Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Well, good morning. Good morning, Christchurch.
[00:00:04] Good to see you today. Happy Palm Sunday, Priester, whatever you want to call it. And hey, make sure after the 11 o'clock service today, you guys, it's not just for kids. You can go find some Easter eggs in the trunks, too. All right? You're invited. I want you to know that.
[00:00:27] But it's good to be with you today.
[00:00:30] And I can't believe that we're in the Easter season. Make sure to invite someone with you next week. Bring a friend, bring someone in your family. And you never know what God will do when we share Christ with others and we celebrate what that day means. So it's a great opportunity. I don't want it to pass us by. But today we're gonna continue looking through the Book of Luke. And I'm excited. This is like, I think this is my favorite chapter in the whole Bible. And I know I've said that before, but I really mean it this time. Every time I read this chapter, I just absolutely fall in love with it in a fresh way. So I'm excited. But let's say a prayer and we'll get into it. Father. Lord, we thank you that you are a savior who comes and seeks after us. Lord, we thank you that when we just go our own way and we mess things up, you welcome us with absolute forgiveness and love, Lord, in ways that are just greater than we can understand. Father, I pray as we look at your teaching today, I pray, Father, it could resonate clearly in our hearts. I pray it could make sense to us in a way that draws us near to you and heightens our love for other people. So, Father, help us, bless us, Teach us by your spirit. I pray in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:02:04] Well, like I said, we've been looking through the Gospel of Luke, which is one of the biographies that we have of Jesus in the New Testament. And today we're gonna look at Luke 15. And it's a teaching that Jesus does, and it's a very famous teaching. And I've told you before that if I had to make a Mount Rushmore of Scripture where I said, here's like four chapters of the Bible that if you don't understand anything else, but if you understand these, you will get the heart and soul of Christianity, this chapter would be in it for sure. I would have it up there because what. What it teaches is so central to understanding the ministry and the work of Jesus. And basically what we're gonna see in this story is we're gonna see Jesus speaking to two different groups and to one group, he's gonna give a welcome.
[00:03:08] But it is, like, it's a welcome that every broken person needs.
[00:03:16] And it's a welcome that I don't think you just need once in life. I think you need it again and again and again. And in this story, you're gonna see this welcome, and it changes how you see and understand God. It's unbelievably powerful. But then there's a second group that Jesus also addresses, and they are gonna get a warning.
[00:03:40] A warning. They're gonna get a challenge. They're gonna get. The way that I like to think about this is they're gonna get an attitude readjustment. You ever need that a little bit? You have parents? You ever look at your kid? You're like, you need to adjust your attitude right now. This is Jesus doing that for us. And guess what? You need that sometimes, too. And I need that sometimes, too. And this story has both of these. So let's dig into it. Let's begin by looking at the occasion of it. So Luke, chapter 15. Here's how this begins. It says, now, the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And I think this really needs a sound effect right now. Just go, ooh.
[00:04:31] Cause, like, this is a shady. These are shady groups of people.
[00:04:35] If we were to put this in modern language, we might say that Steelers fans and Michigan fans. I'm just kidding. We're drawing near. And you're like, what?
[00:04:51] I'm just kidding. You know, go blue. Yeah.
[00:04:56] Say, how can they draw anyway?
[00:04:59] But sinners and taxiderms. So obviously, these were a very unexpected group to be drawing near to Jesus. The tax collectors were seen as traitors to their own people.
[00:05:15] They were seen as people that were just kind of siding with the enemy to make money off exploiting their own people. They were not seen as honest. They were not seen as loyal. They were seen as corrupt. So they had a very, very bad reputation and image. And sinners. That doesn't need a lot of explanation, right? You're like, whoa, those are a bunch of sinners. You're not giving them a compliment. Amen. You're saying, look, these are people that are bringing some baggage. But Luke says they were drawing near to Jesus, and they were drawing near to hear him. To hear him. Now, that language is really significant because if you just read the end of Luke 14, Jesus ends that, and he says, whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.
