the son who left.
-He is showing the continuous theme of God’s love throughout the three parables.
-He is comparing the lost sheep/lost coin/lost sons to the religious leaders.
-He is comparing the sheperd/the woman/the father to God’s attitude toward’s those who are away from Him.
-Let’s look at the parable in more detail.
Verse 12
-The man is saying…..FATHER, I WISH YOU WERE DEAD
-He said in other words, I don’t want to wait until you die…GIVE ME MY SHARE.
-Its one thing to leave, its another to insult him on the way out.
-He went off to a far country.
-He squandered his wealth with parties and prostitutes.
-At some point he CAME TO HIS SENSES.
-Its as if he woke up.
-How many of you remember that point in your life.
-The desire to find myself, be my own person was suddenly overcome with reality:
I’M EXPERIENCING LIFE WITH THE PIGS.
-All of a sudden you see yourself doing things that you didn’t think you were of capable of before.
Verse 19-20 shows the sons humility and brokenness. He lost his haughtiness of when he wanted “his rights”.
-Now he wasn’t expecting anything.
-As great as that is that the son came back….that isn’t the point Jesus is making.
-The main player here is the father.
-He is looking for the son.
-In the middle east it was very undignified for a man to run like that. He threw caution to the wind and went for it.
-He was thrilled to see his son return.
SECOND LOST SON
-Verse 25 takes us to the older son who is in the field.
-He doesn’t like the way his father has become.
-He is working very hard to please the father…he is very proud of it.
Verse 31:
The father says you were always with me….all I have is yours.
-Jesus compares this elder brother who never left home but was lost in his heart to the religious leaders who resented Jesus reaching out to tax collectors and sinners.
-In reading this story we all examine where we are.
-The truth is, in my life I have been both lost sons at various times.
-You could be here this morning and be religiously serving God like the elder brother.
-We might be like the religious people who resent God accepting and forgiving those that we don’t feel are worthy of it.
-If anything is the moral of the story here it is that we don’t have the right to determine who is worthy of forgiveness.
1Jo 3:1 ¶ How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
-God lavished His love on us.
-I think of the madman of Gadera and how Jesus saw him as a man when everyone else saw him as an animal.
-I was driving this week when I heard the story of Jesse Jackson and his sin.
-My first impression was to say great……
-My heart said:
Galatians 6
1 ¶ Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.
2 Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ.
3 If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
James 2
8 ¶ If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbour as yourself," {Lev. 19:18} you are doing right.
9 But if you show favouritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as law-breakers.
10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.
11 For he who said, "Do not commit adultery," {Exodus 20:14; Deut. 5:18} also said, "Do not murder." {Exodus 20:13; Deut. 5:17} If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a law-breaker.
12 Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom,
13 because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!
-I was reminded of Jimmy Swaggert blasting Jim Baker and then in a short time Jimmy Swaggert was crying on TV.
-Who has heard anything from Jimmy in years.
-Jim Baker is back in ministry after writing a book called I WAS WRONG.
-Jessie was screaming about other’s behavior while he was serving as spiritual advisor to Bill Clinton during the Lewinsky scandal. Isn’t that a riot? That is when he had the affair.
-My first temptation is to lash out.
-As I was expressing my indignation the other day….I became painfully aware of how human I was.
-I’m choosing to see things from God’s merciful perspective.
-I want the mercy of God to be deep in my heart.
-Another story came to my mind.
-It is the story of when the prophet came to David.
2 Samuel 12
1 ¶ The LORD sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, "There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor.
2 The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle,
3 but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb that he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.
4 "Now a traveller came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveller who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him."
5 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, "As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die!
6 He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity."
7 Then Nathan said to David, "You are the man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: `I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul.
8 I gave your master's house to you, and your master's wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more.
9 Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.
10 Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.'
-This is a good place for humility amd mercy (more grace than justice requires).