Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

In France the early 1800s, a man was released on parole from being sentenced to hard labor.

Amidst poverty, He had been charged for stealing bread.

When he consequently sought to escape, his sentence was extended to 19 years.

Finally he was released on parole.

The life for a released convict was extremely difficult.

Having been marked by the penal system, he couldn’t find employment, shelter or any form of assistance.

One night upon falling asleep on the porch of a church, a minister saw him.

Despite the man’s startled and rough appearance, the minister invited inside.

He treated this man as an honored guest.

Providing him with a meal and a bed to spend the night.

He was desperate to make it on his own.

As he lay in bed he determined that he would steal some silver from the church in order to make a new start.

In the dark of the night as everyone was asleep, the man took the opportunity, grabbed the silver and slipped out under the cover of the darkness.

It wasn’t long before the man was discovered and was returned back to the church by the local authorities.

“We have your silver,” Stated the senior officer.

After decades of serving hard time, the man was about to be incarcerated again.

“we caught him red-handed.

He had the nerve to say you gave it to him,” the officer continued.

“That is right,” the minister replied to the officer.

Then he turned to the man and endearingly said in front of the officers, “but my friend, you left so early.

surely something slipped your mind.

you forgot I gave these also.

would you leave the best behind.”

turning back to the officers, the minister stated, “ Release him, this man has spoken true.”

The man was released and allowed to rest in the church again.

As he sits alone in one of the rooms of the church, the man is conflicted by the grace he had been shown.

He realized that he has had it all wrong.

As he sits in the room, he reflects upon his life and his words are recorded as follows:

Take an eye for an eye!

Turn your heart into stone!

This is all I have lived for!

This is all I have known!

One word from him and I'd be back, beneath the lash, upon the rack.

Instead he offers me my freedom.

I feel my shame inside me like a knife.

He told me that I have a soul, How does he know?

What spirit comes to move my life?

Is there another way to go?

I am reaching but I fall, and the night is closing in, as I stare into the void, to the whirlpool of my sin.

I escape now from that world.

I am nothing now! and another story must begin!

Transformation reigns in this mans life.

Several years later, we see him in a position of prominence.

He becomes the mayor in a suburb of Paris.

He becomes an honest man, an agent of grace.

If you haven’t seen it, this is more or less what happens in the first 15 or so minutes of the 2012 rendition of Les Mis.

In this movie, Jean VelJean, finds the grace of Christ and is a changed man.

Grace has a remarkable changing power.

Today we will be studying .

Luke is the gospel written with the intent of providing a chronological account of the events of Jesus’ ministry.

By the time we get to today’s passage, we see that Jesus’ ministry is in full swing; he has been performing many miracles and has already spoken many hard truths.

He has reached out to those who were alienated in that day, and has already made the religious leaders a little on edge.

As we come to , Jesus is talking to a large crowed.

The tax collectors and sinners begin to come to him to listen and the scribes and pharisees grumbled at this and so Jesus begins to tell some parables.

He tells the parable of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son.

Today we will be studying that parable of the lost son.

Your bible may title this passage the Prodigal Son.

Please join me in following along as we read God’s word starting in .

Luke 15:11-32

Lets Pray - Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for today and for your word.

we pray that as we seek to better understand and apply this passage to our lives that you would work in our hearts and if we are distant from you today, we pray now that you will relentlessly seek us out, find us, and save us.

Lord, we pray that you will work in our hearts today, in Jesus’ name- amen.

If we look at this parable at a 35000 ft view, we see Jesus is telling a parable in a list of parables here.

Parables are short stories that tell truths.

first tells a story of a shepherd with 100 sheep who loses one sheep.

He leaves the 99 to seek out the 1 and when he finds it, he rejoices.

Second he tells the story of a lady who loses a coin and drops everything to search for it.

when she finds it, she rejoices.

And the third parable is not too different, but what is striking is it is told from a different perspective.

Instead of focusing on the one seeking, the focus is on the one being sought!

So often, we don’t see how when we are lost, God is seeking us out.

But we know from the previous parables, that He is actively seeking out the lost!

Even though the seeking is not the primary emphasis of this third parable, we still see that the father sees the son a far way off.

You don’t see something a long way off unless you are looking.

Verse 20 reads

This third parable shows God’s grace in allowing us the role in salvation to choose to seek him.

The issue of the predestination of man vs the total free will of man can be a sticky one.

This issue divides churches.

And I think the best thing we can tell is that if we read the scriptures without any presuppositions, we see that both the view of God’s predestination and man’s free will are both presented in scripture.

Really the way I see this is that it is a wet concrete issue.

some theological topics in our life need to be held with a hard reinforced concrete stance.

That we are saved by grace alone through faith alone by christ alone is one of these hard reinforced concrete issues.

I see this issue of predestination vs free will or as some prefer to call it with polarizing terms, the Cavinism vs Arminianism.

Its just hard to take a hard stance when there is evidence for both on the discussion.

I know where i land on the debate, but thats not whats important.

What I think is important to point out is that if you are going to be saved, you have to make a conscious choice to seek God.

Nevertheless, God is completely sovereign.

some people see these two as contradictory, which is why i like this illustration of one theologians interpretation.

The story goes like this, someday we will die and come to the pearly gates of heaven.

Inscribed above the gate it will say “Whosoever wills may enter” if you choose to enter in, you may notice as you turn back around that the inside of the gate reads “chosen before the foundation of the world.”

I like this because it points out that both can still be at play - God can be completely sovereign and yet people can have free will.

This parable shows that the story of this young son.

As we go through this, i want to say that the father was searching for the son, but lets see what happens from the sons perspective:

So what we see is the father graciously divides his wealth among the sons.

Let me say, we each have our own lot in life, but what is remarkable is how gracious God is to us even when we are not seeking Him!

In fact, what i find remarkable looking at my life is that even though i spent so many years seeking after my own personal interests and happiness, trying to make my own estate great.

Sometimes squandering it, God still graciously gave me all that I had.

I believe that God, being the discerning father he is knew what i would do, yet still out of grace God gave me more than I deserved.

We see that the son reaches a point of desperation.