The Joy of Restoration | Joy with Jesus - Luke 15:31, 22, 24 | Clayton Heath

Well, good morning, and welcome to Silverdown Baptist Church.

It's so nice to see you here worshiping with us at Creekside.

Happy Father's Day.

We see some of you got the memo wearing your jerseys.

You look great, and if you didn't, you know, remember next year is always Jersey Day.

But uh my name's Clayton.

If we haven't had the chance to meet yet, and I have the privilege of serving with our team here at Creekside and serving with our young adult ministry via, which is who I'm repping today.

And some are saying, people were out saying, if their jersey is that cool, just imagine what an actual Thursday night is like.

That's what someone told me outside.

So uh listen, I have the privilege of sharing with you God's word today.

And if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Luke chapter 15.

Luke 15 · chapter mention

Luke chapter 15, and hopefully on your way in, you got a worship guide from our guest services team.

Luke 15 · chapter mention

We give those to you for lots of reasons, but we know by now that we give them to you because it is no small thing that God is the creator of the universe.

And whenever he speaks, we want to pay attention and write down the things that he says.

We're in a series called Joy with Jesus, and in it, what we've been looking at is stories in the Gospels or stories in the Bible that tell us what is it that brings Jesus joy.

Our pastor laid out a vision for our church at the beginning of the year that this is the year of the joy of the Lord, and we've looked at the book of Philippians and looked at Nehemiah and looked at all these things about how joy impacts us, how we can have the joy of the Lord.

And we've been looking at what is it then that brings Jesus joy?

And today we look at arguably the most famous story that Jesus ever tells.

The famous English author Charles Dickens, who wrote a Christmas Carol and Great Expectations and Oliver Twist, he said that the prodigal son is the greatest short story ever told.

And in it, what we're gonna discover is that the thing that brings Jesus joy is the joy of restoration.

We feel this, right?

We watch HGTV and we get to the end of the episode and they do the reveal and they pull the bus away, and we see this old dilapidated house that was ugly and it was, you know, in disrepair, and they've put money into it, and the people they cover their mouths and they go, oh my goodness, and there's tears, and we go, oh, that's so beautiful.

Or you get the stories about people who spend thousands of hours and dollars reclaiming this old forgotten car out in grandpa's barn, and it's this, you know, classic American car, and we go, oh my goodness, this is so great.

When we see things that are in disrepair or they're broken and they're made whole, we feel joy.

Can I tell you, friends, the good news today is that Almighty God Jesus Christ restores us back to Himself.

And we get all the benefits.

We get all the benefits, we get his joy, we get his righteousness, we get his spirit, we get new power, and Jesus himself rejoices.

That's what we're gonna see today as we study this text together.

So if you're taking notes, the first thing I want you to write down is this What is it that brings Jesus joy?

Well, the Father rejoices when sinners come home.

The Father rejoices when sinners come home.

Now, what's happening?

We're in the Gospel of Luke, we're in Luke chapter 15.

Luke 15 · chapter mention

In the whole Gospel of Luke, in the book of Luke, Jesus tells 24 different parables.

He tells 24 parables that on some level all illustrate aspects or characteristics about who God is, about who we are, and how these two things interact.

But in Luke chapter 15, we get three specifically that show us what God Almighty thinks of you and me.

Luke 15 · chapter mention

And if we're honest, I mean, it's hard to say that this is the most important story Jesus ever told, or this is the best parable that Jesus ever told.

But if we're honest, the ones in Luke chapter 15 are kind of the most important ones.

Luke 15 · chapter mention

Because we can talk about what God is like.

We can pontificate on the attributes of the Creator Himself.

But at the end of the day, when all the noise is gone, when you're driving back home by yourself or you're looking at the mirror, brushing your teeth, and the noise is gone, what is it that Almighty God thinks of you?

Right?

This is a question that we all have to reckon with.

Yeah, there might be a God, okay.

If there is, what does he think of you?

How does he approach you?

And then we get to the story of the prodigal son.

And again, it's famous.

We know it, right?

There's a father, there's two sons, and one of them demands his inheritance.

He says, I want my inheritance now.

I don't want, I wish you were dead.

Give me what I I think I deserve.

And the father gives him his inheritance, he runs off, he squanders his whole life away.

He spends all the money, he makes every bad decision in a faraway land.

And finally, the Bible says that he comes to his senses and he's gonna return to his father's house to ask for employment.

