Session 3: Lost-Found-Party

Faithful to the Word and the Setup for Luke 15

Being faithful to the word. Well, thank you Tim. And I just want to share. Something I'm thankful for is and I mean this from the bottom of my heart. Our pickles. So there's something about this place and your pickles that are above well above average.

And so is that just like a is that a LaRue thing or no if I just like your wife.

You.

Gotcha, they're excellent. Those are fried pickles that I had there. Yeah, they're on point and is it only oh you have sour pickles there too, right? The spears are sour. Yeah, I could. I can put away some pickles.

I'm always more of a salty guy. Like I'm not a sugar guy. Appetite I can give up dessert doesn't matter to me. You give me something with salt and vinegar. Ooh. That is good, I'm just glad that we're recording this.

Because imagine missing out on this like how your soul would be hurt. Luke 15. Luke chapter 15. I'd like to as we start out. We're gonna be focusing on 17 through 24. But I think I'm gonna read from verse 11 Recapping what we covered just in the last session.

Reading Luke 15 and the Call to Be Doers of the Word

And also looking at what we're going to be looking at in this section. So Luke 15 beginning in verse 11. If you are physically able, would you please stand in honor of the reading of God's Holy Word? Follow along silently as I read aloud beginning in verse 11 of Luke chapter 15.

This is what the Word of God says and he Jesus said there was a man who had two sons and The younger of them said to his father father Give me the share of property that is coming to me and he divided his property between them.

Not many days later the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country and there he squandered his property in reckless living and When he had spent everything a severe famine 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 who sent him into the fields to feed pigs.

And.

He was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself He said how many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger.

I will arise and go to my father and I will say to him father I've sinned against heaven and before you I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants. And he arose and came to his father but while he was still a long way off his father saw him and felt compassion and ran and embraced him and kissed him and The son said to him father.

I've sinned against heaven and before you I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his servants bring quickly the best robe and put it on him and put a ring on his hand and Shoes on his feet and bring the fattened calf and kill it and let us eat and celebrate for this.

My son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found and they began to celebrate. This is the word of the Lord Father in heaven, we are grateful to be Back together gathered together again as the family of God and grateful for your word.

Would you add your blessing to the reading and the preaching of your word for your glory and for our good we pray in Jesus name. Amen, please be seated. And so just to recap last night. We looked at how to interpret parables and how not to interpret parables.

More importantly we ended the night understanding that our best approach to scripture Should be one that enables me to remove logs from my own eyes. Before I think myself able to remove specks from others I'm told there has been an illustration of that point drawn by a young child, which I can't wait to see.

I'm told it's me with a telephone pole coming out of my eye. I'm pumped. I want to see how how this was like in his mind. I'm really looking forward to that. But that's the time that we spend yesterday how to best interpret parables how not to interpret parables and then to let's make sure that we're coming to scripture and living really the the whole of life.

Coming to scripture and looking to first be changed be formed be shaped by it. I struggled whether to do Matthew 7 or a James chapter 1 and making that point. But let's just for kicks and giggles keep your finger in Luke 15.

And would you go over to the book of James? Chapter 1 James 1. Let's look at verse 22. And so here James the brother of our Lord Says this in James 1 beginning in verse 22, but be doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving yourselves.

For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer He is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forget what he looks like but the one who looks into the perfect law the law of Liberty and Perseveres being no here forgets, but it's more harassed.

He will be blessed in his Doing and so here God likens the word The law of God's words anyone who's a hearer of the word and not a doer is like a person who looks Intently at his natural face in a mirror and depending on where you at You're where you're at in your season of life probably depends on what your experience is like.

You should look in the mirror. I remember when I was younger. I would just look just to kind of like Real fast as I'm leaving like make sure I don't look like there's not something out of place. There's not a hair out of place.

