Reservoir Presbyterian Sermons
The Lost Sons (Luke 15)
So our Bible reading this morning is taken from the New Testament, and it's taken from Luke chapter 15, and if you're using the Bibles in the pews it can be found on page 1489. So Luke chapter 15, 1 to 32. Now the text collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus, 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. Doesn't he 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 neighbours 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 and loses one, doesn't she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbours 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 sent 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 servants 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 servants.' 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 sent 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 fat and calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate.' For this son of mine was dead and he's alive again. He was lost and he's 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. We called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 'Your brother has come,' he replied, 'and your father has killed the fat and 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 his son of yours, who has squandered your property with prostitutes, comes home, you kill a fat and 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 he's alive again. He was lost and he's found.' This is God's word. Good morning, everyone. Good morning, lovely to see you, good to be with you today. My name's Travis. If I haven't met you yet, I'm from Bandura Presbyterian Church and I'm the Visiting preacher this weekend for the next couple of weeks after it. Just a little bit about myself, I didn't grow up in a Christian family at all. I was chasing after a girl in my teenage years and bumped into Jesus through the ministry of the Christian Union at Latrobe and through Bandura Presbyterian Church and became a Christian when I was 18. So, yeah, it's great to be with you today, praising God together. This week is the second of our piece. So last week we did a Psalm, Psalm 23. This week we're doing Luke 15, a parable. Next week we'll be doing Philemon. So you might like to have a read of that during the week and familiarize yourself with that little epistle and then in our final fourth week we'll be doing a proverb, all right, just to give you a bit of a heads up on where we're going. It'd be great if you had your Bibles open, there's a few copies of the talk down the back there. If you find that helpful to read along, then you can make good use of that as well. Boys and girls, if you'd like to do your little drawings, they'll be great. If you keep nice and quiet so Mum and Dad can concentrate, I'm sure they'll be very appreciative as well. And you might like to listen in as well, because we'll hear about those two sons and how they went with their father. Let's pray as we come to God's Word. Gracious God, your Word says that every word in the Bible is breathed from your mouth, inspired by you, infallible, that is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so that we might be equipped for every good work. Here in heaven, through the preaching today, I pray that you would bear good gospel fruit in this church today, tomorrow, for the rest of the week and for many years to come. Amen. Test all things, friends. Where is the clicker? Oh, my God, great, meet Jillian Jamison, according to missingpersons.gov, she's been missing since Saturday, July the 12th, 1980. In 2010, age 19, was last seen leaving the Tolgate Hotel in Paramata with her friend Deborah. They were seen in a white Holden sedan, being yelled at by a man in a black, brimmed hat. Jillian called her roommate and told her she and Deborah would be attending a party in the Wulligong area. This was extremely out of character for both girls. Jillian hasn't been seen or contacted family or friends since. It now be 63. Meet Alexander Meth. He's been missing since Tuesday, the 13th of April, 1999. Alexander was last seen leaving his home address in Elizabeth Bay, New South Wales, on the morning of the 13th of April, '99. He didn't take any wallet or possessions, and his car was later located, parked and unattended at Velocuse. Alexander has not contacted family or friends since this time, and there are grave concerns for his welfare. Well, people go missing. People get lost. It's one thing to lose a phone. It's another to lose a person. A loved one, a husband, a child, a daughter, a friend. According to the missingpersons.gov website, 53,000 missing persons reports were submitted last year in Australia. That's a lot of lost people. 54% of those were between the ages of 13 to 17. Some people, whether they realize it or not, can be lost to their parents. Some, by choice, the website lists several reasons. Mental illness, miscommunication, misadventure, domestic violence, victims of crime, and you guessed it, wanting to become independent. What would you do if your loved one went missing? If your child went missing, how would you feel if they were unable to be found? If, by choice, they got lost. If wanting to become independent, they became estranged to you. It happens. It happens for all sorts of reasons. When two of our boys were five and six, they went missing. We had people over for lunch, and we noticed, too late, things had gone quiet. We searched the house, nothing. The backyard, nothing. The garage, nothing. The street, nothing. With the help of our guests, we searched the suburb, not a thing, lost. I remember my wife's face with tears, that moment she realized, despite our best efforts, we could do nothing to bring them back to find them. They were lost. Heading for hungry jacks, by the way, as it turns out, when the police bought them