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14 Apr 2024

Lost and Found

Passage Luke 15:11-32

Speaker Ben Lucas

Service Morning

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Passage: Luke 15:11-32

11 Jesus continued: ‘There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, “Father, give me my share of the estate.” So he divided his property between them.

13 ‘Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

17 ‘When he came to his senses, he said, “How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.” 20 So he got up and went to his father.

‘But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms round him and kissed him.

21 ‘The son said to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.”

22 ‘But the father said to his servants, “Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.” So they began to celebrate.

25 ‘Meanwhile, the elder son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 “Your brother has come,” he replied, “and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.”

28 ‘The elder brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, “Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!”

31 ‘“My son,” the father said, “you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.”’

New International Version - UK (NIVUK)

Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Transcript (Auto-generated)

This transcript has been automatically generated, and therefore may not be 100% accurate.

We pray as we come to God's word.

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, Lord. Amen.

I wonder if you've ever been embarrassed by something in the Bible. Maybe you've been tempted before. You probably don't want to admit it in church. This is the wrong building, isn't it? But sometimes maybe we feel like there are bits of the Bible that we rather wouldn't be there.

Maybe you felt that. Maybe you don't really know what to say. If somebody says, well, what about all the violence in the Old Testament? Is that a bit that you just wish you didn't have to deal with? Or maybe you think, actually, oh, Jesus is all about love.

Why does he talk about hell so much? I wish. Maybe he just talks about love. Which bits of scripture would you maybe find offensive? There probably are bits.

There are probably a bits for you. What's surprising about today's passage is that there's one doctrine in the Bible that causes a huge amount of offence. Massive amount of offence. And it's not the violence in the Old Testament, and it's not the doctrine of hell, it's the doctrine of God's love. God's love is an offensive doctrine.

This is what scripture says. Look, turn in chapter 15 to verse two. This is the context of the parables that we have all through chapter 15, the pharisees and scribes grumbled, saying, this man receives sinners and eats with them. Okay, so what's happening in this story is that people are really offended that Jesus is eating with tax collectors and sinners. How could he be hanging out with people like that?

How on earth could he be spending time with people like that? Doesn't he know who they are? Surely if he had a bit of pride, he wouldn't be hanging out with them. So they grumble and they complain, because why on earth is Jesus hanging out with tax collectors and sinners? And this is so important because the context of all of the parables in this chapter is all about the offence that God's love causes.

He's going on to describe in the other parables all about what God's love is like. And we'll come back to that at the end. But let's hold that in our minds, because this parable is all about answering the pharisees and the scribes who say, how could you be hanging out with them? How could God's love extend to them?

And I'm going to give you three r's today. God's love calls for repentance, God's love brings reconciliation, and finally, God's love brings reproach. That's the surprise ending, but it's really what this text is driving at. But let's start with God's love calling for repentance. Because we see in our first paragraph and a little bit about the first son, the youngest son, this younger son, has a rebellion against his father.

And it's a really heinous rebellion, really.

The younger says to his father, verse twelve, father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.

Just to put that in sort of contemporary language, dad, the stuff you're going to give me when you die, I want that now. You know, when you put it like that, you see, that's quite a thing to say, isn't it? I want what you've got and I want it now before you die. While I can make the most of it, is what the younger son says, while the father says, okay, remarkably, the father divides his property. I mean, he didn't need to do that.

The father had no obligation to give that son anything.

But he did. He loved the son so much. He wanted to give him what he asked for. He was even willing to do that. And the son, it seems, lived with him for a very short time after that.

Perhaps the father thought, great, he just wants control of a few fields and he'll still look after me in my old age. That's his duty, isn't it? We know that the fifth command is honour your father and mother. He's got a duty to look after his father and presumably his mother in the background. Duty to look after his parents.

While verse 13, not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey in a faraway country. He's reneging on his duty to look after his father. It's as if he says he's liquidised the assets and he's emigrated to Australia, you know, where he can no longer look after his parents.

And the father had given his property. Amazing that actually, in verse twelve, when father divides his property, in greek, it says the father divided his life between them, you know, very vivid that. Actually the father is giving everything and the son has liquidised it, taken it and emigrated far away. So he can be away from his duties and take all of that wealth for himself. Well, he takes it.

He wants control, doesn't he?

Well, straight away there we see that that reflects our rebellion against God, doesn't it? Because God is the one who made us. He is. He's the creator of all things. And that means that all things we have, all that we are, is from him.

And yet we so often, really, all the time, want to take those things from him and use them for ourselves, don't we? We want to take God's assets, liquidise them and emigrate far away from God, where we no longer are obliged to be with him.

