The Heart of God

Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast.

We exist to awaken this generation to new life in Christ.

Thanks for tuning in.

To find out more, go to awakeningchurch.com.

Welcome to Awakening.

My name's Ryan.

We're absolutely thrilled to have you join us today.

And before we dive in, I just want to draw your attention to two things.

One, this Wednesday, uh, we're having something take place on um at lunchtime called If My People.

It's a movement of churches gathering together, praying, seeking the heart of God for exactly what we just sang revival for justice, for healing.

And so, would you do this?

Would you mark your calendar?

Get your phone out.

I don't have it on me, but if I did, get your phone out, mark it at 12 p.m.

this Wednesday.

It's on Facebook.

We'll send you all the information.

Uh, you can check out our Facebook page on that and come pray with churches all over the Bay Area for this movement called If My People.

The second thing is we're kicking off a new series called This Is Good.

And many of you picked up your journal this week, and some of you kids have your journal, which is super fun, super exciting.

We want to dive in afresh and lean into what God has for us this season.

And so if you didn't get one, would you grab one?

And if you go like, I'm moved, I'm not sure I can get one, we'll send it to you.

And so there's times and we'll send all the information and post that for when you can pick them up here at the office.

You know, like, well, I missed the first week.

No, lean in now.

Go ahead, dive in, grab a journal.

All right, so let's dive in to this new season uh season and series called This Is Good.

Now, here's what's amazing.

When the New Testament writers were documenting the life of Jesus, they couldn't help but call it good news.

In fact, if you know and you've heard this before, the the four biographies we have of the life of Jesus in the Bible are called Gospels.

Literally, good news.

Uangellion.

It's good news, news that makes one happy, information that causes one joy.

Isn't that good?

Words that bring a smile, a message that causes the heart to be sweet.

See, filled in these pages about the life and teaching of Jesus is not just good advice, to somehow help you navigate life better.

And certainly there is good advice, but something amazing here is it's good news.

I like the way N.

T.

Wright talks about news, and he defined it this way: that news is something that has happened, as a result of which the world is a different place.

Something took place, and the world is a different place, and something happened in this very obscure part of the Roman Empire that, as a result, the writers were saying the world is a completely different place, and it's good.

And they're gonna say that that something is good news, not just to them in their day, it's good news to you and me in our day.

It's good news to all people for all time.

In fact, it's such good news that it has the power to transform your life and to bring profound purpose to your life.

This, by the way, is really, really good.

And isn't it true in a year filled with bad news and sad news that we could use some good news?

And so, what exactly is so very good about Jesus today for us?

Well, that's exactly what we're gonna spend the next four weeks talking about.

And this morning, we want to talk about the heart of God.

Chances are your environment, your circumstances, the state of the world, we begin to question, okay, what is going on, and what exactly is the heart of God?

And maybe you've wrestled with this question what is God really like?

Like, what is he really like?

And maybe in your mind comes this picture of a cosmic killjoy, like his arms are just crossed, and you know, he's out to get you, he's out to, if you screw up, he's out to hit you over the head.

Maybe he's this distant deity to be appeased, and he's not really involved in your life.

He doesn't care, he's impassionate.

Maybe, maybe you're like, I don't even know if there is a God.

Maybe it's just this impersonal force.

And the reality is, isn't it true?

That picture, whatever picture comes to mind, often is informed by religious people.

You're like, well, Ryan, you're a religious person.

Well, actually, I I beg to differ, but we'll get to that.

See, because religious people tell us that God just loves the super special.

And then he kind of dislikes everybody else.

And so you gotta be a part of this secret club, this perfect club, this, you know, and if you're not, well, sucks to be you.

But what if God is nothing like the God of religion?

What if the God you rejected as a teenager, as a college student, what if the God that you've been wrestling with in this season is nothing like God at all?

Could it be?

Could it be that God, the God that you have in your mind and picture is very different than who God is?

Now, this is precisely why the early followers of Jesus who documented, their eyewitnesses documented the life of Jesus, would say, this is good news.

Because when Jesus, what they saw, this is powerful, don't miss this, that the life of Jesus actually brought into focus the very heart of God.

That if you wanted to know what God is really like, you didn't have to, you know, somehow hope and wish and wonder.

All you have to do is look at Jesus.

If you want to know what God cares about, all you have to do is look at Jesus and see how he responded.

If you want to know how he would love the least of these and respond to vulnerable, if you want to know how he would stand up to injustice and oppression and religious self-righteousness, look to Jesus.

