Come Home

Luke • Sermon • Submitted 2 years ago

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The only help and comfort for the prodigal is for him to return home to the welcome embrace of his father. This applies to the older son as well, who also was lost - even though he appeared as if he were fine.

Notes

Transcript

Prayer

Our merciful God and heavenly father,

You are our God, and we are your people

You are our shepherd, and we are the sheep of your pasture.

Father, we have sinned against you. But you have promised us that if we turn to you through our Lord Jesus you will hear and forgive.

For all the times that we placed our trust in the things of this earth, father hear us and forgive.

For all the times we did not worship you in spirit and in truth, father, hear us and forgive.

For the times when our words did not exalt your holy name, father hear us and forgive.

For the times we did not rest in you, hear us and forgive.

For the times when we did not love our neighbor as ourselves, hear us and forgive.

Father, hear our prayer when we cry out to you. In the dark of night, in the cheer of the daytime – as we go to work or as we stay home, when we lie down and when we get up – hear our prayers. Hear our shouts of joy and our cries of sorrow, and when you hear, turn to us in our weakness and foolishness and be merciful to us.

We thank you for your love. For the beauty of the earth and the grandeur of the heavens. For times of play and times of feasting. And we pray that whatever tomorrow brings, you will give us the strength to endure – so that no matter where you lead us, we might prosper under your loving hand.

And we know that we only prosper when we truly learn to hallow and magnify your name. Cause us father to follow you wherever you lead us. Teach us to trust in you and to exalt your holy name, even when it means that we must decrease. Teach us to magnify you, even when it means admitting that we are wrong, and have been for decades. Teach us to magnify you in our study of the scriptures that we might not read our own story into the words, but come to know YOU as you have revealed yourself and that we might learn to humble ourselves under your hand.

Give healing and strength to Kim. Protect Hugo from the virus that is going around and bring them home safely.

Give Michael the right treatment for his foot pain and give him relief. Give healing to Bud. Provide for Roger and strengthen him.

Give to each of us all that we need for body and soul each day, and cause us to trust in you for the future, that you will provide for us as you always have.

Protect us from evil and destructive men who seek to harm and destroy your image-bearers. Protect the gospel as it is declared around the world today and bring life to dead and dry bones.

And for the false prophets and wolves, we pray that you would remove them and take the sheep from their jaws. Give deliverence to the captive and release the prisoner.

Give wisdom and justice to our governor and our president, that they might rule wisely and well. Give clarity to lawmakers and take away pride. Tear down the covetous and evil-doer in high places and raise up faithful leaders who know how to serve in truth.

In our community, we pray your favor and blessing on those who seek to alleviate suffering and bring comfort to the traumatized. Bless TIP, A Women’s Friend, Liv On, Casa de Esperanza, Freed – working to bring safety to the endangered, help to the wounded, hope to the comfortless. Bless their work.

Provide food for the hungry. Give safety and justice to all who have to flee from their abusive homes, give hope and comfort to the downtrodden and discouraged.

But above all, Father, we pray that the gospel will shine. Until your sheep come home, they can find no comfort. Bring home the wandering and the hurt and the lost. Draw your sheep into your fold. Give them salvation, comfort, hope and purpose. Restore to us your image and conform us to the image of your dear son.

And let’s pray together

Psalm 19:14 NKJV

14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.

Scripture

Luke 15:1–32 NKJV

1 Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. 2 And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, “This Man receives sinners and eats with them.” 3 So He spoke this parable to them, saying: 4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ 7 I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance. 8 “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!’ 10 Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” 11 Then He said: “A certain man had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood. 13 And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. 14 But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. 15 Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 16 And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything. 17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, 19 and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.” ’ 20 “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. 23 And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; 24 for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry. 25 “Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.’ 28 “But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. 29 So he answered and said to his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. 30 But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’ 31 “And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. 32 It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.’ ”

Sermon

two ways of viewing the world

The founding of this country was in many ways the pinnacle of the Enlightenment. Natural law and nature’s god were paramount. The over-arching principle was this - with the proper application of our reason we could build a just and prosperous society. “We are endowed by are creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

But the age of reason also carefully qualified who were entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It obviously was the European male, whose advanced demeanor and moral sense gave him the right to rule over women, children and anyone not European.