He'd ignored his father and things didn't go well for him at all, did they? He ended up in this pig farm, which, of course, for a jewish boy, and being in a pig farm, that is a pretty heinous outcome in life, isn't it, feeding these pigs? And all he wants to do is eat pig food and no one gives him anything. He's moved away from his father, he's lost a relationship with his father and now all of those assets he stole from him are running low. He's cut himself off from the source of being and life.

So he's in a real mess now, isn't he? His rebellion has got him into a real mess. But he realises his father is gracious. He remembers, actually, those in my father's house, even the servants ate well. I remember that.

Even my father was so kind. Even his servants ate well. They weren't scrambling around for pig food and not managing to get it. So why don't I go back to my father's house? I go as a servant, is what he thinks.

My father was kind, then he'll be kind to me. So he practises a speech, a little speech. Practise verse 18. I'd arise and go to my father. He says to himself, father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.

I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.

This speech reveals that he realises that he sinned against God. When he says in verse 18, Father, I've sinned against heaven and before you, heaven stands for God. Then heaven is a way of saying, of speaking to God without saying God's name to be reverent. You might think how Matthew says, the kingdom of heaven and the other gospel writers say, the kingdom of God. It's a way of speaking of God.

So he's saying, I've sinned against God and I've sinned against you, Father. I realise that now. I realise that now. And his repentance is important for us because he's not just upset about the consequences of his sin. He doesn't say, oh, Father, it was terrible in that land, you know, I wanted to eat pig food and I couldn't even get some of that.

I'm just really upset by the consequences. His heart was actually. I've rebelled against you and I've rebelled against God. I'm upset about the one whom I've rebelled against, you and my father in heaven. It's not just the consequences I'm upset by.

Repentance goes deep that I've offended God's majesty.

And this is what our repentance is to be like, a wholehearted repentance, that actually the one we've sinned against is God. How serious that is. And yet we're quite ready to be sorry about consequences often, aren't we? I don't know. If you ever go through average speed cheques.

You must go through average speed cheques if you ever drive any distance these days. Absolutely everywhere, aren't they? Well, you know, you try to be careful, don't you, through average speed cheques. Occasionally. I don't know.

Maybe this is just a moment of confession. You kind of get a few minutes to the end and you think, I'll just drive 10 miles an hour under for this last bit, just to make sure. And who knows? Maybe I've broken some average speed cheques. Maybe you have.

If you got a fine come through the post, though, you'd be upset about the find, wouldn't you? I doubt you would be cut to the heart and thinking, do you know what? I really shouldn't have broken those few miles an hour. I really do feel terrible about that. You're upset about the consequences, aren't you?

Well, maybe. Maybe you're not and I've just revealed something terrible about myself. But I would be. I'd be thinking, I wish I hadn't been caught. Not, you know, I'm really sorry that I've broken the average speed cheque.

How often. That is what our repentance is like. Oh, I'm sorry, God, I wish I hadn't got caught. It was fun while it lasted. That's not repentance.

Repentance is that heart that says I've sinned against the divine majesty. The one I've sinned. I want reconciliation with him. This is what this son realises. Father, I've sinned against heaven and before you.

I'm no longer worthy to be called your son.

We're called to repent like this. We're called to repent of sin because it's rebellion against God. Not just be upset about some consequences, but really turn away from that sin because it's offence to God. This isn't about beating ourselves up. It's not about trying to make ourselves feel bad, but it's about being honest about the reality.

The reality is, turning from God is sin is rebellion, even though actually we're here in Linfield, we're a group of quite good people.

Lots of obvious things we probably haven't done, but we have all turned against God. Sin is ignoring God. All those times we've ignored God and we've lived as if everything doesn't come from him, that is rebellion against him.

You know, maybe we need just to have a cheque sometimes to remind ourselves, where am I missing my rebellion? Maybe we could just write one thing a day, maybe this week you could just write one thing a day that you just want to give thanks to God for. I notice God, I've breathed today. I'd really miss that, actually. But I always forget to give you thanks for it.

Well, the gospel calls for this repentance. The second thing is that it brings reconciliation. And we see this from the father and the son. So the father rises verse 20 and goes to his father. And this really is a beautiful scene.

It's one of those just. I mean, it's hard to. I just want to read it again, really. You can just read it again. It's such a wonderful thing, isn't it, that the son wants to come to his father and he appears over the horizon, there's like a little outline at the hill.

And the father sees him and he just can't resist, just sprints up, sprints. His son, he just wants to be with him. He wants to reconcile to him. And so he just embraces him. He cuddles him.

In Greek, it says he falls on his neck. You know, you have this just really vivid picture of how he takes him in his arms. It's a wonderful, wonderful scene. And what's not said is almost better than what's said, actually, when you think about it. The father doesn't say, I'm waiting for that apology.

Actually, he doesn't even say that, you know, we do this, don't we, as parents? I knew I became my parents when I found. When I heard this coming out of my mouth. I'm waiting.

