Investing in the kingdom, Luke 16: 1-13

I remember as a boy growing up in North Carolina someone once showing me a stack of old money that they had found in their attic.  There was enough money  there to make a person rich.  There was only one problem.  Printed on the notes was the words the Confederate States of America.  It was money that was printed in the South during the Civil War.  A lot of people in the South were paid for goods and services or for serving in the Army of the Confederacy with those bank notes.  But when the  Civil War was over, those bank notes were worthless.  And so when I was growing up in the south you used to see them framed up and hanging on a wall, or stored away in an old chest.  You couldn’t buy anything with them anymore.  It was useless currency. 

I believe that this parable that Jesus taught concerning the unrighteous manager is teaching us that investing in the things of this world is a bad deal.  Because in the next world, in the kingdom of heaven, this  world’s currency is worthless.  This money we work so hard for here on earth, is useless currency in heaven.  It’s not valid in that government.  This world is passing away.  One day all that we see here will be burned up and all that we worked so hard to build will be destroyed.  And only what is done for Christ will last. 

That is why our Lord Jesus in Matthew 6: 19 said, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust doth corrupt, where thieves break through and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moth and rust do not corrupt, where thieves do not break through and steal, for where your treasure is there will your heart be also."   Here is what Jesus is saying;  you want to know where a person’s heart is?  Then see where their treasure is.  Look at what they treasure.  Look at what’s important to them.  Look at what they invest in.  That is indicative of their heart. 

Now I’m not going to use this parable today to preach about money per se.  It seems that is the focus of most messages and commentaries on this parable.  I don’t necessarily think that was the focus of Jesus Christ.  Money in this case is only a symptom of the condition of the heart.  It’s an outward manifestation of one’s inward nature. 

There is nothing wrong with money in and of itself.  We all like to point out all the rich people in the Bible that were godly men.  Abraham, for instance, was very rich.   But consider what Hebrews has to say about Abraham. Heb. 11:8,  “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going.  By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise;  for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”  And then in vs.13, “All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth….they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.”

The issue wasn’t how much money Abraham had.  The issue was that Abraham’s focus wasn’t about building an earthly kingdom.  He was concerned about building a heavenly kingdom.  And because he was faithful and obedient to God in the earthly matters of his life, he could look forward to receiving an inheritance in the heavenly kingdom, the city of God.

Now this parable comes in the middle of a long string of parables and teachings that Jesus has been given.  And the way Luke presents them is almost like a layering affect of certain truths concerning the kingdom of heaven.  Someone has said that Jesus spoke about 40 parables that we have record of.  And many of them I’m sure He used more than once to different audiences.  But what is special about the gospel of Luke is that Luke presents an historical narrative, but at the same time positions the events and teachings in such a way as to build one upon another.  So as I say each week, it’s important to remember the context as we consider these parables and remember that they are part of a greater message. 

For instance, if you were here last week, we looked at the end of chapter 15 and the parable of the prodigal son.  And what became apparent out of that study was that both of the sons received their share of the estate.  One son went away and  squandered what had been entrusted to him, and the other son stayed home and used his share for his purposes.  But they both were given a share of the estate.  But Jesus made the point that the celebration belonged to the son who went away because he had eventually come to his senses and returned home to serve the father.  He realized that the father was the source of life and joy and sustenance and as a result the father welcomed him into the home and gave him a great party to celebrate his homecoming.  The point of the story wasn’t about the money the son had squandered, but it was about coming to the point of being willing to renounce the world and leave behind the pleasures of sin and return to the Father.  To come to the point of being willing to serve the father even as a slave.  And for that kind of commitment, the Father was willing to not only accept the son back as a servant, but as a son and restore his inheritance in the estate. So the parable of the prodigal taught that being in the kingdom required something.  It requires repentance. 

If you go back another chapter to ch.14, Jesus tells another parable about counting the cost of becoming His disciple.  And He concludes the analogy by saying in vs.33,  “So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.”  The principle that Jesus was teaching is that entrance into the kingdom of heaven costs you something.  And what it costs is the world.  Giving up what is considered gain in this world for gaining the kingdom of heaven. 

Just prior to that in 14:16, Jesus had given another parable to teach a similar principle.  He talked about a big feast which was a picture of the kingdom of heaven.  And when the invitation went out, everyone said they fully intended on coming to the feast on the appointed day.  But when the master sent his servant out to bring them in on the appointed day, everyone was busy doing something else.  They were all working or marrying or buying and selling and they did not have time to come to the feast.  The principle was clear, to enter the kingdom of heaven you need to make the kingdom of heaven your priority.  Your career or your family or your wife or your possessions cannot be first and the kingdom of heaven somewhere down on the bottom of the totem pole.  No, Jesus makes it clear that the kingdom of heaven must be the first priority.  The kingdom of heaven demands something.  And that which it demands is to be first place in our lives.

Jesus makes that principle really crystal clear in vs. 27, “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.”  He is talking about dying to your personal agenda, dying to the world’s agenda, dying to working for your personal fortune or fame or glory, and living instead for the glory of God. 

We don’t have time to backtrack over the last several chapters, but the principle is pretty much the same in all the parables.  Jesus just keeps changing the story to give you a different perspective, but the principles never change.  He says in chapter 13:24, “Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.”  He’s talking about entrance into the kingdom of heaven!  Not many will be able to enter.  Why not?  Because their priorities were wrong.  They may have sang the songs, they said they believed in God, they may have said they were Christians, but they never renounced the world.  They thought that Christianity was a means of worldly gain.  Being a Christian to them meant that God would bless your career, God would give you a big house, God would make it possible for you  to be wealthy, healthy and wise. I’m sorry to have to be the one to tell you this folks, but God never promised you heaven on earth.  God promised you the kingdom of heaven, a future eternal home in which you will rule and reign with Christ.  But only as you are willing to suffer with Him here first. 

Rom 8:16, “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.”  What we suffer is the loss of this world, to gain the glory of the next.  As Jesus said in Matt. 16:25, “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”

Here’s the deal folks.  Let me make this clear.  There are three stages to salvation.  Various elements of the evangelical community like to camp out on one extreme or the other, but you really need to realize that there are three stages to salvation and all of them are necessary to enter the kingdom of heaven.  First is justification.  This is where I come by faith to Christ and confess that I am a sinner, and I repent of my sins and I trust in the promise of God that He will transfer my sins to Jesus and transfer Jesus righteousness unto me.  That’s justification in a nutshell.  But that is not the end of the gospel.  A lot of us want to stop right there.  The next stage is sanctification.  And this stage is where the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in me, to rule over my spirit and soul and body, to conform me to the image of Jesus Christ.  This is where I day by day die to myself by taking up my cross and follow Him, doing as He did, living like He lived, for the will of the Father, to the glory of God.  And the third stage to salvation is glorification.  This is when one day Christ comes back for me as His bride, and either resurrects me if I am dead, or I join Him in the air if I am alive, but in either case I will be changed, in moment, in the twinkling of an eye.  And I shall be like Him for I shall see Him as He is.  And I will live with Him forever in the eternal city of God which He has prepared for those that love Him.  

