7/24/16-Luke 15:11-32-The Heartbeat of God Pt. II

It gives our Father in heaven the most joy when His sons and daughters turn from a life of sin and wrong and return to Him.

–Often we picture God as only being sad and serious, troubled at the brokenness and pain of the world, and make no mistake, God does grieve, weeping with the victims and angry at the perpetrators.

…but even in the midst of the darkness, a light shines forth! Even in the pain, there is hope: The good news of Jesus Christ is still reaching people, and God is still saving people by His grace, for this message is smashing down walls and saving people and God is using His church (us!) to bring them into His kingdom.

–Therefore, even in the mess and chaos, God still has that constant joy for all this is part of His plan. For God is still in charge, and He is drawing people to salvation like an ice-cold water draws a desert-parched traveler.

–So the party in heaven does start after 1,000 people repent. The party does not start after 100 people repent. Rather, the party starts just after one person turns from evil and follows Jesus, and so the party is always happening and is on full blast!

–It is this joy that Jesus has in mind when he tells us of the familiar parable of the lost son. So let’s set the stage: Just like last week, Jesus is being criticized by the religious teachers for hanging out with “sinners” and tax collectors, those people that would not even give God a second thought.

–Hence, in Luke 15, after the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin, Jesus tells this story of the lost son. This is the gospel story told in one parable. IF you have ever struggled to explain the gospel (good news) of Jesus and His love to yourself or others, think of this story!

—A father has two sons, and one day the younger says to his father, “Father, give me the share of the inheritance that belongs to me”. This was not a simple request.

—Instead it was a grave insult, for by saying this the son basically wished his father was dead! And the father does something just as shameful…he gives in to the son’s requests!

–So the son takes off and spends the money in selfish living, but soon the money ran out and there was a severe famine in the land. The son was so poor he had to go work in the pig farms! We cannot miss the message here. For a Jew, to work with pigs showed just how low the son had sunk in the world.

—He was the worst sinner imaginable, dishonoring God, dishonoring his father, and dishonoring his people by immoral living, just like the “sinners” Jesus had around him.   

—And even though he insulted and shamed his entire family and village, the son finally comes to his senses, and even though he is afraid to face his past, what choice does he have? For he will die otherwise. He thought, “If I go back, maybe dad will show me mercy, and although I will never be his son again, I can work as a slave to pay back what I owe him”

—In other words, the son repented. BUT little did he know, His loving never gave up on him, but was always watching, waiting for him to return.

—When he finally did, the father sprints out to meet his son, wrapping his loving arms around Him and kissed him, showing that all has been forgiven. He then gives him his cloak, ring, and sandals, showing the world that this son will not work as a slave but is instead welcomed back as a son! Even the calf is killed so that there can be a party!

—This is the story of the tax collectors and sinners. Even though they were the worst of the worst (like the prodigal son), God still loved them! You may think you are beyond His love, but He loves you too!! When those same sinners put their trust in Jesus, God welcomed them no matter their past!

—But what of the other son? The other son was supposed to represent the religious teachers and leaders. Notice, the other son did not have a relationship with his father either, because he had no idea the actions of his brother.

—Even so, the father (God) still goes out to meet the older brother and invites him to join them in the festivities!

—God’s grace is open to any who would accept His offer. You could be the worst sinner you know, or you could think to yourself, “well I live a pretty good life.”

—Christianity is about the gospel. The gospel is not a list of rules that one must keep, and it is not moral reform, good behavior, or self-discovery. Rather, it is realizing that God loves you and wants to have a relationship with you. It is about turning from your old life, to accept the new life that God has in store for you. It is about submitting to Jesus as the Lord of your life.

—Fear not, no matter who you are, or where you see yourself as either one of two sons, you are loved, and God is searching for you to redeem you also.

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WHAT IT ALL MEANS-This is the story of us as humanity. Back in the garden of Eden, we enjoyed the intimacy of a close walk with God, but like the prodigal, we decided to go our own way. Yet, just when all seemed lost, and we were all beyond hope, God took on flesh and lived among us (Jesus). Just like the father chased after the son out of love, getting dusty and dirty in the streets to embrace his child, so too God took on flesh and got dusty and dirty in our world so that we would know His embrace of love.