The father doesn't even do that. That's amazing, isn't it? I just want to be reconciled to you. I want you in my arms. I want to.

To be with you. I'm not even waiting for an apology because I love you. I love you first. But in this embrace, the son's speech begins verse 21. Father, I've sinned against heaven and before you, I'm no longer worthy to be called your servant.

And it should be read like that. They should sort of go up at the end of the sentence. It should say, dot, dot, dot, or something. Maybe in our translation, because if you're eagle eyed, you will have noticed that when the son was practising his speech earlier on, he had an extra sentence. There was an extra bit to that.

He said, I'm no longer worthy to be called, but let me be as your hired servant. And in fact, if you're into footnotes and things like this, notice we have a little two, don't we, in our esbs? If you've got one, it says, some manuscripts add, treat me as one of your hired servants. You kind of imagine a scribe somewhere in the mediaeval times just writing this out and saying, oh, they missed off the end of that sentence. He was supposed to say that, but it's not supposed to be there because the son didn't let him finish his sentence, you know, the son should be, I'm no longer worthy to be your servant.

And the father immediately says, let's get this party started. Bring him the robe, get him the ring, get that cow on. I was going to say ice, but that's what you do with fish, you know? I don't know. Get that cow cooking.

We want to have a party here. You know, this robe and this ring. You might think back when Joseph was lifted up from prison, as if to come to new life, to be the prime minister of Egypt. He was given a robe, he was given a ring. This is the same stuff.

It's the same picture here of being risen up to become the number one, the beloved one, right halfway through his son's speech. Love that he clothes him. The father simply loves him. And do you know what? The father's love here is not ignoring or excusing the son's sin.

It's not like he says, actually, no, don't be silly. Don't say that. Of course you're worthy to be called my son. He wasn't. He wasn't.

He had sinned, rejected all of his duty and he'd moved far. This was a really terrible thing for the son to have done. He wasn't really worthy. The father's not overlooking that sin, but he's forgiving that sin. And this is really where the offence of God's love comes in, because all comes through it in a moment.

But the gospel is about a forgiving love, not an overlooking love. He's not just ignoring what's happened, he's forgiving it. And that's so much more powerful because when it's forgiven, it's gone and there's a real reconciliation. But look, maybe you don't know this love of the father. Maybe when we talk of God in this way, you think, I don't really know that.

I don't know God like that. But look, this is our father. This is the God we're talking about, the God that's for you. This is the one who loves you and wants to be reconciled to you. So if you don't know him as your father today, then don't spend any longer waiting.

There's nothing the son could do to earn that father's love. There's nothing you can do to earn his love. He loves you. And so come to him today, because the gospel is all about being reconciled to God. It's about fixing our deepest needs.

Not just putting bandages on, not fixing symptoms, but being fully reconciled through this forgiving love.

And in fact, I just want to pick out one more phrase, verse 17. When he came back to himself. Don't stop on that. That's an interesting phrase, isn't it? Because I think the son, when he goes away, when he takes his father's assets and he emigrates, he probably thinks he's finding himself.

You know, I'm going off to travel the world to find myself and I'm gonna be who I want to be. I'm gonna fulfil my dreams. I'm gonna be the real me, the best me. But actually, what happens is, when he realises the rebellion against the father, it's then that he comes to himself. It's then that he becomes his best self.

He then realises who he really is. Coming to the father, it's coming home. It's being who we were made to be with the one who made us. So come back, come to the father, come back to yourself be the real you be the best you the best you is with your heavenly Father reconciled with him.

Well, we can stop the sermon there, couldn't we? Let's end at verse 24. But that's not the point of this parable.

Needing repentance and being reconciled to God is very, very true. But actually it's only the start of the point of this parable because the real point comes in this elder son. Remember we talked about chapter 15, verse two, where the pharisees and the scribes are grumbling?

They're grumbling at this love that we've just been talking about, the fact that people can come back to the father and he embraces them and loves them, even when they're far off. Even before they've said sorry to him. You know, he loves them first. And that's the offence.

We can be more. We can see more in our context. If you've got your Bible, we can see this. The first parable Jesus tells is the parable of the lost sheep, verses three to seven. You might think here that, remember, the pharisees are grumbling.

And so Jesus says, but wait a second. If the father had lost his sheep, wouldn't he go and find them? Of course he would. Well, you're saying that I shouldn't go to the lost sheep of Israel? Of course I should.

Then we have the parable of the lost coin. Same thing. If someone lost their coin, then they leave the other coins and go and find that one coin that's missing. Of course they do. Of course they do.

So of course the father goes out and finds them. Well, if these things are true, then this is what the father's love looks like, because he's going out to seek and save the lost.

So we have the older son, he comes back, and the older son, of course, is representing the Pharisees, isn't he, in our story? He's the one who's never gone away, he's never emigrated, he's stayed at home. He's been the good boy. At least he thinks he's been the good boy.