[00:06:18] In other words, Jesus is saying that one of the most important things you can do is Listen to me is hear me. And in fact, this idea is even bigger than that because for the ancient Jewish people, their greatest religious statement is this thing called the Shema. And it comes from the book of Deuteronomy, and it begins this way. It says, hear, O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord your is one. And so essentially what that means is that the way to. The correct way to respond to God is to hear him.
[00:07:05] And guess who's hearing him. Not the people anyone would expect. The tax collectors and sinners. But then we get two other groups here, but the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled.
[00:07:22] Now, this again is just a fascinating parallel here. So the Pharisees, these were the very religious people. These were disciplined people. These were generous people. They gave generously to God, they gave generously to others. These were people that took the Scriptures seriously, that were not sinners. They were trying to stay away from trouble.
[00:07:52] They were kind of, in the outward appearances, doing all kind of the right things. And the scribes were the ones who were kind of of that same general direction. But they were educated, they were trained. They were the ones that were trusted to copy and transmit the Scriptures and pass them on. They had training. They took it very serious. It was a very meticulous thing. And so these are the two groups that if you were to expect anyone to, like, understand God and respond in the right way, you would pick these groups. If you're at recess and it's kickball, you want these guys on your team. You with me? Like, that would be your first pick right there. But Luke says, but they grumbled.
[00:08:52] They weren't drawing near to Jesus. They were complaining about Jesus.
[00:08:58] And what's interesting is that grumble again goes back to this bigger story of the Bible where we. When you read through the Old Testament, one of the greatest failures of ancient Israel was they always grumbled against God.
[00:09:18] They were always complaining. God, freedom from Egypt. We have in the story of Moses, in the Exodus, they were slaves. And God's leading them day by day. And they're like, lord, we don't like the menu that you're giving us.
[00:09:35] And you read that and you're like, what a bunch of brats.
[00:09:39] You were a slave and you're complaining about the meal. What is wrong with you? That's grumbling.
[00:09:46] And here's the sad truth. When I look in my heart, there's been way too much grumbling towards God. And me, too. How about you?
[00:09:54] God's been so good in my life, I still can be like, oh, oh, Lord, What a loser. And that's what these guys are doing. But here's what they're grumbling about. Luke tells us they're grumbling. They're saying, this man receives sinners and eats with them.
[00:10:14] So they don't like that. Jesus is making space in his life for these people, saying, oh, birds of a feather flock together. I don't know about that Jesus, dude. He's hanging around these people and he's eating with them. And in the ancient world, that would been a sign of some level of acceptance.
[00:10:35] You know, eating them with them, not eating them, that's a whole different thing.
[00:10:42] Other cultures were into that.
[00:10:45] But eating with them, you know, you just miss one word and it really, really messes things up.
[00:10:55] But it would have been a sign of an openness to him, an acceptance to him. And they don't like that. And they're like, you know, how can you be. How can you say that you are God in the flesh, and this is who you're hanging out with. This is who is drawn to you. This is who wants to hear you. And so in response to this occasion, Jesus gives maybe the greatest story ever told.
[00:11:29] And Jesus is gonna talk to both these groups. So if we lump the tax collectors and sinners together, that's one group. And what Jesus is gonna give them is a welcome, an incredible welcome. And the scribes and Pharisees, if we put them together, that's the second group. Jesus is gonna give them a warning. This story is gonna speak to each of them exactly as they need to hear. Now, here's what is amazing about this story. This is the longest story Jesus ever told.
[00:12:05] And it's 388 words in the original language. Jesus was not long winded. You would like him as a preacher.
[00:12:15] I see you guys looking at my clock and I see you fading.
[00:12:19] You would not do that with him. He can make a point in absolute, succinct way.
[00:12:27] What he communicates in 388 words is unbelievable. See, one thing that we often don't give credit for to Jesus is the fact that he was a true genius.
[00:12:43] See, I think one argument. Now, this is not a solo argument, but one argument that you could make for the reality of Jesus as God is the way that he tells stories and how they shape human history.
