The Jesus Way: Finding the Way of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke | Donovan Rillion | The Redeemed Way

I have been recently watching this show for the

last couple of seasons called Tracker. And maybe

you've seen the show. If you haven't, I'm going

to kind of tell you a little bit about it, but

it's not super relevant. Tracker is this show

that centers around this guy named Coulter Shaw.

And Coulter is, he's basically like a private

investigator on steroids. Every episode starts

with somebody going missing. Somebody gets kidnapped,

they get lost in the woods or something, they

go missing. And so what happens after that person

goes missing is a loved one will reach out to

Coulter and they will offer him a large amount

of money to find their missing loved one. I mean,

we're talking like tens of thousands of dollars

to find their missing loved one. And so as the

episode progresses, Coulter does his thing. He

tracks down the person. Sometimes he has to kill

a few bad guys and, you know, he has to break

out of, you know, TV stuff, right? But he finds

the missing person and he brings them back to

the people who love them. There's always two

things at play in these episodes. The first thing

I think about is the amount of money that the

person, the loved one offers is showing the value

of the person who is missing. Think about for

you, if somebody that you loved, one of your

children or a relative or a friend or a coworker,

if someone that you loved and you cared about

went missing, how much would you be willing to

pay to find them? And the second thing is when

he finds them, he's not just finding somebody

and bringing them home. He is redeeming and restoring

their life and their relationship. He's bringing

these people back together, and now they can

be a family again, or now they can be friends,

now they can be a couple. Whatever it is, he's

bringing these people home and restoring relationship

and redeeming life. And at the end of a lot of

the episodes, after the reunion takes place,

Colter's getting ready to leave, and he'll say

something to the effect of, stay out of trouble.

Now I want you to hold on to that line. Stay

out of trouble and take care of each other. You

see, I found that relevant to our lesson this

morning because in Luke 15, Jesus tells three

stories about four highly valued missing things.

The first one is the sheep that wandered off.

The second one is a coin that gets lost. The

third is a son who ran away. And then the fourth

was the son who stayed. He never ran away, but

he was just as lost. because of his heart, as

any of the other characters in these stories.

And in all of these stories, we see two consistent

themes. Just like in the episodes of Tracker,

we see the value of the lost and what I'm going

to call the aftermath of redemption. And so we

start with the value of the lost. I want you

to notice in all of these stories, like in Tracker,

there is a sense of urgency. There's priority

placed on finding the thing or the person or

the animal that is lost. We're not talking about,

you know, the random Lego that gets lost under

the couch and it stays there for three years.

And then one day you're doing a deep cleaning

of the house and you finally find that Lego or

like. yesterday, I was cleaning up in our garage

because we had a bunch of stuff from when we

moved. And then we sold my truck. And when we

sold my truck, we just took everything out of

it and threw it in the garage. So I'm cleaning

up the garage because it looked like a mess.

And I find a bunch because Peyton has a million

Hot Wheels and Monster Trucks. So I find a bunch

of Hot Wheels and Monster Trucks in the garage.

And this kid, even though he still has a bunch

of Hot Wheels and Monster Trucks inside the house,

he sees the ones that I found out of the garage.

And he's like, oh, I've been looking for that.

I'm like, No, you haven't. Because there's no

urgency for something that you have an excess

in. But when it's something that you really need

to find, like a child or like a paycheck, anybody,

we don't do paper paychecks anymore, but has

anybody ever lost a paycheck? Anybody? Nobody's

ever done that? Okay, so we've had some people

lose a paycheck. I can remember one time in high

school, I didn't have direct deposit set up or

something, I guess. Oh no, I did like some yard

work or somebody. So they gave me a check and

I put it in my car. And as a high schooler working

two jobs, like my car was messy and I lost the

check. Eventually I found it. It was not in my

car after all. It was in my room under some stuff

on my desk. That's not the point. I lost the

check and there was a lot of urgency in needing

to find that check. And so that's what we're

talking about here. We're talking about things

that have high value, things that have to be

found. And Jesus makes that clear in Luke 15,

starting in verses four through six. He says,

what man of you having a hundred sheep, if he

has lost one of them, does not leave the 99 in

the open country and go after the one that is

lost until he finds it. And when he has found

it, he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing. And

when he comes home, he calls together his friends

and his neighbors saying to them, rejoice with

me for I found my sheep that was lost. Do you

see it? He goes after it. until he finds it.

He doesn't look and then give up. He doesn't

just look for it for a little bit and then decide,

ah, it's not really worth it. He looks for it

until he finds it. And then Jesus gives us another

picture in Luke 15, verses eight through nine.

