Sermon Cloud

Finishing chapter 14 of the Gospel of Luke, Jesus says, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” It is obvious that some were not. Jesus is essentially saying, if you have ears in your head and the ability to listen, you should. The sinners were listening, but not the righteous. They were too busy murmuring and grumbling against Him.

God’s Joy in the salvation of the lost

Verses 1-11 “Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him.”

This was considered the scum of the earth, the lowest of the low. To be a tax collector meant you bought a franchise from the Romans to collect taxes from your own people. They were surrounded by enforcers who would break an arm or finger if you couldn’t pay. They only people that would hang out with tax collectors would be prostitutes and drunkards.

The Pharisees were proud that they were so pure and holy that they would not defile themselves with such wicked sinners. They considered them nothing more than dogs. The Pharisees were very proud of their law keeping and pious lifestyle.

The tax collectors and sinners are like the younger brother in the coming parable, and the Pharisees are the older brother.

The younger brother, sinners, seem to always be attracted to Jesus. The older brother, the Pharisees, are always put off by Jesus because they assume He must be telling them only what they want to hear, and it must not be in step with the rules. One of the ways we will be able to tell if we are preaching the Gospel the way Christ intended is that we will have considerably more younger brothers in this church than we will the elder brothers. The elder brother mentality will come out of curiosity, but because of their self-righteousness, they won’t be able to stay. This has actually happened recently over the sermon I preached on caring for the poor.

If our church doesn’t attract younger brothers, we are in great danger of defiling the Gospel and stripping it of its essential message and power.

2: “And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, ‘This man receives sinners and eats with them.’”

They knew that eating with someone was a close act of fellowship with them. They would never do such a thing to cause them to be unclean.

Jesus shows them how very far away from God they were. In their desire to be holy by detaching themselves from sinners, they actually stirred God’s anger and displeasure.

3: “So he told them this parable: 4 ‘What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, “Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.”’”

Of course they would rejoice, the sheep had value.

7: “Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”

This is a sting to those who assume they don’t need to repent because they assume they are already righteous. God has great joy and openly rejoices in heaven over one person who comes to Him in faith.

8 “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? 9 And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.' 10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

How sinful must we be to rejoice over things and possessions that we lose, but not pursue and find ourselves rejoicing when an image bearer of God, who is of tremendous value, repents and is brought to faith and love in the Father?

This story shows us the culture of shame and honor that was so prevalent at this time. Yet this entire story is one long shameful tale. The Pharisees and the Scribes would have sneered and jeered at such a story of such shame. The shame of the first son, and the shame of the father’s response.

The Tale of the first son (the irreligious)

Verses 11-24 “And he said, ‘There was a man who had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, “Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.” And he divided his property between them.’”

There are two shameful acts in verse 12. The one shameful act was for the younger son to ask for his inheritance before his father’s death. To ask for your portion early would have been comparable to asking for your father to die, or at the very least, wishing it was so, so that you could reap the benefits of the father’s wealth, without a desire for the father himself. This would have meant that the father would have lost his stature among his peers since they were tied to the land and honor was found in land ownership. If you had much land, you received honor. Yet his son did not care about his father’s honor, and instead asked him to essentially dishonor himself by giving him something he was not due yet.

The second shameful act was the response of the father. The Pharisees would have mocked the father because he gave in to the son and shamed himself.

13: “Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. 14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything. 17 But when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants."' 20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' 22 But the father said to his servants, 'Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.' And they began to celebrate.”

The tale of the second son (the religious)

Verse 25-32 "Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.' 28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, 29 but he answered his father, 'Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!' 31 And he said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.'"

Normally this kind of parabolic literature would include a balance of strophe’s in the first part. This would mean we should find 8 in the first section and 8 in the last. However, this particular parable ends with a cliffhanger and without the final strophe. It ends with only 7. Why? Because the ending for Christ would complete the parable. What happened in this story is this: the elder brother, seeing that his father was not apologizing for his grace upon the younger, became enraged at his father’s grace, took the plank he was working with in his hand and beat his father to death. This is ultimately what happened to Jesus Christ, who came as the full representation of the Father in the flesh, pursuing sinners on the dusty road and granting them unmerited favor, until the Pharisees had enough and beat Him, mocked Him, jeered and spat upon Him, and nailed Him to a Roman cross and killed Him.

Their great sin was allowing their own righteousness to avoid the grace of God. Their disdain for the One who showed them they could only come to God if they laid down their pursuit of meritorious favor and repented of their righteousness and trusted in the righteousness of Jesus, caused them to grind their teeth until they had an opportunity to murder the One who came out to meet them.

Both the first son (irreligious) and the second son (religious) have both attempted to act as their own savior and lord, and therefore, both pursuits are attempts to avoid Jesus. For the irreligious, we attempt to act as our own lord by telling ourselves and others that we don’t need to be told what to do, we are masters of our own destiny. For the religious, we act as our own savior by assuming we can live a good life and save ourselves from our own flaws and gain God and heaven by our own merits.

There may be some of you here that have come to the conclusion that you can do nothing to bring joy to the Father. That sounds theologically accurate, except this exception: God rejoices when a sinner repents and turns to Him in living, loving faith. This brings God tremendous joy because He then displays the wonders and beauty of His grace to the sinner He saves and the world He made.

Do you want to truly please the Father and bring Him joy? Then turn to Him in repentant faith, assess yourself in truth, see yourself as in desperate need of the only One who can rescue you. Trust in Christ’s work and His righteousness. Trust that if you repent, God will welcome you, clothe you in His robes of righteousness, give you dignity, place His ring of authority upon your hand, and His shoes upon your feet for the journey. This invitation is held out for both the son who is doing his best running away from the father, as well as the son who is doing his best to work his way to the father. Both are in great need of the Father’s grace.

Hebrews 12:2 “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”