That's one of the brothers.

But if you know the story, you know there's two brothers.

The older brother, he stays at home who works the whole time.

But this story, the prodigal son, is different than the lost sheep and the lost coin, which are right above it in Luke chapter 15 in your Bibles.

Luke 15 · chapter mention

Those illustrate how God, the Father, feels about you, how he moves towards you.

The shepherd shows us a shepherd who seeks.

And so for us in this story, right, if you've been around the Bible any amount of time or grew up in church, you know that there are 37 different ways to proach or preach this story.

But what we're gonna look at today is that the turning point of the story isn't when the son reaches the house.

The turning point is when he comes to his senses and he says, I would be better off in my father's house as a servant, and so I'm gonna go back and walk towards home.

And if you know your Bible, you know what happens.

The son, he gets up out of the pig sty, out of the muck, and he starts walking home.

And what does he run into?

The father.

The Bible says, while he was still a long way off.

Aren't you glad God Almighty saw you when you were a long way off this morning?

He he starts running towards the son.

The father, the Bible says, feels compassion for his son.

He runs to him, he embraces him, he kisses him.

That the son has come home because he has a speech prepared.

The father interrupts it.

The son is seeking employment, the father offers sonship.

The son expects probation, the father provides celebration.

And we see this and we feel this, right?

We know this, we've known to this because this story is so famous.

And if you've grown up in church, you've heard it ten times a year.

But think of it like this: you've got your precious snowball dog, puppy snowball.

It's the best puppy anyone's ever had, right?

Snowball runs away and snowball's lost, and you've seen it.

You've shared Facebook posts on Facebook for lost dogs with people you don't even know because you think snowball's gone, we've got to save snowball.

And people spend money and they canvass neighborhoods and they do this thing, and the vet calls because they scanned a chip or a neighbor sees it, terrorizing the cat, whatever the reason is, snowballs return and people rejoice.

You share the the restoration pick.

Snowball's found, edit, we got them all.

Thank you so much for praying.

You do this, I know you do, okay?

I see I'm friends with you on Facebook.

I've got good news for you today, friends.

Are you ready?

God Almighty says that you're worth more than snowball.

You're worth more than the birds of the air and the lilies of the field.

He didn't pay in dollars, he paid in his own blood on the cross of Jesus Christ.

And when you come home, the creator of the universe rejoices.

That is what we're celebrating today.

Because this is where it gets different for us.

If we're honest, you see, when we have an experience where someone makes a bad decision, we have friends that we grow up with, we have brothers or sisters that make bad decisions or relatives or what have you.

When they squander their life, we hold our breath.

We say, well, let's see if they can really clean up their act yet.

Well, let's find out, actually, before we do anything, let's find out if this one is really the time that they're gonna do the thing.

We'll wait.

We we don't, we we need how do we know that this isn't a show?

What that really is communicating, friend, is we're trying to keep people out of our circle.

The good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that God Almighty isn't looking for reasons to keep repentant sinners out, he's looking for opportunities to bring them in.

What brings Jesus joy?

Not merely that sinners stop sinning, but when sinners come home.

Now I've told my story a number of times.

You're probably sick of hearing it, but I read this story.

I am the prodigal son.

When I went off to college, I squandered my life away.

I made every bad decision you can make.

I ran away from God, I ran away from my family.

And um, my family would call me every day and they would say, Well, what's God teaching you right now?

What did you read in your Bible this morning?

Knowing I hadn't touched my Bible since I moved out.

And it was tense.

Like there were arguments and there were disappointments, and I was I yelled and said things that I deeply regret.

But praise be to God, Jesus changed my life.

Amen.

So just as a word of encouragement to you, parent who has the son who's being an idiot right now, uh, maybe it's a word of discouragement, but there was no argument or persuasive tactic my family used to employ to change my mind.

It was the grace of Almighty God poured out on me that changed my life.

So keep praying because God answers prayers, amen.

But the grace of Jesus changed my life, and he poured out his grace on me, and I didn't have to clean up my act in order to earn that grace.

And so, and through that season of my life, when I was gone and I experienced the changing grace of Jesus Christ, I knew that the right thing for me to do was to come home, to transfer back home.

And I remember I was so scared of that phone call that I was gonna make to my parents to say, hey, I think that I need to come home.

