Luke 15

Introduction

I was blessed to get to experience the tail end of the decade known as the 80’s. this decade contributed greatly to the arts and fashion.

like shoulder pads in blouses, mom jeans, aqua net hair spray

One of those immeasurable contributions was a show called Miami Vice. Its about 2 cops in Miami saving the world one awful fashion statement at a time. One episode their cover is about to be blown as undercover cops so to gain some street cred detective Crocket pulls out a grenade and puts in on the table. Nobody is walking away unscathed. For some reason this came to my mind as an image of the way Albert Mohler commented on this parable. In commenting on this parable Albert Mohler said “It is the equivalent of a hand grenade Jesus has placed on the table and pulled the pin. I doubt the bow tie wearing scholar has ever had Miami Vice come to mind when he did exposition. The point is this however. When Jesus told parables everyone gets hit.

b. And many people get angry.

c. We have a tendency to domesticate the parables. We sterilize them and picture them as story time with Jesus with the disciples sitting in front of him at the library with a capri sun and goldfish snacks.

d. That’s not what happened. In Luke 15 Jesus is speaking scandal to reach the sinners who were drawing near and get to the heart of the Pharisee’s complaint against Him. Luke 15: 1-2 describes the setting. The word for receive is not a receiving line like we had in Lutheran school. Luke uses this word 6 other times in Luke and Acts as in Luke 2:25 Simeon had spent his whole life eagerly aggressively seeking and longing. This was Jesus’ mission from His birth. He came to seek and save. These Pharisee’s and scribes could not come to terms with it.

e. Jesus is speaking to two groups and answering th. Jesus is speaking scandal not for scandal sake but to reach the hearts of both groups.

f. He starts with a shepherd leaving 99 sheep in the open wilderness because the lost one was worth it all would have hit some. Another story with a poor woman as the main character would have shocked others.

“readers will note that the shepherd in the first parable (vv. 3–7), the cleaning woman in the second (vv. 8–10), and the father in the third (vv. 11–32) undertake risks that, from the standpoint of wisdom and practicality, may not be advisable. These risks are essential to understanding all three parables, for they are not parables of prudence but parables of the recovery of the lost and God’s singular joy in redemption” - James Edwards

Finally, he puts on display the Fathers love.

Edwards again “In the first two parables the sheep and coin do nothing to be found; their recovery depends entirely on the initiative of the one who seeks them. The same determination is fundamental to the third parable as well, for apart from the father’s waiting- and seeking-love, neither younger nor elder son would be rejoined or reconciled to the family.” - James Edwards

MPT: Gods seeking and saving of the lost is so extravagant that it demands a response

He shows us 3 things I want us to look at today. 1. The scandal of rebellion. 2. The scandal of the Fathers Love. 3. The scandal of our response. Let’s read it and look at these 3 parts.

Lets read Jesus’ third parable of his response to his challengers

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.’ ”

1. The Scandal of Rebellion (11-19, 25-30)

a. The younger brother (v. 11-19)

i. I am sure we are all experts on 1st century Jewish paternal inheritance law so let this be a refresher.

Upon the death of the father the oldest gets 2/3 and the youngest gets 1/3. This Son just told the Father I wish you were dead. In high honor Ancient Near Eastern culture this request would be unspeakable and scandalous.

ii. Jesus is using this shock to show the futility of one group of listener’s belief in the lie of the autonomous self

iii. It is no different today.

When we choose treason against our creator and reject our created place as sons and daughters living within the parameters God has set we cut ourselves off from the only source of life, the only source of joy, and the true source pleasure.

i have lived this more than anyone in this room and the empty return on that investment

iv. Romans 1:22-23 describes the younger sons actions as Exchanging the glory of the immortal God for created things.

v. The younger son, like us, in his new found freedom is a slave. And sin is a ruthless master.

vi. We do this to ourselves. Imagining that what is out there is better than what we can have in simple rest and trust. We lie to ourselves

Cornelius Plantinga describes this futility this way: “We prettify ugly realities and sell ourselves the prettified versions”. Life outside of these good loving parameters is freedom the younger son says.

vii. In doing this we like the younger son reject our created purpose and reject our Father and commit adultery against Him with our autonomy. This shatters the Fathers heart.

viii. There is only a rapid descent in the younger son’s life. He goes from son ship to making choices that are an assault on every personal and societal decency.

He is attached to a foreigner, feeding unclean animals, cut off from the temple in a distant land, and the inevitable happens. Famine strikes and the idols are powerless to come through on their promise of life

ix. He puts the weight of flourishing on things that cannot hold the weight.

We can make the choice of self at any point in our life.

The man who saved my life and was my counselor in rehab hit a painful stretch of life and now has left God, the church, and has embraced an openly homosexual lifestyle.

How do we function when those around us throw off what they see as oppressive shackles of a God who made them?

One thing I know is to linger in his life as a friend because the famine hits us all at some point and his straw men idols will not come through. This is a lesson in many ways to us. Lovingly linger in the lives of our lost friends because one day it will tumble down and only if you’ve built the equity relationally can you speak truth.