Or what woman having 10 silver coins, if she

loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep

the house and seek diligently until she finds

it. And when she has found it, she calls together

her friends and neighbors saying, rejoice with

me for I have found the coin that I had lost.

She searches diligently. Diligently is a really,

it's a really good word. There's effort. There's

intention. There's effort and intention. She

searches diligently all because this thing that

she lost has value. She needs this coin. And

then we get to the story of the son. Just to

give you a little bit of backstory in case you're

not familiar with this story. This is a son of

a father who has two sons. They work with their

father. Their father clearly has a lot to offer

them. And they each have an inheritance waiting

for them when their father dies. Well, this son

decides to go to his father. He says, hey, I

want my inheritance early. And the father gives

it to him. For some reason, he gives him the

inheritance. The son takes the inheritance. He

goes off into what the Bible calls a far country.

He goes out there and he does who knows what.

things and he blows all of the money. He makes

a mess of his life and he finds himself sleeping

with pigs and he decides, he's like, I need to

just go home and maybe if I go home, I can ask

my dad if I can just be a servant in his household.

He's not even asking that he can go back and

be a son. He's not asking that he goes back and

takes his rightful place as heir. He's just asking,

can I have a spot in the bunkhouse with the rest

of the slaves? So he gets up, he goes home, and

this is what Luke 15 verses 20 through 24 tell

Luke 15:20–24

us. But while he was still a long way off, his

father saw him and felt compassion and ran and

embraced him and kissed him. And the son said

to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven

and before you. I am 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 my son was dead

and is alive again. Again, he was lost and is

found and they began to celebrate. We covered

these parables a few months ago in our series

where we really focus in on looking for the one,

the one in our life that we know that is lost.

And we emphasize the need to celebrate when those

people come home. I told you, I want to bring

so many lost people to the kingdom of God that

we are the party planning commission of heaven's

worst nightmare because we want to make heaven

have to constantly be throwing parties because

we are leading people to Christ. And so we look

at these stories. And we see this good stuff

of the father running, which in that culture

is shameful for a man to run. But he doesn't

care about shame. His son is home, so he runs.

He embraces. He restores. He gives the best of

everything. And for who? For who? The son that

dishonored him? The son that took his inheritance

early and went off and wasted it? The son who

made a mess of his life? The son who probably

wasted it on awful things? I mean, I can just

think of the debauchery, the sinful nature of

all of the stuff the son got into. This is the

guy that the father brings shame upon himself

on to run to him, embrace him, restore him, and

then throw a party? Yeah, that son. That's the

one that the father would do that for. And why?

Because as the father says, read this out loud

with me, my son was dead and is alive again.

He was lost and is found. How many of you, if

your child went missing, if your child took off

and you couldn't find them, how many of you would

celebrate when they came home? All of us. We

all would. Yeah, hands in the air. Yes, we would

celebrate. We would go to the ends of the earth

to bring our children home. You maybe have said

something like, there is nothing I wouldn't do

for you. You know, I was sitting there as I was

thinking about this lesson, I thought. I could

count, I mean, we've only been here in Blairsville

for a couple of months now. In fact, I was telling

Chad yesterday that this weekend is like the

one year anniversary of me coming to visit you

guys. And then a few weeks later, we decided

to move here. So in this short time that we've

known you, I could probably count a lot of people

that would do anything for my children. I was

sitting there thinking, I'm like, I could probably

count on one hand or two, maybe the amount of

people in this room that would kill for my kids.

And so think about what you would do for your

own kids. That's what we're looking at here.

We're looking at a picture of a God who says,

I don't care what they've done. I don't care

where they've gone. I don't care who they have

been in their past. I don't care what they're

involved in now. There is no price I would not

pay to bring them home. And when they come home,

there is no shortage of celebration that we would

have. That's what we see here. My son was dead.

He's alive again. He was lost. He's now found.

These aren't just nice stories. This isn't Hallmark.

This isn't an episode of Tracker. This is why

Jesus came. This is revealing to us the very

heart of God. If I were to put it in one sentence,

this is the value that the creator of the universe

places on people. And if I need to make this

personal for you, this is the value that the

God of all creation places on you, regardless

of where you've been, regardless of what you

have done, regardless of what you said to the

person in the drive -thru line in front of you

this morning. The God of all creation looks at

you and says, there is nothing I would not do

to bring you home. That's why Jesus came. That's

why he lived the life he lived. That's why he

eventually died the way he did. This is why Jesus

came. Because God could not and he does not sit

back and wait. God seeks, he pursues, he restores.