And he says to his father, he's angry. Verse 28. He's angry, refuses to go into the party. The father still extends love to him. The father comes out.

He doesn't need to do that, does he? But look, the older son thinks, actually, I've been good and I've earned my place. I've earned my place with you. What are you doing? Why on earth are you giving it to someone who hasn't earned it when I've clearly earned my place?

Says the older son.

But actually, the older son is not in as good a position as the younger one, is he? Because the older son is looking to earn that father's love. And that's not an option. You can't earn the father's love. But the younger son has received forgiving love.

I love that says, I'm not excusing and overlooking, of course, he's not done that. It's not in this parable. But of course, we know that God didn't just excuse sin, because Jesus died for it on the cross, didn't he?

But the cross brought us the forgiving love, a love that says those things are forgiven and we now are reconciled, as opposed to the earning love, the overlooking love sort of thing that the older son wants.

Now, this is an important distinctive of the gospel, because church is to be a place that reflects our father's love, isn't it? This is a place where we are all forgiven sinners. This isn't a building full of people who have earned God's love. This is a. I was going to say more like a hospital, but it's not even like a hospital, is it?

Because the end of it, it says, my son was dead and is alive. It's more like a graveyard of people who've come back to life, you know, dead in sin, alive in Christ. But if you're sort of hanging the older son, sort of like hanging on in his illness, being like, I can do it, he needs to die and come back to life. But this is the offence, because once we've been forgiven, we really are reconciled with God, despite all those things, despite being tax collectors and sinners. And, you know, we live in an older son society.

We always have. I'm not sure this is unique. I don't think this is unique, really. We often think what used to be said when I was at school, you know, we live in an immoral age, we live in a hyper moral age. There are loads of morals now.

They're just new morals, they're just different morals. You know, if you don't recycle your cup, then you know you're gonna go to the bad place.

I'm not really joking. Polls have shown that for millennials, they consider. They consider not recycling more serious than watching pornography as a new morality. Isn't it where that is actually a really serious crime? I'm not saying we shouldn't be doing that.

Don't hear me wrong. But what I am saying is that we do live in a hyper moral culture that says that we must fit all of these standards. And when somebody breaks them, they're out. Now, if you say the wrong thing on Twitter, if you put the wrong answer in a newspaper, then you may not speak anymore. Blacklisted.

And the distinctive of the gospel is to say that actually, that's not how we go. You don't get blacklisted forever. It doesn't work like that. Because we believe in a forgiving love. We couldn't have sung a better song before this than amazing grace.

John Newton just depicts this so well. Was just thinking as we were singing it about that. Because when John Newton sung that song, we know he was a slave trader. He didn't give up the slave trader straight away. That's interesting.

It's not as if he was suddenly sanctified and everything was perfect and he went, I realise all my. That's often not how it works, not often how it works. He carried on for a bit before he realised and then he had this history of slave trade. He then became a vicar later on, didn't he? Could you imagine a vicar who used to be a slave trader?

I mean, that's pre offensive, isn't it? That's a terrible past, a terrible past, isn't it, to have. He's not getting a DBS today, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying he should get a DBs today. Of course we want to keep those things right, but that aspect of forgiveness, you know, how would we actually even feel in our midst with somebody like that?

John Newton comes in, oh, slave trader. I don't know. We're not really that sort of church. I hope we wouldn't respond like that. I don't think we would do.

But we need to hold on to that distinctive, because that is a distinctive of the gospel. We believe in forgiving love and we can do this because we ourselves have received mercy. The older son didn't know he'd received mercy because he hadn't asked for it. He didn't look for it. But we are forgiven sinners and so when we meet each other as forgiven sinners, we can be at one with each other, can't we, knowing that actually, do you know what?

You genuinely are forgiven even if you're a slave trader?

And this is the offence of the gospel. This is the offence. Jesus was answering to the Pharisees and scribes. I can't believe that happened. They said, but Jesus says, but look, this is the gospel.

This is the heartbeat of the gospel. It's a love so profound and so freely given that it is offensive.

But let that characterise us and let us know that that is the love of the Father that we've received. Let's pray. Father, we do thank you so much for meeting us in your son, Jesus. We do repent, pray that you would give us a real heartfelt repentance, that we turn wholeheartedly to you, acknowledging you as the source of all being in life, the one who gives us all good things.

And, Father, I pray that we would hold onto that. Not trying to earn further love, Father, but I pray that we would be a community that just reflected that love freely given that genuinely forgives. In Jesus name, amen.

11 Jesus continued: ‘There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, “Father, give me my share of the estate.” So he divided his property between them.

13 ‘Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

17 ‘When he came to his senses, he said, “How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.” 20 So he got up and went to his father.