[00:13:02] In fact, I had the privilege to listen to this guy named Peter Williams speak a few weeks ago, and he wrote a book called the Surprising Genius of Jesus. It's a great read if you're. I know many of you love to Read. And if you're interested in it, check it out. It's just 100 pages. But he actually goes through some of the details of how remarkable the way that Jesus tells stories are and how it has completely changed how we see the world, and we don't even know it. In fact, I recently listened to a podcast with Sam Harris, who is an outspoken atheist, and Tom Holland, who is also an atheist and a historian. And Tom Holland wrote a book called Dominion. And in the book, he argues that all of Western culture owes its sense of morality to Jesus.
[00:14:03] That the way we view right and wrong is so intimately connected to Jesus that we don't even realize it. And it was funny listening to these guys talk about it because they both didn't like the fact that that was true. But they're like. But we have to be honest here, you know? Cause they're like, I don't want to admit this, but really, we see the world so much of the way we do because of the teaching of Jesus. How do you account for that?
[00:14:32] How do you account that? You know, 2,000 years ago, a Palestinian preacher has shaped our world in ways that absolutely impact us today. Well, Luke would say, because he is who he said he was.
[00:14:50] Cause he did what I'm telling you he did. And it's really, really powerful. So let's get into the story now, and I'm gonna pick up at verse 11. So here it is. I'm gonna read the first half to you. And this is the first lesson of it. This is the welcome.
[00:15:07] It said there was a man who had two sons. How many? Two. It's a story of two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, father, give me the share of property that is coming to me. And I just want you to notice in this that every time the younger son talks, he says father first.
[00:15:38] He always addresses him as Father. You're gonna wanna just note that he says, give me the share of property that is coming to me now. This is not a good move by the younger son.
[00:15:52] This is pretty immature, pretty selfish.
[00:15:57] This is not showing a lot of respect and honor to his dad. You know, he's saying, hey, dad, cash out my inheritance now.
[00:16:07] Like, that's just. That's not in good form. Amen.
[00:16:12] And the father does it. He divided his property between them. So the younger son, in the ancient world, the older son typically got 2/3 of the inheritance, and every remaining son got what was left over. So here's two sons. So the older son gets cash out as well. But the older son gets 2/3. If you're not the oldest, then you get whatever's left. So this guy probably got about one third of it. And I'm not the oldest son, I'm any other. Sorry, guys. Yeah, we can pray together. We get you. But. So this younger son got that, and it says this. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country. The younger son, he's like, man, I don't wanna live in this small town.
[00:17:12] I'm stir crazy. I wanna get out there, I wanna live. I got some money in my pocket and I'm going, and it says this. And there he squandered his property in reckless living.
[00:17:30] His first semester at that party. School didn't go well.
[00:17:37] Mom, dad.
[00:17:39] It's all gone, son. How much of it? All of it.
[00:17:46] I'm not trying to bring up bad memories, church.
[00:17:50] But that's his son. But just again, notice how much Jesus communicates in one sentence.
[00:17:58] It's so he tells the whole story in one sentence. Now this word squandered is really interesting. It just means to be, to just waste it. Just absolutely wasteful.
[00:18:11] And do you know what hard working people hate more than anything is wastefulness, don't they? I know this is a church filled with hard working people.
[00:18:24] You believe in hard work. And I think we should, right? I think talent is cheap. Hard work is what counts, right? Effort counts twice. You can make up for a lot of deficiencies in life by rolling up your sleeves and sticking to it and working hard and pushing through. Like we all, I bet, value that in this room and believe it. And many of the people listening to these words, they thought the same way that we do. And probably many of us would say that, look, you work hard, you're gonna have ups and downs. You're not always gonna have every opportunity. You may not have every talent, but if you work hard, good things will come.
[00:19:11] And here we have this kid that's not working hard.
[00:19:15] He's just, he's a trust fund baby, whatever they call that.
[00:19:22] He just got all this money given to him and what does he do? He's not responsible with it. He doesn't, you know, make something out of it. He just wastes it all.
[00:19:34] And how do you like it when you see people do that?
[00:19:37] We get resentful, don't we?
[00:19:40] Must be nice, man, I had to work for stuff in my life. You're handed it and you blow it. What's wrong with you? And that's this guy's story. In reckless living.