back. As we open this famous parable of the lost sons in Luke 15, it seems modern day problems aren't so modern after all. Jesus tells this parable, a made up story with a point. It's the third of three lost stories. It begins this way. Sorry. Great. Good, thank you. Sorry, people. It doesn't seem to be working. It begins this way. There was a man who had two sons, no names, no location, no wife mentioned, just a man, and he's two sons. The younger of them opens the dialogue, "Father, give me my share of the estate." It's clear, direct, bold, but presumptuous, "I can't wait for you to die, Dad. Give me now what you owe me later." Your stuff is more valuable to me than our relationship. As the younger of the two, he was entitled to half of the older one. That's a third. In a society that elevated honour for parents so highly that it instituted the death penalty for stubborn and rebellious sons, it was daringly defiant. Why do you think he demanded it? Greed? Impatience? Despise? Autonomy? How would you feel if your child asked that of you? Rejected? Angry? Grieved? What would you do if he was your son? Would you kick him out? Refuse? Argue? Negotiate? Plead. As per usual for parents, without the word of his feelings, Jesus tells us the Father, let go. He split his estate between the sons, impoverishing himself, endangering the family, and gave this younger son his heart's desire. Sometimes in love, good parents do that. No sooner had this son liquidated his share that his true motives were exposed. With a pocket full of cash, he was off, far away, living it up, wasting away his share on foolish ventures. Maybe he gambled it, maybe he drank it, maybe he ate it, maybe he purchased love. This son enjoyed his freedom, his autonomy from his father. He, bad turned to worse, flat broke, a severe famine struck, leaving this Jew not only tending to pigs for a gentile, but longing for their food, a longing that remained unfulfilled. As it did for Ruth and Naomi, so now hunger brings him to his senses. He remembers the food available to his fathers, hired workers, and devises another plan to get what he needs. "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants," he says to himself. "I didn't act like a son. Make me your worker," I sinned. And so as quick as he left, so now he returns. But you remember, things don't quite go according to plan for his dad, who's been watching and waiting for him, spots him from a distance and bubbling over with compassion in unusual Middle Eastern fashion for grown men runs to him with a hug and a kiss. Know this before the boy can get a word out. Can you feel the father's love? Imagine what the son was thinking. He begins his pre-prepared speech in verse 21, but misses out on the request to be made as servant for the father's love interrupts him. Quick. Quick. Bring out the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fat and calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. Box the father to his hired servants. Disowning a son who would have behaved in such a fashion was not only appropriate but expected, allowing him to return as a hired worker would have been exceedingly gracious. This father, with his own robe, ring and shoes, reinstates him as a son there and then. Extravagant love. The fat and calf reserved for special events like the Jewish festivals is slaughtered for a family feast. Why you ask? This family celebrates a resurrection. The boy was dead to me and lost and now is alive and found, says the father. And so, the celebrations begin. Surprisingly, the story doesn't end there. You may have forgotten about him but now the focus zooms to the other older son, slaving away in the field. He hears the party going on and wonders why. He's told his brothers back safe and sound and that the fat and calf is slaughtered. But rather than joining the celebrations as a member of the family, he becomes angry and stays out. News reaches the father about his older son's refusal to join in. It's shamefully embarrassing not to mention defiant. The father's joy ruined by sulking. Once again, the father, now for the older son, goes out in order to draw him back. But there's a problem. Look all these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders, yet you never even gave me a young goat so I could celebrate with all my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fat and calf for him. It's not fair. Compared to my brother, I deserve better. He's probably shouting. I've slaved away and never disobeyed while he's devoured your life. And how do you repay me? He gets the calf. Well, I don't even get a lousy goat. You aren't just dead. He's not angry with his brother, but with his father. First, it was the younger son, now it's the older one's turn to defy his father's goodness. To question his kindness, will he kick him out or refuse the older son entry? I would and we might blame him if he did. Will he argue, negotiate or perhaps plead? My son, the father said, "You're 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. The father peels back the layers and exposes the tenderness of his heart to and for his eldest child. Like the younger son, the elder one already and always has had it all, closeness, possessions, his father. Every goat is yours. You needn't ask. But unlike the elder son, the younger one was dead to me and now is alive. He was lost and is now found. I had to celebrate and rejoice, he claims. It would have been wrong not to. Why do you think Jesus told this parable? The occasion, remember, is reported to us in verses 1 to 3. Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus, but the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them." Then he told them this parable. This parable, that is, the lost sheep, coin and sons constituting one story are told by Jesus to speak to this particular occasion. His welcome and joyful reception of sinners to use their language is contrasted by their complaining of it. So he told them this parable. That means primarily this parable is addressed to the Jewish religious leaders and secondly to the tax collectors and sinners listening in. So what do you think Jesus told this three-part parable to Pharisees and scribes while the sinners listened in? Why did Jesus speak of the lost to the elder brother with the younger brother eavesdropping? Because he wants them to rejoice. Did you notice that each of the stories ends with rejoicing? Remember that the man with the sheep and when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home, then he calls his friends and neighbours 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 99 righteous persons who do not need to repent." Or what about the lost coin and when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbours 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." And of course the father who spared no expense to celebrate with the fat and calf and with singing and dancing, in place of their complaining, it seems Jesus wants the Pharisees and scribes to join in his joy, rejoicing. Rejoicing throughout is something done communally. Like the elder son at the end of the story, they are the ones that are missing out on the party. Being younger sons with their blatant rebelliousness, repent and come back to their heavenly father should evoke joy in every one of their hearts and so bring a community of rejoicing. Rejoicing here on earth to match rejoicing that is happening in heaven. A celebration that the father in the story says is a divine necessity. For these religious leaders to refuse to join in, Jesus' joy reflects a hardness of heart that resists and grates against God's joy to bring sinners to repentance. Their complaining towards Jesus is seen to be what it really is, anger with God for his kindness. So tell me, are you a joyful person? Is this a rejoicing church as you see or learn about what Jesus is doing to bring others to himself? As you read about God's saving activity overseas, are you personally filled with joy? Does this church rejoice with God and praise him when you hear of others coming to faith? How do you celebrate together over lost people being found? A good question. Or do you have a grumbling, begrudging spirit, one that is plagued by disappointment with God's saving activity? Is this church a church that refuses to join in the celebration and stays outside God's party? Why did Jesus tell this parable so that we all might join in his joy? Perhaps Jesus also told this parable of lost things to the religious so that they might join in the search. That's what the shepherd did, didn't he? Those one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, doesn't he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? Or again, the lady with the coin, or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one of them? Doesn't she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? On both accounts, a careful search to find what was lost was needed. But did you notice the element is missing from the story of the two sons and their father? No one went searching. No one went after him. How sad. We're told that the younger son came to his senses or more literally he came to himself. No one came to find him. Of course, the most likely candidate in the story to search carefully and go looking was his brother. He's the one with all the family resources. He's the one that enjoys the stability of a relationship with his father, but no. From his own mouth, he's been too busy, slaving away, being a good, obedient son, keeping all the rules. His greatest obstacle, however, to seeking out his brother wasn't his behaviour but his attitude. There are four differing attitudes towards the lost. To seek them out, to welcome them when or if they come back, to hate them and to be indifferent towards them. The elder brother was indifferent to his lost brother. He didn't care. He's not my brother, but this son of yours in his mind, he has no brother. When he left the home, endangering the family, hurting his father in his heart, the elder brother rode him off and cast him out of the family. He's not only unwilling to search. He's not only unwilling to welcome, he's not only filled with hate, he's indifferent. His heart has grown cold and calloused. These religious leaders likewise seem to have grown cold by indifference. By contrast, Jesus came in his own words to seek and to save what was lost, like Zacchaeus. To bring back the lost sheep of Israel. To welcome and eat with tax collectors and sinners. And not just lost Jews, but in time, lost Gentiles too, like you and I. So tell me, where are you at with searching for, with going after the lost? Does this church reflect a desire to reach the lost in reservoir? Maybe like the eldest son, like the religious leaders, you've just stopped caring and your heart has grown cold with indifference. Perhaps you've grown to despise or be disgusted by the sinful habits of outsiders. Or perhaps you're happy for them to come in by either individually or corporately unwilling to go out looking. It's easy to withdraw from relating to people who aren't Christian. We can retreat to the safety of Christian relationships, people that are similar. Writing people off on the basis of their choices is second nature. The busyness of life promotes indifference too, actively going out to search for people who are estranged from God requires concerted, consistent, enduring effort. Talk to God and the Lord Jesus. They know all too well what's required to find lost people. And yet surely in this parable stands an invitation to join him, not only enjoy, but in the mission to search for and find lost sinners, all types. So will you join in the search? Will