God's Heart for the Lost - Luke 15:1-32

Introduction

What are parables?

Para - To come alongside

Bole - To throw

Literally, to throw alongside.

Jesus used parables to come alongside His teachings and to help people understand important truths of salvation and His Kingdom.

Between now and the end of August, we will be looking at 4 or 5 parables and we will probably do this for the next 3 or 4 summers like this.

This morning, we will be looking at three parables that actually go together to form one whole teaching of Jesus to the crowds, but especially for the religious leaders.

Read Luke 15:1-32

Luke 15:1–32 (ESV)

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

So he told them this parable: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

“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? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

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.’ ”

As we come to this parable, we see that Jesus has been spending quite a bit of time with the tax collectors and sinners. To eat and drink with someone in that culture was a sign of acceptance.

While the religious leaders were expecting the Messiah to come, they were not expecting the sinners to be the ones to be accepted by Him. They expected to be the ones to be accepted by the Messiah. Surely God would never accept sinners because He only loves those who have always been faithful to Him.

So, Jesus knowing their hearts and their attitudes towards those who are considered sinners, Jesus seeks to teach them the reason why He has come by sharing three parables concerning three lost things, a sheep, a coin, and a son.

God Actively Seeks the Lost

The first thing we see in these parables is that God is actively seeking the lost.

There is a theological heresy called Deism that says that when God created everything, He chose to step back and allow everything to run its course.

But Jesus’ teaching here makes is clear that God has not stepped back, but that He is actively working in creation to bring salvation to a rebellious people.

With the story of the shepherd, he leaves his other sheep to go after and pursue the sheep that has willingly run off.

The woman is actively going through the house looking for the coin that has been lost.

Isaiah 53:6–7 (ESV)

All we like sheep have gone astray;

we have turned—every one—to his own way;

and the Lord has laid on him

the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,

yet he opened not his mouth;

like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,

and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,

so he opened not his mouth.

From the Old Testament we see that while we have all gone astray, God is not content to let us go our way but to work to bring us back. He is seeking and saving the lost. In fact, we see this is the essence of the gospel for how God is seeking and saving the lost was through the ministry of Jesus that led up to His crucifixion, burial, and resurrection. Jesus did not come to set up an earthly kingdom, but a spiritual kingdom that we enter by faith, humility, and suffering.

We spent several weeks in the book of Jonah showing how God is a merciful and compassionate God slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, willing to send His prophet to a foreign nation in order to call them back to a right relationship with Himself.

Even in the midst of His judgment, God is seeking to save the lost. His judgment upon the Egyptians through the plagues wasn’t simply to rescue Israel from slavery, but was to show both the Egyptians and the Israelites who the One True God really is and that some might come to a saving knowledge of who He is.

In fact in Exodus 12:38

Exodus 12:38 (ESV)

A mixed multitude also went up with them, and very much livestock, both flocks and herds.

the mixed multitude shows that God even saved many Egyptians when they saw that God is the one true God and they left with the Israelites.

Over and over again, we see God working to save people from the pagan nations and bringing them back into right relationship with Himself.

Other examples include Ruth from Moab and Rahab from the city of Jericho, where as God was pouring out His judgment upon those places God also brought about salvation as He sought them out.

Why does God seek out the lost?

Because He values each person. Like we saw last week, out of the nearly 8 billion people in the world, He sees and knows each one of us by name and is able to care for us as if we are the only ones on earth.

My sister, Angela, at age 4, walking to the city park on her own and my parents began to panic because they didn’t know where she was. They frantically sought for her because they loved and cared for her. It wasn’t enough that they still had me at home with them. LOL

They cared for each one of us as if we were their only child because the value they placed in each of us. While they have multiple kids, they valued and loved us as if we were their only one, because in essence, we are their only one. My sister, Angela, because of the value placed in her by God, is one of a kind. Likewise, even though there are 8 billion people, we are all one of a kind because God has made each of us unique in His image.

The question for us is how are we allowing God to use us to seek the lost around us? Do we see each person as a son or daughter of someone else? Do we see them as a person made in the image of God who is of infinite value to the God who made them? Are we keeping our eyes open to those who need to hear of the gospel of Christ?

I admit, I am not perfect at this. I allow my own judgments and comforts to keep me from seeing and going out to the lost like God wants me to. But God has not called us to a comfortable life, but a life of obedience as we are His ambassadors showing God’s love to a lost and dying world.

God Brings Life through Repentance

Now, as we look at God seeking the lost, we also see in the parable of the lost Son that there is a necessary human response to God seeking us out.

It might look like from this parable that God’s hands are tied and that He is simply hoping that people might come back to Him, but that He really cannot do anything about their salvation.

But if we look solely at the first two parables, some might say that we have no responsibility in salvation, that God will either save us or He won’t but that we are completely passive in salvation.