[00:19:55] And we had spent everything.
[00:19:58] A severe famine arose in the country. So not only was he reckless, but he was also unlucky.
[00:20:07] That's a bad combination right there.
[00:20:10] A severe famine. Not just a bad famine. A severe famine. He should come to Northeast Ohio. We have nothing of that sort. We have rain for days. But a severe famine here 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. And just notice, like, the language that Jesus is using, he's not a citizen. He doesn't have as much opportunity. Just, again, the words. Every word in the story counts. Every word. It gives you a picture in your mind. They're an idea that you can grab hold of. It's so genius. And so hire it out. Sounds a lot better than it is because he's not actually making money. He's just hoping to be fed.
[00:21:05] So this son is in a bad, bad spot, and they send him into the fields to feed pigs.
[00:21:16] And I know we've seen the movie, Babe, you know, and we've read Charlotte's Web.
[00:21:24] Wasn't there a pig in that one? Yeah, it's been a while. And Wilbur. Is that Zay? Yeah.
[00:21:32] Does he make it? I don't remember. I think he does.
[00:21:43] And they didn't like pigs like we do. You know, to the Jewish mind, they were unclean. So this dude, I mean, he's at the bottom of the barrel. That's what Jesus is showing us. Like, you know, you just. You picture rock bottom. This guy is there. He's there in every way. And he's so at bottom that he's willing to eat what the pigs are eating? And then verse 17. But when he came to himself, he said, how many of my father's servants have more than enough bread?
[00:22:19] But I perish here with hunger.
[00:22:23] I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him. And just notice again, Father, every time he's even thinking or talking, he begins with father. Father, I've sinned against heaven and. And before you, dad, I've been an idiot. No excuse. I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. You ever prepare a speech like this in your mind?
[00:22:48] You ever think, all right, when my wife comes home, here's what I'm gonna say.
[00:22:59] Treat me as one of your hired servants. I'm not asking. I know I've messed up big time.
[00:23:07] I'm not asking for what I had before. Just let me just start at the very bottom. Let me show you that, I'm sorry, let me work my way back up. Let me, you know, if I gotta pay all this off, right, he's going down that road. And honestly, that makes a lot of sense to me. Amen. Like, yeah, yeah, dude, you were pretty dumb here.
[00:23:30] And this is. You're going in the right direction. This is a good speech.
[00:23:35] And he arose and came to his father. I love. You know, just think about, I don't know how long that journey came, but you ever have those days and nights where you're just replaying the conversation in your mind again, this is what I'm gonna say. And if they say this, this is what I'm gonna say. And then you actually get to that conversation, and it's not one of those scenarios you practiced right here.
[00:24:00] And this is exactly what happens to this son. He goes, he arose. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him. It's just a beautiful line. Cause what does it give you the impression. It gives you the impression that the father was looking this whole time, wasn't he?
[00:24:21] He's just looking for his son to come back home.
[00:24:27] And he felt compassion, not anger, not justice.
[00:24:37] And he ran and embraced him and kissed him.
[00:24:43] And again, there's so many cool elements to this story. I'm already running out of time here.
[00:24:48] But, you know, again, in the ancient world, you know, Digna, the patriarch, they're not gonna run.
[00:24:56] There's a dignity to that. And so this father, he breaks those conventions and he runs and he embraces them and he kisses them and he just pours love on him. And the son starts to. He starts to get his speech out. He says, father, I've sinned against heaven and before you, I'm no longer worthy of to be your son. Now remember, in the rehearsal, we know that's only the first part of the speech. He's not able to get to the second part of the speech because the father interrupts him. But the father says, quickly, bring quickly the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. We're having prime rib tonight. We're having brisket, baby, we're doing this right. You know, I read that the fattened calf would have been around £450 of prime grade beef.
[00:26:10] No hormones in that free range, all that good stuff. That sounds like a good meal to me.
[00:26:22] And let us eat and celebrate. For this, my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found and they came to celebrate what an incredible picture that is.
[00:26:38] Now, what is Jesus saying to us? He's saying so much to us, but he's showing us God's welcome to all of us, that we like the younger son.