I actually used to have to check there was a hair out of place. Rarely do that now. And looking at a mirror was just a kind of like it was kind of like something you just did but now as you age You look at a mirror cut up for damage assessment right like when you get up in the morning.

Let's see how last night went. And I've also noticed that When we take lately with Sarah and I we're gonna take a selfie with each other. I'm like hey Let's take a picture and we're like Let's here let's turn that's gotta set a weird angle.

Let's go this way, and we do it like three times. We're like hey it is what it is this is it this is just a losing battle with time and gravity. And we are we are by the grace of God so looking at oneself in a mirror here.

It's a great. It's a great illustration that James James You said the person who's a hero of God's work, but not a doer. It's like someone who looks at themselves in a mirror and goes oh gosh, and does nothing about it.

Right they are aware of how they look they're aware that something's out of place. They're aware that adjustments need to be made and those adjustments can be slight or they can require a major Agent orange black flag or whatever chemicals and stuff that people use on their faces and hair and all this other stuff.

I'm not really I'm not familiar with it. But if you look at yourself in the mirror and nothing about it. That is the person who looks into the Word of God as a hero of the Word and not a doer. Why do you look at yourself in the mirror?

You're not going to make it just? Why even look at God's Word if it's not if you're not doing so with the? objective to change to grow to make adjustments so similarly to the point that we made last night with Matthew 7.

Why look to God's Word if we're not going to first seek to remove? the logs from our own eyes before we go around with respects from others and so that is a Approach that we would all do well to take as we look to God's Word together.

Then closely related to that back is that what we looked at just before? And we need to understand that we're in the best position to apply the parable of the prodigal son if we see ourselves first and foremost as.

The problem.

As the prodigal all we like sheep have gone astray each to his own way. There's not one of us that was only a little lost versus the people out there who are a lot lost. There's no such thing as lost earth.

We're born with a simple nature, and so we'll make simple choices. We're held out, and we're held deserving, but God who is rich in mercy Sets his mercy upon us and grants his faith and trust of him and we then respond Of our own volition because God has changed what we want.

It's always important particularly for people who embrace a reformed soteriology. For people who say that those of us who?

Are.

Embracing the doctrines of grace and excited about that that we are not robots. We always do what we want. It's just that God has changed what I want. Amen. That God has changed my water, so I nobody gets dragged kicking and screaming.

There's nobody who's like I just want to walk with the world, but instead. I love Christ. That's that's not how people relate to. They thought it's literally changed what we want. He's literally changed what we want.

He's changed what gives us joy. Change what we want to pursue. We always do what we want to. God has changed what we? Want. He's given us a new heart. He's given us a new mind. And so we are good when we are we.

It is good for us to see ourselves as the prodigal. First and foremost it is good for us to make sure that as we read through scripture. That we see ourselves as the one who has received grace and mercy.

Probably another example is I'm getting a little old man. I'm sure gonna be John chapter 8 when we're looking at Jesus who is the Jesus who is confronted with the situation with the adulterous woman, which is another situation where John where Jesus tried to be they're trying to trick him.

And oftentimes You know we know the way that that account ends. Jesus says he among you who is without sin let him cast the first stone. And we're thinking to ourselves like wow would we. That's true.

We should always remember that none of us are without sin. It's true, but we should also remember that we're all the adulterous woman.

Right we're all.

Deserving of death. We're all deserving of justice. We're all deserving of a punishment, and we've all received.

Mercy.

That Jesus granted her as well, and so I would encourage you to look as you look throughout scripture to. Always look at the person who's receiving mercy. Who's the one who deserves it the least. The one who gives the wow factor that we can't believe that that person was what we can't believe Lazarus was raised from the dead.

We can't believe that the paralytic was healed. And don't look at yourself and say what I believe if I was in the crowd. Look at yourself saying I was once dead. And I have been made alive. Because that's the way for us to humbly approach the Word of God.