Unfortunately, most so called Christians today think that they can have stage one and stage three without stage two.  They think it is possible to be justified without being sanctified.  But God doesn’t see it that way.  If you are truly saved, then all three stages must happen and will happen.  They are irrevocably connected. Rom. 8:29, “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son,[that’s sanctification] that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.  Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” Hebrews 12:14 says that without sanctification, no one will see the Lord.

So the parable that we are looking at today is teaching some key principles of sanctification.  If you have become a citizen of the kingdom of heaven, then these are principles of that kingdom that you need to apply.  This is the sanctification process that characterizes those who are born of the Spirit. 

First though let’s look at the parable.  It’s interesting that Jesus uses a rabbinical style of teaching here. He is teaching from the lesser to the greater.  He is basically saying, if a lessor principle is true, then it must be even more so that a greater principle is true.  And so to make that comparison He uses an illustration of an unrighteous person.  It’s important to note though that Jesus isn’t condoning the unrighteous manager for his wrong business practices.  No one should think from this parable that God winks at sin.  But Jesus is using this example of a worldly way of thinking and producing results as a comparison to what we should be doing in the spiritual realm.  In other words, if you do this in the worldly realm to achieve results, then so should you do this in the spiritual realm to produce results. 

Now this unrighteous manager was squandering his master’s estate.  And you should note right there the parallel between the parable of the prodigal son and this parable.  In the parable of the prodigal son, the younger son squandered his share of his father’s estate.  In this case, the manager has squandered his master’s estate.    Now in this case, the rich master calls him and says he is going to fire him as manager because he has been mismanaging his funds.  And furthermore, he wants the manager to give an accounting of what he has done with the money. 

Now it’s difficult for us to put this into a 21^st century perspective.  We don’t know exactly how this sort of business that Jesus was referring to operated.  But if I can conjecture a moment, I would suggest that the manager was more or less like a debt collector for the rich man.  Perhaps like a banker who  would arrange loans for people and then charge them a percentage as profit.  And the customary arrangement was for the one who collected to add his percentage on top of what was due to the master.  So somehow this manager had been playing fast and loose with the loans.  Maybe he was charging exorbitant rates.  Maybe he was taking all the money and spending it on himself and not paying back the rich man what was owed him.  Jesus doesn’t make it clear. 

But the story progresses with the manager finding himself in a dilemma.  He has to give his boss an accounting.  That means that he has to show how badly he has mismanaged the funds and in those days that meant that he could be required to pay him back or be thrown into prison or both. And he doesn’t have the money to pay it back because he squandered it.  That means he spent it foolishly.   And there is an even greater predicament.  He is also out of a job.  He will be penniless and without a job.  Furthermore, debt collectors were hated people.  They were like loan sharks.  They added outrageous fees on top of your debt so that you could never pay it back.  So when he found himself penniless and without a job he wouldn’t be able to find another one because everyone in the community hated him for taking advantage of their indebtedness to his boss. 

So this manager comes up with a brilliant plan to not only appease his boss but ingratiate himself with the community. He goes to the first debtor and says “How much do you owe my master?” And the guy looks at his bill which has all the interest and fees attached and says, “One hundred measures of oil.”  And the manager says, “Well here is a great deal for you.  Let’s do a cash settlement.  Pay me 50 measures of oil and we will consider it paid.”  He does the same to the next debtor.  That guy hasn’t had the loan as long, so the settlement is only a 20% discount instead of the 50% discount he gave the other guy.  But it’s still a good deal.  And the implication is that the manager does this with all the people that owe money to his rich master. 

So then the day comes when he has to meet his master and give an accounting.  And because of all of his creative financing, he doesn’t look quite as bad.  He has actually done well at collecting the money for his master, and at the same time he has made friends for himself in the community because he took off so much interest on their debt.  And Jesus says in vs. 8 that the master praised the unrighteous steward because he acted shrewdly.  The master got his money back and the manager made friends in the community which would help him out in return when he didn’t have a job anymore.  He was a shrewd person and the master praised him for it.

But the principle Jesus is making is found in the second part of the verse.  “For the sons of this age are more shrewd in relation to their own kind than the sons of light.”  First we need to understand who Jesus is talking about.  Sons of this age simply means sons of the world. And sons of light means those that have been born again into the kingdom of heaven.  So you can say it like this;  unsaved people are more shrewd in relation to earthly things than saved people are shrewd about heavenly things.

In other words, people of this world are great at investing for the future, planning for retirement, networking for the sake of commerce, building a business or using money to influence people.  Men are very shrewd in regards to worldly things.  Jesus doesn’t condone worldliness, but he recognizes it for what it is, and says that men are good at doing it. They are good at using their resources to further their means. But in contrast He says that the same can’t be said for the saved person.  Though we have been born again, a new creation, yet He is saying we aren’t shrewd in relation to the kingdom of heaven.  We fail to plan for eternity.  We fail to invest in the kingdom.  We don’t network for the sake of the kingdom.  We fail to use money or resources to influence people to enter the kingdom.  Now Jesus has already referenced in another parable many reasons why that happens.  We get sidetracked by careers, or families or possessions.  Jesus has made that clear in previous parables.

So Jesus gives three principles which are to be applied for those who are sons of light so that we might be wise stewards or righteous stewards.  Just as the manager was given a stewardship so we too are given a stewardship.  And we need to apply these principles if we are to be found good stewards.  Jesus said back in chapter 12 that to those who have been entrusted with much, much shall be required.  He said in the parable of the rich fool who died after building more and more barns to house more produce here on earth, that there will be a day of accounting. 2Cor. 5:10 says, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”

So then principle number one is found in vs. 9. “And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of the wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they will receive you into the eternal dwellings.” What Jesus is talking about is using earthly things, earthly resources for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.  There are a number of ways you can do that.  God has entrusted you with a stewardship of money, time, talents and resources to use at your disposal.  And if you are going to be a faithful, righteous steward of God’s resources, then first of all you recognize that they aren’t given to spend on yourselves, but they are tools to use for the kingdom of God. 