[00:26:56] We disrespect God in this life, and we run and we go our own way, and we make decisions that are hurtful to ourselves and to others, and we get ourselves in these bad spots.
[00:27:15] And then God gives us these moments of clarity to say, why don't you make your way back home?
[00:27:23] And we start to make our way back home. We're like, and what is God? How is this gonna shake out?
[00:27:31] And what Jesus shows us is, here's how it's gonna shake out. It's gonna shake out with joy and celebration and forgiveness and acceptance.
[00:27:43] And that's true for every one of us. Church, we all, at some time in our life, maybe even today, have been the younger son.
[00:27:55] And what Jesus is showing us, he's saying, hey, young, you're not as far from home as you think you are.
[00:28:03] Home is closer. And Jesus is saying, and by the way, the Father is going to treat you in a way you're not going to expect.
[00:28:14] But in the best of ways, there is love.
[00:28:20] His forgiveness is so much deeper than you can conceive.
[00:28:28] And he freely gives it to us. How incredible is that church?
[00:28:35] We all need that. And you need to know that that is the heart of your Father. The Father represents God. Jesus is making this clear. He's saying, come home.
[00:28:46] You don't need to be eating what the pigs are eating. There's a fattened calf at home.
[00:28:53] Come home. The Father delights to see you.
[00:29:01] But that's only half the story.
[00:29:04] Now let's look at the other half.
[00:29:07] It says now, his older son. Did you forget about him? The older son's here. He was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing.
[00:29:22] He called one of the servants and asked him 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.
[00:29:37] And the brother says, oh, my gosh, we have been praying for this day.
[00:29:44] You know what? I got some extra corn. Let me go. I think corn on the cob will go great with the fattened calf.
[00:29:51] I cannot wait to see him. I cannot wait to enjoy this celebration. I am so happy.
[00:29:59] Wait. Sorry, that's not what it says. Verse 28. But he was angry and refused to go In.
[00:30:10] He just stood out there.
[00:30:12] It's like when I send Emery up for a timeout. She stomps up the stairs, hits stomps on him as hard as she can. And I see this brother just stomping in the field right now. I'm not going in.
[00:30:27] And he's angry and he's resentful, but look at this. But his father came out to him.
[00:30:38] The father goes to him, too.
[00:30:42] And he entreated him, but he answered him. Now look at this.
[00:30:49] And this just shows you something different happening in their hearts. The older son says, look, do you ever notice when you start talking to someone like that, you're like, this ain't gonna be good.
[00:31:03] Look. Right? You know, like, this is not gonna be a pleasant conversation.
[00:31:09] But notice, even at his worst, the younger son always said, father, you see that? The older son says, look, old man, not a great way to start these many years I have served you. Now, again, there's a little bit of perspective on this, because when the inheritance was cashed out and some of it was liquidated, we know some of it wasn't because the farm was still going and they still had hired hands. They still were doing all these things, which means that basically, we would presume that that was all left for the older son, that it was all his. And so every day that he was working in the field, he wasn't really working for the father. He was actually working for himself.
[00:32:02] Every day that things were going well there, he was essentially becoming wealthier, becoming better off. But in this moment, he doesn't see it that way. He says, no, I've been slaving for you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat again. The goats are yours, dude. Right?
[00:32:34] There's a warped perspective which happens to all of us, that I might celebrate with my friends.
[00:32:43] I mean, how many opportunities did he have to celebrate with? His dad says, I don't want to be with you.
[00:32:51] I want to be with them. See, he was much nearer in geography to the Father, but much further away in his heart.
[00:33:02] And that's the way our lives can work.
[00:33:04] We can be in church, and we can be around God, and we can be around God's people, and we can still carry this ugly, resentful heart within us. And Jesus says, don't do it.
[00:33:17] Don't do it.
[00:33:19] Don't let that be your heart. And he goes on, he says, but when this son of yours came. He's not my brother. He's your son, babe. Your kids are acting badly. They're not my kids in that moment. Amen.