you invite those who are not Christian in your circle to church? Will you find ways to relate to and make friends with people in your community that don't know God? There are plenty at my workplace. It's to us isn't it that he has entrusted this task. The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Why does Jesus tell this parable so that we might join him to seek out and go after the lost? First of all, perhaps Jesus also told this parable of lost things to the religious so that they might repent as well. That's what's causing so much noise in heaven, remember, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous people who don't need repentance. And again, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. That's what's exemplified in the younger son he repented. He acknowledged his wrongdoing and accepted the consequences, confessed it, and was forgiven, and so was reconciled back to his father. The younger son is the one sinner who repented. But did you notice it's what we're left longing for from the older son, repentance? The story finishes on a cliffhanger. Will the older son repent? Will he remain outside or come back in? The older son is one of the 99 who at that point in time thinks he's righteous and doesn't need repentance. What does he need to repent, you might ask? What does he need to repent of, you might ask? Well it's his self-righteousness. Listen to his words. His behavior towards his dad is one of total slavery and perfect obedience. How sad to see membership in the family as contingents on performance. He views himself charitably in comparison to his brother who has wasted his father's money even though it was no longer his and he assumes the worst on prostitutes. His relationship with his father rests from his perspective on his performance. From his perspective this relating is one of transaction. He does this for his father, he gets that as payment earned. Like his brother he didn't want his father just his father's stuff. But what upsets him most is when his father relates to his brother on the basis of grace. The father gives to his youngest what he doesn't deserve and can't earn. In spite of the ridicule he must have faced from others he recklessly and extravagantly loved him. He longed for and ran to him shamefully loving him. His tender embrace came before a word was spoken dangerously open. He freely forgave and restored him before he finished his pre-prepared speech. Others are servant as he was hoping by the fully fledged son. The father is prodigal defined as having or giving something on a lavish scale. The self-righteousness of the elder son opposed the father's freely gifted righteousness to his younger brother. The elder brother is lost, outwardly present and yet inwardly estranged. Living with his dad and yet relationally dead and distant. This parable contains two lost and dead sons, lost and dead to their father. One lost in rule breaking, the other lost in rule keeping, but both lost in rules. One of them can finally see it. The other more dangerously is still blind and dead. Jesus tells the good religious and the bad irreligious. He's parable because he is seeking and going after not just the younger, more obvious lost brother, but the older, more subtly lost ones as well. Jesus does what the elder brother should do. He's going searching for both lost brothers, lost. All through moral record or religious devotion, but by their self-centeredness, their self-righteousness, it's their self-righteousness, their self-salvation project that's ruining their joy, that's fueling their indifference, but ultimately that's ensuring that they miss out on a relationship with God, their heavenly father. A relationship grounded in grace, free, gifted righteousness, made possible by the atoning work of Jesus when he died for our sins on the cross, when he was resurrected to credit us with his perfection, estranged, strangers to reinstituted sons because of Jesus alone. I'm not sure where you fit on the spectrum of goodness to badness, I don't know where you sit on the spectrum of religious person to irreligious scale, but know this. If you think that you're not that bad, that you're better than others, that God should count his blessings for having you on his team, that you deserve better in life, that when you stand before God and think he'll give you some credit for what you've done or haven't done, you are lost. If you feel most free when you're living life your way or you feel confident in your religious duties or moral record, if you feel critical of others while congratulating yourself, if you feel exasperated by the unfairness of life or if you feel unmoved by the eternal fate of your fellow human beings, you're probably lost. Jesus invites you to repent today of your self-righteousness, of your saving yourself, and he wants you to picture him and his father with arms open wide longing and waiting for you to come back to him, to come independence on his performance on the cross and not yours. The stories left hanging friends. I wonder how they responded. I wonder what you'll do. I wonder how you'll respond today. I implore you this morning. Perhaps you just realized that you're lost. Come back to God. Perhaps you realized that long ago, but have drifted away, come back to Jesus. Come talk to me or one of the elders or your Christian friend or better, talk to someone that you trust that knows Jesus. It's true, people get lost for all sorts of reasons. Not one in a hundred, not one in ten, but two of two, not sheep or coins, but people. More than 53,000, try 8 billion or so. There are lots of lost people out there and in here. The truth is, we're all gone missing and been lost. Come to your senses, be found by him, join in his joy, join in the search, and most of all, don't find yourself outside of God's party in heaven, come in.