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Series Introduction
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THE PARABLES OF JESUS,
#030
A Chronological Study
"To Him who opened His mouth in
parables and
uttered things hidden since the
creation of the world."
Psalm 78:2
[1]
“The Lost” Luke 15:1-32
The Lost Sheep :1-7
The Lost Coin :8-10
The Lost Sons “11-32
Please turn in your bibles to Luke chapter 15, and we’ll explore three of Jesus’ parables that all speak of the emotional quality of God’s love for you and me. While we often proclaim God’s love – we don’t often think about how he FEELS towards us, His Children.
In the study of Jesus’ parables I have found that what Jesus has to say in His parables is often some of the strongest commands He has to make to His four basic audiences. 1st - His disciples, 2nd - those who follow around after Him, 3rd - the Jewish religious leaders of His time, and 4th - we who follow Him in our own time.
In Luke Chapter 15 – We find that this single chapter in the book of Luke – contains three parables that are all about the same subject, but expressed in four different and important ways.
These Parables speak of the amazing Love of God for all those who belong to Him, and again, we’ll spend some time focusing on how God FEELS about those who are His.
We’ll also be exploring these three parables in terms of 1st - the Lost sinner, created by God, but not yet found. 2nd - The place of God’s covenanted nation Israel, often lost found and lost again. 3rd - The place of you and I who were once lost and now found. And finally the place of the saved person who has become lost in their commitment to their precious heavenly Father.
Just a
quick note about the background image on the screens. This is a picture of our
galaxy by a satellite camera somewhere in our solar system. What do you see as
you peer out into the space of our universe – size becomes immense. Scientists
tell us that our little planet is off on a lonely spiral arm of our Milky Way
galaxy – which has over 100 billion stars in it. We’re in a solar system right
here in this galaxy with over 100 billion possible neighboring solar systems,
and that’s pretty amazing. But, then we’re also told that our universe has more
than 100 billion galaxies, each having 100 billion stars, most with solar
systems. It looks to me like God has strategically placed US in a very far-off
place, specifically designed for His purposes in choosing a select adopted
family for His use and care in eternity. You might consider this the next time
you happen to feel useless or unloved
for the Love of God
for the human race, you and I
as individuals, is
extraordinary.
THE LOST
A Shepherd with a lost sheep, a Woman with
a lost coin, and a Father with two lost sons.
So we have three parables, with three owners (a Shepherd, a Woman, and a Father), each parable teaches a kind of emotion suffered by each of the owners. Important to this whole chapter is the concept that each of the lost subjects continue to be owned… even though lost.
First,
we’ll look at three words that describe these three parables.
THE LOST
SHEEP
First there
will be a lost Sheep. We’ll look at the Shepherd’s feeling of Responsibility.
THE LOST
COIN
Second there will
be a lost Coin. We’ll look at the Woman’s feeling of Value.
THE LOST
SONS
Third there will be
two lost Sons. And we’ll look at the Father’s feelings of Relationship.
THE BACKGROUND
We have to ask the
question: To whom is Jesus teaching these parables? The crowd that is following
Him, mostly Jews,
may be wearing on Him as this message is to them, as Jews and their current
situation. They had been chosen by God to become His covenanted people. By
covenanted we mean that God specifically chose them, the offspring of Abram
(Abraham) and contracted them to be His people. Over the centuries they often
rebelled and turned to idols. They were
chosen by God to be mediators to the nations of their
time into a believing and faithful relationship with God - but they failed in
their task and because of that failure – they, as a nation, had become Lost and
have been set aside (for a while).
SETTING THE STAGE
Luke 15:1-2
Now all the tax collectors and the sinners [non-religious Jews] were coming
near Him to listen to Him. 2 Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to
grumble, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”
Luke sets the stage by telling us that the Jewish Pharisees and scribes had
started to grumble audibly and publicly. They were angry because this Rabbi
(teacher - Jesus) has been collecting hated tax collectors and sinners, and Jews
who were not attenders or supporters of the Synagogue or the Oral Law - which
was developed by the rabbinical system to replace the authority of God’s Word.
Since this was a mostly Jewish society, anyone who didn't support the Oral Law
or the Synagogue (where it was taught) was considered unclean, and a dirty
sinner - the very people Jesus was spending His time with.
So here’s our setting for these three parables. Jesus is being hassled about
fellowshipping with common sinners and tax collectors, and Jesus wants to tell
His audience about God’s unending love for those who willingly choose to love
Him.
THE LOST SHEEP
:3-4
He told them this parable,
saying, 4 “What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of
them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture [Lit. wilderness] and
go after the one which is lost until he finds it?
Our first parable, “The Lost
Sheep” deals with
a
lost responsibility.