7/17/16-Luke 15:1-10-The Heartbeat of God

When we lose something that is precious to us, we may go crazy trying to find it, but if it is a person that we lose and cannot find, we go reckless, crossing over every barrier to get them back!

When we find them, we have such joy and relief that they are found and back where they belong with us.

*Did you know God experiences joy and relief as well? We sometimes picture God as serious. solemn, stern, and with no joy.

It is true that we should take our relationships with God seriously, but also be seriously joyful! What gives God joy? It is when those who are lost to sin are found by His love, when they who were captured are set free, when they who were broken are now restored!

Just like our recklessness in find our lost child, God gets reckless when it comes to finding us His lost children!

See last week we mentioned Jesus hung out with a pretty rough-cut crowd. These were the worse of sinners, broken and they knew it.

They did not think God could ever love them, and no religious leader (the very people who should have been the first to show God’s love) did not even want to be seen with them!

The Pharisees did not even go near them to try to get them to accept God and come into His Kingdom. Worst of all, by slamming the door in the sinners’ faces, the Pharisees thought they were making God happy.

Jesus is going to show all of them, including us, what really makes God happy, and that He loves human beings so much, He is reckless in order to save them, as the shepherd in this parable shows us.

In the first parable, the shepherd tears the wilderness apart and risks it all to save the life of the one lost sheep compared to the other 99. When he finds the lost sheep, there is not scolding or yelling at the sheep, there is only rejoicing.

The second parable has a similar picture. The woman who lost the precious coins tore her house apart to find the lost coin.

When both are found, there is a cause for much celebration. IT’S PARTY TIME! God celebrates and has joy over you and me and over all sinners who repent.

The Pharisees when they heard this, probably thought, “God cannot act like that! Maybe if these sinners clean up their act and get more moral and upright, God will forgive them from His throne in heaven, but He won’t go chasing after them or anyone else. He can’t love them that much! Can He?

Answer from Jesus: Who do you think I am? Who do you think sent Me? I am the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep.

The Parable of the Good Shepherd is the Gospel in a story: We all were like sheep who went astray, but God does not stay in the safety of the sheep pen and expect us to find our way back. NO He rescues us!

Jesus is the Good Shepherd who is on a rescue mission, chasing us down, and saving us, and when that happens, heaven rejoices! For remember, the gospel is not moral behavior, it is not saying “clean yourself up and then God will love you”. No, He already does, which is why He sent a Savior.

Jesus Christ is not just a teacher, for to give us good rules to live by does not pay our sin debt. We had to be saved from sin. Christianity is not about rules or “be moral and go to heaven” It is about accepting the offer the Good Shepherd has made you to save you and bring you back to where you belong…with God

Jesus is saying to the Pharisees in this parable that “God delights and rejoices when people are saved, and when these tax collectors and sinners take His hand and accept Him, they are more friends of God than you are. In fact, you Pharisees, if you think God doesn’t rejoice in others being saved, You don’t know God!

God is in the redemption business. Before we became believers, we were all sinners and lost sheep, and just as that love saved us, that same love is reaching out to others, and we cannot be afraid, or think anyone is beyond the Gospel, for no one is beyond it.

We run into both Pharisees and sinners in our lives today. We know people who think either “I don’t need Jesus” (moral Pharisees) or “Jesus could never love me” (immoral sinners), but the Gospel is a wrecking ball, breaking down walls. The cross both makes us humble and gives us joy. It humbles us because it shows the depth of our sin, but it gives us joy by also showing the depth of His love for us.

The Gospel is the ministry of reckless redemption and reconciliation. That was Jesus’ mission then, and it is our mission now: To show all that Jesus is the Good Shepherd, pursuing and loving the lost sheep. That is what brings God joy, and it should bring us joy as well, and that should motivate us to spread the Word. It may not be easy, but just as the friends rejoiced, so we too will rejoice when those who were lost are found.