The enlightenment was sometimes called “The Age of Reason”. It developed through the centuries and in the late nineteenth century, the enlightenment principles were called “modernism.” It was an exciting time.

Darwin discovered that science could teach us why we are here. Medical experiments could explain human behavior. Edison was doing amazing things with electricity. The telegraph and the train system brought nations and far away regions together. It appeared as if science was fulfilling its promise.

Through a proper application of the laws of reason, embedded into the universe through the work of the Creator, we could bring about a just and prosperous society.

From there, it was only a tiny step to remove the concept of “creator” altogether. Practically speaking, it made no difference in the application of scientific principles.

But here is the problem - as Darwin discovered, what is embedded into creation by creation’s god is the survival of the fittest.

A mouse that made a stupid decision was quickly devoured by the snake.

A snake that was a little too weak would soon starve.

An injured wildebeest was soon devoured.

On the principles of the enlightenment, modernism - there was no basis to declare that humans were any different than animals. The lazy and stupid die young. The wise and diligent prosper, and that is how it should be.

Darwin quickly evolved into Nietzsche. Nietzsche applied Darwin to man. The concept of man as an image-bearer of God is gone. Politics is also a matter of the survival of the fittest.

This is by necessity an oversimplification, for this is not intended to be a lecture on philosophy.

So to skip ahead, the modernist viewpoint, the Age of Reason came of age in the 20th century. The first disaster of reason was the sinking of the Titanic. Why was this such a momentous thing? The titanic represented everything golden about the golden age. Science and reason will bring the continents together with luxury and opulence and the whole world will prosper.

Quickly following the titanic: two world wars, communism, socialism, fascism, death camps, gulags, concentration camps and so on. The worldview of the enlightenment came full circle.

For reason is rigorous and unbending. 2 plus 2 equals 4 no matter how hard you try to make it otherwise. Reason knows nothing of grace, it only knows the strict application of justice. the moral laws engraved in the universe are inflexible.

If people are stupid and make bad decisions, they will be devoured by the stronger, and this is how it should be.

If businesses are small and weak, their destiny is to be consumed into larger more powerful businesses.

The one who wastes all of his living ends up in the pigpen.

the weak and stupid cannot add anything to society.

So modernism ends in a death camp.

But we are all image-bearers of God. We know that we are more that reason, and reason cannot explain our longing for grace and redemption.

And thus we saw in the 60s in Europe a rise in what was called “postmodernism”.

Postmodernism rejects absolute truth and points out the flaws in pure reason. The end result of postmodernism is “just let everyone live out their own truth. Who are we to say what is wrong or what is right? There is no such thing as absolutes, right and wrong are social constructs, we can’t know anything so just make the choices that you want to make and live your own life.”

There are those hearing this sermon that will nod along to the viewpoint of modernism. “That’s right. Reason is reason, right is right, and wrong is wrong. Men are men and women are women and that’s the way it is.”

And there are those who will nod along to the postmodernist view “Who are we to say? How can we be so arrogant as to think that our way is the right way? Let’s just live our lives and let people be.”

The modern modernist leans to the right politically. The modern postmodernist leans to the left politically.

And this sermon will make both of them uncomfortable, because neither of these viewpoints is Christianity.

The problem is that we continue to try to combat postmodernism with the principles of the enlightenment. But try to remember that the Age of Reason ended with totalitarianism. It is the only way it can end.

But post-modernism always ends up in the pens starving to death, no hope, no meaning, no up, no down, nothing solid to stand on. It is the only way that IT can end.

And in both ages, both viewpoints were considered enemies of Christianity.