The Sheep is the Shepherd’s responsibility, He owns it, he feeds and waters it,
he cares for it, in fact he cares for it so much that he will leave his other 99
sheep to go and look for it - because it has gone astray.
His audience would be largely farmers and many of them raise animals. The most
numerous animals in any farmer's keep in that day would be sheep. So Jesus asks
the question in order to set-up this parable.
"Which one of you," he asks directly to them. Jesus
knows how to get their attention. "Which
one of you wouldn’t leave your
flock and go to find and rescue the one who was lost?" Do you see the what Jesus
said? This message is NOT about sheep. It’s about the responsibility that God
has in finding the one who is lost, and he needs to be found. The flock is not
complete until the one who is missing
is found and brought back to the flock… by The
Shepherd.
THE RESULT
:5-6
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 which was lost!’
What a savior He is! As the Shepherd, He has left the
fold, searched the land, found the lost one, rescued it, and now takes him upon
His shoulders to care for and carry him, and brings him back to the sheepfold.
Then He calls everyone there and says to them, "Rejoice with
ME, for
I have found
MY sheep, my
person, who was lost."
THE RESULTING JOY
:7
I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one
sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no
repentance.
It’s here that we should see the heart of God. Jesus makes His disciples agree
with the principle of going after the one who is lost, and then the joy of
finding that one and bringing it back into the fold. But nowhere do we read that
anyone listening received and believed His message. Jesus was telling them of
God’s love for lost Israel - and our lost world - and the responsibility of
lovingly restoring that nation into the God’s fold – and no one got it.
Oh what Joy there would have been in heaven if they had. When I look for an
example of the wonderful joy in heaven, I am brought back to our Baptism
services. I belong to a church body who believes in believer immersion baptism.
Into the water they go, all of us there watching, and then, “In the name of God
the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, I baptize you,” and sploosh…
the out of the water they come… and the crowd goes wild with great applause and
cheering. Now picture all of heaven having great joy… because repentant Israel
had returned home. But they didn’t.
On another level we also don’t want to lose the importance of the individual who
is lost, and how God loves them. He will search and search until the one He
owns, repents. Then God, the Shepherd, places them on His shoulders and brings
them home.
THE LOST
COIN
Our second parable, “The Lost Coin” concerns A lost Value.
Here we stop for a moment and consider some not so
well known facts about this lost coin, and why is the key person in this parable
a woman? Back in her day, one of the most major gifts, given as part of the
wedding ceremony, was the giving of a silver necklace. At that time it had the
same status as the wedding ring of today. In this particular case it was a
necklace made with 10 Drachma coins. You’ve probably heard about the Denarii
coin. That was a single coin worth a single day’s wage, but a Drachma was
considered to be, the price of a sheep – She was wearing the value of 10 sheep –
a valuable necklace in her time. But of more importance is the
emotional value of
losing one of the coins of her wedding necklace. So Jesus uses this woman’s
emotional feeling of loss to get His point across to them and us.
A LOST VALUE
:8
“Or what woman, if she has ten silver coins and loses one coin (Lit. 1 drachma,
a day's wage), does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully
until she finds it?
I’ll tell you a brief experience at my home. About two years ago, my wife Joan
lost her wedding ring somewhere on our property. She was emotionally devastated.
At the time we had been married 46 years, and the loss of that ring meant
everything to her. We searched everywhere, I even purchased a metal detector and
went over our yard with it – to no avail. A year later one of our sons-in-law
was visiting and asked to use the metal detector. After a few hours he came into
the house with the ring. It was received by all with “Great Joy.”
A lost value – that’s what this is about. Consider the heart of God losing His
precious covenanted people (His silver coin from the necklace), and again… how
much rejoicing there would be in heaven upon their return to faithfulness –
being put back in the necklace.
And again we must also consider the Value of the lost
individual
to God. Their lost condition is heartbreaking for Him. and
His willingness to
search for them… until found.
REJOICE WITH ME
:9-10
When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying,
‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost!’ 10 In the same
way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one
sinner who repents.”
So what we are seeing here is the emotional value
of this wonderful wedding gift – devastatingly lost, and then found with great
joy. That’s how God feels.
The end of this parable tells it all. "The one who
repents" is the key to this parable. The repentance (turning around) of the
nation. It is this hoped for outcome that the angels of God rejoice over. The
Individual who repents and is rejoined to Almighty God, Oh what rejoicing, for
The value to God is inestimable!
THE LOST SON #1
And our third parable concerns A Lost Relationship - That story IS about
a Father who allows His beloved youngest Son to leave and become lost to him –
and then this Father will constantly watch for Him to return – because he has
gone astray.