7/9/16-Luke 14:15-24: Life in the Kingdom: Blessings and Priorities

As we continue our look into Jesus’ parables to see what life in the Kingdom of God is all about, we notice a pattern…Often God acts in ways opposite of how we expect Him to act.

There are a few clues we need to know that are not written at first glance. So, to truly appreciate this punch this parable packs we have to put ourselves back into the time when Jesus spoke it.

Let me set the stage for this biblical drama: The Jews were God’s chosen people throughout the Old Testament. God desired them to live holy lives of love that would show Him to the world. Yet, by the time of the New Testament, the culture’s idea (not biblical but cultural) was that everyone who was not Jewish (Gentile) were not going to be a part of God’s Kingdom.

Even further, there were social outcasts who were Jewish (“the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame” (v. 21) but were still regarded as “unfit” or “unclean” to be in God’s Kingdom. To summarize, good “religious” “pureblood” Jews only would be in God’s kingdom. With that said, let’s take a look.

Upon reading this parable initially, we are tempted to think the reasons the 3 invitees gave for not attending are understandable (property, work, marriage). After all, it is not like they were defiant (“I just don’t want to go!” “The party won’t be any fun”), but we have to take two points into consideration.

First, all the guests previously had RSVP before because a first invitation would have been sent out (so the invitation in the parable would have been more of a “follow-up”), and so the master assumed they were attending.

Second, each of the reasons given were more like excuses than good reasons (one could have gone and seen the land another time, someone else could have looked at the equipment, and being married was not a good excuse for missing a banquet). Hence, these excuses would have been seen as a grave insult to the master, who prepared the feast at a great expense.

What is the Master to do? “Go out into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame!” (the very people once thought to be out of God’s Kingdom are now in!)

Still more room? No problem! “Go out into the highways and along the hedges and compel them to come in so that my house may be filled!” In other words, go to the “foreigners” (Gentiles) and invite them in as well! (the other group of people once thought to be out of God’s kingdom are now in too!)

Interpretation of the Parable:

All throughout the Old Testament, God had sent the first “invitation” to Israel. He sent them Moses with the Ten Commandments and the Law. He sent prophet after prophet reminding the people that His Messiah was coming.

God desired that His people would listen, but when the second invite came (when Jesus arrived on the scene and the Kingdom of God had come), while some Jews did accept (that’s crucial to remember), Israel as a whole nation rejected Him.

They did not RSVP to the second invitation. They thought that just belonging to the “chosen nation” was enough to be saved (the response to the first invite), but what determines their salvation (and ours too) is whether we accept the second invitation: the offer to follow Jesus and submit to Him, and accept His offer to be renewed and cleansed of our sins and failings, and to have a whole new life in Him.

We can probably all picture people who say, “Well, I go to church. Is that not enough?” “My parents were active members in their church, is that not enough?” It really boils down to one question: Have you turned from your sins, accepted God’s grace, and now follow Jesus?

So, just like the parable, Jesus went to the outcasts of society, and imagine the shock when the so-called “religious” people were hearing: “the tax collectors and prostitutes are entering God’s kingdom before you!” (Matt. 21:31-32). It was not that God approved of their sinful lifestyle, but they at least recognized their need to be saved and put their trust in Jesus, while the “religious” folk did not.

And then even more shocking to hear, God was opening His Kingdom to Gentiles! So now all have the invitation of grace, the invitation to be a part of God’s banquet. We must RSVP to Jesus’ offer to follow Him.

We celebrate the blessings, but we must also care to our priorities. If we seek after the things of this world like those who made the excuses, we will only waste our time for they will never satisfy our souls.

But…We must seek His kingdom in our lives first, and then trusting that He will provide all of our needs (and I mean all of our needs).

Main Points: 1) Be joyful and filled with gratitude that God gave us grace and invited us to the banquet.

2) Never think that anyone is beyond His loving mercy to invite them also, for this is who we should be seeking to invite. (As God did for us, so should we do for others, remember.)