‘But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms round him and kissed him.

21 ‘The son said to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.”

22 ‘But the father said to his servants, “Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.” So they began to celebrate.

25 ‘Meanwhile, the elder son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 “Your brother has come,” he replied, “and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.”

28 ‘The elder brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, “Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!”

31 ‘“My son,” the father said, “you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.”’

New International Version – UK (NIVUK)

Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

This transcript has been automatically generated and therefore may not be 100% accurate
We pray as we come to God’s word. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, Lord. Amen. I wonder if you’ve ever been embarrassed by something in the Bible. Maybe you’ve been tempted before. You probably don’t want to admit it in church. This is the wrong building, isn’t it? But sometimes maybe we feel like there are bits of the Bible that we rather wouldn’t be there. Maybe you felt that. Maybe you don’t really know what to say. If somebody says, well, what about all the violence in the Old Testament? Is that a bit that you just wish you didn’t have to deal with? Or maybe you think, actually, oh, Jesus is all about love. Why does he talk about hell so much? I wish. Maybe he just talks about love. Which bits of scripture would you maybe find offensive? There probably are bits. There are probably a bits for you. What’s surprising about today’s passage is that there’s one doctrine in the Bible that causes a huge amount of offence. Massive amount of offence. And it’s not the violence in the Old Testament, and it’s not the doctrine of hell, it’s the doctrine of God’s love. God’s love is an offensive doctrine. This is what scripture says. Look, turn in chapter 15 to verse two. This is the context of the parables that we have all through chapter 15, the pharisees and scribes grumbled, saying, this man receives sinners and eats with them. Okay, so what’s happening in this story is that people are really offended that Jesus is eating with tax collectors and sinners. How could he be hanging out with people like that? How on earth could he be spending time with people like that? Doesn’t he know who they are? Surely if he had a bit of pride, he wouldn’t be hanging out with them. So they grumble and they complain, because why on earth is Jesus hanging out with tax collectors and sinners? And this is so important because the context of all of the parables in this chapter is all about the offence that God’s love causes. He’s going on to describe in the other parables all about what God’s love is like. And we’ll come back to that at the end. But let’s hold that in our minds, because this parable is all about answering the pharisees and the scribes who say, how could you be hanging out with them? How could God’s love extend to them? And I’m going to give you three r’s today. God’s love calls for repentance, God’s love brings reconciliation, and finally, God’s love brings reproach. That’s the surprise ending, but it’s really what this text is driving at. But let’s start with God’s love calling for repentance. Because we see in our first paragraph and a little bit about the first son, the youngest son, this younger son, has a rebellion against his father. And it’s a really heinous rebellion, really. The younger says to his father, verse twelve, father, give me the share of property that is coming to me. Just to put that in sort of contemporary language, dad, the stuff you’re going to give me when you die, I want that now. You know, when you put it like that, you see, that’s quite a thing to say, isn’t it? I want what you’ve got and I want it now before you die. While I can make the most of it, is what the younger son says, while the father says, okay, remarkably, the father divides his property. I mean, he didn’t need to do that. The father had no obligation to give that son anything. But he did. He loved the son so much. He wanted to give him what he asked for. He was even willing to do that. And the son, it seems, lived with him for a very short time after that. Perhaps the father thought, great, he just wants control of a few fields and he’ll still look after me in my old age. That’s his duty, isn’t it? We know that the fifth command is honour your father and mother. He’s got a duty to look after his father and presumably his mother in the background. Duty to look after his parents. While verse 13, not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey in a faraway country. He’s reneging on his duty to look after his father. It’s as if he says he’s liquidised the assets and he’s emigrated to Australia, you know, where he can no longer look after his parents. And the father had given his property. Amazing that actually, in verse twelve, when father divides his property, in greek, it says the father divided his life between them, you know, very vivid that. Actually the father is giving everything and the son has liquidised it, taken it and emigrated far away. So he can be away from his duties and take all of that wealth for himself. Well, he takes it. He wants control, doesn’t he? Well, straight away there we see that that reflects our rebellion against God, doesn’t it? Because God is the one who made us. He is. He’s the creator of all things. And that means that all things we have, all that we are, is from him. And yet we so often, really, all the time, want to take those things from him and use them for ourselves, don’t we? We want to take God’s assets, liquidise them and emigrate far away from God, where we no longer are obliged to be with him. He’d ignored his father and things didn’t go well for him at all, did they? He ended up in