See, the life of Jesus brings the heart of God into crystal clear focus.

And this is problematic.

This is problematic in their day, and it's problematic in our day.

Why?

Because Jesus reveals a God very different than the God of religion.

Well, we pick it up actually in Luke chapter 15, and there's this line here that I think if you grew up in church world, you you totally miss it.

Luke 15 · chapter mention

You you miss how staggering this is.

It says this.

It says, now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus.

Tax collectors.

Now imagine this.

We can't put the hate for this people group in proper context.

Tax collectors in Jesus' day, these were Jewish people who had betrayed their people, then went to work for the oppressive regime, Roman government, and are exploiting their own people.

These are tax collectors.

And then the minute anyone heard tax collector in any story, they would want to boo and hiss and ah, and they had every right to feel anger towards them.

And it says, those people and sinners, people who are so far from God, people who had no care, people who were nothing like Jesus, think about this, really, really like to be around Jesus.

This was so staggering.

And then it goes on to say, but the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, muttered, this man welcomes sinners and eats with them.

This is not the God of religion.

This is something completely different.

See, religion, religion doesn't welcome sinners.

It ostracizes them.

Religion doesn't eat with sinners.

It pushes them away.

Religion doesn't love people, it shames people, and yet Jesus is bringing into focus the very heart of God, his heart for you, his heart for me, and this is good.

And to do this, he's gonna talk to the Pharisees, and he's gonna give a collection of three stories.

They're called parables, and he's gonna tell us three stories that build with intensity and clarity the very heart of God.

And he's gonna tell these three stories, and I want you to notice the audience, he's actually responding to the religious leaders and their objections to why he's loving and engaging with those that are far, far away from God.

Now notice what he says.

He first says he's gonna give them the story of the wandering sheep.

Many of you have heard this story.

He says, you know, if a shepherd had a hundred sheep and one of them wanders off, you know, it just kind of wandered off.

He just went on his own way.

The shepherd doesn't go, well, that's a dumb sheep.

You know what?

Oh well, I have 99 more.

Shepherd says, No, no, no.

I'm going to go and search after my lost sheep.

It's my sheep.

I love that sheep, it's valuable.

I'm gonna search after that lost sheep, and until I find it, I'm not stopping.

And when I find it, notice what he says.

I tell you, after I've found the lost sheep, 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.

Saying that every there aren't just good sheep and bad sheep, right sheep and wrong sheep.

No, we're just sheep that are loved, that are valuable.

Saying there's rejoicing.

Heaven throws a party.

See, religion at its core talks about you have to pursue God and somehow work your way and get right with God.

And this is what Jesus is saying.

He flips the script and says, No, God's pursuing you.

God's moving after you, God loves you.

Well, if we didn't get that one, then he gives another story and it's a lost coin.

And say, Suppose a woman had 10 coins, and this would be essentially her life savings, her dowry, and she loses one of them.

And to put this in context, it's like losing your wedding ring.

Would you not turn on lights, sweep the house, and keep looking until you found it?

Of course you would.

In my house, I don't really know what that would be like.

I, you know, if I lost my wedding ring, but I know how diligent we search for when we lose the remote control.

You know, it's like if the remote's gone, we're like, okay, we gotta find this thing.

We're pulling up cushions, we're looking everywhere.

How much more valuable?

And he says, heaven throws a party in the same way I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner, one person far from God who repents and turns to him.

And Jesus explains the heart of God very differently than the God of religion.

It's a God who searches carefully, a God who says that's what's lost isn't a waste or a failure or a mistake.

But what's lost is worthy to be searched for, is valuable and longed for and desired.

Well, it builds to the climax.

These three stories are all Jesus explaining the heart of God one after another.

It's a story we're familiar with even in our day, in our culture, even if you're not familiar with Jesus.

It's the parable of the prodigal son.

And Jesus continues and says this.

The younger one said to his father, Father, give me my share of the estate.

Now, I cannot express to you the gravity of this statement and how offensive it was to the father.

In the ancient Near East, to say this to the father, to your father, is the equivalent of saying, Dad, I hate your guts, I wish you were dead, and give me what will be coming to me when you are dead.

And in an honor culture, this is the most offensive thing a son could do.

In fact, many scholars who have researched how one would respond, how a father would respond, whether it's in the Middle East or in parts of Africa today, still to this day, the honor culture would say, you can yell, cuss, and beat your son and kick him out.

But notice what the father does.