THE FATHER
:11
And He said, “A man had two sons.
Jesus is telling His story about His heavenly Father and what He is like toward
His children. These two sons have entirely different personal stories and we'll
deal with them separately.
THE YOUNGER SON
12-13
The younger of them said to his father,
‘Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me.’ So he divided his
wealth (Lit. his living) between them. 13 And not many days later, the younger
son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country,
and there he squandered his estate with loose living.
The first son in the story is the younger brother. He
has become old enough, and unhappy enough, to go to his father and demand his
share of his father's estate. We need to understand that, for whatever reason,
he has chosen to not believe in continuing his relationship with his father. I
suggest he might be in his early twenties, as that seems to be a pretty common
thing at about that age. Too many rules, too much responsibility, a changing
social structure - things like that. The father does as his son asks - and there
is no comment by Jesus on just how the father
felt about all this. We are left with waiting
till the end of the story to see where the Father really stood.
Not having any particular world experience the son gathered up his stuff and
left for a different country. It seems logical to me that the then Hebrew
culture was pretty law and order oriented and leaving such a country would be
just what a young man getting "out from under" would do.
Also without world experience... the young man "squandered" his estate with
"loose living," -- “Ah, free from all those rules and difficult Jewish customs.”
-- I think many of us can identify with that period of our own lives, and
perhaps our children and grandchildren as well.
THE SON’S ERRORS
14-16
Now when he had spent everything, a severe
famine occurred in that country, and he began to be impoverished. 15 So he went
and hired himself out (Lit. was joined) to one of the citizens of that country,
and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 16 And he would have gladly
filled his stomach with the seed-pods that the swine were eating, and no one was
giving anything to him.
The lack of adult knowledge allowed him to spend everything and not save or
invest. When hard times fell he was not prepared to handle them.
To his disadvantage, famine struck... and he became
impoverished (broke), and had to go to work for a Gentile who raised pigs and
wound up eating the pig’s food in order to survive… as no one was giving
anything to him. A young, broke, well-to-do, Jewish lad with friends who
abandoned him when his money ran out.
Now match this story to how Almighty God would feel if the nation of Israel was
like this younger son. That they would recognize their failure and lostness.
THE SON’S CHANGE OF DIRECTION
17-19
Do you remember, a few paragraphs ago, that we said,
"We need to understand that, for whatever
reason, he had chosen to not believe in continuing his relationship with his
father."? Now we can understand the
expression, "But when he came to his senses."
He reminded himself about how good he had had it back in his father's care. Even
his father's workers were well taken care of. "Poor me, I'm starving here!" "I'm
going home, at any cost!"
At that time, coming to his senses he says:
AND I 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."
But he doesn't get a chance to say that to him right away! For...
THE FATHER’S RESPONSE
:20
So he got up and came to his father (Lit. his own). But while he was still a
long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and
embraced him (Lit. fell on his neck) and kissed him.
Overcome by the desire to be "home" again and under his father's care and
blessing, he returns from that foreign country and as he approaches, being just
in sight of his home..., his father sees him coming. Now, that tells us that his
father was waiting and looking for him to return - without being told he would
return. Thus is the nature of his father. Many fathers and mothers can relate to
this moment. Oh, the hope of the return of a wayward child.
At that moment, his father feels... compassion… for his lost son and he ran to
him (apparently foreign to an Old Testament Jewish father), and grabs him and
hugs him, and kisses him. Such a grand reception for someone who went off "in a
huff." Oh, that so many fathers would welcome their returning children with such
affection and understanding. Difficult? Yes, but this father is very special.
THE SON’S REPENTANCE
: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.’
Now the son gets his chance to confess his wrongs.
"I have sinned against heaven,"
We see here that this son has come to the realization
that his rebellious actions were actually against the holiness of God, and that
it was done so in the sight of his own earthly father as well. He openly admits
that, "I am no longer worthy to be called your
son.’ What a strong statement, and I don't
think it is a statement made to acquire privilege, he just means it. He's spent
half of his father's inheritance, lived with pigs and ate their food. "Just not
worthy to be your son."
And so too it is with all those whom God’s Holy Spirit works upon them while in
their lost state. What have I done? I belong to Him. I’ve sinned in His sight,
I’m not worthy. But, the Father comes running at the right moment.
THE LOVE OF THE FATHER DEMONSTRATED
:22-23
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; 23 and bring the
fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate;
Without comment, his father honors his returned son, the best robe, a ring for
his hand (perhaps a family signet ring), fresh clean sandals for his feet and
then... a banquet in his honor! Wow, what a father he has - Wow, what a heavenly
Father we have!