this pig farm, which, of course, for a jewish boy, and being in a pig farm, that is a pretty heinous outcome in life, isn’t it, feeding these pigs? And all he wants to do is eat pig food and no one gives him anything. He’s moved away from his father, he’s lost a relationship with his father and now all of those assets he stole from him are running low. He’s cut himself off from the source of being and life. So he’s in a real mess now, isn’t he? His rebellion has got him into a real mess. But he realises his father is gracious. He remembers, actually, those in my father’s house, even the servants ate well. I remember that. Even my father was so kind. Even his servants ate well. They weren’t scrambling around for pig food and not managing to get it. So why don’t I go back to my father’s house? I go as a servant, is what he thinks. My father was kind, then he’ll be kind to me. So he practises a speech, a little speech. Practise verse 18. I’d arise and go to my father. He says to himself, father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I’m no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants. This speech reveals that he realises that he sinned against God. When he says in verse 18, Father, I’ve sinned against heaven and before you, heaven stands for God. Then heaven is a way of saying, of speaking to God without saying God’s name to be reverent. You might think how Matthew says, the kingdom of heaven and the other gospel writers say, the kingdom of God. It’s a way of speaking of God. So he’s saying, I’ve sinned against God and I’ve sinned against you, Father. I realise that now. I realise that now. And his repentance is important for us because he’s not just upset about the consequences of his sin. He doesn’t say, oh, Father, it was terrible in that land, you know, I wanted to eat pig food and I couldn’t even get some of that. I’m just really upset by the consequences. His heart was actually. I’ve rebelled against you and I’ve rebelled against God. I’m upset about the one whom I’ve rebelled against, you and my father in heaven. It’s not just the consequences I’m upset by. Repentance goes deep that I’ve offended God’s majesty. And this is what our repentance is to be like, a wholehearted repentance, that actually the one we’ve sinned against is God. How serious that is. And yet we’re quite ready to be sorry about consequences often, aren’t we? I don’t know. If you ever go through average speed cheques. You must go through average speed cheques if you ever drive any distance these days. Absolutely everywhere, aren’t they? Well, you know, you try to be careful, don’t you, through average speed cheques. Occasionally. I don’t know. Maybe this is just a moment of confession. You kind of get a few minutes to the end and you think, I’ll just drive 10 miles an hour under for this last bit, just to make sure. And who knows? Maybe I’ve broken some average speed cheques. Maybe you have. If you got a fine come through the post, though, you’d be upset about the find, wouldn’t you? I doubt you would be cut to the heart and thinking, do you know what? I really shouldn’t have broken those few miles an hour. I really do feel terrible about that. You’re upset about the consequences, aren’t you? Well, maybe. Maybe you’re not and I’ve just revealed something terrible about myself. But I would be. I’d be thinking, I wish I hadn’t been caught. Not, you know, I’m really sorry that I’ve broken the average speed cheque. How often. That is what our repentance is like. Oh, I’m sorry, God, I wish I hadn’t got caught. It was fun while it lasted. That’s not repentance. Repentance is that heart that says I’ve sinned against the divine majesty. The one I’ve sinned. I want reconciliation with him. This is what this son realises. Father, I’ve sinned against heaven and before you. I’m no longer worthy to be called your son. We’re called to repent like this. We’re called to repent of sin because it’s rebellion against God. Not just be upset about some consequences, but really turn away from that sin because it’s offence to God. This isn’t about beating ourselves up. It’s not about trying to make ourselves feel bad, but it’s about being honest about the reality. The reality is, turning from God is sin is rebellion, even though actually we’re here in Linfield, we’re a group of quite good people. Lots of obvious things we probably haven’t done, but we have all turned against God. Sin is ignoring God. All those times we’ve ignored God and we’ve lived as if everything doesn’t come from him, that is rebellion against him. You know, maybe we need just to have a cheque sometimes to remind ourselves, where am I missing my rebellion? Maybe we could just write one thing a day, maybe this week you could just write one thing a day that you just want to give thanks to God for. I notice God, I’ve breathed today. I’d really miss that, actually. But I always forget to give you thanks for it. Well, the gospel calls for this repentance. The second thing is that it brings reconciliation. And we see this from the father and the son. So the father rises verse 20 and goes to his father. And this really is a beautiful scene. It’s one of those just. I mean, it’s hard to. I just want to read it again, really. You can just read it again. It’s such a wonderful thing, isn’t it, that the son wants to come to his father and he appears over the horizon, there’s like a little outline at the hill. And the father sees him and he just can’t resist, just sprints up, sprints. His son, he just wants to be with him. He wants to reconcile to him. And so he just embraces him. He cuddles him. In Greek, it says he falls on his neck. You know, you have this just really vivid picture of how he takes him in his arms. It’s a wonderful, wonderful scene. And what’s not said is almost better than what’s said, actually, when you think about it. The father doesn’t say, I’m waiting for that apology. Actually, he doesn’t even say that, you know, we do this, don’t we, as