July 1st Update and Sermon

Well, things are moving ahead at full speed. There are now so many people interested in reading the Bible and learning about Christianity that I cannot keep up with them all individually. I’m going to have to start some type of meeting in order to be able to teach everyone the information they are seeking. What a wonderful problem to have! On Saturday night we went to another church service, this time with three of our international coworkers, and some of our American friends who have grown distant from the church too. There is quite the snowball effect going on! Thank you all for your prayers and support of this ministry. It is clear that a lot of prayer and a very big God are working here.

On another note, I preached today! It felt like it had been such a long time since I had preached, I really missed it. Lately I’ve been reading about the early Methodist movements, and I’m pretty sure my message was shaped by how evangelical they were. This struck me when I realized I was really stressing repentance. Anyways, despite clouds and intermittent rain showers the service went well. I cracked a couple jokes about Seattle to get started and finished just in time for it to really pour. Except for being cut a little short by the rain, the service went very well. Afterward our team took a road trip to Devil’s Tower in Wyoming. I’ll post pictures of that later.

This message was another one of those texts that was laid on my heart for no particular reason. No matter how much I scoured the Bible I could not find another message that I was meant to give. As I prepared, I was wondering if God’s reasoning would be evident during the service. Little did I know that the concept of God continually welcoming us back would be a very important topic for the new and almost Christians in the days that have followed. The story of the prodigal son is one of the most beautiful and hopeful texts we have, and serves as an excellent example of how deliberate our sin is, as well as how God is waiting to embrace us.

The Prodigal Son, Luke 15:11-40

Luke Ch 15, NIV

Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering around to hear him.

But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them." Then Jesus told them this parable: "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?

And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.' I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

"Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins [fn] and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.'In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons.

The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them. "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. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

"When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' 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 around him and kissed him.

"The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'

"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.Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate.

For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate.

"Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing.

So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 'Your brother has come,' he replied, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.'

"The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him.

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.

But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!' " 'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.

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.' "

Looking at this parable this morning, I want to talk about how God looks for us when we are lost, finds us when we repent and celebrates our return to Him. This parable is an excellent example of how deliberate our sin is, how deliberate God’s pursuit of us is and what our repentance is supposed to look like. I realize that most of us who make it to Mt. Rushmore at 8:30am for worship (during the rain!) are likely to already be Christians. But, this message is just as important for us as it is for those who haven’t yet heard it for the first time. As much as we sin, we should turn back to God. In fact, that’s what the literal meaning of the term “repentance” means. It means to turn around and change direction, back towards God. Even those of us who profess Christianity have sinned and turned away, and God is actively seeking us and waiting to celebrate our return.

This theme of God’s seeking us and celebrating our return is a very important one in the gospel, and we see this in the emphasis the two parables that directly precede this one add to it. In the beginning of chapter 15, Jesus tells us about the shepherd who lost one of his one hundred sheep. He secures the ninety-nine in an area and sets out to find the lost one. When he finds it, he lays it on his shoulders, carries it back, and celebrates its return with his friends. Directly after this is the parable of the woman who lost one of her ten silver coins, each representing a day’s worth of wages. This is heightened by the fact that as a woman, she wouldn’t have had access to the same economic resources or employment opportunities as a man would have. She was likely dependant on the generosity of her family. So she lights a lamp and sweeps the house until she finds it. She then calls on her neighbors and rejoices with them. Together, these parables show us that though we are one out of far more than a hundred, God seeks us out as if we’re the only one.

God’s joyful reception of us in the state we’re in is shown in detail in this parable. It starts with the point at which we all start, our sin. When the son asks for his inheritance, he is basically saying to his father, “I could care less whether or not you’re dead, give me my share on the inheritance so I can leave you.” This is a very deliberate turning away, and we do the same every time we sin. Every time we sin, when we know that that sin separates us from God, we are deliberately turning away from God.

It doesn’t take long for the son’s lifestyle, and living under his own means to prove destructive. He is so humiliated and desperate that he resorts to feeding pigs. This would have been an especially humiliating position, because as a Jew he would have considered pigs unclean. He is now at rock-bottom. He is completely alienated from his father, family and nation, and has disowned them. It is in this state where he is utterly ashamed and torn-down that he is confronted with remorse.

But, as much as the son’s turning away perfectly captures what we do when we sin, his remorse and repentance are a perfect example for us. He realizes how good he had it in his father’s house. He realizes that complete submission to his father is better than running his life in the way he has been. Let me read for you what he plans to say to his father. “I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” Luke 15:18-19. This is a great example for us, that we will go into in a bit.

First let’s notice that he LEAVES the land of his sin and sets out toward his father’s house. The father sees him from a distance, has compassion for him, and runs to embrace his son. This indicates that the father wasn’t carrying on his normal business, he was waiting and watching for the return of his son, regardless of the state he returned in. Here he repeats his confession of guilt, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” Luke 15:21 This exact repetition does not occur by accident. It means that this is central to the meaning of the parable. This confession is to be what we focus on, because it is what we are to do.

Now let’s look at the father’s response to this complete submission. He responds with four very symbolical items. The first is the robe. This shows the father’s favor for the son. We can remember the story of Joseph and his eleven brothers, where their father showed how much he favored Joseph by giving him a similar robe. God favors us when we return to him. Next is the ring. This means he isn’t a hired man, or a slave, but he has responsibility and authority. When we come back to God we acknowledge that He has a plan for us. The sandals indicate that he is a member of the family. He isn’t just another manager, he is welcomed back as the father’s son. Last is the calf. The fatted calf was reserved only for the most special celebration and occasion, which God considers this to be.

We go on to see that the brother completely misses the point. None of us deserve to be in the presence of the father, so when a sinner is welcomed in, we should celebrate as much as the father does. The brother says he has never been given as much as a goat, but he has dined with the father for every meal and has everything that the father possesses (v. 31).

So why don’t we repent more often? God wants to favor us, show us the plan He has for us, welcome us as His child and celebrate our return. Repenting and confession should be a part of our lives daily. I have two reasons why we don’t. The first is that sin just is not preached enough anymore. We need to hear about the full weight and consequences of our sin. We hear a lot about grace, and what Christ did for us by dying on the cross, but we’re missing the first half of that. It was our sin that made that necessary in order to be reunited with God. We simply aren’t reminded enough.

At the opposite extreme, we are too ashamed by what we have done, the extent to which we have turned away, or the number of times we have turned away. If we look at the verse that goes immediately before these three parables, Luke 15:1, we see that it was the “tax collectors and sinners” that were gathering around Jesus, and who Jesus was speaking to. There was no more ashamed people than the tax collectors. They weren’t just working for the IRS, but they were taking advantage of their own people on behalf of an occupying government. It is those who are ashamed that God is seeking, because only by His power will we overcome our sin and grow closer to Him. To try and stop sinning first is to try and save ourselves. We can’t do it without God, so in our shame we must turn to Him and ask for that grace. It’s called grace because none of us deserve it.

So let’s look at the son’s example of repentance. He starts by admitting, “I have sinned”. We have to acknowledge and admit our sin to God. We say, “God, I knew what was wrong, and I did it. I knew it would separate me from you, so by doing it I deliberately turned away.” Because of this, we admit that, “I am not worthy.” Because we turned away from our father, we are not worthy to be called His child. We then go on and say to God that we completely submit to his will and plan for us.

God is waiting to forgive us, get closer to us and move past our sins. So, whether you’re Christian or not, please consider how God is seeking you, and start to seek Him. Confess and repent, and turn back to Him, whether it is for the first time or the hundredth time. Then, celebrate with Him and your brothers and sisters in Christ.