The Pharisees, Deuteronomy, and the Expected Fate of the Prodigal

And so similarly coming back to our text today We are reminded that the prodigal son is symbol is symbolic of us. Let's ask ourselves this question. If the Pharisees who are hearing this story the Pharisees and the scribes that you read about in the beginning of Luke 15.

They're listening. Question what do the Pharisees hope happened next in the story? Okay, so where we left off? Was that this? Prodigal son said to himself self I'm gonna go home, and I'm gonna tell my father I've sinned against him and I asked him to hire me as one of his servants, which is essentially him saying.

This is the best case scenario that I could be that I could hope for that. Perhaps be treated in a way that I would not be stoned to death or I would not be. I would not be judged. If you would take a look at Deuteronomy 28.

Keep your finger in Matthew. Not Matthew. Luke 15 and look at Deuteronomy.

28.

Look specifically at verse 15 Says this. But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God Or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today. Then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you.

Curse shall you be in the city and curse shall you be in the field? Curse shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Curse shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground the Increase of your herds and the young of your flock.

Cursed shall you be when you come in and cursed shall you be? When you go out the Lord will send on you curses Confusion and frustration and all that you undertake to do. Until you are destroyed and perish quickly on account of the evil of your deeds because you have forsaken me.

The Lord will make the pestilence stick to you until he has consumed you off the land that you are entering to take Possession of it. I lost count of how many times I said cursed in that short reading.

So this the Pharisees know the Word of God. The Pharisees would think that this is the result of the result of sitting the result of rebellion would be Cursed. That he would be cursed by God and how that would play out in his life.

Would be we'd have to see how that comes in the days in the weeks in the months in the years ahead. And so the best-case scenario that could happen like what's gonna probably happen at the end of the story.

The Pharisees would think the younger son would be allowed to live as a pariah of sorts on the outskirts of his father's land. Trying in futility to repay his father for the rest of his life. That would be a best-case scenario.

Best case because it doesn't involve stones hitting his skull. So that's the best-case scenario is that he would get to come back and Be be hired which is essentially what he is hoping for to be hired as Somebody who would work on the outside of his land and live as a pariah.

Another possibility would be that the younger son would have to sit outside the city gate in public view for several days. For several days in shame. And so where he would be spat upon where he would likely be derided of where he would sit out in shame.

Outside the city for what he had done. This would be a way of him being punished and also a way of the father's honor.

Being.

Upheld so the father would basically be saying okay. Well since he has done this I should do this for both his sake and my.

Sake.

Another possibility is what we find in if you're in Deuteronomy ready. You just go to Deuteronomy 21 and verse 21. Deuteronomy 21. We can actually start in verse 18. 21 and verse 18 says. If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother and Though they discipline him will not listen to them that his father and mother Shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of the city at the gate or the place Of the place where he lives and they shall say to the elders of the city.

This our son is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey our voice. He is a glutton and a drunkard. Verse 21 says. Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall purge the evil from your midst and all Israel shall hear and.

Fear.

So that would be another perfectly legitimate Response to what the younger brother did this Sunday would be that he would be stoned to death Because of his.

Rebellion.

The Father Sees, Feels Compassion, and Runs to the Son

Verse 20 of Luke 15, let's go back to our text today, which shows what the younger father younger brother excuse me did. So verse 20 says and he arose and came to his father now. Let's just remind ourselves where he has been.

He has been off in a far country both literally and metaphorically speaking. He has Squandered. We don't know this yet. We know the end He is he has spent his money in all sorts of reckless living which we know is including but it's not limited to sexual exploits and so he's been with prostitutes.

He then moved from there to The outer parts probably of the city where there is farmland and then hired himself To this man to feed the pigs. So he's been wallowing With his and Then he says I know what I will do.

It says the Bible says he came to himself literally he came to his senses and he said I think I'll go home and talk To my dad. Nowhere in that text is I should probably shower first. Nowhere in that text is will I pass a target, right?