parents? I knew I became my parents when I found. When I heard this coming out of my mouth. I’m waiting. The father doesn’t even do that. That’s amazing, isn’t it? I just want to be reconciled to you. I want you in my arms. I want to. To be with you. I’m not even waiting for an apology because I love you. I love you first. But in this embrace, the son’s speech begins verse 21. Father, I’ve sinned against heaven and before you, I’m no longer worthy to be called your servant. And it should be read like that. They should sort of go up at the end of the sentence. It should say, dot, dot, dot, or something. Maybe in our translation, because if you’re eagle eyed, you will have noticed that when the son was practising his speech earlier on, he had an extra sentence. There was an extra bit to that. He said, I’m no longer worthy to be called, but let me be as your hired servant. And in fact, if you’re into footnotes and things like this, notice we have a little two, don’t we, in our esbs? If you’ve got one, it says, some manuscripts add, treat me as one of your hired servants. You kind of imagine a scribe somewhere in the mediaeval times just writing this out and saying, oh, they missed off the end of that sentence. He was supposed to say that, but it’s not supposed to be there because the son didn’t let him finish his sentence, you know, the son should be, I’m no longer worthy to be your servant. And the father immediately says, let’s get this party started. Bring him the robe, get him the ring, get that cow on. I was going to say ice, but that’s what you do with fish, you know? I don’t know. Get that cow cooking. We want to have a party here. You know, this robe and this ring. You might think back when Joseph was lifted up from prison, as if to come to new life, to be the prime minister of Egypt. He was given a robe, he was given a ring. This is the same stuff. It’s the same picture here of being risen up to become the number one, the beloved one, right halfway through his son’s speech. Love that he clothes him. The father simply loves him. And do you know what? The father’s love here is not ignoring or excusing the son’s sin. It’s not like he says, actually, no, don’t be silly. Don’t say that. Of course you’re worthy to be called my son. He wasn’t. He wasn’t. He had sinned, rejected all of his duty and he’d moved far. This was a really terrible thing for the son to have done. He wasn’t really worthy. The father’s not overlooking that sin, but he’s forgiving that sin. And this is really where the offence of God’s love comes in, because all comes through it in a moment. But the gospel is about a forgiving love, not an overlooking love. He’s not just ignoring what’s happened, he’s forgiving it. And that’s so much more powerful because when it’s forgiven, it’s gone and there’s a real reconciliation. But look, maybe you don’t know this love of the father. Maybe when we talk of God in this way, you think, I don’t really know that. I don’t know God like that. But look, this is our father. This is the God we’re talking about, the God that’s for you. This is the one who loves you and wants to be reconciled to you. So if you don’t know him as your father today, then don’t spend any longer waiting. There’s nothing the son could do to earn that father’s love. There’s nothing you can do to earn his love. He loves you. And so come to him today, because the gospel is all about being reconciled to God. It’s about fixing our deepest needs. Not just putting bandages on, not fixing symptoms, but being fully reconciled through this forgiving love. And in fact, I just want to pick out one more phrase, verse 17. When he came back to himself. Don’t stop on that. That’s an interesting phrase, isn’t it? Because I think the son, when he goes away, when he takes his father’s assets and he emigrates, he probably thinks he’s finding himself. You know, I’m going off to travel the world to find myself and I’m gonna be who I want to be. I’m gonna fulfil my dreams. I’m gonna be the real me, the best me. But actually, what happens is, when he realises the rebellion against the father, it’s then that he comes to himself. It’s then that he becomes his best self. He then realises who he really is. Coming to the father, it’s coming home. It’s being who we were made to be with the one who made us. So come back, come to the father, come back to yourself be the real you be the best you the best you is with your heavenly Father reconciled with him. Well, we can stop the sermon there, couldn’t we? Let’s end at verse 24. But that’s not the point of this parable. Needing repentance and being reconciled to God is very, very true. But actually it’s only the start of the point of this parable because the real point comes in this elder son. Remember we talked about chapter 15, verse two, where the pharisees and the scribes are grumbling? They’re grumbling at this love that we’ve just been talking about, the fact that people can come back to the father and he embraces them and loves them, even when they’re far off. Even before they’ve said sorry to him. You know, he loves them first. And that’s the offence. We can be more. We can see more in our context. If you’ve got your Bible, we can see this. The first parable Jesus tells is the parable of the lost sheep, verses three to seven. You might think here that, remember, the pharisees are grumbling. And so Jesus says, but wait a second. If the father had lost his sheep, wouldn’t he go and find them? Of course he would. Well, you’re saying that I shouldn’t go to the lost sheep of Israel? Of course I should. Then we have the parable of the lost coin. Same thing. If someone lost their coin, then they leave the other coins and go and find that one coin that’s missing. Of course they do. Of course they do. So of course the father goes out and finds them. Well, if these things are true, then this is what the father’s love looks like, because he’s going out to seek and save the lost. So we have the older