I. Last week I preached about the story of the loving Father who had a prodigal son.
A. His son demanded what he had coming in terms of an inheritance, and hit the road.
B. He went away and lived a life that went against everything that his father had ever stood for. The NIV version of the bible says that he spent all that he had on wild living.
C. He got in a bad spot and it caused him to start thinking. Actually I think it caused him to look beyond himself for the first time in his life, and suddenly he began to see that there was something more than himself.
D. From the evidence that we have, I believe that this boy probably grew up being very self-centered. But, isn’t self-centeredness the root of all sin anyway.
E. Until this time in his life he probably had never thought about anything in a way beyond how it affected him. But, finding himself in a place where he realized the reality of his actions and the actions of some people who had not treated him right, he saw a bigger picture.
F. Realizing, his mistakes and the effects that they had on other people as well as him he set out to make some changes, and he went home to find his father anxiously waiting to see him again.
G. It is a beautiful story that so much illustrates the way that God deals with and feels about us, but there is another lesson to be learned from this story.
II. He was the good one, the honorable one, the one who had always done things the right way. He was always obedient. He had never gotten into a minutes trouble. He was the model child the kind that everybody wanted.
A. And he is unfortunately, in attitude, a clone of too many Christians today.
B. He was so upright that he had begun to look at himself as the standard by which others should be measured.
C. He looked at all his goodness to the extent that he could not see his biggest wrong.
D. He was so caught up in how good he was that he over looked the thing that in some ways made him worse that those he looked down on.
E. He was self righteous and judgmental, and because he saw himself as so perfect, he would not tolerate any imperfection in anyone else as he over looked his own imperfections.
F. He was hard working and couldn’t tolerate anyone who wasn’t. He had spent his whole life working so hard to be perfect that he actually began to think that he was, and gave no one a second chance, because he saw himself as not needing one.
G. The day his brother dishonored his dad by asking for his inheritance he was appalled that someone could be so blind.
H. He knew that in the culture that they lived in to ask ones father for your inheritance was seen as considering that person dead to you.
I. He was infuriated and he had thoughts of taking his brother out behind the barn, but then he thought "well that would put me in the same category with that crude, insensitive brother of mine."
J. But as perfect as he thought he was he missed the most important thing about what was happening. He missed the thing that it would have been most helpful if he had seen. He missed the pain of his father.
1. He in his self righteousness missed the fact that his father’s heart was being torn out, because he was losing one of his children.
2. He never thought about the fact that his brother might have been leaving because he was tired of trying to measure up to him.
3. He didn’t see that no matter what his brother had done, he was still his father’s son and that his father ached inside to see his son’s image disappearing over the horizon.
4. For all his goodness and righteousness, he had missed the most important part, and that was love and compassion.
III. That is why he was so irate today.
A. Once again he had been out in the field being responsible, and carrying the load for his father, doing his work and doing his father’s bidding.
B. All day he had been out in the hot sun, and there were many times that he had wanted to stop, but he kept on working because felt that his accomplishments where what defined whom he was.
C. That, and he loved to hear people tell his father how lucky he was to have a son like him, and every time they did he could not help but think it was the least he could have after the way that ingrate younger brother of his turned out.
D. But, as he walked back to the house, he heard music and laughter, and he thought to himself "I am so taken for granted." " No one told me there was going to be a party."
E. Needing more ammunition for his pity party he called one of the servants to find out what was going on, and that is when it got to be too much to bare.
F. The words that fell from the servant’s mouth sent his blood pressure through the roof, and his anger rose until it got beyond the rightness that he had so prided himself with for so long.
G. The words were still ringing in his ears when his father received word that he refused to join them and came out to talk with him.
H. As his father pleaded with him to come in and celebrate with them that anger erupted and he did something that he would have never thought he would do. He lashed out at his father.
I. LOOK! I HAVE WORKED LIKE A DOG FOR YOU ALL THESE YEARS! I HAVE NEVER DISOBEYED YOU! I HAVE NEVER DISHONORED YOU. I HAVE BEEN THE PERFECT MODEL CHILD AND YOU HAVE NEVER GIVEN ME SO MUCH AS GOAT!
J. BUT NOW THIS INGRATE, DISRESPECTFUL, SELF-CENTERED BRAT THAT YOU RAISED HAS COME HOME FROM RUNNING WITH PROSTITUTES AND WASTING ALL THAT YOU WORKED FOR AND YOU KILLED THE FATTENED CALF FOR HIM.
K. I WORK AND I SLAVE AND MAKE ALL THE PEOPLE SAY WHAT A WONDERFUL SON YOU HAVE, AND I GET NOTHING! AND YOUR SON COMES HOME AFTER DISHONORING YOU AND YOU THROW HIM A PARTY AND WASTE SOME MORE OF WHAT I HAVE BEEN WORKING TO BUILD!
IV. I am good. You owe me something! I am better than the one that you are honoring and I am not getting as much as him. Does that sound like a lot of Christians today or what?
A. God I’m good. I’ve worked hard. I’ve lived right! I have not sinned or if I have I have hidden them well! I have given you a good name!