So he is looking and feeling and smelling like he has been Doing all of those things and so verse 20 says when he arose and came to his father understand. He looks completely disheveled understand. He smells like all sorts of fecal matter and disgusting food and everything that he would have filled up on him said that he would have been surrounded by and Involved with he smells like how he's been living and he arose and came to his father and Then we still we see this comment here in verse 20, but while he was still a long way off his father.

Saw him.

His father.

Saw him.

That's an important part of the text to focus on because it's not just like me standing from here I can see somebody walk by if they're walking down the hallway. I can look over here at this section and in my Periphery I can't see who.

But if somebody were to walk by I could see them walk by. Does that make sense? Like you would just get my attention and they'll probably pass before I can look to see who they are. But I wouldn't be able to see who.

It was it's interesting that Jesus specifically says While he was still a long way off. Like if you took out that portion of that sentence that sentence still makes sense. If you said and he arose and came to his father his father saw him and felt compassion.

That would have been a legitimate way to write this account, but Jesus specifically says While he was still a long way off. And you can't see somebody far away by accident. So his father was looking for his father had his eyes fixed towards the horizon.

His father was looking for his son. He didn't see him by accident just happened to catch his attention. His father was looking. I don't know if that means that his father would have been at the top of this house looking.

I don't know if he would have been standing outside looking. I don't know if while he's doing whatever he's doing in life. He's just happens to look up and think of his son and get back to him to what he was doing.

But the bottom line is the father was looking for the son. Because he saw him while he was a long way off.

And.

The fact that he saw him and then we're told what else in verse 20. While he was still a long way off his father saw him and felt compassion. He saw him and felt compassion. That's the Greek word that is Splendid to my Splendid to my meaning is he literally felt it in his gut in his gut.

We make a lot of talk of the seat of the emotions being the heart, right? Oh, my heart was broken or all this other stuff. But if you think about it when you're when somebody walks into a room that you find attractive.

You hope you notice you have butterflies in your what? Stomach right when you're stressed out you have a knot in your stomach. And so we don't speak like that, but the Israelites. And the Greeks that made sense.

It can still make sense to us. I've tried to tell Sarah that when I see her my bowels move, but she's just not that doesn't flatter. It's not a defect. I thought it would have so but here slug needs to buy means he was moved with compassion.

Moved with compassion not like oh, wow. What's up with him? He looks like he needs help. It's it's this oh this gut punch of seeing somebody just like oh my gosh I don't know if you've ever been in a in a situation like that I don't know that I've ever been in a situation like that where I just saw something that was so outrageous.

So.

So horrible that my I was just oh Just moved that I had to do something. That's what's happening here. His father saw him while he was still a long way off and felt compassion and What was he moved to do.

It says his father saw him and felt compassion.

And ran ran.

Didn't run from him. But ran to him. The first thing that he was moved to do was to not just see his son. But to see his son quickly that when he realized he goes that's him. He could not help but run and go and make himself like you couldn't get there fast enough.

He couldn't get there soon enough.

No doubt.

He wanted to get there before other people to get there because other people had a good idea of what they wanted to do to Him and so he is running because he had compassion. He's running because what he was looking for he had seen.

But there's something else. There's two aspects of the running that I think is so key to understand and that is this. That Arab men don't run. Arab men don't run. That's not what people do who live over in the middle.

They don't run. They don't run. They don't go off for jobs. They don't run. It's not it's thought of as a shameful thing to Run. In fact, there are Arabic versions of this parable that omit the fact that the father ran.

It's wrong to do that. They're just itch, but they they're like surely this isn't. Surely this isn't happening. So let me read to you a quote. Not really a big quote. This is kind of long trying to follow along but it says this the reluctance on the part of the Arabic versions to let the father run is amazing.

For a Thousand years a wide range of such graces were employed almost as if there was a conspiracy. To avoid the humiliating truth of the text that the father.

Ran.

