At the church where I serve, we
just came to the conclusion of a sermon series entitled Party. During this series, we are discovering that
when we read the letters that make up the Bible, we discover that God loves a
good party. And when we read the accounts of Jesus life that are recorded for
us in the Bible, we see that Jesus loved a good party. Jesus loved to celebrate that things that He viewed a significant with
the people He viewed as being significant.
But if that is the case; when did Jesus throw a party? When did Jesus
celebrate? What did Jesus believe was significant enough to be worthy of
celebration? And when did early followers of Jesus throw a party to celebrate
something that they viewed as being significant and worthy of celebration?
During this series, we are going to look at three different events from
history that are found in the letters that make up the New Testament of the
Bible that provide the answer to these questions. And as we go through this
series, my hope and my prayer is that God would move by the power of the Holy
Spirit in our heads, hearts, and hands to empower us to be able to celebrate
that things that Jesus viewed a significant with the people He viewed as being
significant, so that we can reveal and reflect the celebratory heart of Jesus
to those around us.
This week, as we come to the conclusion of this series, I would like for us
to look at a third event from history that is recorded for us in a section of
an account of Jesus life in the Bible called the gospel of Luke. And it is in
this event from history that we will discover a timeless truth about what would
cause Jesus to party and celebrate something that He viewed as being
significant and worthy of celebration.
Before we jump into this event from history, I would like to spend a few
minutes providing the context in which
this encounter with Jesus would take place. In this section of the gospel of
Luke, as Jesus was traveling toward the city of
Jerusalem, large crowds were accompanying Him. And part of these large crowds
consisted of tax collectors and sinners. These tax collectors and sinners were people who did not measure up to moral
standards of the day in a way that resulted in them being viewed as outsiders who
were far from God and who were viewed as outsiders by others.
And as these
tax collectors and sinners who were far from God and who were viewed as
outsiders were listening to the message and teachings of Jesus, both the
Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, "This man
receives sinners and eats with them". Another section of the crowd,
composed of the self-righteous religious people of the day, responded to Jesus
welcoming and engaging with those who were outsiders that were far from God by
grumbling and complaining out loud.
Jesus
responded to the grumbling and complaining of these self-righteous religious
people by telling a parable. Now a parable is an earthly story that reveals a
deeper spiritual truth. And it is in this context that we are going to jump
into this section of the gospel of Luke as Jesus tells a third parable to the
crowds listening. So let’s look at this parable together, beginning in Luke
15:11-13:
And He said, "A man had two sons.
"The younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of the
estate that falls to me.' So he divided his wealth between them. "And not
many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a
journey into a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose
living.
In this
parable, Jesus explained that there was a father who had two sons. Now when
Jesus states that the younger son said to his father "Father, give me the
share of the estate that falls to me", here is what the younger son was
really saying to his father: Father, I wish you were dead so that I would not
have to deal with you. But since you are not dead, give me what I should get
from you once you are dead.”
You see, the
younger son did not want a relationship with his father, he just wanted what he
could get from his father. Jesus then explained that the father responded to
his sons request by granting his request. The father divided up his estate
between his older and the younger sons. Now here is a question to consider: If
your child talked that way to you, would you have given him what he asked for?
Now, you might
have given him something else, but you wouldn't have given him an inheritance
from you, would you? After all, your child does not want a relationship with
you, he just wants something from you. To give your child an inheritance after
saying such a thing would seem foolish, wouldn't it? You would have to be
incredibly gracious and forgiving to do such a thing, wouldn't you?
Jesus then
explained that after receiving his share of the inheritance, the youngest son
gathered his inheritance and "went on a journey into a distant country,
and there he squandered his estate with loose living.” Now, if Jesus was telling
this parable today, this parable might have sounded something like this: the
younger son took all that he received from his father and moved to Vegas. And
once in Vegas, the younger son hit all the strip clubs and crap tables. The
younger son called all the numbers that he got from the flyers that they hand
out on the strip and had some fun. The younger son got his groove on at all the
local clubs."
In other
words, the younger son did everything that his father had taught him not to do.
The younger son went as far away from his father as he could and lived a life
that was as far from his father's lifestyle as he could. We see what happens
next in verse 14-16:
"Now when he had spent everything, a
severe famine occurred in that country, and he began to be impoverished.
"So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country,
and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. "And he would have gladly
filled his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, and no one was giving
anything to him.
Now, if Jesus
was telling this parable today, these verses might have sounded something like
this: After the younger son spent all the money that he had received from his
father's inheritance, there was a severe economic downturn. And as a result of
the severe economic downturn, the younger son ended up broke and without a job.
As a matter of fact, things became so bad that the only job that the younger
son could get was to work for a local casino cleaning out their garbage
dumpsters with a toothbrush. And while he was so hungry that he wanted to eat
all of the food that had been thrown into the dumpster, his bosses would not
allow him to eat the food that had been thrown into the dumpster. So every day
the younger son spent his day cleaning out nasty casino dumpsters with a
toothbrush, while desperately wanting to eat the food that others had thrown
away as being no good to eat."
Now, here is a
question to consider: Could it get any worse for the younger son? You have
burned your relational bridges with your family. You are broke and without a
job. You have no friends. You are lost and alone. You have hit rock bottom. If
you were the younger brother, what would you do? What could you do?
Maybe I have
just described you. Maybe you can relate to the younger son. Maybe you feel
like you have hit rock bottom. Tomorrow, we will see what the younger son did
at rock bottom…
No comments:
Post a Comment