[00:33:38] But when the son of yours came, who's devoured your property with prostitutes, that's a creative license. We don't know. We haven't gotten that information. But perhaps he's assuming it. You killed the fattened calf for him.
[00:33:52] And here's what the father said to him. Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.
[00:34:01] I've never held anything back from you.
[00:34:04] It was fitting to celebrate and be glad for this. Your brother was dead and is alive. He was lost and is found and the story ends.
[00:34:19] What happens to the older brother?
[00:34:23] We don't know.
[00:34:25] We know the younger brother is safe.
[00:34:28] He's with the father.
[00:34:31] He's in his joy. The older brother is a cliffhanger because Jesus is saying, you decide.
[00:34:40] Are you gonna look at God's grace to other people and allow resentment to grow in your heart?
[00:34:49] Are you gonna look at people who've wasted it and messed up and made bad decisions and then see God bless them and help them and forgive them? And are you gonna say, well, I've been working so hard over here, I don't know. That's how the older brother sounded. I believe that.
[00:35:16] Are you gonna stomp your feet or are you going to enter into the joy of your father?
[00:35:23] Are you going to see that anytime God dispenses grace, we all win?
[00:35:29] Anytime God moves for good in someone's life, nothing is being taken away from me. Just the joy of God's kingdom is growing. See, what Jesus was saying is he was saying, hey, Pharisees and scribes, you need an attitude adjustment.
[00:35:48] Yeah, you work hard. You do, and that's good.
[00:35:53] But don't think that because you work hard, you need any less of God's generosity than the younger brother.
[00:36:03] Yeah, you work hard, but that doesn't equate to spiritual reality.
[00:36:10] We all need forgiven completely. And some sins look very obvious, and some sins are very hidden, but they're all devastating.
[00:36:24] And the younger brother looks worse on the outside, but he was better off on the inside. And the older brother looks better on the outside, but he was way worse off on the inside. And what Jesus is showing us is we all need the forgiving generosity of the Father.
[00:36:47] And, you know, we'll know that it begins to make sense in life when we're glad to see it in other people's lives, and not only when we're glad to see it, but when we also want to bring it. Like, man, I want other people to Experience this great welcome and love that God has given me and church keeps giving me.
[00:37:14] I don't know about you, but I can think about many times in my life where God has welcomed me again and again like this younger son. And I can think about many times in my life where I've been that self righteous loser and needed an attitude adjustment and needed to see the bigger picture, needed to realize, hey, my joy is the Father's joy and needed to step into that. So today I just want to close us in prayer and maybe some of us, we just need to experience the Father's welcome. And as we pray, I just want you to say, lord, help me to experience your forgiveness, your love, your acceptance, your grace. And some of us, we need to just have a moment of repentance. We say, lord, I've been an older brother, I'm getting all arrogant, I'm getting grouchy, I've forgotten that it's been all a grace in my life too.
[00:38:25] And Lord, would you shape my heart after yours? Let me pray.
[00:38:31] Father, I thank you so much for what you teach to us in this story.
[00:38:40] It is truly remarkable at so many levels, Lord, and really we just scratched the surface today.
[00:38:51] And I pray, Lord that for each of us, maybe we're coming in and we feel so far from God, we feel just like we've got to make everything right and we've got to put together a restitution plan and all that. Lord, I just pray we could experience your grace.
[00:39:11] We could see you running to us, welcoming us, embracing us and saying, my heart is so full that you're home.
[00:39:25] Lord, I pray your spirit could just work that in us for some of us. Lord, I pray you could just give us that attitude adjustment and where there is a little spirit of a Pharisee in us, you could give us a better spirit.
[00:39:44] Yeah, Lord, it's good to be hard working, it's good to be responsible, it's good to be wise.
[00:39:52] But at the end of the day, none of that gets us to you.
[00:39:58] You coming to us, inviting us in, forgiving us, dying for us, rising again, which is all grace, all gift, all mercy, Lord, let us not lose sight or forget that.
[00:40:15] And Lord, I pray it would give us hearts that long to invite others in to the joy of who you are.
[00:40:23] Bless us with all this, Lord, in Jesus name, amen. Amen.