I had spent two years of my life telling them that they were trying to rob me of an experience, that they didn't understand it, that they just needed to get off my case, all these different things.

I can tell you, when I made that phone call, it was as if they already knew what I was saying on the other end.

There was no, I told you so.

There was no, look at all this time and money that you've wasted.

There was no, we told you that this was a bad idea, we we this, this, this, and this.

It wasn't.

There were there was a plan.

There was a okay, let's go this, let's call these people, let's do this.

There was help, there was support, there was love, there was welcoming.

Why?

Because we rejoice when we come home.

When things that are lost are found again, when things that are broken are made whole again, we feel it in our very souls.

So, what does God think of you?

This is the question we're trying to answer today.

Most people walk around in life thinking that God just tolerates them, but this story says that God delights in you.

He delights when you've come home to Almighty God.

That's the first thing today.

If you're taking notes, the second thing I want you to write down is this is that the Father rejoices in restoration, not mere rescue.

The father rejoices in restoration, not mere rescue.

Look at how Jesus describes the homecoming in verse number 22.

He says, 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.

You see, the thing for us to understand is that the climax of the story isn't this scene.

The climax of the story isn't the coming home.

It's not the traveling of the journey of the prodigal back home.

The climax isn't the forgiveness even in this moment.

The climax of the story is the party.

Now think of it.

What's going on?

Jesus is well into his ministry.

Luke chapter 15.

Luke 15 · chapter mention

There are tax collectors, people who committed financial extortion against the Jews.

There's sinners, there's vagrants, there's vagabonds, there's prostitutes.

The outcrowd is coming near to Jesus, and the Pharisees and the scribes, they look at Jesus, 15 starts and says, Who is this man that tax collectors and sinners draw near to him?

And so to answer their cry, Jesus tells the three stories: the sheep, the coin, and the prodigal son.

And in all three stories, he says that there's rejoicing, but it's in the last story and the prodigal son that he gives the most detail.

The shepherd finds the sheep and calls his friends and said, Let's rejoice, and that's the end of the story.

The woman finds the coin and calls her friends and said, Let's rejoice, and that's the end of the story.

But the father finds the son.

The son comes home, and Jesus intentionally slows down to describe the party thrown for the prodigal.

The robe, the ring, the sandals, the kiss, the dancing, the fattened calf, the party.

Why?

Because joy is the point.

The father says, This is my son who was dead and is alive again.

He doesn't say, Notice, my servant.

He doesn't say, my employee, not my former son.

He says, my son.

Listen to me, God doesn't merely save people from something, he saves them into something.

You see, for many of us, we grew up, for all of us, right, we grew up in a time when really, predominantly, only half the gospel has been preached.

We know the first half.

The first half is that there is a God who is the creator of all my of the universe.

And he made us in his image, but we rejected, we rebelled against God, and we are in sin, which means, friends, that if we die in disrepaired relationship with Almighty God, we will spend eternities separated from him in hell.

That is a fact.

It's what the Bible says.

You can try to modify it, you can try to make it feel cozier.

This is what the Bible says about you and me.

Facts.

We know this.

In fact, my guess is if you've ever driven down to 30A or the Gulf in that part of the country, down through Alabama, you've seen that sign in on beside the church that says go to church or the devil will get you.

You've seen this sign, everybody, right?

Now, uh disregarding the glaring theological problems with this statement, namely that church never saved anybody from hell.

This is a message we're familiar with.

But it's just half the message because God doesn't just merely save people from something, he saves us into something.

He saves us into his family, into his family, fellowship, into eternal life, into peace, into joy, into victory, into new power, into eternal life then, yes, and life and life abundant right now.

Most of us live as if salvation is just God being the judge canceling the debt.

And yes, Almighty God does cancel your debt because Jesus paid your ransom on the cross.

But God is not just the judge who cancels your debt, he's the one who adopts you into his family.

And the Father sees salvation as welcoming us, his children, to his table.

You've got to understand the gospel of Jesus.

The goal is not about getting people into heaven, it's about restoring people back to the Father.

We're not just trying.

You've heard this, right?

We don't need to get out of hell free now, card.

We want to be restored back to our Almighty God, the creator of you and me.

So, yes, he rescues us.

Of course.

Somebody say amen.

God rescued you from the pit of sin where he found you.

But he's restored you to his son or daughter.

That's what brings Jesus joy.

So God, the Father rejoices when sinners come home.

He he rejoices in not just rescue, but in restoration.

What's the last thing I want you to see this morning?

This this it's that the father rejoices when we value his presence more than his gifts.

The father rejoices when we value his presence more than his gifts.

Now, this is where the story becomes more unique than the story of the sheep and the corn.

Remember, excuse me, what's happening?

Luke chapter 15.

Luke 15 · chapter mention

There are sinners, there are people who are committing crimes against the Jewish people.

They're coming close to Jesus.

The out crowd religiously is near, the in-crowd religiously is far.

And they don't like it.

And so they they complain to Jesus, they complain to everyone, and they're saying, if this guy is so holy, why is he hanging out with people who are so unholy?

That's essentially what they say at the beginning of Luke chapter 15.

Luke 15 · chapter mention

And we know this.

Jesus responds with three different stories.

That's Luke chapter 15.

Luke 15 · chapter mention

That's what's happening.

And this is where this story is unique.

The lost sheep is found, the shepherd calls his friends, let's rejoice.

The lost coin is found, the woman calls her friends, let's rejoice.

The son comes home, let's rejoice, but there's tension.

There's dissension among the brethren.

The story ends unrevolresolved.

Let's look at it in Luke chapter 15, verse 25.

Luke 15:25

Jesus has just told his story.

The son has just come home.

The father's just welcomed him, just kissed him, just given the robe.

He's just told his servant, kill the fattened calf, get the music going, cue up the Spotify.

Let's get this thing wrapped up.

And then this is where we pick it up in verse 25.

Now his older son was in the field.

His older son doesn't really care about his brother that much.

He's still got work to do.

The old man can watch out for his other brother.

The older son was in the field, and as he came, he drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing.

And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant.

And he said to him, Your brother has come home, and your father has killed a fattened calf because he has received him back safe and sound.

Now, uh, but he was angry and refused to go in.

His father came out and entreated him.

But he answered his father, Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat that I might celebrate with my friends.

It keeps going.

He says, But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.

And he said to him, The father, son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.

It was fitting to celebrate and be glad.

For this, your brother was dead and is alive.

Cut.

Black screen directed by Jesus.

No son response.

No credits, and we get the photos of the father and the son walking back in the party, dancing, holding the drinks.

Nothing.

No, no understanding, no new information given, nothing.

This is how the story ends.

Why?

Because Jesus is talking to the Pharisees.

And if you were a Christ follower today, we'd be careful to hear because Jesus might just be addressing you and me.

Because the wrong way to read this is we read this storm and go, you older brother, you ungrateful older brother, your little poor younger brother, he's been gone, he's come home, and you can't even get inside to celebrate with him.

You can't even have a steak to be glad that your brother is home.

But the older brother represents the Pharisees, and now many of us.

What is this story, friends?

What are we looking at?

There's a father, there's two sons.

One demands his inheritance and squanders it.

What is it?

The prodigal rebels.

And what does the father do?

The father runs after the rebel.

But notice this, don't miss this.

One demands his inheritance early.

He says, Give me your stuff.

The older brother looks at his father and says, I've earned your stuff, now give it to me.

The older brother goes off on his That you're you're throwing a party for him for that loser?

The one who didn't do anything right.

He didn't go to college, graduate, go to graduate school, get a graduate degree, because everybody knows you got to get a graduate degree to get a job in this economy.

He he took all that money, he didn't put anything in a Roth IRA, he didn't invest, he bought crypto.

Who does that?

This is no good.

He didn't do the right internship, he didn't marry the right girl from the right family, he didn't get married at the right venue that has the perfect golden hour lighting.

He didn't wait the perfect amount of time to have the kid because you don't want to be too early because people think it's an accident, and he don't want to wait too late because people say they must be having problems.

He didn't do any of that.

He didn't stay for the house, he didn't put 20% down because PMI is the devil, Daniel AMC said so.

He didn't waste, he wasted his 18 to 30s, he didn't build a life, he didn't do any of that, the older brother says.

I did.

I showed up, I earned it.

I was at church, I showed up in a small group, I gave my money, I didn't squander my life like the other people.

I didn't sleep with my girlfriend before we got married.

I did all this stuff, Dad.

Why don't you give me the things I earned?

I earned it, I deserved it, now give it to me.

And what is he really saying?

Because I did everything right, I earned it, I deserve that party, I deserve the calf, I deserve the ring, I deserve the robe, I deserve the grace you're pouring out on my younger brother.

And what's happening?

One brother is lost in rebellion, the other is lost in self-righteousness.

One says, give me your stuff, one says, I earned your stuff.

Notice, neither of them actually wanted the father himself.

They both viewed him as a means to get what they really wanted.

But notice something remarkable.

Look at it in your Bibles in 15, verse 28.

It says, Now the older brother became angry and refused to go in, so his father went out and pleaded with them.

Did you catch it?

The father goes out for both sons.

Somebody say amen.

He runs towards the rebel and he pleads with the religious.

Are you starting to see why this story is so important?

Almighty God, the one that sets the stars in their place, the one that dies on the cross for your sins and mine.

He goes after the one that doesn't deserve anything, and he goes after the one that thinks he deserves everything.

The older brother is angry that grace is being given to someone who doesn't deserve it, which is ironic because the definition of grace is getting something that we don't deserve.

So again, what are we asking?

What brings Jesus joy?

Not only rescuing prodigals, yes, and amen.

But when we value his presence more than his gifts?

So you say, Clayton, that's cool.

I've heard this story.

What's this got to do with you and with me?

You've heard this before.

It's possible to be in the Father's house and still be far from the Father's heart.

It's easy to do stuff for God and miss God in your own life.

So my question for you today is where are you judging others for grace that's been poured out from Almighty God?

Where do you look at someone and say, I just don't think it's fair that they got that?

Well, James says every good and perfect gift comes from above.

So you got a problem with them, you got a problem with God, brother.

Where are you thinking you're more deserving of grace, even though grace is something you cannot earn?

Is church just a deposit for you so later in the week you can make a withdrawal in the form of a request because you need something from God?

Friends, if that's where we are, we are the older brother.

We're the Pharisee.

But the story is that whether you are the rebel still on the run, or whether you are the older brother who's never disobeyed the father.

The younger son thought his son disquali his sin disqualified him.

The older brother thought his obedience qualified him.

Both were wrong.

Somebody say amen.

The father's joy wasn't based on either son's performance, it was rooted in his love.

The story ends with a feast, it's a celebration.

Because heaven's greatest joy is not found in perfect people, it's found in restored people.

And Jesus tells this story knowing that he is the one who will be able to make the feast possible for you and me.

The robe comes to us because Christ Himself was stripped.

The ring comes to us because Christ was rejected.

Jesus was forsaken, friends, so that you and I never would be.

Jesus took our place outside the family so that you and I could be brought in.

And every time a sinner comes home, heaven throws another party.

Because what brings Jesus joy is not merely finding the loss, it's restoring them as sons and daughters of the Father.

Amen.

Would you pray with me?

Lord Jesus, we love you.

God, we're thankful for who you are and for what you've done for us.

God, we're thankful that you are God and that we are not.

God, we're thankful that when we read this story, it's like you know that we wouldn't believe it if you just told this story about how you rejoice in finding us just one time.

So you told it three different times in three different ways.

To help us understand, to help us to try to get a glimpse of how you approach us.

Who were we, oh God, that this is how you would feel towards us.

And yet your word says that while we were still a long way off, you ran after us.

Would you pour out your forgiveness and your mercy and your grace on us?

God, for those of the room that are still in the rebellious stage, God, would you remind them that you don't just offer employment, you offer sonship.

You throw the party, you put the robe on our back.

And God, for those of us who feel like we've never left your house, who've done everything right, who've done everything that we've been told to do, God, we've never for a minute been able to earn the grace that you pour out on us anyways.

But you are always with us, and all that you have is ours.

So Jesus, would you um would you continue to help us to fix our eyes on you?

Holy Spirit, would you convict us this morning?

Would you draw us close to you?

Holy, holy, holy, precious name we pray, and all God's people said, Amen.

Hey, so now what we're gonna do is sing a song of response.

And um we do that because when we believe that when we open up God's word, that God's Spirit uses God's word to pierce our hearts.

There's something that we need to respond to, whether that's to confess sin or to surrender something to God, or maybe just to praise God out loud with our words or with our hands.

So this is what that moment looks like.

And you can do that at your seat, you can do that down here at the altar, you can do it with a member of our prayer team.

But where are you?

Which which brother are you?

And if you're the older brother, where are you judging other people for the grace that God has poured out on them?

Would you stay stand with us as we respond together?