What love is this?

Reckless Love of God

Turn with me to 1 John 3:1

1 John 3:1 ESV

1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

or just follow along on the screen, but as we turn there, we have a big task this morning.

We are going to look at the love of God.

We are only going to be studying the first verse this morning. John is answering a question, “What kind of love is this?”

Have you ever stopped and ponder this?

What kind of love does God have for you?

What kind of love does God have for me?

What kinda of love does He have for the world?

I am sure we are all familiar with John 3:16

So say if with me!

John 3:16 ESV

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

We have to be careful we can know the truth here (point to head) but is it here?

Does the reality of this verse live in our hearts.

Whether you a very familiar with the concept of being a child of God or it is new to you this morning, I want to really examine what John means when he says, “ 1 John 3:1

1 John 3:1 ESV

1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

The more I pondered this concept of God’s love is so extravagant, reckless, so over the top that we are not just saved but you are a child of God.

I honestly struggled with how do I describe this how do I take this from an abstract truth or head knowledge to heart knowledge?

I want you to leave here this morning in Awe of the Love of God. I want you blown away by the reality that you are a child of God. I want that to change how you think about yourself I want this truth to change how you think about others and most importantly I want this truth to change how you view God.

I want you to leave here thanking and praising Him. I want you to be awe struck that the creator of the universe loves you like this!

As I consider this truth. God’s love is so unbelievable, He calls you a child of God, my mind could not stop thinking about the parable the we call the prodigal son.

So If you have your Bible, turn with me to Luke chapter 15, we are going to begin with verses 1 & 2 I want to examine this reckless love of God, that He would a call you His child.

Luke 15:1–2 ESV

1 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

What accusation are the religious leaders making? When they criticize Jesus for eating with tax collectors and sinners, they are accusing Jesus of accepting them. Jesus responds to them by telling three parables… 1. The parable of the lost sheep. 2. The parable of the lost coin. 3. The parable of the prodigal son.

So He begins with the parable of the lost sheep, now the Pharisees were the religious leaders and Jesus is saying it is there job to leave the 99 sheep that is the ones who are saved and believe and they are to pursue the one that is lost. They were called to love the lost. Jesus then tells the parable of the lost coin and how does the woman react when she looses here silver coin?

Luke 15:8 ESV

8 “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it?

The sheep has value the silver coin has value. The shepherd will risk his life going after the one sheep and the woman will search diligently for the coin because it has value. I believe Jesus’ point in the first two parables is very clear, He is eating with tax collectors and sinners, not because He is accepting their sin, He is pursuing them because they are valuable to Him.

Because look at verse 10

Luke 15:10 ESV

10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

God is on a mission to reconcile us to Himself, right?

2 Corinthians 5:18–21 ESV

18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

So the Pharisees did not eat with or associate with sinners and tax collectors because they were better than them. The Pharisees were righteous and they kept the law unlike the lost wretched sinners and tax collectors.

So they were appalled at the fact that Jesus would eat with them and accept them. Was that what Jesus was doing? Was He accepting their behavior and approving of their sin? Was Jesus joining in with them? If we look at the first two parables. Jesus explains Himself. He equates the sinners and tax collectors to “lost sheep” or a “lost coin”. So what is the difference between how Jesus saw them and how the Pharisees saw them? The Pharisees saw them as unworthy of the grace of God and unworthy of pursuing and Jesus sees them as valuable.

I like what my study Bible said about this passage. Jesus has a deep sympathy with each stray heart. He knows the sorrow that sin brings, the deep pollution and the terrible wounding that comes from transgression. He grieves over each lost sheep, for He knows the misery that lies in the fact of being lost. If you have ever been in a house with a mother and a father , and daughters and sons, when a child has been lost, you  will never forget the agitation of each member of the household. See the father as he goes to the police station, and calls on every likely house, for he must find his child or break his heart. See the deep oppression and bitter anguish of the mother; she is like one distracted till she has news of her darling. You now begin to understand what Jesus feels for one whom He loves, who is engraved on the palms of His hands. His compassion transcends the compassion of parents, the compassion of an infinite heart brimming over with an ocean of love. This one thought moves the pity of the Lord; “If He loses one of them.”

There is an awesome truth here we don’t want to miss. The fact is that God pursues that which is His. He came after us. No matter what you have done Jesus pursues you. You are always valuable to Him.