The father divides his property between them.

No.

And says, not long after that, the younger son got together all he had and set off for a distant country.

Set off for some land that looked better than his homeland.

And there he squandered his wealth and wild living.

And the truth is, is we all want life on our terms, don't we?

We want to be true to ourselves.

We want to live out our own truth.

We don't want anyone to tell us what to do, and we want to, you know, be authentically us and do you.

It's just human nature.

I like how Bishop T D Jakes had said it.

He said, the prodigal son walked away from family for fake friends.

He left those who loved him for those who liked him.

And this is what we do.

It's not what they do, it's what I do.

We head off for distant country looking for something or someone to satisfy for a life.

No, it goes on.

It says, after he had spent everything, after he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in the 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 uh to his field to feed pigs.

Now he longed, this is how bad it got, he longed to fill his stomach with pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

See, the distant country offers what it cannot provide.

It says, no, you will realize who you really are, and it just pulls you back, and you end up devastated.

See, the younger son is in the distant country.

He had wasted his inheritance, traded his family for fake friends, and discovered that his truth had come crashing down around him.

The distant country of pleasure.

The distant country of experiencing whatever you want to experience, the distant country of just you doing life on your turn.

And everything had fallen apart.

And perhaps during this COVID season has been the famine in your soul that might bring you to the point where the prodigal son is.

In the kindness of God, in his severe mercy that would allow things to come into our lives to bring us to awareness of our spiritual bankruptcy.

Notice what it says next.

It says, when he came to a senses.

When he came to a senses.

Meaning, prior to this, he was out of his mind.

There was a moment where life became crystal clear.

He realized the direction of his life.

It wasn't producing or fulfilling the deep longings and hunger of his life.

In fact, everything had fallen apart.

And he realized he left his father for the distant country, and the distant country did not satisfy.

It only disappointed.

And so he says this how many of my father's hired hands have food to spare, and here I am starving to death.

I'll set out and go back to my father and say to him, Father, I've sinned against heaven and against you.

I'm going to confess my wrong, and I'm no longer worthy to be called your son.

I've blown my inheritance.

Would you just make me like one of your hired servants?

And then it says this line: So he got up and went back to his father.

Now don't miss this.

This is good.

Repentance opens the door for the return home.

Repentance.

Coming to our senses, confessing that we have blown it, and then turning our direction towards home and taking steps.

Repentance opens the door to the return home.

I like how Dr.

Tony Evans says it when it comes to repentance.

He says, repentance is the inner resolve and determination to turn from your sin and return to fellowship with God.

It's the awareness, it's the coming to your senses, the realization that the direction that I've headed has ended in devastation.

I gotta turn.

I'm turning towards you.

I'm turning from the life I'm living and I'm returning to home.

Now notice this.

Because I think the question is who's gonna meet me when I get home?

What kind of dad is gonna meet me when I get home?

See, many of us don't want to make that long walk home because we think there's gonna be a dad with crossed arms that are ready to go.

I told you so?

How could you?

You're a failure?

I want nothing to do with you.

And yet Jesus is explaining to the heart of God, and this is good.

Notice what he says.

He says, Flip the page.

But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him, meaning his father had been looking to the horizon every day, wondering if his son would ever come back, hoping and longing.

And while he is but a speck on the horizon, he could see that it was the gate of his son's walking.

He understood all the idiosyncrasies of his son's personality, that he could even notice when he couldn't see his face yet, that it was his son walking home.

And his father doesn't arms crossed, wait till his son gets to him.

No, his father, his father, filled with compassion, ran to his son.

He ran.

He said, No, no, no, I'm gonna do everything that a patriarch does not do.

A patriarch says, You come, you grovel, and I'm gonna stay in my position and you come to me.

And he pulls up his robe, which is totally just dishonoring for the fucking.

No ancient father would do this and runs towards his son.

Runs towards you right now, in this moment.

And threw his arms around him and kissed him.

See, when you return home, you don't return to a father with arms crossed.

You return to a father who's running to you, arms open, ready to embrace you.

Well, the son confesses.

He confesses, oh, I want to get this.

I want you to miss, I don't want you to miss this.

This is good.

The love of the father is greater than the rejection of the Son.

For some, you feel like you could never return home.

You feel like you've wandered too far, you've done too much.

You go, Ryan, you don't know where I've been or what I've done.

The love of the Father is greater than anything you have ever done.

And in this moment, as I'm speaking, would you come to your senses and would you make the journey home to find the Father's embrace?