You know, the thing I love about the story of

the prodigal son is the father saw him from a

long way off. And what I think about that is

the father was sitting on his front porch waiting

for the son to drive up the driveway. And he

was watching. Because he just knew someday my

son is going to come home. And I mean, I would

imagine the people at the local diner, the people

at the farmer's market, the people in town, the

people at work, they would tell him, hey, dude,

you got to quit waiting on him. You got to quit

looking. He's not coming back. It's time to give

up. Go ahead and take the missing person posters

down. He's not coming home. And I bet he would

sit there and say, you have no clue. My son's

coming home. I know he's coming home. And he

waited and he looked and he waited. And finally

the son came home. And then that leads us to

the aftermath of redemption. Because what happens

after redemption happens? What happens after

the son is restored? What happens after the sheep

is brought home? What happens after the coin

is found? Well, when redemption happens, we see

it, celebration happens. Look again with me at

Luke 15, verses six through seven. Rejoice with

me, for I found my sheep that was lost. Just

so I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven

over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous

persons who need no repentance. Heaven celebrates.

And I really want to emphasize something this

morning that I don't know that I emphasized before

when we covered these parables. This celebration

is never private. Think about in these stories,

the man finds a sheep. He goes and tells everybody,

hey, come on. We're having a party because my

sheep has been found. The woman finds her coin.

She goes around telling everybody, come on, we're

having a party because my coin has been found.

The father, his son comes home and he says, hey,

we're having a party. My son has been found.

Redemption. When redemption happens, it creates

community -wide joy. When God restores someone,

and you've seen it before. When somebody gives

their life to Christ, when somebody leaves the

life of addiction and they come home, when somebody

gives up the life of crime and they start to

straighten up their life, when somebody gives

up the things that they were doing that was damaging

their family, that was damaging the community,

that was hurting the church, when they give those

things up and they start to live a normal, or

not a normal, a good life, when you see that

happen, something happens to the people around

them. It changes their families. It changes their

relationships. It changes their friend groups.

It changes their communities. Because when God

works in someone's life, it does not stay private.

And if my life isn't affecting yours, then I

need to ask myself, has God really redeemed me?

If the world would see what God has done, it

would create joy. It would overflow into everything

that we are a part of. This is something that

is not meant to stay contained to a building.

It's not meant to be personal and quiet. Yeah,

we have a personal relationship with Jesus, but

that personal relationship should show up. Because

guess what? I love my wife. And anybody that

knows me knows that I love my wife, unless they

see me picking on her. Then they may have some

questions. But I mean, if I'm picking on you,

that means I love you. I love my kids, and that's

why I talk about them so much. And if you know

me, you know I love my kids. When we have these

things that are attached to us, our hearts. These

things that are happening inside of us, it overflows

and the world has no choice but to see it. It's

supposed to reshape our lives. It's supposed

to reshape our relationships and reshape our

communities. And that leads us to Luke chapter

Luke 16 · chapter mention

16. Because if Luke 15 shows us how God redeems

people, how he restores people, then Luke 16

shows us how redeemed people live. And if you've

read Luke 16, you're probably like, I don't really

know how that fits. Bear with me. I want to ask

you, and as we go through Luke 16, I want you

to see the answer. What does life look like after

the celebration? Because think about, you know,

when somebody gets baptized, they give their

life to Christ, we applaud, we may sing a song,

it's this awesome moment. They come out, everybody

gives them hugs, and we may write them cards,

we give them a Bible, and we celebrate. But then

what happens the next week in their life? What

happens with our relationship with them? What

does life look like after that? Well, I want

you to look at what Jesus says in Luke 16, verse

Luke 16:10

10. One who is faithful in a very little is also

faithful in much. And one who is dishonest in

a very little is also dishonest in much. Well,

if my life has been redeemed by Christ, My redeemed

life is a faithful life. It's a life that is

committed to the cause of Christ. It's a life

that is very shrewd, as the scripture would say.

It's a wise life, a life that looks at everything

that I have, everything that I've got going on,

and wisely thinks, how can I use this to glorify

God? When Jesus redeems us, we don't just go

back to living the same way that we used to live,

the same ways that we always have, the same way

that our family always has. When Jesus redeems

us, our priorities have to shift. It is no longer

about me. It's no longer about what I want. It's

no longer about what I think I need. It is not

about anything that I would imagine is my priority.

We begin to see things differently. Our time

is no longer ours. Our money is no longer ours.

Our relationships are no longer ours. Our influence

is no longer ours. It is God's. Because when

he has saved my life, we'll say this, I owe you

my life. There's no way I could ever repay you.

