Rob's Expository Sermon Preparation | Luke 15:11–32 (2)

Introduction:

· Have you ever been lost? Sometimes you know it... sometimes you don’t. Which is more dangerous?

· This story is all about what it means to be lost – how it happens, how it destroys us; but it’s also about what it means to come home, how God welcomes us, and how it changes us.

LET’S LOOK AT WHAT MEANS TO BE LOST; THE WELCOME OF THE FATHER, AND THE WAY THAT BEING FOUND CHANGES THE LOST.

I) What does it look like to be Lost?

A. The Two Lies that Lost Causes Embrace (vv. 11-16)

i. Lie #1: True Happiness is Found Apart from God

1. “Give me my share…” happiness apart from the source of happiness

2. Thus he becomes “Unsavable”: seeking happiness in self-indulgence

3. EXAMPLE: Neil Postman: “what we love will destroy us: FOMO,

ii. Lie #2: True Freedom is Found in Self-governance (vv. 13-16)

1. The YS rejects the Father’s authority in favor of “a far country”

2. TODAY: True freedom = Rejecting authority structure in favor of self

B. Rule Followers are lost in the backyard (vv. 25-32)

i. Rule Followers ALSO refuse the banquet of grace!

1. He wants to celebrate (!) … His obedience to the Father! (vs. 29)

2. Underneath: Because of my goodness, God owes me a party.

ii. Rule followers are lost by trying to keep all the rules

1. Some of us are rule-followers: Morality; theology; doctrine;

2. We are lost because we don’t see our need of grace!

BUT THIS ISN’T MAINLY A STORY OF BEING LOST – BUT OF BEING FOUND. SOMETIMES IT TAKES HITTING ROCK-BOTTOM.

II) How Does the Father Find The Lost?

A. Lost causes must come to their senses (vv. 14-21)

i. “Lost causes” must “come to themselves” and realize the truth

1. Lie #1: “happiness” was an illusion because he loses it all

a. C.S. Lewis: “God cannot give us happiness apart from Himself because …there is no such thing.”

2. Lie #2: Suddenly, servanthood at home looks like royalty (vs. 17)

ii. The welcome of the Father (vv. 20-21)

1. The Father who never stops looking – and welcomes Lost causes

2. EXAMPLE: A pastor & his embattled 15 year old

3. No time for speeches: the slave is made a son again

B. Rule Followers must discover their need of grace

i. Two lessons the Rule-Follower Needed to learn: (vv. 28bff)

1. The Father ALSO appeals with tenderness to the “rule follower”

2. Lesson 1: The banquet was a banquet of grace, not a transaction: moral people must discover their need of grace!

3. Lesson 2: “Servanthood”: is a privilege? (vs. 29, 13, 17)

Transition:

III) How do the Found Treat the Lost?

A. The Found Grieve the Lost Enough to Search them Out

i. Three stories that recast what it means to be lost

1. From sheep, to coins, to children (vv. 1-10)

2. With God, there are no such things as lost causes: They are children!

ii. The missing ingredient

1. A shepherd searches, a woman seeks her coin…but no one seeks the son

2. Why not? The Older son should have sought the lost

B. The Found Rejoice when the Lost are found

i. Great rejoicing:

1. The pharisees/TOTL were disgusted with sinners who had found grace

2. Jesus illustrates how God rejoices over “sinners and tax collector”

ii. God’s Heart for the lost

1. When we were lost, God tore apart his family, in order to come searching us out

2. In Christ, God welcomes us, puts the robe of sonship around our shoulders and the ring of the family name on our finger

Transition:

Conclusion

God sets his banquet table for us and welcomes us in to the meal of grace