Paul says it like this in 1Timothy 6:17; “As for the rich in this world, [or those that are rich in the things of this world] charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on uncertain riches but on God who richly furnishes us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good deeds, liberal and generous, thus laying up for themselves a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life which is life indeed.”  Whatever God has given you employ in the furtherance of the kingdom, so that when this world fails, those people that you have benefited will welcome you into heaven.  That’s how you invest in the kingdom of heaven. That’s how you employ earthly resources for heavenly gains.  You have resources that God has entrusted you with to build up the kingdom of God.  And when you do that, you will be laying up treasures for yourself in heaven by virtue of the souls that are in heaven whom you have helped.

The second principle is found in vs. 10-13; “He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much.  Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you? And if you have not been faithful in the use of that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own?”  You know, I really think that this is one of the most important principles in the life of a Christian.  To be found faithful in the little things.  Oh, we all want to receive the big important jobs in the kingdom.  We all desire the greater gifts.  And so we should.  But before we get the greater gifts, the greater responsibility, God often tests us with the little things to see if we will be found faithful. 

So many people I’ve met want to be a teacher and yet can’t be faithful in the little things like prayer, attendance, personal devotions, or helping with the little things of ministry.  The humble things of ministry go before the exalted things of ministry. 1Pet. 5:6, “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time.”  And Paul said in 1Cor. 4:2, “Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.”  When you look at all the great saints of God like Daniel and Abraham and Moses, the common characteristic of all of them was that they were found faithful in the little things.  Be faithful in the little things; be faithful with your money, be faithful to support your church, be faithful to attend church, be faithful to pray, be faithful in your devotions.  It takes a certain amount of discipline and committment to be faithful to the kingdom, but above all else, be faithful.

Finally, the last principle is in vs. 13; “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”  The point is simple.  You are either going to be employed in serving the interests of the world or serving the kingdom of God.  They are not compatible.  In fact, they are at odds with one another.  This passage if nothing else shows that the prosperity doctrine that is taught so often today is a lie from hell.  The devil knows that if he can occupy your interest in the things of the world then he can enslave you by the things of the world.  And you will not have time for the things of God.  You cannot serve God and the world.  You cannot serve the Almighty God and the almighty dollar.  One excludes the other. 

When Joshua was about to lead the children of Israel into the promised land he called them together and said in Joshua 24:14, “Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.  If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”  Five times Joshua says serve the Lord.  Serve the Lord.

Listen, that is the same choice before you today.  You can either serve the god of this world, the things of this world, the money of this world, or you can serve the Lord.  The choice is yours, but you can’t serve both this world and the kingdom of God.  But like Bob Dylan sang, “it may be the devil, or it may be the Lord, but you’re gonna have to serve somebody.”  I trust you will commit to serve the Lord with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength.  That you marshal all your resources that God has entrusted to you and employ them faithfully in the furtherance of the kingdom of God.  One day soon He is coming back and He will demand an accounting.  I pray that you will be found faithful. Jesus said in Mark 8:36

“For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”

I pray you might lay up treasures in heaven and not on earth so that when one day you stand before God to give an accounting of your time and resources here on earth, that He might say, “well done, My good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your master.” 

The prodigal son, Luke 15: 11-32

Today’s passage is a parable commonly known as the parable of the prodigal son, which is part of a trilogy of parables that Jesus gave in this chapter.  They were given by Jesus in response to the attitude of the Pharisees who grumbled when sinners and tax collectors came to hear Him preach.  And particularly they thought it was inappropriate for Jesus to receive them and even eat with them.  So in response, Jesus tells them three parables, a trilogy; first a parable of the lost sheep, secondly the parable of the lost coin, and thirdly the parable of the lost son in order to illustrate that the ministry of God is to reclaim the lost. 

Now a parable is a story told for illustration purposes.  It’s a fictitious story, the characters and the story line are made up for the purpose of illustrating a heavenly principle by means of an earthly story.  And in a nutshell, this trilogy is illustrating the nature of the lost, the need for repentance, the compassion of the Father and the joy of heaven at the lost being saved. 

And so we will use those principles as an outline to look at this parable today. So first of all let’s consider the nature of the lost.  In the parable of the sheep, the one sheep wandered away from the flock and became lost.  In the second parable the coin was lost at home.  And in this third parable, the son is lost by deliberately leaving  the father’s house.

Now there are a few points that we can make that will help us understand the nature of the lost son.  First of all, it would have been evident to the hearers of this parable in that day that this was a particularly insolent and rebellious son.  Basically this younger son couldn’t wait for his father to die so that he could receive his inheritance.  He believes that he has gotten old enough to go his own way and make his own choices.  He thinks he is smarter than the old man.  And so rather than wait until his father dies and then receiving his share of the estate as was customary, this young man goes and brashly asks his father to give it to him now. 

And interestingly, Jesus doesn’t detail any of the father’s deliberations or misgivings about this request, but He says the father accommodates his son’s defiance by splitting the estate between the two sons.   And after a few days, it says that the son gathered everything together.   We might understand that to mean that he liquidated his share of the estate and got all the money together and then he set off for a foreign land.  And while he was there he squandered it all in loose living.  That is where the word prodigal comes from by the way.  Jesus never used that word, but it means extravagant, wasteful.  And it describes the way this young man acted when he received the inheritance. 

Now the application is clear.  The lost son is a picture of the sinner who has taken the life that God has given him, the health, the wealth, the wisdom and the resources of life, and decided that he can make his own choices as to how to use them best.  He thinks he is a better judge of right and wrong than God is.  He wants to control his life.  He doesn’t want to live under the rules of the kingdom of God.  He feels that it’s too controlling, too confining.  And so we too take what we think is ours, what is ours by right, and we use it for our own purposes.  We want to be the captain of our own destiny.  We forget that it was God who provided us with those resources. 

And so to get away from this oppressive God who just wants to ruin our fun, we go as far away from God as possible.  We avoid thinking of Him at all costs.  We avoid church.  We actually come to hate all that He represents.  We want nothing to do with God. 

And you can be sure that the devil is right there beside us every inch of the way, luring us on.  Tempting us to think that just over the next horizon there will be the freedom, the satisfaction, the happiness that we are looking for.  And so like the prodigal son we spend our lives in wastefulness, thinking one more drink will satisfy me.  Maybe this pill or that drug will provide the peace that I am looking for.  Or if I just get that high paying job I’ll be happy.  If I just get that girlfriend or wife I’ll be happy.  If I just let myself go sexually I’ll be satisfied.  Whatever it is, it is a lifestyle of wastefulness, extravagance; a desire for more, and more and more.  And yet rather than satisfying, it leaves you empty. 

In the case of the prodigal, and in the case of perhaps some of you, you eventually reach bottom.  You squander your God given life on loose living.  Like the lost son, one day you eventually reach the bottom.  Your health is gone.  Your friends are gone.  Your money is gone.  And like the prodigal son who at the bottom had to hire himself out to feed pigs you find that the freedom you thought you were getting is actually slavery to sin.  Maybe you’re addicted to alcohol or drugs.  Maybe you’re caught up in a lifestyle that has become nothing but a rat race that is enslaving you. 