THE SON – LOST AND FOUND
:24
What a sentence this is! Here Jesus tells of His own
death and how His Father loves and cares for Him upon His resurrection.
"This son of mine was dead and has come to life
again; He was lost and has been found." I
wonder if Jesus had tears in His eyes as He said this.
It was, and perhaps still is, that in the Jewish culture if a child removed
themselves from the care of their parents over some legal issue, the father
would declare that son or daughter was "dead" to the family, and the separation
could sometimes never heal.
This Father (Our Father) waits for our return to Him, takes us in His loving
arms and hugs and holds us, and carries us into full fellowship upon our return
- even when we come back feeling totally unworthy of His love…
but then…
THE OLDER SON
:25-27
The party has started without the older son's
presence.
As he returns home he learns of his wayward
brother's return - and his father has
"received him back safe and sound."
Now there's music and dancing...
THE ANGRY SON
:28-29a
But he became angry and was not willing to go in; and his father
came out and began pleading with him. 29 But he answered and said to his father,
‘Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a
command of yours (or disobeyed you);
This parable puts the final cap on the three. Yes, we have been looking on how
God loves his people, especially when they return from great spiritual
difficulty. And now, if we look at this last portion and remember that Jesus was
there in that wayward Israel in a final attempt, to bring that nation back into
God’s fold from their long held turned-away position from their God. And here is
the older son (Israel) trying to persuade their father (Almighty God) of how
faithful and responsible they were to Him.
“THE SON OF YOURS”
:29b-30
and yet you have never given me a young goat, so
that I might celebrate with my friends; 30 but when this son of yours came, who
has devoured your wealth (Lit. living) with prostitutes, you killed the fattened
calf for him.’
The older son’s anger boils over at his father’s love for the younger son.
THE FATHER’S RESPONSE
:31-32
And he said to him, ‘Son, you have always been
with me (Lit. are always with me), and all that is mine is yours. 32 But we had
to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to
live, and was lost and has been found.’”
So here we can begin to focus in on the fuller meaning of the parable that Jesus
is telling to the following crowd - a crowd that also contains Pharisees and men
sent by them to find deadly fault with what Jesus is saying and doing. There are
two kinds of people in the listening crowd - the message concerning the two
sons. Those who will hear the clear message of repentance and salvation, and
those who will refuse to enter into the fellowship of their God, their heavenly
Father, and will instead be devoured by unforgiving anger.
OUR SUMMARY
As I look at the anger the older son experiences I see the long history of the
religious leadership who constantly led their people down the lost trail of
legalism.
On top of that is the list he reports: "I've been
serving you, I've been obeying you," which, in terms of God's covenanted nation,
they really never did faithfully. Then there is the "you never have given me..."
when God had always shown Israel great gifts and blessings. And he closes with
the, "But when THIS son of yours came home" you blessed Him and not me.
Can you see the Jewish religious leadership's growing
anger and hostility represented here. The anger against their God for His love
and rewards of the Younger Son - who
“was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has
been found.’”
These three parables are about those who God already
Owns and The one who OWNS this sheep will go after it until He finds it. Do you
know one, a fellow believer who through sin is lost in his Christianity? Again,
a believer cannot be unsaved, but they can become lost in their relationship and
daily walk.
If so, then you need to leave your comfort
zone among all the others (who are not lost) to find this one. Why? For that is
what Jesus did. He came here to find and rescue His sheep in this lost place -
for each named one is that important to Him.
So we have Three parables:
(1) One about Our God with the
feelings of a Shepherd, a lost and then found Responsibility - The one Possessed
by the heavenly Shepherd. Found by The Sheperd and returned by Him in great joy
and celebration.
(2)
One about a Our God with the feelings of a
woman, a lost and then found Value - The one Valued by the heavenly Father.
Found and presented in great joy and celebration.
(3) And One about a Father with a
lost relationship and a dead Son, who then Returned Alive and was embraced with
great joy and celebration.
Let us
pray:
Heavenly Father we thank you for these three parables that show to us the great
love you have for each one of us. Thank you for loving us when we were truly
lost… and then found in the love of your Son Jesus.
And thank you for the
great love you show us when we as believers have turned away from you… and You
came looking for us and returned us to the fold.
And thank you for these parables which gracefully
show us the picture of Jesus, the Savior, who on behalf of those who were lost,
became dead and are now alive. May each of us learn these lessons well, for it
is through them that we can learn of the great fellowship, value, joy and
celebration for those who are Lost and then Found. We pray in the name of our
Shepherd and Redeemer, Your Son Jesus.
Amen.
Parables Home
Series Introduction
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Jeremiah 18:15
"Don't stumble from the Ancient Path"
2023-11-09