Modernism in the early 20th century denied anything that could not be explained by reason. Resurrection, virgin births, the government of God over the universe, and ultimately grace itself. For grace cannot be explained by reason.

And postmodernism denied that anything could be known for certain and therefore ultimately anything goes.

The modernist would allow the young man to starve in the pig pen, because he made abominable choices. Reason dictates that if you throw all of your money away, you should starve. It is patently unjust to take money from an innocent party and give it to a man who is starving because of his own horrible choices.

Postmodernists would support the man’s decisions, validate him, perhaps give him something to eat - but would leave him where he was- not wanting to interfere with another man’s values.

But Jesus doesn’t side with either one.

Both the post modernist and the modernist miss the feast.

Jesus says, “Come home. Sit down. Eat.”

The occasion

Chapter 15 offers three perspectives - same theme. That which is lost is found.

In the first two, the owner is seeking, in the last - he waits for the son to come to his senses. Two perspectives on one act.

In the first scene, the sheep wanders away and gets lost because he is a sheep.

In the second, the coin makes no choices in the matter, because it is a coin. It is lost.

In the third, that which is lost is lost because of truly horrible choices.

Three perspectives on the same theme.

The occasion: Jesus is eating and drinking with sinners.

From one perspective, they are sinners because they were born sinners and they are humans, reacting to their status as outsiders by resisting the best they can. They act just like fallen humans, making bad decisions because they are humans.

From the second perspective, they are lost through no fault of their own - they were conceived and born in sin because Adam’s guilt is imputed to them

From the third perspective, they are lost because they willfully and pridefully despised their father, pursued a life of flagrant debauchery, because they wanted to.

In the case of humans, all three scenarios are true. But all have the same result.

Jesus finds them, tells them to come home, and they sit with him and feast. And there is much rejoicing.

The occasion of these famous stories is the critique of the Pharisees, astounded that Jesus is eating and drinking with the worst of the worst.

The prodigal

In that context, the parable is clear. The prodigal son is the tax collector and the sinner.

Jesus does not condone their actions. He does not imply that their decisions are valid decisions that will lead to peace with God.

Not at all. They flagrantly despised the Father, demanded to use his gifts as they saw fit, hated the restrictions of home and demanded the right to live as they saw fit.

This is a perfect description of our sinful nature. God has given each of us our gifts, abilities, personalities, talents.

The prodigal uses this with no thought of restraint, thankfulness or gratitude for the goodness of God who gives such gifts to men. The prodigals only thought is how much pleasure he can wring out of them.

But even one step deeper than that: the prodigal doesn’t just make the choices that he thinks will bring him joy. He makes the choices that he thinks will show his contempt for the Father the most clearly.

Whatever God requires of me, I will do the opposite. No one has the right to tell me what to do, especially God. Who is he and who is his church to tell me how to live.

Even if those laws that he abides by lead to ruin, illness, poverty, starvation, bondage - he knows it, but willingly runs after it because it is his nature to hate God and his neighbor.

Jesus certainly does not condone lawless living.

It is interesting that he gives three reasons for the prodigal’s desperate condition:

He wasted his substance on riotous living

There was a famine

No one took pity on him.

The moralist would focus on his riotous living, and the application would be “work harder and smarter.”

The fatalist would focus on the famine and say, “Que sera sera”

The socialist would focus on no one giving him anything, and seek to force the owner of the pigs to feed the guy.

Jesus has a different solution.

But Jesus also does not view this man with contempt and ridicule. He views him with compassion.

The father - so hated and despised by the prodigal - is not carefully sharpening his swords and lightening bolts; he is not sending his armies out to get vengeance on his son.

He is waiting in expectation for his son to return.

Remember: this is not a dissertation on free will versus sovereignty. Jesus has already taught that he went to seek and save that which was lost. But now, it is presented from the other point of view. That which Jesus seeks on the one hand “comes to his senses, and comes home” from the other perspective. We are both valued treasures and objects of the father’s love, and moral agents at the same time.

Here, the thought is clear. The father is waiting with love and compassion for his son to return.