So the son begins his confession.

The son begins his speech he'd been rehearsing on that long walk home.

Father, I've sinned against heaven and against you.

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

And then the father interrupts him.

The father doesn't let him finish his speech.

But the father said to his servants, Quick, bring the best robe.

I'm gonna put this robe, the sign of sonship on you.

I'm gonna put my ring on your finger in the sandals.

I want you to notice that the father interrupts his speech.

It's actually pretty important where he interrupts the speech.

See, the son comes and confesses and says, I blew it.

And he says, I'm no longer the worthy to be your son.

And the second part of his speech was, would you make me one of your hired hands?

See, the son came back to the father trying to figure out how he could pay the father back.

How he can work his way back.

I'm gonna just work for you.

I'll pay you back in all that I squandered.

The father interrupts in that moment and places sonship on him.

The ring, the seal of sonship.

And notice this.

This is good.

This is for you.

Your identity, your identity is received and not achieved.

See, religion says, work your way to God.

Jesus says God has run to you and he places on you son, daughter, worthy, valuable, loved, honored.

It's such a heavy thing, and some of you have been wrestling under this, trying to work out your identity.

Trying to be your authentic you, and then when that breaks down, you're you're working it out, and God says, I've given you all you need.

You are an adopted daughter and son of the Most High.

You don't have to work for it, you can't earn it, you don't have to achieve it.

It's placed on you received.

And the father then throws a party.

Says, Bring the fattened calf and kill it.

Let's have a feast and celebrate.

The son of mine is dead and is alive again.

He was lost and is found.

So they began to celebrate.

I like how Tim Keller unpacks the gospel.

Because what we just heard is the gospel, the good news.

The gospel is this.

We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dare believe.

We are, I am, the prodigal who has wandered home, the coin that has been lost, the sheep who's wandering in the away from the flock.

Yet, at the very same time, we are more loved and accepted in Christ Jesus than we ever dared hope.

You do not have a God who says, work your way to me, my arms are crossed.

You have a God who's searching, who's pursuing, who's loving, whose arms are open wide for you right now.

This is good.

This is why when John would talk about Jesus and try to explain how good it was.

And in fact, this is our memory verse this week, where we're going to memorize scripture together.

John would say what has become, I think, perhaps the most famous verse in all of the Bible.

For God so loved the world.

That's his, that's your starting point with God.

For God so loves you, that he gave his one and only Son, that he's been pursuing after you.

He killed the fat calf.

And the older brother's sitting outside, angry, seething.

And the father goes and talks to him.

See, the older brother wants the younger brother to just get what he deserves.

The older brother represents the religious leaders that Jesus is talking to.

The older brother is the frame in which we often understand what God is really like, that he's condemning, that he's against.

And yet it's the father pleading with the older brother.

Son, all that I have is yours.

Would you come in and celebrate?

Let's welcome someone who was lost, your brother, home, because he was dead and now he's alive.

Welcome home.

And then the story ends with a cliffhanger.

And we don't know whether the older brother went inside to the party or not.

And I think for some of us, that is the invitation because we may not identify with the sheep.

Maybe, or the prodigal.

We might feel like we've lived life the way we're supposed to, and look at all those people and look at the narrative that's going around, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

And I just need to put people in their place.

Now the heart, listen, friends, the heart of the Father is to welcome you home, invite you into the party wherever you are at.

And so today, would you come home?

Maybe you've been wandering.

And COVID has set you wandering in your faith and your journey.

Would you come home?

Maybe you're just lost.

You don't know where you're at.

You don't know how you got there.

There's nothing intentional that you would say, I just went.

But you just feel lost.

Would you come home?

And maybe, just maybe, you're the prodigal.

The person who you thought God could never love or once.

And the person Jesus says, I came precisely for.

Would you come home?

See, the heart of the Father is to welcome you home.

Me home.

Arms open wide.

In this moment, I want to give you an opportunity to respond to this good news that you are loved more than you ever knew.

And to take that step of repentance, to turn from the direction you're going and make that return home.

And so I'm going to invite you to pray after me, just this simple prayer.

And so would you, in the quietness of your heart at your house, would you close your eyes even with me and pray this prayer?

Heavenly Father, thank you that you welcome me home.

Today, I repent.

I am turning from my sin and turning to you.

Will you forgive me and make me new?

I believe you came for me.

I believe you died for me in the person of Jesus Christ and you rose again to new life that I might have life and be welcomed home.

In Jesus' name, amen.