Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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There is a story told of a wealthy man… He wore a tailored European suit that fit perfectly in the large white stone house overlooking Lake Zurich....
He was an educated man… able to speak fluently in 3 languages… He was an executive with an international company headquartered in Switzerland… He loved his life… His wealth… His comfort… His prestige…
Today, He sat calmly discussing the unexpected fall in the market… Sure, it had cost him money… at least 6 figures… maybe 7… But what did that matter?
He had more… and knew how to make even more.
When the conversation turned from finances to eternal riches, however… He turned cold.
He had heard as much about God as he wanted … God had nothing to do with his status… God played no role in his world… Intelligence and quick action were all that mattered.
There is another story told of a woman in Kenya… her ragged mat spread in front of her two-room mud hut… She looked helplessly up at the strange white man standing in front of her… “Could he help her?” he wondered…
“Could he tell her about Jesus?
Would she understand?
But first… “Would he pray for her husband?”
she asked...
He had gone from Kenya to Uganda to live with his other two wives… leaving her all alone… in a destitute situation…
But all she wanted him to pray for was that her husband would return and spend time with her.
What do these two people have in common?
— They are both lost!
— The Rich man was lost in the illusion of wealth, and refused to hear about God...
— The Poor Woman was lost, destitute, alone… and willing to hear what might change her life!
It is easy to get lost in our comfort… in our ease… in our own social standing…
It is easy for us to get lost in our own ideas about what success is… what Salvation is… what the Christian life is…
Worldly success is a dangerous thing…
The Bible Exposition Commentary (Chapter Fifteen: The Right and Wrong of Riches (Luke 16))
The Wall Street Journal quoted an anonymous wit who defined money as “an article which may be used as a universal passport to everywhere except heaven, and as a universal provider for everything except happiness.”
When wealth becomes our “ticket to heaven,” We lose!!!
Christ did not come to bring us material wealth… He came to give us the wealth of Heaven!
The wealth… the Hope… the Joy Christ gives us is eternal… it can never be lost!
Let me ask you — “Who did Christ minister to?”
Weirsbe tells us:
He ministered to people who, for the most part, were poor and who thought that acquiring more wealth was the solution to all their problems.
Wealth cannot buy happiness and contentment… it only buys destruction!
Over and over, we are confronted by Jesus with one question:
“Am I Lost?”
That is the question we face today…
— We cannot become “Bridge Builders” until we recognize who we are!
That is Christ’s concern…
What is Christ’s point in this parable?
— Is it about the “lost” son?
— Is it about the “good” son?
— Is it about the father?
About God?
— or Is it something else?
The answer lays in the 1st two parables…
Look at Luke 14:34-35 — Jesus has just finished talking about the “cost” of discipleship…
We are supposed to be the “salt of the earth”… the “Bridge Builders”… the ambassadors of the Kingdom… leading people to the Kingdom…
— Yet… Look at the “Church’s” — the believer’s — reaction…
Once again, Jesus is prompted to tell the parables because of the actions of the Pharisees and scribes (the Church people)!
So, He tells them 2 parables: “the parable of the Lost Coin,” and “the Parable of the Lost Sheep”…
Both of these parables refer to “wayward” Christians…
1 was lost by foolishness
1 was lost by the carelessness of another
How scary is that?
To know that people can be lost by OUR carelessness?!
But… Notice what happens when they are found:
All of heaven rejoices over one sinner’s repentance and salvation!!!
Do you see what Jesus is telling them?
Jesus is saying: “Look… Even God - The Father - searches for lost sinners, AND He REJOICES with them when He finds them!!!!”
Do We?
Do we invest ourselves in searching for the Lost?
“The Church has nothing to do but to save souls… Therefore, spend and be spent in this work.”
— John Wesley
Can I tell you this — If you are saved… if you have repented and received the forgiveness and grace of God… IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU!!!!
Our responsibility as Christians — as those who hold the Grace of God in our hearts — is to be “Bridge Builders”…
We are to be about “SEEKING” out the Lost and building bridges for them to the Kingdom!!!
We have been given an awesome gift!
We are meant to share it!!!!
— And here’s the best part… We have the privilege of celebrating their salvation with ALL OF HEAVEN!!!!
(expound)
— But… Do we don’t always do that, do we?
— There’s always that one… isn’t there?
— There’s always that one we don’t think deserves salvation… that one who doesn’t deserve the blessings and grace of God…
You know who they are…
— that rapist
— that murderer
— that child molester
— that man down the street who beats his wife
— that woman who won’t feed, clothe, and wash her kids
— that liar & cheat who mistreats so many people
— that drug addict… that alcoholic… that gambler… who neglects his family, and you have to watch them suffer
— and the list goes on....
Look at the parable:
The Younger Son…
luke 15:12
— the translation of the son’s words is: “I wish you were dead”
— He valued $ and material things over the relationship with his father and his family, and so… he missed the reality of the goodness of his father…
But, he is not the only one…
The Older Son
— The elder brother refused to go in; he stayed outside and pouted.
He missed the joy of forgiving his brother and restoring the broken fellowship, the joy of pleasing his father and uniting the family again.
— Weirsbe
He goes on to say:
— If we are out of fellowship with God, we cannot be in fellowship with our brothers and sisters and, conversely, if we harbor an unforgiving attitude toward others, we cannot be in communion with God…
We talked about this last week… When people show true repentance, we MUST forgive them, and we MUST seek to restore them in grace and humility…
Look at:
There is one more character we need to see:
the Father
— What did he do when he saw his son?
He RAN to him… He WELCOMED him back… He GRANTED him grace… and He celebrated his return!
— He rejoiced with the people!!!!
Look at verse 32:
We HAD to Celebrate!
— Is this our reaction when those “wayward” — Lost people return?
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