This was the story of my life.  I grew up in a Christian home.  My father was a preacher.  And I grew up feeling that Christianity was oppressive.  It was restrictive.  I felt like all the other kids had freedom that I didn’t have.  I felt like I was viewing the world from outside of a window, and I desperately wanted to experience what it was like to be on the other side.  So like the prodigal, there came a day when I gathered everything up and left for California.  It didn’t take long until I found myself in a similar situation as the prodigal.  I remember realizing one day that I hadn’t gone to bed sober in over three years.  In my case, I wrestled with the thought of coming back to God for a couple of weeks or so. Eventually one night I reached the end of myself.  I reached a point where I was sick of being where I was and wanted to get things right with God.  And so after walking the beach all day, I went back home and my roommate was home playing the stereo really loud with some of his friends.  So I went downstairs to the garage and shut the door and began to call out in repentance to God.  And thankfully, God answered me.  God was ready and willing to forgive me and bring me back into the fold.  He restored the life that I had lost.

Now that is the picture that Jesus paints in this story.  In the case of the prodigal, to add injury to insult as he spends all his money on loose living a severe famine comes upon the land.  Things go from bad to worse.  And so this young man finds himself at this lowest place in his life.  For those Pharisees that were listening, they couldn’t have imagined a worse place for a Jew to end up than working in a pig pen.  But sometimes God sends a famine and allows us to end up in a pig pen to get us to realize how stinky our sin is.  One day this young man is so hungry he is thinking of eating the carob pods that they used to feed the pigs.  And then he thinks of how back home even the lowest of the hired hands ate pretty good at his father’s house. 

Jesus said that the dire circumstances caused the young man to come to his senses.  Literally, it says he came to himself.  He came to a place where he had to examine himself and he saw himself for who he was.  There was an old country preacher that was once preaching on this parable. He was illustrating what happened to the prodigal son in the far country. He said, "As his money disappeared he had to sell his clothes in order to eat. He took off his shoes and sold those. Then he took off his coat and sold that. Then he took off his shirt and sold that. And then he came to himself!"  That’s what we all need to come to, when we finally bare our soul and examine ourselves.  This man came to that point and he came up with a plan.   Vs. 18, He said, “I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight;  I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men.”

Now that brings us to the second point, the nature of repentance.  This young man felt sorry for himself and the predicament that he found himself in.  But repentance is much more than simply being sorry.  Lots of people find themselves in unfortunate circumstances, maybe something of a crisis, and they call out to God for help.  They may sincerely want help.  They sincerely want God to answer them and get them out of the crisis.  They may become very emotional.  And even years later when recounting that situation they may become emotional in talking about it.  But when the crisis was over, they went back to the same things that they did before because they never really repented.  That is not repentance as described by Jesus here.

Notice how Jesus describes repentance.  And remember, this has been the theme of all the parables until now.  In the parable of the lost sheep, Jesus concludes in vs. 7, “there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”  And in the parable of the lost coin, He says in vs. 10, “there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”  What Jesus is making clear is that repentance is the only way back to the Father. 

So let’s look at the characteristics of repentance.  First of all, he came to his senses.  He got so far down the only way he could look was up, and he realized how far he had fallen.  True repentance requires that you realize your absolute hopelessness.  Romans 3:23 says that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”  We need to come to the point of realizing that between us and God’s standard of righteousness there is a great gulf fixed which we cannot possibly jump over.  We need to recognize the hopelessness of our situation.  Secondly, we need to confess our sins and our hopelessness.  We need to confess we are lost in order to be saved. 1John 1:8 says, “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.” 

Thirdly, we need to be willing to turn away from our sin.  We need to be sick of our sin.  We need to realize how terrible it is.  Not just be sorry for the consequences of our sin, but be sick of the condition of our sinfulness and wanting to be freed from not only the guilt, but the power of sin over us.  That’s what Jesus was talking about in the sermon on the mount when He said “blessed are they that mourn.”  He was talking about the necessity of a sinner mourning over their sin as a characteristic of entering into the kingdom of God.  The prodigal son was willing to get up out of the pig pen and go back to his father’s house and beg for mercy.  He didn’t call his father up and ask him to send him some money so that he could continue living the life that he wanted to live. But he was willing to give up that life.  That is the characteristic of repentance.  It’s not seeking forgiveness but being unwilling to forsake sinfulness.  But it’s going the opposite direction.  Once he had chased after sin, now he is leaving that country and going back to his father’s house.  He turned around and went the other direction.  A lot of people today want forgiveness, they want grace, they want out of their crisis, but they want to hold onto their sin.  They aren’t willing to forsake the world or the things of the world.  This guy was willing to forsake everything.  That’s what repentance requires. 

Fourthly, repentance requires renouncing your rights.  Notice he says I am going to say to my father, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men.”   This is so important.  When we repent we give up our right to our freedom.  We give up the right to make our own decisions as to what is right or wrong.  We give up the right to determine the course of our lives.  This man said I am not worthy to be called your son.  Repentance doesn’t come demanding.  It doesn’t come asking for favors.  It doesn’t come demanding what we think God owes us.  Listen, God owes us nothing.  If He gave us what we deserved it would be death.  This man had the right attitude.  He realized that he didn’t deserve to come back home as a son.  He didn’t even have the right to come back as a servant that would live under the care of the father.  He said he would just ask if he could come back as the lowest of hired men.  Not even living on the property.  This man humbled himself in true repentance.  And that repentance brought about reconciliation with the father.

That brings us to the next point; the compassion of the Father. This is my favorite part of the story.  Vs. 20 says, “So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.”  First of all, it’s obvious from the story that this father had been looking for the young man to return for a long while.  He says later that he had been considered dead.  The young man had been gone so long that people thought he must have died.  But I can picture the father walking out of the estate down a long drive to the end of the  road and standing there looking  off in the distance and longing for his son.  He must have imagined on a daily basis what his son was doing that day.  He must have worried if he was ok.  I can imagine that the father prayed for him everyday and hoped that one day he would return.  His love for the boy never failed.  He never gave up on him.

What a picture of our heavenly Father.  He created us in love.  He created us to be the objects of His love.  But we sinned, we acted rebelliously, we thought we could decide between good and evil and we rebelled against His word.  And consequently we had to leave the Garden of Eden, we were shut off from the source of life and we squandered our lives in living for ourselves.  But God never stopped loving us.  He never stopped looking for us.  He never stopped seeking us.  The Bible says that God so loved the world, that He sent His only Son, to pay the penalty for our sins upon the cross that we might be reconciled to God. 