B. And in the midst of it all they miss the most important thing about being like the Father, love and compassion.
C. Listen to the story, and see if you can see the one thing that they and the older son in the story missed.
(Luke 15:25 - 32 NIV) "Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ’Your brother has come,’ he replied, ’and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ "The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ’Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ "’My son,’ the father said, ’you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’"
D. Did you catch it, the celebration was not really for the Prodigal son, it was for the loving father?
E. It was not in the honor of the wayward son that the father was celebrating it was because of the joy of the father.
F. It was because the son who was dead was alive again, the one who was lost was found.
G. The one who had strayed had come home and it was because of the joy and the celebration in the heart of the father that there was a celebration in the house.
V. And, our Father in Heaven is the same way.
A. That is what prompted Jesus to tell this story in the first place. The Pharisees were appalled that Jesus would even associate with tax collectors and sinners.
B. Jesus was eating with IRS agents, those blood sucking leaches that take away the money of hard-working people so that the government can squander it.
C. And Jesus was trying to make a point. And the point was this. You think that God owes you something because you are so good.
D. But these sinners as you call them, these that you loath and detest so much are children lost to God. His heart is broken because they are not willing to come home.
E. It tears him up inside that they have traded their inheritance in his kingdom for wild living. It hurts him that they are lost and it is his number one priority that they are found.
F. He wants them back and your attitude does more to keep them away than it does to draw them to him, because they can’t see his love and compassion in you.
G. You say you represent him, but when they look at you all they see is a stone cold heart, judgement, and self-righteousness.
H. You are so proud of your accomplishments, and you goodness that you feel that God owes you something, and you look down on anyone who is not as good as you seem to think you are, but you are really worse than they are, because you turn people away from God with you haughty self righteous attitude.
(Luke 15:1 - 10 NIV) Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering around to hear him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them." Then Jesus told them this parable: "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ’Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. "Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ’Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."
I. Now, let me give you a very technical description of what Jesus was saying here.
J. God rejoices much more over the honest repentance of one of these who are willing to admit that they were wrong and come home to him than he does all the actions of a bunch self-righteous, slime balls like you.
K. There are two men in scripture who we don’t even know the names of that make this point loud and clear.
(Luke 18:10 - 14 NIV) "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ’God, I thank you that I am not like other men--robbers, evildoers, adulterers--or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ’God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
L. One of the men in this story has something in common with the older son in the story we have been looking at, and that is he says " I " a lot.
M. I do this and I do that, and I am good. But, the other man asks for mercy because he knows what he is, and he is willing to admit to himself and God that he needs mercy, and he gets it, and God has a celebration because of the joy in his heart.
VI. I have said this before but it needs saying time and time again. Today in our culture Christians, a lot of the time, look more like the Pharisees than they do the church in the New Testament.
A. So many times the attitude of Christians does more to turn people away from God, than it does to turn them toward him, because they don’t see the love and compassion of God in the way that we act toward them.
B. They don’t see the acceptance, the forgiveness, and the love, and at times that they are hurting, instead of love they see judgment. They hear things like, well you brought it on yourself. You are getting what you deserve, and its about time.
C. And, what the people are actually saying even if they don’t realize it is "I am good and deserve good things, and you are bad and deserve what you get"
D. I am afraid that we have missed the point as much as the older son did. We have worked so hard at being good that we have come to the point that we feel that we are the standards that others are to be measured by instead of realizing that God is the standard that we are to be measured by.
E. We seem to think that God owes us something instead of realizing that we should be grateful for what we have been given. We have the "Lord it’s hard to be humble when you’re perfect in every way mentality."
F. And in that we are so wrong! When we forget that we have been given so much that there is no way that we can deserve it, we tend to miss the one thing that really makes us like the Father that we say we represent, and that is love and compassion and forgiveness.
G. And, in doing that we are doing at least as much of a wrong as the ones that we look down on.
H. But, don’t get me wrong. We are supposed to obey God, and we are supposed to live our lives for him. There is nothing at all wrong with working as hard to be obedient as possible.
I. But, we are not to get to the point that we think that we deserve His grace more than someone else does.
1. We are not to get to the point that we think that we have become the standard, that people are to be measured by, and miss the fact that we are supposed to show the same kind of love and grace and compassion to the people around us that God has shown to us.
2. That gets hard to do if begin to think that we deserve grace, that God owes us something, and that we are so much better than those who do not live as "good" a life as we do.
J. We are God’s ambassadors, but that does not mean that God owes us anything, and it does not mean that we have the right to pass judgment on anyone else.
K. We are to live to glorify God, and we are to uphold righteousness, but we are never to think that we have become righteousness in and of ourselves.
L. We can accept God’s righteousness or we can try to make it on our own and our righteousness is as God says as filthy rags. (Isa 64:6 NIV) All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags.
M. Excuse me for a minute while I am crude but I think this needs to be said. When the bible says filthy rags, the literal translation would be our righteousness is like a used menstrual cloth.
N. Our righteousness will not cut it. It is God’s righteousness or no righteousness at all.
O. And if we acknowledge the fact that any acceptable righteousness that we have is something that is given to us by God then we have to acknowledge the fact that we have no reason to look down on or judge anyone else.
P. And from the stories that we read we should see that one of the main ways that we can please and bring joy to God is by doing everything in our power to see that as many people as possible that are lost come to know God and are found.
Q. And we will not do that if we don’t show Love and compassion and grace.