son, he comes back, and the older son, of course, is representing the Pharisees, isn’t he, in our story? He’s the one who’s never gone away, he’s never emigrated, he’s stayed at home. He’s been the good boy. At least he thinks he’s been the good boy. And he says to his father, he’s angry. Verse 28. He’s angry, refuses to go into the party. The father still extends love to him. The father comes out. He doesn’t need to do that, does he? But look, the older son thinks, actually, I’ve been good and I’ve earned my place. I’ve earned my place with you. What are you doing? Why on earth are you giving it to someone who hasn’t earned it when I’ve clearly earned my place? Says the older son. But actually, the older son is not in as good a position as the younger one, is he? Because the older son is looking to earn that father’s love. And that’s not an option. You can’t earn the father’s love. But the younger son has received forgiving love. I love that says, I’m not excusing and overlooking, of course, he’s not done that. It’s not in this parable. But of course, we know that God didn’t just excuse sin, because Jesus died for it on the cross, didn’t he? But the cross brought us the forgiving love, a love that says those things are forgiven and we now are reconciled, as opposed to the earning love, the overlooking love sort of thing that the older son wants. Now, this is an important distinctive of the gospel, because church is to be a place that reflects our father’s love, isn’t it? This is a place where we are all forgiven sinners. This isn’t a building full of people who have earned God’s love. This is a. I was going to say more like a hospital, but it’s not even like a hospital, is it? Because the end of it, it says, my son was dead and is alive. It’s more like a graveyard of people who’ve come back to life, you know, dead in sin, alive in Christ. But if you’re sort of hanging the older son, sort of like hanging on in his illness, being like, I can do it, he needs to die and come back to life. But this is the offence, because once we’ve been forgiven, we really are reconciled with God, despite all those things, despite being tax collectors and sinners. And, you know, we live in an older son society. We always have. I’m not sure this is unique. I don’t think this is unique, really. We often think what used to be said when I was at school, you know, we live in an immoral age, we live in a hyper moral age. There are loads of morals now. They’re just new morals, they’re just different morals. You know, if you don’t recycle your cup, then you know you’re gonna go to the bad place. I’m not really joking. Polls have shown that for millennials, they consider. They consider not recycling more serious than watching pornography as a new morality. Isn’t it where that is actually a really serious crime? I’m not saying we shouldn’t be doing that. Don’t hear me wrong. But what I am saying is that we do live in a hyper moral culture that says that we must fit all of these standards. And when somebody breaks them, they’re out. Now, if you say the wrong thing on Twitter, if you put the wrong answer in a newspaper, then you may not speak anymore. Blacklisted. And the distinctive of the gospel is to say that actually, that’s not how we go. You don’t get blacklisted forever. It doesn’t work like that. Because we believe in a forgiving love. We couldn’t have sung a better song before this than amazing grace. John Newton just depicts this so well. Was just thinking as we were singing it about that. Because when John Newton sung that song, we know he was a slave trader. He didn’t give up the slave trader straight away. That’s interesting. It’s not as if he was suddenly sanctified and everything was perfect and he went, I realise all my. That’s often not how it works, not often how it works. He carried on for a bit before he realised and then he had this history of slave trade. He then became a vicar later on, didn’t he? Could you imagine a vicar who used to be a slave trader? I mean, that’s pre offensive, isn’t it? That’s a terrible past, a terrible past, isn’t it, to have. He’s not getting a DBS today, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying he should get a DBs today. Of course we want to keep those things right, but that aspect of forgiveness, you know, how would we actually even feel in our midst with somebody like that? John Newton comes in, oh, slave trader. I don’t know. We’re not really that sort of church. I hope we wouldn’t respond like that. I don’t think we would do. But we need to hold on to that distinctive, because that is a distinctive of the gospel. We believe in forgiving love and we can do this because we ourselves have received mercy. The older son didn’t know he’d received mercy because he hadn’t asked for it. He didn’t look for it. But we are forgiven sinners and so when we meet each other as forgiven sinners, we can be at one with each other, can’t we, knowing that actually, do you know what? You genuinely are forgiven even if you’re a slave trader? And this is the offence of the gospel. This is the offence. Jesus was answering to the Pharisees and scribes. I can’t believe that happened. They said, but Jesus says, but look, this is the gospel. This is the heartbeat of the gospel. It’s a love so profound and so freely given that it is offensive. But let that characterise us and let us know that that is the love of the Father that we’ve received. Let’s pray. Father, we do thank you so much for meeting us in your son, Jesus. We do repent, pray that you would give us a real heartfelt repentance, that we turn wholeheartedly to you, acknowledging you as the source of all being in life, the one who gives us all good things. And, Father, I pray that we would hold onto that. Not trying to earn further love, Father, but I pray that we would be a community that just reflected that love freely given that genuinely forgives. In Jesus name, amen.
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