The explanation for all of this is simple the tradition identified the father with God and running in public is too humiliating to attribute to a person who symbolizes God.

Not until 1860.

Does the father appear running in Arabic versions? 1860. The worksheets of the translators are available. Even in the great version of the first rendition of the Greek was he hurry. So it's not like they're saying you walk like they're not lying, but just let's not say can we not say road?

Can we say speed walk? Can we say he was in a rush, but not he ran like let's just get that idea across in a different way. And only in the second round of the translation process does the word mean that was the word he ran.

Appear.

The Hebrew of Proverbs 19 and verse 2 reads he that hastens with his feet sins. That's a paraphrase. The father represents God. How could he run? And so running was not something people of any nobility or any notoriety did they.

They don't get there when they get there.

I'm on my way.

They sauntered they they they walk with great with great ease with with with and they're not in a rush. They're not going to run. The fact that the father ran is mine. Because our men don't run. People who lived in that section of the world at that time in that culture don't run.

Let me add to it something else if he ran in what he was wearing. The Bible doesn't say what he was wearing, but I can like he's for sure not wearing joggers, right? So if he ran in what he was wearing, which is likely a role of some sort.

He would have to lift up his robe. Or a trip over something like you can't take big strides if you're hitting a rope. So he'd have to lift up his robe which would expose his legs. I don't know if you noticed him.

But when we're in Albania, which is they were under the Ottoman Empire for so long.

Men don't wear shorts.

Men don't wear shorts. They were pants. They were Breathable pants and in the summertime, but men boys little boys were shorts. The men don't wear.

Shorts.

To show your legs and shape. So I Like I didn't get that email, it's all about baby, it's really hot. I've got several pairs of shoes and it's fine because I'm obviously not Albanian, but I stood out I was I'm walking around and I don't feel really I didn't feel really weird.

I was there several days and I'm like, oh no, like I don't see many people wearing shorts. I was like that's incorrect. I don't see any. Many implies there's someone I literally see zero they don't wear shorts.

It's customary in Middle Eastern culture to not show your legs and. So this is why I think. The father. Some people say the father represents God the pursuing love of God. Couldn't agree more. But I would get more specific and say this the father represents.

Jesus.

God the son.

Because Jesus took on and died as a took on my shame, right? We don't see God the Father God the Holy Spirit taking on shame. But God the Son Jesus Christ took on the shame took on the reproach to show me compassion.

He died on the cross as if he were a criminal. He died a Horrible horrible death. That was the shame of all of society at that time. And so I think and it might be you know, people sometimes say potato potato.

I don't say potato potato. There's God the Father God the Son of the Holy Spirit. I think the father represents Jesus. Because there's the pursuing love that he has also mixed in with this element of of shame of reproach.

All in that he ran his father saw him when he was a long way off. Oh.

Oh.

Instantly felt compassion. The compassion didn't mean that he was disgusted with him. The compassion didn't say oh wow. He's never gonna be able to get his life together. He drove him to run. He didn't care what other people thought.

He didn't care how he would have been talked about. He saw his son that he was looking for and he ran. And then verse 20 says he ran and.

What?

Embraced him and kissed. Technically speaking somebody couldn't see him run to the Sun and think he's fighting back. He's gonna deck him. He's gonna like get there and just all over the unlike he is gonna just take him out.

He's that angry that would have made sense. So I'm you can see him run like wow, that's a little weird that he's running but I bet he's that ticked off. He attacks him with love he embraces him he kisses him.

In some traditions in order for the Sun to regain even just the just just the respect of the father The Sun would get on his knees and would have his face touch the ground and would kiss the feet of his father.

This is the opposite where the father is Running to the Sun in all his squalor in all his smell and he is embracing him. He is kissing him in my mind. I can't even see the Sun hugging back. The Sun's just like shocked like I'm alive.

He didn't take me out. Just kind of okay. Wow, this is okay. Just shocked that his father is treating him with this love and this compassion. He embraced him and he kissed him. It shows the uninhibited shameless love that the father had for his son.