When somebody does something so great for you

that you just have no other choice but to commit

the rest of your life to doing good in honor

of them. You know, I've talked before about my

youth minister, Mr. Glenn. I mentioned how when

I was little, life was not as good as it should

have been. It wasn't the life that you would

want for your kid. And I stumbled into this church

building at nine years old. kind of middle -aged

guy comes up to me, introduces himself to me,

and he ends up becoming the only father that

I've ever known. He taught me everything that

I know about fishing, driving, hunting, and he

was just the best man that I could have ever

asked for. And so when I got to high school,

I felt like I needed to do for others what he

did for me because he saved my life. And so what

I felt like I needed to do was be a minister

so that I could help save other people's lives.

And that's the kind of reciprocal relationship

we're talking about. God has saved us. He has

redeemed us. So what do we do in exchange? We

should go and save others. Now, we don't do the

saving. We just bring people to the God who does.

So we start to see that none of this belongs

to us. Nothing belongs to me. It all belongs

to God. And then Jesus tells the story of the

rich man and Lazarus. I want you to look at Luke

Luke 16:19–25

16, verses 19 through 25, and we're going to

kind of paraphrase and jump through this one.

But there was a rich man who was clothed in purple

and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every

day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named

Lazarus, covered with sores. The poor man died

and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side.

The rich man also died and was buried. But Abraham

said, Child, remember that you in your lifetime

received your good things, but now he is comforted

here and you. are in anguish. I think Jesus shows

us something sobering here. That this life, the

things that happened from 1998 for me to 2035,

whenever I die, this life, it's not the end of

the story. Whatever happens to you, whatever

happens to me in this life, what I did in this

life, it's not the end of the story. There is

something greater at stake. And what I really

want us to know is a redeemed life doesn't just

live for comfort now. It lives with eternity

in view. Another way I would put it is, do you

live every day with an eternal perspective? Because

what you do today will ripple into eternity.

The way you talk to people, the way you greet

people, the way you love on people, the way you

serve, the life that you live today will affect

the life that you have tomorrow. Abraham looks

at the rich man. He says, well, you enjoyed life

on earth, so now not so great for you in heaven.

And what he's not saying is that you can't have

a good life here and a good life in eternity.

What he's saying is you did not focus on the

eternal matters. A life that's redeemed notices

people. The rich man wouldn't give Lazarus the

time of day. And so when he got to eternity,

Lazarus had the nice life, and the rich man just

kind of suffered because he didn't notice Lazarus.

He didn't give him what he needed. He didn't

respond to the need. A redeemed life responds

to the needs of people around them. A redeemed

life reflects the heart of God. And so here's

what we see. What we see is that God values what

is lost so much so that he would do anything

to go and save the lost. Think about the expensive

or the high amounts of money that the people

in these episodes of Tracker pay to find their

loved ones. That's what we're talking about here.

We're talking about a God that would send His

Son from heaven to earth to live among men who

would hate Him, to die on a cross, a brutal death,

so that we could have a chance at a good eternity.

That's what God shows us and how much He values.

And because He values us, He pursues us. He redeems

us. He restores us. He celebrates our restoration.

And then he invites us into that same way of

living. He invites us to not just be people who

have been redeemed, but to be people who live

redeemed and go out and bring other people to

redemption. It's like when you know there's a

good sale going on at the store and you tell

people, hey, there's a good sale going on at,

let's just use Alexander's. Alexander's having

a big blowout sale. Go get a firearm for 50 %

off. And so you tell everybody about it. You'll

post on Facebook, go get your, and then everybody's

going because they know there's a good sale.

Or Orange Days is coming up at Nelson Tractor.

I got you. That fee's going to be in the mail,

right? Yeah. So there's a big deal going on at

Nelson Tractor. Everybody, go get you a new lawnmower.

You tell everybody about it because you know

you've experienced something really good and

you want the people around you to experience

something really good. That's what we're looking

at here. It's not a lie. that sits in a pew and

says, God's been so good to me. We sing the goodness

of God. It's a life that goes out and tells and

shows people how good God is so that they will

come and find out how good he is. I told you

before, we get so focused on the come and see

and we forget about the go and do or go and be.