John 3:16–17 NKJV

16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

Using stories, Jesus is teaching us profound theology. Joel wrote “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved”

And Paul teaches us that those who call upon the name of the Lord are those who have been sought and found by God through the proclamation of the gospel.

It all goes together.

A modernist would give the prodigal a lecture on making better choices - but he doesn’t have anything left. His substance is gone.

A postmodernist would be very tolerant and validate his choices, but he is miserable and starving.

Jesus said, “Come home. The feast is prepared. Your father is waiting. Throw down your weapons and your hatred and your rebellion, and come home.”

You are in this situation because you made really bad choices, you rebelled against God. You also live in a cursed world where there are famines and people are self-absorbed, cruel jerks - all of this is true. You have sinned and you have been sinned against. But now…come home. You aren’t dead. Your father is waiting.

Come home

Last week, I mentioned that Jesus carried himself in such a way that tax collectors and sinners both came flocking to him, desired to have him in their home, feasted with him. I asked, “Do we emulate him? Do tax collectors and sinners desire our presence, or would their response be, “Oh, that guy again.””?

We also know that tax collectors and sinners were actually sinners, and Jesus found their sins unclean, degrading and hateful. He is, after all, true, eternal, holy God.

So just from a practical viewpoint, what did they talk about at dinner that would cause him to be a welcomed guest, someone that they would listen to? If sinners flee from a holy God, why did they run towards Jesus?

Because he came to seek and save that which was lost and meet them where they were at.

Our first thought would be that he confronted them with their sin…but then how often would he have been invited back? Suppose a man approached the prodigal feeding the pigs and said, “You know, you are here because you made some terrible choices. You really offended your Father and you deserve this and worse!” And he could even have said it nicely. That isn’t the problem

The problem is that the prodigal already knows that!

What he needs is to know how to get home, and whether he will be received - even as a servant would be better than where he is now.

So I would suggest this. Jesus sat at the table with publican and sinners and was welcomed by them - The implication of the parable is that they were hungry for something clean, holy, righteous, pure - that they were wounded, hurting, tired and longed to be free.

I would suggest that Jesus spoke to them of the temple, and the sacrifices, of passover and God’s presence. Of the spirit filling the temple and the spirit being poured out, and of his office as messiah, the fulfillment of the prophets, the one filled

Isaiah 61:1 NKJV

1 “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, Because the Lord has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

THIS is what he talked about. They already knew that they were miserable, poor, blind and naked. They wanted to know if there was any GOOD news?

Is there a balm in Gilead? Is there healing for broken hearts?

Is there hope? Is there a resurrection?

Will God really dwell with his people?

He spoke of gardens and brides and bridegrooms and new creations and new heavens and new earths - and the kingdom of God breaking through this age in the hearts of men and women...

He came to seek and to save that which was lost, to invite them to the feast, to welcome sinners to his table and to bring them to himself in the unity of true faith.

So they flocked to him. They sat down and ate with him.

And the Pharisees got madder and madder

The older son

That brings us to the older son.

As the feast is going, there is another son. He is also a prodigal son. He also hates the father, but he doesn’t have the courage to leave. He is just as angry with the father and just as hateful, but he hides it better and puts on the front of the righteous one, to afraid to come out of hiding.

So he stays at home, fuming the whole time, fretting over everything, making sure that he is dotting every i and crossing every t - and the whole time he is slaving away, he is getting more and more hardened.

Look at everything I’ve done. He doesn’t even notice. He doesn’t care. I was loyal. I forego all of the fun and got nothing.

I never transgressed your commandment.

Boy I sure wanted to sometimes, but I didn’t. I slaved away here year after year, and you didn’t even notice.

His motive wasn’t love for his father. His life wasn’t in fellowship with God. His longing wasn’t for the embrace of his father.

He resented the fact that other people got away with stuff and he never did.

This is the problem with Pharisees of every age. God requires love. He created us to heartily love him, live with him in eternal blessedness to praise and glorify him.