So back to the parable, one day the father goes to the end of the road as usual, and peers at the horizon, longing for his son.  And suddenly he sees a distant figure on the horizon.  His heart must skip a beat as he watches ever more intently as it draws closer.  And then somehow even though the man is still a long ways off, he recognizes that it must be his son.  And it says the father ran to him while he was still a long ways off.  Now that doesn’t fully describe what happened.  In those days, men wore long robes that came down to their ankles.  And so this father would have done something that the Pharisees would have thought was absolutely unseemly.  Completely undignified.  Elder men in those days simply didn’t run.  But he would have reached down and gathered up his robe around his knees and started running down the road.  It must have been a ludicrous sight to see the old father, his hair and beard streaming out behind him, his robe pulled up over his lanky legs and knobby knees exposed, running down the road with tears streaming down his cheeks.  And then coming upon the young man, who undoubtedly still  smelled like a pig, must have looked terrible, wasted away, unshaven, dirty, disheveled. And yet the father could care less.   Before his son could say a word, he had thrown his arms around him and kissed him repeatedly.  Now that is compassion.  That is the love of the father.  That is the love of God towards repenting sinners.

Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”  God loves us while we were yet sinners.  God doesn’t reserve his compassion until we fulfilled some sort of probation.  He doesn’t require us to do some sort of penance.  Jesus did the penance for us.  He paid the penalty that we could never pay so that we might be made righteous before God. 

What this parable shows us is that God was willing to humiliate Himself in order to save us.  That shows the extent of His love. Phil. 2:5 says, “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

The prodigal son hadn’t even had time to say the speech that he had prepared before his father had already welcomed him home and showered him with love.  But finally the young man blurts out his speech: vs. 21, “And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate;  for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’ And they began to celebrate.

 Listen, God cares less about our prayer or our words than he does our heart.  He knew the heart of the young man when he returned was a heart of repentance.  And so the joy of the father calls for reconciliation and celebration.  By the way, I would have liked to save this message for a few more weeks until Father’s Day.  But it didn’t work out that way.  However, I hope that you dad’s out there consider as I do this parable as a template for how a godly father should treat a wayward child.  I think that sometimes we buy into a lot of the tough love philosophy that is out there.  And there may be a time when some of that is necessary.  But you don’t see that pictured here in this story.  If there is tough love here, it is self directed – directed by the father upon himself, not upon the boy.  And I think we should really consider this story when we deal with these situations as fathers.  We have no greater example of fatherhood than that of our heavenly Father. 

Well back to our story.  We’ve seen the nature of the lost, the need for repentance, the compassion of the Father and now let’s look quickly at the joy of heaven at the lost being saved.   First we see the son’s reconciliation.  He doesn’t have to come back as a hired hand as he was willing to do.  The father reinstates him as a son.  That is the picture Jesus gives here of putting a robe on him and a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. First the robe is given.  That is a picture of the robe of righteousness which we have received by faith in  Christ.  I think Jesus had in mind the passage in Isaiah 61:10 which says, “I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, My soul will exult in my God; For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness.”

And not only is the younger son reinstated as a son, but once again he is an heir of the father.  That is the significance of the ring, I believe.  It would be signet ring with the family crest that was a symbol of authority. Romans 8:16 says that we have not only been made children of God when we didn’t deserve it, but we are also made  heirs of God.   It says, “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.”

In the preceding parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin, they both refer to the joy of heaven at the sinner who repents.  In this parable that is fleshed out a little bit more.  They kill the fattened calf.  That would have been saved for a great occasion such as a wedding feast.  It says later that the older son heard music and dancing.  So the picture is given of a full blown celebration.  I think there is an immediate response of celebration in heaven when a sinner repents, but I also think that this is picturing the celebration of the glorification of man when he is taken up to meet the Lord in the air.  This is a picture of when the kingdom of God is consummated at the end of the age, when all the redeemed sit down at the marriage supper of the Lamb.  It is an illustration of the prophecy that Jesus made in Luke 12, when He said, “Blessed are those slaves whom the master will find on the alert when he comes; truly I say to you, that he will gird himself to serve, and have them recline at the table, and will come up and wait on them.”   This is speaking of the day when the bridegroom who is Christ will serve the bride who is the church at the marriage supper of the Lamb.  It will be a celebration that will never really end, when God will reveal all the wonderful things that He has prepared for those that love Him. 

Well, I would like to just end right there on a high note, but Jesus doesn’t end it there.  Jesus adds a final element to the story.  And He does so to bring the application to the Pharisees who were listening to Him.  These men scorned the sinners and tax collectors who were coming in repentance to Jesus.  They didn’t think that they deserved any mercy from God.  They thought that they themselves however, were deserving of God’s favor.  After all, they kept the law, or so they claimed.  They were certainly moral people.  They believed in God.  They were fastidious in the outward signs that were perceived to be religious.  For instance, they tithed down to the mint and dill from their herb gardens. They publicly fasted regularly.  They attended all church services and functions.  They were really great at giving long prayers in public.  And they knew a lot of Bible verses.  They thought they were children of God.  They thought God owed them blessings in their lives.  They fully expected God to reward their diligence in serving Him. 

And so Jesus adds the last part of the parable just for them.  He says as the party was going on in the house, the older son came home from the fields.  And he heard the music and the sound of the dancing and he asked a servant what was going on.  The servant told him, “Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has received him back safe and sound.”  Now that should have been a cause for him to join the celebration.  He should have been thrilled that his brother came home safe.  But instead it revealed the bitterness of his heart.  He was angry that his brother had been restored.  He was angry that the father would restore his brother as a son again and hold a party in his honor.

And who he is angry at is not necessarily the brother, but the father.  He feels he has worked as a slave for his father and yet the father is willing to celebrate for the sinner.  He feels he has earned something and his brother is being given something he doesn’t deserve.  He feels he has been faithful and his brother has been unfaithful.  But what is apparent is that his heart is not right.  He doesn’t have a right relationship with his father.  If you look back at the beginning of the parable, the father divided the estate between both sons.  The oldest son had taken his share as well.  The youngest son took his share and left home and was lost.  The oldest son took his share and stayed home and lost out.  The point is that as I said earlier, all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  The Pharisees needed a Savior as much as the sinners needed a Savior.  But the point Jesus is making is that without repentance there is no salvation.  And the oldest son’s attitude towards his brother and his father indicate a lack of humility, a lack of repentance, and a hostility towards those that are saved by grace. 