The Lost-Found Party and the Call to See Ourselves as the Prodigal

The title of the sermon is lost.

Found.

Party. That's the common theme you see in Luke 15. Someone who loses a sheep. Sheep is lost. Diligent looks for the sheep. The sheep is found. And then what does he say. Rejoice with me. I found my sheep.

I had a hundred sheep. I had a hundred sheep. I'm now back to having a hundred sheep. Every sheep matters. 99 is not enough. Lost found party. A woman who loses the coin. You can't find it. That's a valuable piece for her.

She looks around her. She's worried. She's scared. It's lost. She finds it. She tells her friends. Rejoice with me. I found my coin. Lost found party. And finally in the parable of the prodigal son Where Luke dedicates the most of his ink where there's the most amount of detail.

We see one who is lost. Just like you and me. We see one who is found by the grace of God just like you and me. And we see somebody who is worth celebrating. Just like you and me. Point number one. Nobody is too far for Christ to see.

To reach.

And to say I.

Emphasized pretty strongly yesterday and today the importance of seeing ourselves in the story, I'm not I'm not taking that aside. Having seen ourselves in the story. If we are believers We do well to be reminded that nobody is too far for Christ to see and To reach and to save again.

Verse 20 says while he was still a long way off his father.

Saw him.

Nobody's too far for Christ to see to reach and to save.

My dad.

It's it's it's it's part of my testimony that I'll share tomorrow, but my parents are divorced. My dad is a self-proclaimed atheist. God saved my mom and God used her greatly in our life to preach the gospel to us.

God in his kindness and his mercy saved myself and my sister. My dad has remarried and my dad is An atheist. He's an okay guy. Probably probably get all of them, but he is an atheist and I Believe that the Lord saved me in 1989.

My dad has never been interested really in the gospel. He likes what I do. He's tied to me. He's proud of me. He thinks I'm a do-gooder. You know like look at him all the good. He does when I was a youth pastors look at him.

He loves the kids. He doesn't make a connection between what we do or the Christ. Does that make sense? It's just like oh, he's he really serves kids. That's kind, but he doesn't.

I.

Share the gospel him on a number of occasions, but I believe I've been a Christian since 1989. Today is Saturday March 23rd 2024 so that's 35 years. It's not trending well. It doesn't seem to be moving in a positive direction and so to my shame I.

I.

Want to let you know that I pray for him less now because I'm pretty sure it's just not gonna happen. And so it's kind of falling off my radar. Does that make sense? I'm not saying you agree with that, but do you understand what I'm saying because I start to think like I mean.

Surely if God's gonna save me with them not get any younger. But surely if God was going to use me to be a witness to him. He would have done it by now. Do you ask me if God could save him? There's a right answer that question.

There's a right answer. I will give you the right answer a thousand percent. Yes, God. With God nothing is impossible. Yes, God could save me if you corner me and say do you think? God will.

I.

Become a functional atheist and I'm like. Start to think of odds. Yeah, I mean odds are probably not. Who have you given up on who? Has not come to Christ and has not shown an ounce of interest in Christ.

And.

So you have talked yourself into I don't need to Even make it self-preservation right if I expect him not to save him. I won't be. I won't be upset when he doesn't. Which is ridiculous because cynicism makes it terrible insulator.

It's disappointment. But who have you given up on. Who did you once pray that the Lord would save. Who do you even still pray for the Lord would say, but you do in a kind of a roadway and If really push comes to shove you're like I know God could save him.

But you want to. I really think he probably the text reminds us. Nobody's too far for Christ to see to reach and To save Romans 1 16. Paul says for I am not ashamed of the gospel. Do you know why? For it is the power of God for salvation.

To everyone who believes it is the power. It's the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes it's not just like it. It's this it's this option bro, and if they choose it, it's gonna be great.