No one, no matter what you have done is beyond the Love and Grace of God. One of Satan’s most successful lies is that you have sinned too greatly to be forgiven. I have heard more than once someone say it is great that God is  a forgiving God, but you don’t know what I have done.

Truth is we all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God and because of that sin we nailed the Perfect spotless lamb of God to the cross. What else worse than that can you do? So after Jesus reveals why He is pursuing the tax collectors and sinners He really ups the game in His last parable.

My view of this parable is heavily influenced by Pastor Timothy Keller’s book… The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith. If you ever get the chance to read it, I would highly encourage it.

One of Keller’s main arguments is that the title of the parable should be The Prodigal God instead of The Prodigal Son, but we will examine this more when we look at the father in the story.

Pastor Tim Keller points out, that the majority of the time we only focus on the younger brother, hence the title of the parable. But Keller points out that Jesus was really responding to the religious moralistic group… the group that thought they could reach God by keeping the law, that is they could earn their way to heaven…

They believed that they were saved and that they were better than the vile sinners and they would never dream of eating with them.

Let us first focus on the younger brother

He basically goes to his father and demands his inheritance.

When do you normally get your inheritance? When the person dies, so in essence the prodigal son is telling his father I don’t want to wait until you die, I want my money now and basically saying dad I wish you were dead.

Keller points out that at this point the crowd would have been shocked at the behavior of the son because in their culture family honor was a big deal and this son just disgraced his family.

According to Keller, the definition of Prodigal – is recklessly extravagant or having spent everything.

How would we describe the younger son? Sure sounds like the definition fits doesn’t it? He took his inheritance and recklessly and extravagantly spent it all.

Do you remember what the son was saying to the father when he asked for his share of the inheritance? Remember?He basically said to his father, “I wish you were dead.” He wanted control, he wanted to be in charge. I was listening to A. W. Tozer speak on this parable and he had an interesting view. He felt that the younger brother represented the entire human race. I have never thought of this parable in that light… But let’s take a look and compare them. What did the younger brother have before he made his request for his share of his father’s inheritance?

Verse 31 says, “And he said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.”

The younger son was given everything that was his father’s but where did his actions leave him? Remember the prodigal son was Jewish so having a job feeding unclean pigs would be about as low as you could get and he was left longing to eat the food meant for unclean pigs… He couldn’t get much lower…

Let us now take a look at the father…

We obviously know that the father represents our heavenly father…

What was the father’s reaction when his son wished he was dead and asked for his inheritance?

He gave it to him… did he have to? Would any of the men listening to this parable have given him his inheritance if he were their son?

Probably not… But that is our Father, He loves us and knows what is best for us, But He will never force you to do what is right, your heart is bent towards evil and if God allows us to choose that is the direction we all go… We choose to leave our relationship with the Father and go live a life completely centered on ourselves and he will allow us to… But if we respond to the prompting of His Holy Spirit and “come to our senses” like the prodigal son in the story, how will our Father respond? Bitter? Will He tell you that you got what you deserved when you took your inheritance and squandered it on reckless living? Let’s look at verse 17

Luke 15:17–21 ESV

17 “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! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.” ’ 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. 21 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.’

Now don’t miss this…

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.'

Wow… What an awesome Heavenly Father we have! Are you beginning to grasp the love God has for you? It is extravagant and reckless and most importantly it is undeserved.

According to Keller, in their middle eastern culture at the time no dignified patriarch would ever lift the long robe they were wearing, showing their legs and run. This would have been humiliating… stop and think of our Savior Jesus Christ He left glory where He was worshiped endlessly to come to earth and take on human flesh, live the perfect life, deserving nothing but praise honor and glory and what did he get, He was beaten, scourged, stripped naked and nailed to a cross completely humiliated to pay the price for your sin!

We have all sinned against God, we have all taken the grace of God and squandered it and what is His reaction? He has compassion on us and He runs to us… Not only does he forgive us look at verse 22

Luke 15:22–24 ESV

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. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.

He not only forgives us, he gives us a full inheritance in His kingdom again… Wow, what a heavenly Father we have!

God did not just forgive us and let us be a hired hand, no He adopted us as sons and daughters of the King. How awesome is that?