Listen, this is the significance of the oldest son.  He represents the people who refuse to repent.  They think that they are good enough because of their morality.  They compare themselves with others and think that they are better and so therefore God owes them something.  The law abiding older brother complained that he had never been given a party like his younger brother the reprobate.  Yet in his heart he had never confessed his sin, he had never repented of his sin, and yet he had taken of the father’s estate and used it for himself as well.  Jesus said the Pharisees did what good they did to be seen of men, for men’s approval and for earthly rewards.  That was their motivation.  And because their hearts had never been humbled in repentance, they were outside of the celebration.  They would not come into the feast.  God loved them too.  That is clear in the parable.  The father loved both his sons.  He implored the older son to come inside.  But he would not come.  He was indignant that the only way into the kingdom was through repentance.  

But that is the requirement of the kingdom of God. God is willing to go after us, to look for us, to seek us, to pick us up and carry us on His shoulders into the kingdom of God.  But we must first realize that we are lost. The Pharisees refused to believe that they were lost. They refused to identify with sinners.  They wanted to make a claim against God based on their righteousness. Titus 3:4 says, “But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

Listen, today all of us here are represented by one of these two sons.  Perhaps you are represented by the prodigal son.  You have lived a life of wanton pleasure, wasting your life after things that in the end have not brought you the happiness and peace that you wanted.  I hope that today you will come to your senses and call out to the Father in humility and repentance.  Jesus said whoever comes to Me I will in no way cast out, but I will welcome him and come into him.

Or maybe you find yourself represented by the older son.  You stayed home.  You have tried to live a respectable life in the community.  You tried to be morally good.  You go to church.  You participate in religious ceremonies.  But if you honestly evaluate your life, you recognize that you don’t have a right relationship with God.  You have never confessed that you are a sinner.  You have never accepted that your righteousness is not enough.  And if you’re honest you must admit that your motives for serving God are self serving.  Listen, Jesus is making it clear that there is only one way to be reconciled to God and that is through repentance.  Being willing to forsake your pride, your dignity, your respectability, your plans, your self esteem and confess that you are a sinner and ask for God’s forgiveness.  The Father is willing to save.  He wants to bring you into the kingdom of God and give you all that He has for you.  Don’t hang on to your pride.  But humble yourselves in the sight of God and then He will exalt you.   Let’s pray.

Back to the Garden, Luke 15: 8-10

If you’re a regular here at the Beach Fellowship, then you know that I don’t usually try to pander to the holidays with my messages.  As you know, we are going through the book of Luke, chapter by chapter and verse by verse, which is our custom.  But it just so happens that today my message does in some degree address mothers.  So for those of you that feel that I should attempt to recognize the holidays more in my messages, then you’re going to get your wish today.  However, as they say, be careful what you wish for.  If you have a seatbelt on your lawn chair, I advise you to buckle it, or if not, then hang on tight because it may be a bumpy ride, but hopefully the destination will make it all worthwhile. 

Contrary to what some might think, I don’t deliberately try to be controversial, or even necessarily confrontational.  Though if the passage of scripture calls for either, I won’t avoid it.  But the issue with the message that we are looking at today is that it would not be controversial, or confrontational, if the tide of the popular culture was not going so hard against what the Bible teaches in regards to the God’s design for women, and particularly mothers. 

Fifty years ago the women’s lib movement burst on the scene in this country with the burning of bras, the promise of freedom by joining the sexual revolution and the goal of financial equality with men.   But the question fifty years later is, are we better off today than we were then?  The popular culture then ridiculed the Ozzie and Harriett lifestyle depicted on “Leave It To Beaver” and said women needed to get out of the kitchen and become empowered.  So 50 years later we have exchanged Ozzie and Harriett for Ozzie Ozborne’s dysfunctional family as typical of the American family .  Instead of “I Love Lucy,” we have shows like “Desperate Housewives.”  I’m afraid that if the lineup on prime time TV is any indication of the state of our union then we are in serious trouble.

I’m afraid that women’s rush towards equality and empowerment has not had the beneficent effect on society that we all hoped that it would have.  Half of all marriages today end in divorce.  Today children are being raised strangers in child care facilities while they are still in their diapers.  Family dinners are a thing of the past.  Obesity is a national epidemic.  Women are now having health problems like heart disease that once was only the purview of men.  And children are increasingly  diagnosed as having psychiatric problems.  Statistics say that anti depressant prescriptions have risen 400% in the last two decades and is still climbing. 

I was talking with a young mother the other day who recently had her first children, twins, and was back to work full time in three months, putting the kids in childcare.  Her husband has a good job, and she makes a lot of money in her job as well.  And so even though she doesn’t have to work, she said she wants to work because she likes the extra money and the social aspects of her job. When she told me that, outwardly I tried to be polite and smile, but inwardly I felt like screaming.  I wanted to cry out, “Who has deceived you?”  “What has indoctrinated you so that you place a higher value on a new car or the latest iphone than you do upon mothering and nurturing these two little babies?”  What would convince a mother to give up the most precious thing a woman can have over to strangers to raise, to strangers to teach to walk, to hear them say their first words, in exchange for some attempt at self fulfillment? 

I am not saying that a mother cannot work outside the home.  I’m aware of the financial strain that many households are under and the necessity for two incomes in today’s economic climate.  I’m aware that many women are the sole providers in their homes.  But I am suggesting that the system as we know it is broken.  I am suggesting that the societal dogma  that has come to define women’s roles  needs to be examined afresh in the light of God’s word. 

There is a well known passage in the Proverbs 31 that I’m sure most of you are familiar with.  “Who can find a virtuous woman, for her price is far above rubies.”  It’s not talking about sexual virtue.  It’s talking about her character.  And this woman of Proverbs is a working woman by the way. Scripture doesn’t say that a woman cannot work.  Now I’m not going to take the time to read that proverb for you today.  That can be your homework.  But I will give you the cliff notes on it.  The virtuous woman had her priorities right.  Her priorities were God and family, not her career. 

On Wednesday evenings we have a mid week service at my home and we have been looking at the origins of man in the book of Genesis.  And what has come to light in our study is that men and women are different because they were designed to be different.  Though they are the same in so many ways, yet God designed them for different roles.  Men and women are different by design.  Women are physically different and psychologically different from men.  One is not better than the other. Just designed by God for different responsibilities. 

In Genesis 2 Adam looked at all the animals that God had made in creation and did not find a mate suitable to him.  So the Bible says God took flesh and bone from his side and fashioned a woman to be a help mate for him.  And Adam said, “this is now flesh of my flesh, and bone of my bone.”  The scripture goes on to characterize  marriage as being one flesh.  Vs. 24, “For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.”  Now theologians can quibble about what it means to be one flesh, but I don’t think it’s talking about sex.  But let us just consider the first word.  One.  They were to become one.  They were to be united in purpose, united in everything that they did.  That is the spiritual definition of marriage. Adam didn’t have a prenuptial agreement.  Eve didn’t do her thing and Adam did his thing.  They became one.

Now in chapter 3 we are introduced to the devil.  And somehow the devil found a day when Eve was alone and he used that opportunity to take advantage of her.  At that moment she wasn’t one with her husband.  And because she was alone, she got into a conversation with the devil and acted independently of her husband.  Satan tempted her when she was alone. Then she acted independently on her own.  And that became her downfall. 

Listen, that is still the way in which the devil works to destroy  marriages.  He separates what God said let no man separate. He tempts them to work against one another than together as one. But not only does Satan use that strategy to destroy marriages but also to destroy mankind.  He attempts to overthrow the very purpose of God’s creation.  He gets mankind to act and think independently of God.  We think that is our prerogative.  We think independence is our inalienable right as Americans.  But folks, that has never been the plan of God for mankind from the beginning.  Please understand, just as Eve was created to be the helpmate of Adam, so mankind was created to be the help mate of God.  God looked around all of the universe and He did not find anything that was suitable for Him.  There was nothing in existence in heaven or in the universe that was compatible for Him, that corresponded to Him.  And so God created the Earth and all that is in it to be the home of His bride, His companion.  And when all of this home was ready and good and perfect, then God got down on His hands and knees in the mud and fashioned out of the earth man in His own image, in His own likeness.  We were never created to be equal with God, but to be in the likeness of God, corresponding to God, made and conformed to His image. So God formed man out of the dirt to be like Him.  And then when He had lovingly shaped every feature, every inward part in wonderful ways, He bent over and placed His lips upon our lips and breathed the breath of life in us.  God created mankind for love, for His love, and that we might love Him. 

But as we see in Genesis 3, mankind rebelled against the plan of God.  They acted independently.  Eating the fruit of the  tree of the knowledge of good and evil wasn’t that the fruit itself was sin, but acting in independence from God was sin.  Man wanted to choose for himself what was right and what was wrong.  We wanted to be  like God in the sense that we can determine the parameters of our existence rather than live in accordance to God’s purposes. 

Romans 1:21 tells us what happened as a result of that original sin, that original rebellion against the purpose of God.  It says, “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.  Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.  For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.”

Then in vs. 28, we see the downward spiral of society as a result of that independence. It reads like a diagnosis of modern societies ills today.  “And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.”  Romans clearly is talking about people who have lost their way, who deviated from the plan and purpose of God to their own peril, rushing to their own destruction.

Crosby, Stills and Nash who were the travelling minstrels of my generation recorded a song called “Woodstock” which was written in 1969 by Joni Mitchell.  The first verse goes “Well I came across a child of God, he was walking along the road and I asked him tell where are you going, this he told me: Well, I'm going down to Yasgur's farm, going to join in a rock and roll band.  Got to get back to the land, set my soul free. We are stardust, we are golden, we are billion year old carbon, and we got to get ourselves back to the garden.”  They actually had the right idea but the wrong plan.  Mankind does need to get back to the garden. We need to get back to the Garden of Eden.  We need to get back to the original plan of God for our lives.  Unfortunately, the devil sold the mother of all men a bill of goods then, that she would be better off deciding for himself what was right or wrong and what her purpose should be. And the results have been disastrous for mankind.  The devil is still deceiving men and women today with the same strategy today.

The last line of the song “Woodstock” seems to admit that man is deceived, it says; “We are stardust, we are golden, we caught in the devil's bargain, and we got to get ourselves back to the garden.”  Unfortunately, they disregarded the plan of God and tried to find their own way back, and the result is we are more lost today than ever.

The Garden of Eden, by the way, was a real place here on Earth that existed before the fall of man.  But symbolically, the Garden of Eden is a picture of heaven.  When Jesus went throughout Israel He was preaching that men should repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.  In other places it says the kingdom of God.  And so we know that the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God are both referring to the same thing.  It is the place where God is.  It is the spiritual kingdom of God. 

In the Garden, mankind walked in the cool of the evening with God.  And when man fell through sin, that fellowship, communion with God was broken.  So God sent His only Son, Jesus Christ to be born as a man, that He might become one of us, that He might suffer the penalty of our sin upon Himself, that we might be saved.  So that we might be restored to the fellowship with God which man had in the beginning, in the original plan of God, the way we once were back in the Garden.  That is why Jesus came, to make it possible for us to be reconciled to God.  For man that has lost his way to come back to God.

Now that is the picture that Jesus presented in the first parable of Luke 15 which we looked at last week.  The parable of the lost sheep. Isaiah 53:6 says, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”  Jesus says this is the reason that I have come, to seek and to save those that were lost.  And so He tells a story about a sheep that is lost and a shepherd that goes looking for it.  And when He finds it, He binds it’s wounds and lays it upon His shoulders and carries it home, rejoicing.  He says there will be joy in heaven for one sinner that repents. Repentance is the path to restoration with God.  It’s the way to get back to the plan of God.

So what does that mean to repent?  It means to surrender to God’s purpose.  To surrender to God’s design for us.  God’s design for man was to be made in His image.  To reflect the image of God.  To be the bride of God.  To be in fellowship with God.  To be in service to God.  To be obedient to God.  So to be saved is to repent of doing things your way, deciding for yourself what is right and what is wrong.  To repent of being your own god, of deciding your own fate, and submit to the Lordship of Christ in every aspect of your life. 

Now I am afraid that by that definition then not a lot of people are actually saved.  They may be religious.  They may be more moral than the guy living across the street.  They may pray to God. They may go to church. They may have been baptized.  But they have never realized that they were lost.  That the way that seemed right unto a man was actually the way of death.  And as a result of realizing that they were lost they have never completely surrendered to God and said, “Lord, be merciful to me a sinner.  I am lost.  I surrender all.  I want to be remade in your image and I realize that I am incapable of doing it on my own. Like the sheep that went astray I cannot find my way back to the Garden.  I have been caught in the devil’s bargain.  I thought I could find happiness in my own way.  I thought I could be wise like you and make my own decisions.  But I realize that I am lost and in need of a Savior or else I will be lost eternally.”    

Now that is repentance and this is the message that Jesus is preaching, to repent and be saved in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. This is such an important message that Jesus gives us three illustrations or parables which reveal 3 different perspectives to being lost and then being saved.  And it’s the second parable that we are looking at today.  My introduction was extremely long, but thankfully the illustration is very short.  But it is the same message as number one and number three.  However it is from a woman’s perspective.  A mother’s perspective. 

First of all, Jesus says this woman had 10 coins and she lost one of them.  Now that may not really seem like a major calamity to us today.  But in the Middle East at this time women used to have what was called a dowry.  It was a sum of money that belonged to the woman which served as an element of financial security in the case of widowhood or against a negligent husband, and could eventually go to provide for her sons and daughters.  The women would oftentimes sew the money inside a headdress which they would wear, so that the money was always with them.

And so at some point the woman discovers that one of the ten coins is missing.  She is distraught.  Who knows how long it was missing.  It must have fallen out of the headdress somehow. It is lost.  And so she begins to look for it.   Now there are a number of points that I think that are born out in the parable that I think are applicable to us. 

First of all, notice that the coin is lost at home.  Unlike the parable of the sheep, this coin didn’t wander off.  But she lost it at home.  It was hers to keep, and now she lost it.  This is why I think that this parable has to do with mothers.  It could apply to anyone, but a mother is traditionally the keeper of the home.

I’m sure it is evident that the coin represents a person. And so the application to us today would be to ask the question, is there someone in your home that is lost?  Mom, is there someone in your home that is lost, that isn’t saved?   There is no greater stewardship given by God to parents than to raise their children in such a way as to bring them to faith in Christ.  There is nothing more important than to teach their children about God, about the importance of surrendering to follow Christ, and then to live out that Christ like example before your children.  That is job one for a mother or father. 

So the question is, is there someone at home that you may have thought was ok, you thought that they were saved, but one day you realize that they must be lost.  There is no tangible evidence that this person in your home is really saved. Oh, they may know the major stories of the Bible. They may even have at your prompting said a prayer at some time when they supposedly received Christ.  Maybe there was a public experience at camp or at a church service which made you think that they were saved.  But as the years went on, it became apparent that there was no desire to live for God.  They have shown no love for the things of God.  There is no commitment, no unconditional surrender to the Lord.  Maybe it’s a reality that you as  mothers and fathers have been unwilling to face.  But lately things have happened that make you question whether or not your kids are saved.

So the second point we see from this parable is that realizing that she has lost this thing of great value, the woman goes into action.  She is a picture of God, who seeks and saves those that are lost.  She is a picture of the heart of God towards the lost world.

Now there are three things that she does.  The first thing Jesus says she does is light a lamp.  She needed light to find her coin.  It says in the Psalms, “your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.”  We need the light of the scriptures to help us find the lost.  You know, when I deal with various people from all walks of life, I often find myself intimidated by the person.  Sometimes I’m talking to people that are much better educated than I am.  Some people are more sophisticated.  Some people are older, some are younger.  If I had to rely on my wisdom or my skill then I would be unable to reach anyone with the gospel.  In those situations I have to remember to turn to the scriptures and to let the word of God do the work.  It is the wisdom not of men, but of God.  Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”  So the first thing we must do when confronted with a lost person is bring the light of God’s word to bear on them. We need to bring our children under the teaching of the word of God so it can shine into their hearts and reveal to them that they are lost. 

Secondly, it says that she  swept the house.  Many  homes in those days had dirt floors.  And so to keep the dust down they spread straw on floor.  So in order to find the coin she took a broom and swept up the straw.  She swept out all the corners of every room.  She swept under the bed.  She swept out the closets.  What this indicates is laying bare every facet of your house. Searching every facet of our lives for error in the light of God’s word.  As a parent that calls for transparency.  We cannot be guilty as parents of saying do as I say, but not as I do.  We need to examine ourselves by the light of God’s word, and then we need to hold our children to the same standard.  We need to be an example of a surrendered heart to God.

Thirdly, Jesus says she searched diligently.  In other words she gave herself completely to the task.  Finding this lost coin became a priority.  Parents, I wonder how many other things have taken priority in your life.  Sure we say our kids are the most important thing in our lives, but many times our actions say otherwise. If you compared the time spent on your career, or your recreation, or your hobbies or your obsessions as opposed to the time spent bringing your children to a saving knowledge of Christ then I wonder what such a comparison would reveal?  I think the parable says it well.  The coin was lost at home.  And I’m afraid that kids today are lost at home as well.  Kids are left home alone to fend for themselves.  They are being raised by MTV.  So it’s no wonder they are lost.

Repentance requires that Jesus Christ must become the priority.  There is no shortcut to salvation.  You can’t hold onto the world and have Christ.  James 4:4 says that friendship with the world is hostility towards God.  Jesus said in Luke 16:14, “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”  Repentance calls for full surrender.  Completely giving yourself to God, to live no more for yourself, but to live your life for God’s purposes.

           

But Jesus concludes His parable with the coin being found.  What was lost has been restored.  And she calls her friends to celebrate. It’s a picture of the joy of heaven when man is brought back to God.  Jesus says, “In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”  In 2Peter 3:9, it says that the Lord “is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” 

Parents, mothers, fathers, if you’re a Christian here today, then the Bible tells us that we are made in God’s image, our purpose is to reflect the love of God to the world, by being conformed to the image of Christ.  Christ came to Earth to do the will of the Father, to offer Himself as a sacrifice for sin.  I wonder if we that claim to be Christians are also doing the will of the Father as our first priority?  Are you sacrificing your priorities, even as Christ did, so that your loved ones may be saved?  Are you willing to make the sacrifice that Christ made?  If not, then you can hardly say that you are being conformed to the image of Christ.

I hope that as the body of Christ we remember the purpose for which we were created.  That we put away all the weights that so easily distract us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

I would just close with one more thought.  And that is the woman pictured here is not just a picture of mothers, but as a picture of the bride of Christ, the church.  And so it is a picture of what all of us who say we are Christ’s should be doing.  There are lost people right here in this house here today.  They may have a form of religion, they may be good people, but they have never fully surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in their lives.  They have never renounced their sin, renounced the world, and given themselves completely as a bride to Christ, forsaking all others, clinging only to Him.  Forsaking all that the world offers in exchange for communion with God the way it was intended in the creation. 

Today the light of God’s word has been shed upon your lost heart.  In your heart, you know that something is missing.  The Holy Spirit is at work right now, convicting you of your sin and righteousness and the judgment to come.  He is sweeping in every corner of your house, in your closets, exposing your sin and your shortcomings.  Romans 3:23 says that “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”  But the good news is that having discovered that you are lost, you can be saved.  The problem with so many people is that they refuse to accept that they are lost and on the way to hell.  But the good news is that Jesus has come to seek and save the lost.  And if you recognize that you are lost today, then all that remains is to repent of your sins, confess to God that you need to be saved, and He will save you.  But Jesus said that they that follow Him must count the cost.  And the cost is your life.  Your will must become subservient to His will.  Your plans must become subservient to His plan.  Your purpose must become subservient to His purpose.  That is what repentance means.  To surrender everything. To become one with Christ.  I hope and trust that today is the day of your salvation.  I pray no one leaves here today lost.  Jesus has come to seek and to save those that were lost.  He died on the cross for our sins, that we might be reconciled to God.  That we might find our purpose, to find our way back to the Garden.  I pray that today is the day of your  surrender resulting in salvation.  Let’s pray.