Far from Home – part 8
We’ve probably all experienced the situation of feeling like we have to work our way back into the good graces of someone we’ve wronged. Think back to being a child and trying to work hard to make mom & dad love us after we did something wrong.
What do we learn about God in Luke 15?
Luke 15 (NLT)
Parable of the Lost Sheep
Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them!
So Jesus told them this story: “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!
- The shepherd represents God
- God searches for straying believers until he finds them
- God is overjoyed when they are found and return home
- All heaven rejoices with him
Parable of the Lost Coin
“Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and sweep the entire house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she will call in her friends and neighbors and say, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost coin.’ In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels when even one sinner repents.”
- The woman represents God
- God counts us as valuable to pursue
- Similar rejoicing
Parable of the Lost Son
To illustrate the point further, Jesus told them this story: “A man had two sons. The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons.
“A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living.
- The father represents God
- God allows his children to stray
About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything.
- God allows the wandering of his children but arranges the circumstances of their lives so they experience his loving discipline
“When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’
- God’s loving discipline is always designed to bring his children back to reality, back to his family, back to him
“So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.’
- God eagerly awaits the return of straying believers
- God greets repentant believers with love and compassion
- God may even shield them from some of the consequences of their sinful rebellion
“But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.
- The moment a repentant believer takes a step towards him, God makes the next steps easier
- Repentance is God working a spiritual resurrection, a spiritual rescue
“Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working. When he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house, and he asked one of the servants what was going on. ‘Your brother is back,’ he was told, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf. We are celebrating because of his safe return.’
“The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him, but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!’
- God implores his straying children to repent and return
“His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!’”
- God’s undeserved kindness is designed to lead straying children to repentance (Romans 2:4)
- God urges but does not coerce
- God wants children, not slaves
A master/slave relationship with God is
- Conditional
- Performance based
- Driven by fear, guilt, duty, obligation
- Leaves doubts and insecurities
A father/child relationship with God is
- Unconditional
- Grace based
- Motivated by love, gratitude, desire
- Gives joy, fulfillment, security
Listen: