Surprised by Jesus (Praise NIght)

We're going to read from Luke chapter 7, verses 36 to 50.

Luke 7:36–50

One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, asked Jesus to eat with him.

And he went into the Pharisee's house and took his place at the table.

And behold, a woman of the city who was a sinner,

when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee's house,

brought an alabaster flask of ointment.

And standing behind him at his feet, weeping,

she began to wet his feet with her tears

and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet

and anointed them with ointment.

Now when the Pharisees who had invited him,

when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this,

he said to himself, if this man were a prophet,

he would have known who and what sort of woman this is,

who is touching him, for she is a sinner.

And Jesus answering said to him, Simon, I have something to say to you.

And he answered, say it teacher.

A certain moneylender had two debtors.

One owed 500 denarii and the other 50.

And when they could not pay, he canceled the debt of both.

Now, which of them will love him more?

Simon answered, the one I suppose for whom he canceled the larger debt.

And he said to him, you have judged rightly.

Then turning towards the woman, he said to Simon,

do you see this woman I entered your house?

You gave me no water for my feet,

but she has wet my feet with her tears

and wiped them with her hair.

You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in,

she has not ceased to kiss my feet.

You did not anoint my head with oil,

but she has anointed my feet with ointment.

Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven,

for she loved much.

But he who is forgiven little loves little.

And he said to her, your sins are forgiven.

Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves,

who is this who even forgives sins?

And he said to the woman, your faith has saved you.

Go in peace.

This is God's holy word.

We're going to read the story of the prodigal son from Luke chapter 15,

Luke 15 · chapter mention

starting in verse 11 of that chapter.

And 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 and 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 his 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 have sinned against heaven and before you.

I'm no longer worthy to be called your son.

Treat me as one of your hired servants.

And he arose and he came to his father.

But while he was still a long way off,

his father saw him and felt compassion

and ran and embraced 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 son,

for this my son was dead and is alive again.

He was lost and is found.

And they began to celebrate.

Now his older son was in the field.

And as he came and 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

and your father has killed the fattened calf

because he has received him back safe and sound.

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've served you

and I've never disobeyed your command.

Yet you never gave me a young goat

that I might celebrate with my friends.

But when the son of yours came,

who has devoured your property with prostitutes,

you killed the fattened calf for him.

And he said to him,

son, you are always with me

and all that is mine is yours.

It was fitting to celebrate.

And be glad for this brother,

your brother was dead and is alive.

He was lost and is found.

This is God's holy word.

Now, this is a very famous story,

the prodigal son story.

We today live in what the sociologists

are calling a new cultural landscape.

And that new cultural landscape

is a movement from what was labeled post-modernism

into what lots of people today

called meta-modernism.

Post-modernism was a movement

that we've all lived through

that was about doubting everything

and questioning everything

and deconstructing everything.

And the meta-modern is one,

so many things it is.

And we're trying to understand

this cultural landscape we live in.

But the meta-modern is a return

to some of the authorities

that the post-modern world pushed away.

So that's why so many people

in our community,

our society today,

very different from a decade ago,

are returning to religions.

And it used to be even 10, 15, 20 years ago

that religion was the bad guy in the culture.

But today, religion is acceptable

in the culture again.

And it's not that people are merely

turning to ancient authorities

because of the question of truth.

They're turning back to religions

by way of aesthetic preference.

It's an expression of the inner self,

of personal desire,

of just what you like.

And so many of us will have heard

of the quiet revival movement.

The quiet revival has been

sort of misunderstood.

There is something of a revival,

but it's not a Christian revival.

Instead, it's a revival to transcendence.

So it includes all the religions.

People are returning to historic religions

and so many new religions.

And this is what some people

have called meta-modernism,

a little piece of it.

Now that means today,

most people in our culture,

in our city,

will say religion is a good thing again.

It's helpful for cultural.

It's helpful for societal cohesiveness.

It's helpful for moral order and education.

And it also means that

because people are saying

religion is good for you,

the broad understanding of religion

and the contemporary culture

is not only that religion is good for you,

but that religion is for good people.

It's for making good people.

Now, this is the most famous story

Jesus ever told.

And it is a surprise,

the surprise in some sense

of all of the gospels,

because it says that Jesus came

not to seek the religious,

the good people,

but the irreligious.

That people,

that Jesus came to turn

what we think of as religion

on its head.

And the prodigal son story

is a story that's probably

well known to everybody in this room

to some degree.

It's a story,

of course,

we've taught here at St.

C's on many occasions.

The last time was,

I think,

a couple of years ago.

But you can't really look

at the prodigal son story enough.

You could probably come

and teach it every single week

and it would still be fresh.

And it says to us

that the gospel

entered the world

to counter mere religion,

that Jesus Christ came

for those who know

they have a need,

for those that know

they need grace.

And it leaves the religious person

at the end of the story

standing on the outside

being beckoned by Jesus.

Will you come in

seeing that you too

are in need of grace?

That despite your decency,

that you're also in need

of salvation and redemption.

All right.

So this story is often called,

this parable is often called

the prodigal son story.

It's been misnamed.

It should be the prodigal sons.

It's about both sons.

And to really understand it,

you've got to see it that way.

So we're going to be

very brief tonight.

And let's see simply first,

who is this parable

being spoken to?

Then secondly,

have a brief look

at the younger son

and then the elder brother.

All right.

So first,

who is this parable

being spoken to?

Now to see that,

you got to go to the beginning

of chapter 15,

verses one and two.

And we read that

the tax collectors

and the sinners

were all drawing near

to hear Jesus.

So Jesus is being surrounded

by tax collectors

and sinners

and tax collectors

and sinners

are the two groups

of people

in the first century

that the religious,

the religious elite,

the Pharisees despise most.

The word sinner here

is just another name

for a person

who's committed

public sexual scandal.

So probably a reference

to prostitutes.

And the tax collector,

of course,

Jewish men

who have gone in

with the Roman government

to collect taxes

from the Jews.

And so these tax collectors

and sinners,

people who are hated

by the religious elite

are drawing near to Christ.

And so in verse two,

the Pharisees and scribes

grumble saying,

this man receives sinners

and he eats with them.

And so there's the Pharisees,

the religious elite,

the very decent people.

They're so upset

that these sinners,

these public scandalous people

have drawn near

and Jesus has broken bread

with them.

He has eaten with them

around the table.

And then the next line is,

so Jesus told this parable.

And so it's a section

of three parables,

but all the parables

are effectively

about the same thing.

Now, who is he writing

the parable to?

Who is he speaking

the parable to?

He tells the parable

of the prodigal son,

not to the prodigal sons

and daughters,

not to the sinners,

not to the tax collectors.

They are present

all around them.

They're drawing near to him.

They want to be

in his presence.

He says this parable,

not for their benefit,

but for the religious elite,

for the people

who were there grumbling,

believing that I should be accepted

because I'm a decent person.

And so he told

the prodigal son story,

not for the prodigals,

but for the religious.

That's who it was

ultimately directed to.

Now, secondly,

that means that

the main point

is aimed

not at

not at prodigal sons

and daughters

who have been reckless,

but at the respectable person.

And so secondly,

he's asking

the respectable person

to look first

at the younger son.

So the first half

of the story

is all about

the younger son.

You could think

of the parable

in two acts.

It's a stage play

effectively,

and there are multiple scenes

throughout these two acts.

So act one,

the prodigal son,

the younger son,

and in act one,

scene one,

we've got verse 12.

And in verse 12,

the younger son

says to his father,

father,

father,

give me the share

of property

that is coming to me.

Now,

this is a scandal.

Every one of the scenes

in the first act

is a scandal.

And the younger son

comes to his father

and he says,

I want my inheritance.

So if you're a younger son

in the first century

Greco-Roman Jewish context,

you are owed

one third

of the family wealth.

And so he's saying,

I want my third.

Now to say that

to a father

in an honor shame culture

is to say to a father,

I want you to be dead.

I want you to die.

I want my stuff.

And the shock

of the passage is

the father does it.

The father actually

gives it to him.

The father accepts this.

And this isn't

contemporary

21st century

Western culture.

There's no banks.

The father would have

had to liquidate

in order to get the cash

to give one third

of his wealth

to his son

and he does it.

Now,

this is the shock

of the passage.

This,

the shock of the passage

is that the father

would tear his life apart,

would deconstruct his life

to accommodate

his son's rebellion.

And this is,

this is a tale

as old as time.

This is where

true religion

starts to begin.

This is the oldest story

in all of human history.

It's from the beginning.

From the beginning,

humanity

said to God,

the father,

father,

I don't want you.

I want your stuff.

God made us

and he gave us

all sorts of gifts

in this world

and we turned around

and said to him,

I'm not interested in you.

I just want the stuff

you give to me.

I just want my circumstances.

And the shock

of world history

is that the father

continues to provide

for us.

It's called common grace.

He continues to give

his gifts

even though

we take the gifts

and shake our fist at him.

Now,

when you start to see

that about yourself,

that's where

true religion

starts to begin.

That you and I

are people

who have taken

the gifts of God

and said to God,

but I don't want

the gift giver.

And when you see that,

if you're willing

to admit that,

you start to move

on the path

from mere religion,

just being respectable,

to true religion.

You start to begin

to say,

there is someone

to whom I must be grateful.

There is a gift giver

that I must offer

my gratitude.

That's the beginning

of the pathway

of true religion.

And we're being told

about it all

in this story.

Now,

the second scene,

verse 13 to 16,

is this young man.

He goes into

the far country

and it says

that he was reckless.

That's where we get

the word prodigal

in verses 13 and 14,

reckless.

He spends everything

and he gets into

such a destitute situation

in the midst of

famine that he starts

working for a farmer,

a pig farmer,

and he becomes so poor

that it says

he desires even

to eat the pods

that the pigs

were being fed.

Now,

remember,

who is this parable

being told to?

It's being told

to the Pharisees

and the religious elite.

And if you're

a Jewish Pharisee

in the first century,

there is nothing

that is more known

to you than the fact

that pigs are

desperately unclean

in the Levitical law.

And that means

we're being told here

that this man

has gone so far

down into the pit

that he has become

less than the beasts

because it says

even he desires

to eat the pods

that the pigs were eating.

He's not even

to their level.

The Pharisees

are thinking

this young boy

has become beastly.

There's no coming back

from this

in their culture.

And yet,

in verses 17 to 24,

scene three,

it says that

the young man

comes to himself

and he says,

I'm a sinner.

I'll,

he makes a plan.

He says,

I'll work it off.

I'll come back

to my father's household

and I'll work for him

as a hired hand,

as a servant.

And if I work long enough,

if I put enough time in,

I know I won't be a son,

but maybe I could be

accepted as a servant.

And so that's his plan.

Now,

the religious crowd there

would have been nodding.

Absolutely.

If anybody is to be reconciled,

the only way

that they could ever do it

is by earning it back

over years and years

and years and years

of repayment,

of paying off

every one of their sins,

of earning their favor

back in their father's house.

And when this young man

comes back

to his father's house,

he's got his plan ready.

He's going to say,

Father,

I'll work for this many years.

I'll do this,

this many good works for you.

And maybe then

you'll call me servant again.

And his father

sees him out on the horizon.

And breaking every rule

of a patriarch

in the household

of the first century,

he rolls his robes up

and he runs out

to his son.

And before his son

can say a word,

he wraps his arms around him

and kisses him on the neck.

And he,

you know,

the son starts to give his plan.

He starts to say,

well,

here's my plan,

dad.

I'm going to work for you

and I'm going to earn

your favor again.

And it's as if in the text,

the father just stops him

and says to the other servants,

go and kill the fattened calf.

Get my best robe,

my signet ring,

my sandals,

put them on his feet.

Whose robe is the best robe

in the house?

It's the father's robe.

Whose ring is the signet ring

of the family?

It's the father's ring.

He,

he,

he robes him

in his own clothing.

He puts his family seal

on his finger.

And what we learn here

is that

you cannot earn your status

as a son or daughter

of the father.

You cannot work your way

into the father,

the heavenly father's

good graces.

Becoming a son or daughter

of the king,

becoming a son or daughter

of the father

is a status change.

It is acceptance.

It is by,

by grace alone.

There's no other way.

You cannot work your way

into sonship.

And so that means tonight

that

if you come tonight,

some of you in this room

are the prodigal sons

and daughters,

you are,

you are the reckless

spendthrift.

You've,

you've looked back

at the past of your life

and you say,

I am the younger here.

No matter what you've done,

no matter what you're doing today,

no matter what secret sins

you may be hiding

in your life right now,

there is a heavenly father

who is looking for you

out on the horizon,

longing to run to you

and wrap his arms

around you in mercy.

And you can come to him

and you can receive forgiveness.

And you will be called son

and you will be called daughter

and you will be bathed

in his robe

and his signet ring

and his sandals

and he will throw a feast for you.

Some of us tonight

might be struggling

as prodigal sons

and daughters from the past.

You might be wrestling

and thinking,

I don't,

there's guilt in my life

that I don't know

that I'll ever get past.

I just want to ask you

one question

and I'll move to the final thing.

Do you think

that Jesus Christ

died on the cross

in the middle of history

for your heavenly father

to look at you forever

with a frown on his face?

Jesus Christ died

in the middle of history

so that for the rest of time,

God the father

could smile at you.

And so no matter

what you've done,

you can come tonight

and you can receive his mercy.

Now,

it would be great to end.

Let us pray.

But we can't

for just a few minutes

because that's not

where the parable ends.

The story is so happy

in this moment,

but yet there's

an elder brother

and this is the main audience

are the elder brothers

and sisters,

the religious elite,

the people who believe

they are respectable

and they're decent

and they can earn their way

into God's favor.

And so here we have

an elder brother

who comes back

from the field

and he hears the party going

and he says,

what's happening here

in verses 28 and 29?

And notice in verse 30

how he even speaks

to his father.

He refers to his younger brother

as this son of yours.

He's not my brother.

I don't know him.

He won't say brother anymore.

And then he explains himself.

He says,

all these years

I have slaved for you.

I've worked for you

and you have never

given me a party.

You've never killed

the fattened calf for me.

Now,

it's very clear

how the elder brother,

how the religious elite,

how the respectable

believes they earn God's favor.

And it's this.

He wanted the father's benefits.

He wanted the father's benefits,

his stuff.

He never wanted the father.

He said,

all these years

I've been good for you.

I've been good to you

and you've never

thrown a party for me.

He wanted everything

the father would give him in life,

all the inheritance.

He never wanted the father

and he wanted that inheritance

by way of being good.

He wanted to draw near

to the father's stuff

by way of his decency.

And so the younger brother,

the prodigal brother,

he told the father outright.

He was explicit about it.

He said,

I want you to die.

I don't want you.

I just want your stuff.

The elder brother

was implicit about it.

He said,

I don't want a relationship

with you.

I just am here being decent

so that I can get your stuff.

You see,

you can be prodigal

by way of spending your life

in the most reckless living.

You can be prodigal

by being a very good person.

You can stay far away from God

by simply being decent.

As long as you stay respectable,

you can say,

if you stay respectable,

you can say,

I never need to draw near

confessing my need for grace.

And so you can be

just as prodigal

on the outside,

on the inside,

I should say,

as the younger brother

is on the outside.

You can be alienated

from God by your sin

and you can be

just as alienated

from God

by your goodness.

And so here,

what we've got

is salvation

by morality

in the elder brother's life.

And if you,

you're a person

who approaches salvation

as salvation

by morality,

you might be treating

Jesus as a helper,

as an example

in your life,

as an inspiration

to be a good moral person,

but he is not yet

your savior.

He's not yet

your redeemer.

And so at the very end

of the story here,

all we get

is a pronouncement.

It was fitting

to celebrate

and be glad

for this,

your brother was dead

and is alive.

He was lost

and is found.

The father says,

look at the movement,

the status change

from death to life

and your younger brother.

And then the parable

just stops.

Why?

The ending

is left

for the scribes

and the Pharisees

to put themselves into.

There's the elder brother

standing outside

the door,

the threshold

of the party

and Jesus turns

to the Pharisees

and the scribes

and says,

will you come in?

And so he's inviting

every one of us

who believes

in salvation

by morality

that our respectability

and our decency

is what's going

to get us

into the heavenly throne room

instead of our confession

of need,

of grace.

And he's just

leaving it open

and saying,

will you come?

Will you come

and receive

the open arms

of the father as well?

Will you confess your need?

Now,

let me finish with this.

How do you come home

to God?

You come home to God

by saying,

therefore,

I'm unworthy.

I'm a sinner.

No matter how respectable

your life may have been,

I need to be rescued

just as much

as the prodigal sons

and daughters

down the road.

You come to the father

by confessing your need.

That's faith.

That's clear

in the passage.

But,

what's unclear

is what some

commentators

talk about

and that's this.

If God

is the heavenly father

who no matter

what you have done,

whether that's salvation

by decency

and morality

or that's running

away from him

and spending your life

in utter recklessness,

no matter what you've done,

all you need to do

is come back to him

and he will open

his arms to you

and he will accept you.

Is there any need

for the cross

of Jesus Christ?

So,

if God just forgives you,

if he just brings you in,

if he just accepts you

no matter what,

why in the world

is there a cross

at the end of the gospel?

And here's what I think

commentators miss

when they suggest that,

when they ask that question

and it's this.

Remember,

he's talking to

the Pharisees,

the religious elite,

the scribes,

those who are grumbling

at the tax collector

and the sinner

and what does he tell them?

He doesn't tell them

one parable

but three parables.

Don't worry,

I'm not going to teach

all three.

In the first parable,

there's a shepherd

and he loses

one sheep

and it says

that he goes out

into the far country

to bring that sheep

home again.

In the second parable,

there's a coin,

there's many coins

and this woman

loses one coin

and she flips her house over

just to find

the one coin.

She goes on the hunt,

she goes on the search

and in the third parable,

there's a son,

one of the sheep,

one of the coins,

one of the little bits

of treasure of the father

and he goes out

in the far country.

See,

in parable one,

the shepherd goes

and gets the sheep

and brings them back

and parable two,

the woman goes

and finds the coin

and brings it back

but in parable three,

what's missing?

See,

what would a true

elder brother have done?

A true,

a good,

a righteous elder brother

would have said,

Father,

I will go into

the far country

and I will go

and bring

my prodigal

little brother home again.

I will go get

into the muck

of the pigs with him

if I have to

in order to bring him home.

See,

that's

the real center

of the passage.

Do,

do you have

a true

and better

elder brother

than this

elder brother?

Yes,

you do.

Jesus Christ,

he is the true

and better

elder brother,

Jesus Christ,

the righteous

and he says

in Hebrews,

I am not ashamed

to call you

my brothers

and sisters.

Jesus Christ

went into

the far country

and got all

the way

into the muck

so that he

could bring you

home again

and the invitation

is before you,

will you come?

Will you come

and receive

the father's embrace?

Let's pray.

Father,

we ask that you

would give us

faith tonight.

We ask,

Lord,

that you would

help us to see

our need,

that we are not

saved by our morality,

nor are we

too far gone

because of our

recklessness.

And so,

we pray,

Lord,

whatever condition

we may be in tonight,

that you would

teach us the grace

of your gospel,

all because we have

a true and better

elder brother.

And we pray

for this grace

to be received

in Christ's name.

Amen.

Amen.

Thank you.