We need to go out and be the billboard for how

good Jesus is and how much he loves people. This

is why I think it is so cool when I see a bumper

sticker that just says Jesus loves you. I think

it's so cool when somebody's wearing a shirt

that says, ask me how much God loves you. Like

we need to tell people, we need to show people

how valued they are, regardless of where they've

been. Because again, there is no telling what

awful things the son did in the prodigal son

story, but the father does not care. He restores

him anyways. because our God is a gracious and

merciful God. And so what does that look like

for us today? What does it look like for us this

week and the rest of our lives? Well, maybe for

you, it means just simply returning to God or

giving your life to God for the first time. It

means giving up the things that you've been chasing.

the things that you have been striving for, the

disappointments that you found yourself in because

you've been looking for approval, you've been

looking for value, you've been looking for satisfaction

in this world, and you're realizing that you

just keep coming up empty every time. It means

giving your life to God. And if you've been a

follower of Jesus before, but maybe you've wandered,

you've drifted, I want you to know you can come

home. Wherever you have been, there is a place

for you at God's table. And he is waiting to

redeem and restore your life. I want you to hear

this clearly because this is something we need

to make clear. God is not sitting there waiting

to shame you. God's not sitting on the porch

waiting for you to walk up the driveway and then

he's just going to look. Well, look what the

cat done drug in. I figured you'd come back begging

for money one of these days. I figured you'd

come back, want a place to sleep. That's not

what God is doing. That's not what we see in

Scripture, is it? We see a God that sits there.

He sees, and I can just imagine, I love just

trying to think of this story, the imagery of

the father sitting on his porch. He sees his

son from a long way off, and I can just imagine

the smile that comes on his face. And I can imagine

how quickly he gets up, he runs. I mean, think

about it. He's probably not a fast guy because,

you know, he's probably old. He runs as fast

as he can. He's probably hobbling a little bit.

And he gets his son, he grabs him in this big

bear hug, and he just squeezes him tight. And

I can imagine that because I've come home after

a week of camp where I've been gone, and I remember

every time it's the same thing. The excitement

on my boys' faces when I walk through the door

and the excitement that I have that I get to

see them again. And that's what I think God feels

when one of his children decides, I'm done running.

I'm done living the life that I thought I wanted.

I'm ready to come home. God's not waiting to

shame you. He is ready to receive and redeem

you. He is waiting to celebrate. And maybe for

you, it means committing to living differently,

to seeing your life as not your own, as not your

own personal project, but as something that God

can use for eternal impact, as something that

God can use to really reshape the entire world.

And that just starts with one step this week.

Maybe it is deleting social media off of your

phone. Maybe it is just deciding, I'm going to

stop doing the things that I know hurt the people

around me. I'm going to stop doing the things

that I know hurt me. Maybe it just means giving

up an hour of your week to make some phone calls

and check in on people. I don't know what it

is for you personally, but we can all do one

small thing this week that will make it clear

to our brains that this life is not our own.

It is God's. I think back to that line in Tracker.

Stay out of trouble and take care of each other.

And in a much deeper way, I think that's what

Jesus calls us to. I'm so excited. After we finish

Luke, we're going to go into a series on the

book of Acts, and we're going to see what the

early church looked like and how they lived and

how they cared for not only the people around

them, but the people in their church family.

It's a life that says, stay out of trouble. Do

good things, right? Don't go doing the things

that got you caught up and got you kidnapped

before. Don't do that. Do good things and take

care of each other. Take care of the people around

you. Make sure the people around you have their

needs met. God has found us. He's rescued us.

He has redeemed us. If we are in Christ, if we

have been clothed with Christ, if we've given

our lives to him, if we've buried the old life

in baptism and rose up to new life, then we have

been redeemed. We have been restored. And so

now what we have to do, we have no other choice.

We have to live differently. We stay out of trouble.

We take care of one another and we live for eternity.

Because when Jesus redeems us, When he restores

our lives, he invites us into a joy and hope

filled life that looks different. And if my life

doesn't look different than the world, then I

need to reevaluate what I'm doing. He invites

us into a life that doesn't follow the world's

priorities. It doesn't tell us or do what the

world tells us to do and who to be. It is a life

that wisely lives today in light of. So today,

wherever you are, whatever your struggle may

be, I want to ask you very simply, are you living

with eternity in mind? Are you living with the

next thousand, hundred thousand, million? I mean,

we can keep going if you know eternity never

ending, right? Are you living with that in mind?

Are the actions we're making today, the things

we're doing today, the life that we're living

today, are they rippling into eternity for good?

Or are they leading us to a place of suffering

and torment? Not to be hellfire and brimstone,

but I want the good place where I get to live

with God in fellowship with the saints for eternity.

And if you're not living with eternity in mind,

if you want to start, whether you were baptized

50 years ago or you are just now considering

a life with Jesus, wherever you stand on the

spectrum of life, I want you to know the invitation

is clear. It is real. We want you to come if

you need to as we stand and as we sing.