This son is lost and it is scandalous. But the Older brothers sin is just as scandalous

b. The older brother (v. 25-30)

i. Remember the Father shockingly split the inheritance and gave it. That means the oldest would’ve received 2/3 of it then and there.

ii. Remember this is a high honor culture. Family honor was everything. It is the oldest son’s responsibility to repair the fractured family to spare them dishonor and humiliation. But he passes on his responsibility and takes what is his.

iii. He too has told the Father that he is better off dead. He doesn’t care about the Father or his brother.

Even more according to the law for the son to even be brought back into the family as a son would mean the older brother would have to give up what he inherited…he has told his father and his brother they are better off dead…so he can enjoy his stuff and repay years of resentment

iv. With his association he is his father’s son, but functionally serves a different master.

v. A rejection of God’s purposes for our life a refusal to be a part of our father’s business is as great a sin as drug addiction. Uncaring to not stand up to injustice is just as damning as human trafficking.

This is Jesus’ strategic assault on the scribes and Pharisees

He has a strong case. The Pharisees were not hypocrites they really did fulfill the law of Moses....they had the wrong heart but they did the life better than anyone

But the one issue at the heart of the Pharisees was their relationship with to the father…as the older brothers is here

“The older son is like many people who have enjoyed a long relationship with God. His love for the father has grown cold, he has become callous and complaining, he harbors bitterness about the life that passed him by. He has been faithful over the years, and he imagines that the father owes him a reward. Having not received what he imagines, he thinks himself justified in his bitterness.”

Follow all the rules and miss the reason for them and you are as far off as a heathen in a distant land

He is telling them the ones closest to home physically are the furthest off. They have no idea or desire to know what their status was for.

The insiders are the true outsiders

vi. He too is a slave to sin and is cut off from the only true source of life, joy, and peace.

vii. That is why in verses 25-30 we see is rage when his idols fail to deliver. Cornelius Plantinga describes this envy. “To the envier every good in a rival is a diminishment of him or herself” we think of others good as injury or loss to ourselves.

viii. It is completely possible for us to confess Jesus as Lord and serve a completely different master in our daily lives.

ix. Even more for us in this room there is a strong warning. It is completely possible to be about church or ministry work and want nothing to do with the Fathers business.

He never felt pain in his brothers lostness. Never once thought how can I give this 2/3 inheritance to seek and save my brother. Instead he rejected his son ship, rejected his brother and saw himself only as the type of person worthy of his father’s party.

Jesus is calling out Israel. They had been inward focused, proud, nationalistic, unconcerned with God’s mission in the world

x These boys are a mess. That is why they aren’t the main character. The Father is. German translations of the Bible get it right and know this parable as the Parable of the Prodigal Father, not the prodigal son.

Enter the scandal of the Fathers love.

2. The Scandal of the Fathers Love (v.12, 20-24, 31-32)

a. The love of God to Let us Run (v. 12)

i. The Father is willing to wait.

Paul speaks in Roman’s about the wrath of God

When we hear wrath of God we think lightning bolts and earth quakes.

But Paul explains what the worst we can experience as God’s wrath is

It is God letting us go.

Tim Keller says “ This is the wrath of God: To give us what we want too much. To give us over to the things we have put in place of Him” - Tim Keller

ii. What is implicit is that the father could see him coming a long way off because he never stopped waiting and watching for him. The Father knows the son and loves him enough to turn him over.

iii. One of Gods greatest means of Grace is the starvation and dissatisfaction that our self-autonomy produces. Notice that he does this with both sons. Day after day he watched the oldest son bitterly march off into the field to “slave” as he calls his own work at the end of the parable. Day after day I can picture him broken hearted longing to have a relationship with his son and not an employee.

iv. So in His counter cultural love He lets us all experience the futility of our idols. He lets us experience the starvation of the heart we reap from our lie of autonomy. He doesn’t force or threaten.

v. He wants sons not slaves. 2 Peter 3:9 says The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

vi. Paul says in Romans 2:4 “Or do you despise the riches of His kindness, restraint, and patience not recognizing that Gods kindness is intended to lead you to repentance” in the CSB.

He doesn’t treat us as we deserve!!! None of us. Not the one far away or the one in his back yard. He is taken advantage of and presumed upon and in return gives it all to get sons and daughters. If this isn’t scandalous enough Jesus pulls the pin.

b. The Father Who Runs V 20

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.

2 things are insane here we cannot miss

The original language is a masterpiece

The Greek word for “long way off,” makran, is the same word used for “distant [country]” (v. 13). Its repetition is highly symbolic: the father extends compassion and forgiveness not when he knows of his son’s repentance, but when, for all he knows, he is still in the “far” country. Forgiveness is not merited by repentance, but freely and unconditionally bestowed upon his son before he says a word” - James Edwards

i. We can also miss the depth of this if we don’t know the culture this is set in. this is a scandalous run.

High honor middle eastern culture considered running shameful. This wealthy, honorable father pulls up his robe and runs through the entire town.

Shaming himself for all to see and scoff at.