And the older brother of every age turns that into harsh slavery.

Isaiah 1:10–12 NKJV

10 Hear the word of the Lord, You rulers of Sodom; Give ear to the law of our God, You people of Gomorrah: 11 “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?” Says the Lord. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams And the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls, Or of lambs or goats. 12 “When you come to appear before Me, Who has required this from your hand, To trample My courts?

Who required it? You did, didn’t you?

What God offered was fellowship, that he would dwell with his people and that we would be rooted and grounded in love.

But his people turned it into a tedious system of offerings - thinking that if they stumbled on God’s requirements they might wring a blessing from his stingy hands. Even the Sabbath became a tedious chore and a hated drudgery.

Who asked for that? Certainly not God. He doesn’t need your sacrifices or your service even.

He wants to give you himself. What he wants, more than anything, is for you to come home. Sit at the feast, rest, and eat.

The prodigal wasn’t feasting with his father because he was out wasting his inheritance.

But the older wasn’t feasting either, because he was too angry at the injustice of it all to come inside and eat. If the feast wasn’t for him, he wasn’t going to have any part of it.

But the upshot was this - he stayed outside. Whatever his reason and however just it seemed to him at the time - he missed it.

He was like those in the previous chapter who refused to come for all sorts of reasons. I just bought a house. I just married a wife. I just bought a team of oxen.

This one was the worst of all - Who let all this riffraff into the room?

I’m not coming in as long as that guy is there.

At bottom, are they any different than the prodigal running away?

Unless they come to the feast, they miss the feast.

The feast doesn’t fit the principles of the enlightenment. It isn’t like 2+2=4. The invitation is only of grace, never of merit. It can’t be forecasted, expected, or earned. Reason doesn’t enter into it. Grace can’t be measured and can’t be formulated.

I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and whom I will, I harden.

The feast isn’t the conclusion of a logical argument. There is no way that the prodigal should be there, by any law of the universe.

There is no way that the father should have rushed out to hug him and welcome him home. It didn’t make sense for him to kill the calf that he fattened up for a special occasion.

Reason would dictate that he would just do it again, he would squander it again, that he earned his place at the pigpen, and that the older son should have gotten the calf.

But the reward comes not of merit, but of grace.

This is why modernism can never bring the postmodernist home. It doesn’t make any sense.

But to the postmodernist, there isn’t a feast, there isn’t a father, and life isn’t any better than the pigpen - to each their own, just be true to yourself. There is no feast there, either. It is literally a bottomless pit of relativity.

There is only one entrance to the feast.

Jesus said “come home”. This is our message.

Jesus said, “Come home”

But I don’t have the right clothes. He says, “I’ll provide them”

But I can’t walk. I’m too weak. He says, “I’ll carry you”

But I don’t know the way. He says, “I am the way”

But my sins are too great. He says, “My sacrifice covers all of it. My grace is greater”

But I don’t deserve it. He says, “That’s what grace is”

Just come home.

The world doesn’t need to be validated. We see the misery of the postmodern viewpoint all around us. Suicide through the roof, drugs, alcohol.

But the answer isn’t rationalism. Calling people stupid, ignorant, foolish, explaining what is wrong with them, and trying to force them into learning better logic so that they will make better decisions - this is not what will bring them home.

The only thing that brings the world home is the calling of Jesus.

Come home. Everything you need is here. The feast awaits. Lay everything else aside and come home.

When you get to the feast, you will find that the table is full of people who are sinners. Tax collectors, even.

People that caused you to roll your eyes, and contemptuously sneer and secretly thank God that you are not like other men....

But that is what keeps the older brother out of the feast.

If you are a prodigal, come home.

If you are the older brother, come home.

God’s table is set for all of you. The blood of Christ is sufficient for the sins of the whole world. Don’t worry that he won’t have room or that the cross isn’t enough for you..

Just come home.

Revelation 22:16–17 NKJV

16 “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.” 17 And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.

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