3) Seek first the kingdom of God, and do not be like those who made excuses for not accepting the invite.

7/3/16-Matt. 18:21-35 Life in the Kingdom: Forgiveness and Freedom

This weekend we celebrate a Declaration of Independence. In Jesus Christ, we have a deeper freedom, because it is a freedom of our hearts from sin. We are freed from a kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of God.

As citizens of His Kingdom, we are to live by its values and its truths. This is discipleship in a nutshell: “As God has done for us, so should we do for others”

We can see this not only in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, but also throughout the New Testament. When Paul, Peter, and John and others write, even those lengthy parts of complex doctrine,

…it is always written so that it will impact our daily lives as believers. As God has shown us mercy, love, and in this story, forgiveness, so should we show it to others.

And Jesus gives us a picture of what that looks like by explaining a really deep idea (sin) with something very easy to understand (debt).

Debt is something that affects most if not all of us, and it is really humiliating when we cannot pay it. This is was the position of this first servant.

He can never pay back what he owes the king, so all he really can do is be humble, and plead the king’s mercy.

YET this king is so gracious, he forgives the debt!! Although the king had to suffer the loss, his heart was still so good that he forgave the servant, freeing him.

As the debt was great, so the forgiveness was that much greater. Is this not also a picture of what it means to come to God?

He is the King, and like the servant, we too owed a debt that was impossible to pay: the debt was sin, selfishness, and when we wanted our own way at the expense of both God and our neighbor.

The only response of the servant was to cry out to the king for mercy, and our only response is to cry out to God for His mercy and say, “Please forgive me”.

The only way to walk into God’s kingdom is on our knees. And the amazing truth is His amazing grace sees us, loves us, and forgives us our sin!

When we repent, and turn from evil and turn to God, He forgives us! We know the debt is paid when we hear Jesus’ words from the cross: “It is finished”

The Lord took our debt and forgave us and we are free from sin. We all love that part, but it is not supposed to end there!

As God has done for us, so are we to do for others. And when He showed us grace, it compels us to ask the question, “What does grace require of me?”

When this servant was forgiven, he was not only given freedom, but an opportunity to put what had been done to him into practice.

When we become Christians, we not only have been given freedom from sin, but opportunities to put what had been done to us into practice too.

This servant also has a servant under him that owes debt (though not nearly as much! This would be comparing millions of dollars to maybe a few hundred at most!)

The King’s heart desire was for the servant to show grace just as he had been shown grace, but the servant went the exact opposite direction. He wanted to punish rather than forgive.

The forgiven servant looked like a hypocrite and the King would be dishonored. The King has the servant thrown into prison, but that was just a reflection of the prison of unforgiveness, bitterness, and anger the servant had locked himself into by not forgiving the debt.

True forgiveness does not ignore the hurt done to us. Forgiveness does not say “well that hurtful event was not all that bad”. Rather, true forgiveness says, “what was done to me was wrong, but I am going to choose to not collect what is owed to me”

If you or I have a hard time forgiving others and still struggling with the root of bitterness that has taken up in our hearts, look to Jesus, who prayed, “Father forgive them” (and “them” includes you and I).

If the Son of God who was perfect and had every right to collect the debt we owed Him still loved us enough to forgive us, then rest assured, He left us 1) the example, and 2) the Holy Spirit to give us the strength to forgive others. Even Paul said, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” (Phil 4:13).

Forgiving others may hurt at first, for you are taking on the debt they owe you. When we hurt like this, we understand what Jesus must have felt on the cross.

But…forgiveness also frees us, it frees us from bitterness and a quest for revenge. It frees us to live godly lives and brings honor to our king.

For what could show more proof of a miracle? What would give more evidence of Jesus Christ living in us? To take the natural fleshly way of revenge and further the endless cycle of violence and hate? Or to take the godly way of the Holy Spirit, and forgive others, so that we would be free to experience life God’s way.

As God has done for us so should we do for others. Forgiveness is not an easy choice to make, but when we do, we are freed.