An entire communities’ shame pent up for this son is laid upon a running father to the son who rejected him. He is taking the shameful walk of the son through town and putting it all on himself!!!

ii. What love!!! What scandal.

Listen to Ephesians 2:1-5 and hear the echo of the power of what is taking place. Paul says “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body[a]and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.[b] 4 But[c]God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved

iv. By running to the son the Father in our parable is telling the world and all who would hold his debt against him that it is cancelled.

Each of the elements Luke records as placed on the son have significance.

Verse 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.

A Robe and a Ring showed the world elevated and enhanced status…it said you have moved up

But the sandals tell more

Slaves went barefoot it was a sign of shame and slavery

To sandal his son’s feet meant A New Status.

No longer a slave but free

Completely new nature. New Life

c. The Father who Forgives –

i. What he doesn’t say is as powerful as what he has done. He doesn’t say “look what you’ve done” or ask “where have you been, where’s the money, what did you do?”.

He already knows where he has been. He knows the patterns of sin that will take time to sanctify even back home. He knows the shame.

He knows and he says its all in the open and its paid for

He knows. He has seen it all. The hidden things we hope no one ever sees or knows. He knows and what should put us on our face is that he wants all of it. He took it all put it all on his son

The shame you feel about the secret things is exactly what he bore for you

Do you know how unreal God’s love for you in Christ is?

This is the cosmic spectacle Peter says the angels long to look into...

The fathers love for us

The father takes the pig pen saturated son and embraces him.

This would make the father as unclean as the son to the onlookers.

The insiders miss the scandal of God’s love for us

ii. What this means is that we don’t clean ourselves up and come to him. There are no stories in this room of someone pulling themselves up by their own boot straps. We are forgiven and in light of this amazing grace we love and live lives about the father’s business.

3. The Scandal of our Response

Jesus leaves the parable open ended.

We do not know how each son lived out the rest of their lives.

Will those representing the older son go in?

Will the gentiles listening as the younger son repent believe?

He has put to the listeners, Luke has put to his readers, and we have it put to us what we will choose.

We can choose the freedom of forgiveness through repentance

a. Repentance (v 21) like David in Psalm 51:3-4

“ For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. 4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.”

We can choose the freedom of obedience

Obedience – finding freedom in the parameters God has set.

Adam and Eve had all they could dream

They were who they were made to be, living in flourishing we can only imagine, walking with their creator knowing exactly what they were created for.

All that hinged on obedience to the word.

We have all like them chose to play out in the road telling our creator he is holding out on us by telling us to play in the yard

We can each return again to let Him tell us who we are....let him tell us why we are here and what we are to put our hands to doing

Live that out and see what response the world gives you

d. It calls for a Dying to self so that God is glorified not us. We work for and pray for the good of others. This is an assault on our pride. This response confronts our envy.

i. But we are to model our Prodigal Father and live at great risk and cost to see Gospel Good done in the lives of those around us.

It leads us to rejoice when others are “found”. It calls us to give all we have in the labor of our Fathers seeking and Saving.

The father corrects the older son in verse 30 -32

The older son says “this son of yours”…but the father corrects him in his response...”this your brother....”

In our obedience we work to make a new family the father in the parable was showing the older son

Lost are welcomed in…at cost of our comfort or our preferences, or how it looks to the outside world.

We can do this because echoed the words of the father from the parable in John 17…All that I have is yours…and all you have is mine

When we remember the scandal of God’s love for us…and we remember all He has is already ours…What could we hold back in our fathers business

How can we not want our fathers name known and rejoiced over ?

i. Sam Albury said that “we have a mindset that people have a right to hear the gospel so we do missions. But the Scandal of heaven is that God is not known” Piper says missions exists because worship doesn’t. this gives us a new economy to work in.

It is the most counter cultural way you could ever live your life

It is the most freeing life you could ever choose to live

f. It causes us to live in such a way that we are as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15- those most to be pitied if Christ has not been raised from the dead.

5. Closing –

These parables shout as evidence of the impossible to subdue, impossible to defeat love of God for the lost.

That indomitable love was the reason Jesus came.

From the Cross he put on display his mission to “seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:19)

In his ascension we know he alone rules and reigns and what he has declared as righteous is forever more saved

British pastor Dick Lucas tells the Story of English son who ran away

The boy grew up in a small town. Everyone knew everyone.

He wanted the big life of the big city and ran away to London

He lost everything he stole to get there and was homeless. His whole home town knew the shame of the whole thing

His hometown had the train tracks as its back yard so he sent a letter home…I’ll be on the train coming by tomorrow i know if you don’t want to see me again so if you have the white bed sheets on the clothes line ill know its ok to come home

He slept at the train station woke up and boarded the train and as he got close enough to see his home all he saw was every clothesline in the city had white bedsheets flying on their lines....

This is the scandalous love of God....not just a clean slate to make it on our own

But scandalous lavish unstoppable unimaginable calling to come home from all of heaven

Prayer:

How deep the Father's love for us How vast beyond all measure That He should give His only Son To make a wretch His treasure

Why should I gain from His reward? I cannot give an answer But this I know with all my heart His wounds have paid my ransom