But Christ, in His wisdom, gave us all three parables to show us the truth of salvation. God is not passive in our salvation, waiting and hoping that we might come back to Him. Scripture is clear that because of our darkened minds, we are unable to come to God on our own, so God is actively seeking and saving the lost.

However, we are also not passive. As God is seeking and saving the lost, we are also responsible for responding to God’s call in belief and repentance. Thus, we have this third parable that illustrates this truth.

The son rebels against His father and practically wishes Him dead by asking for his inheritance early. He tells his father that he can’t wait for him to die and he would rather have his stuff than a relationship with his father. Imagine the pain and heartache of the father when this takes place.

The son leaves and goes off on his journey to live his life as he pleases. But then he loses everything and has hit rock bottom. Even here, he was unwilling to return to his father, but instead longed to eat with the pigs that he was beginning to work with.

Luke 15:16 (ESV)

And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.

It’s not until v. 17 - Luke 15:17

Luke 15:17 (ESV)

“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!

that it occurs to him that his father is waiting for him at home. Even here, we can see the sovereign hand of God working in his life to draw him back to the Father. But notice, it is not just simply finding a lost coin, but here the son is responsible for making the decision to go back and to turn away from his life of rebellion and to serve his father. He doesn’t even count himself worthy to be considered a son, but goes back as a servant.

The prodigal demonstrates repentance by turning away from his life of rebellion and turned around by heading back home. This is the definition of repentance. It is making a 180 degree turn where we realize we do not want to keep going in the same direction, but that we need to get turned around and head back in the opposite direction.

It is through the repentance of this son that life comes back to him. We cannot enjoy the fellowship of the Father as we continue to live in rebellion against him. And yet, despite all that we have done, God will save those who believe and repent (turn away from) their sin. The son was considered dead as he was away from the father, but finds new life as he returns home and lives in submission to the father.

This is the message that we are called to communicate, that life is found when we believe that Christ is better than anything the world offers and when we turn away from the rebellion we have lived in for so long.

God Invites Us to Celebrate Salvation

In each of the stories that Jesus tells, there is a celebration that occurs when the lost are found and come home.

The shepherd goes to His friends and neighbors and invites them to celebrate with him the finding of the lost sheep.

The woman also call together her friends and neighbors to celebrate.

Finally, the father calls his servants to kill the fattened calf and put together a party. We see the celebration is elevated in the last story, perhaps intentionally by Jesus to show the infinite value of a soul as compared to that of a sheep or a coin.

However, despite the incomparable nature of a human soul, there is in this last story someone who does not join in the celebration, the older son.

Now, we could spend three weeks looking at this last of the three parables alone. And we could spend a week just looking at the older son and his response to the Father’s rejoicing over his younger son.

However, the question we must ask here is why is the older brother not rejoicing when something of greater value than a sheep or a coin has been found and restored to life within the family?

Tim Keller describes this parable not as the Prodigal Son, but as a parable showing two different ways to be alienated from God. He explains that both sons were prodigals, just in two different ways.

The younger son ran off away from home and squandered his inheritance on wickedness and debauchery. The older son, however, was also a prodigal, but in a much more religious sense. Again, we have to remember who Jesus was talking to with these parables. It wasn’t to the “tax collectors and sinners,” but to the religious leaders. They are represented by the older brother in this parable.

The reason why the older brother couldn’t rejoice in the return of the younger brother is because like the younger brother, he didn’t really love his father, he only wanted his father’s stuff. But instead of outright rebellion, he figured he could work for his father’s stuff and make his father obligated to give him his inheritance. Instead of seeing that his father loved him and graciously gave him all things and choosing to love his father more than his stuff, he thought he could work for his own glory and be recognized by his father and put his father in the debt of the older son by how hard he worked.

Religious people, even those of us, like myself, who have grown up in the church and received Christ at an early age, can be tempted to view life like this. We can be tempted to think that because we have lived such a good life, been involved in the life of the church, done so many good things, that God is obligated to bless us and give us all we want. In that case, what we really worship isn’t God, but God’s gifts. We also seek to lift up our own glory instead of God’s glory. And we end up to be just as sinful, even in our religious works, as those who rebel against God.

And the reason why the older brother couldn’t rejoice in the grace the father showed the younger son is because he failed to see all the grace the father has bestowed upon him.

God is inviting us to celebrate and rejoice in the salvation of the lost, even those who we think least deserve it. But the only way we can truly rejoice is if we see ourselves in the proper light of who we are in Christ, that no matter how good we think we are, we too are sinners who are saved by God’s incredible and infinite grace and that if God can save us, then God can save them too!

Conclusion

The reason why we have ministries like VBS, Awana, JOY, the men’s breakfast and other ministries like that is so we can have opportunities to invite those who may still be far from the father and to join Him in His work of seeking and saving the lost.

Let us be praying together that God would give us hearts to see His amazing grace towards you and me and that we would seek to be His instruments of extending that grace to others. Let us be praying that God uses these ministries for His glory and not for ours and that we might get to join in the celebration of seeing the lost come home to the Father.