More Than Meets The Eye

I was working on another message and just didn't feel released to preach it, so I went back to another thought that I've worked on before. And I was praying, praying, and God was leading me here, and I feel like I do have a, a word for us today from the Lord. I'm going to preach about More Than Meets The Eye. And we want to use a very familiar passage of scripture, and there probably isn't a chapter — this chapter would be one of the chapters I've, I've personally have studied out the most in the scripture, because every time I go back to it, I just find more and more there, um. And so, having said that, I'm going to use quite a bit of scripture today. That's not an apology, that's just me telling you I'm going to use a lot of scripture, because I believe in basing everything out of the word of God, number one. Number two, I may go a little slower than my normal Sunday. Usually, you know, we hit the ground running and we go, and we buck and snort and do all the stuff, so it may take me a little while to get to the bucket and snorting part. But it, I do feel like I have a word for us.

You know, God's view on lost things is, is a lot different than our view. And, and I just stand it all at how he loves us. Anybody besides me ever to stop and think about the fact that, that the God who spoke the world into existence, the universe and everything that is known, and all the things that are not even known or discovered yet, all that stuff, loves you? That, that thought is, you know, I feel like David, who, "What is man, that thou art mindful of him?" I don't know, my little selfish world that I create myself, that you would be still captivated and thoughtful of me. Yeah, like, what, what about that? I don't know about you, but it takes me back, and I think about how good his love is. And I think that today's message will even demonstrate more of how much he loves us. I, I, I, I don't know that I have an opening scripture. I just have the scriptures I'm going to read first, and we're going to move forward. Is that maybe the better way to say it? So I'm going to go to Ezekiel, but I'm going to go to Zephaniah and Isaiah right after that. So, um, if you have an analog version of scripture, which is this version, um, you know, we're gonna, it's gonna be like sword drill, so you may have to be a bit older, know what that was. Sword drill is when you had to set with your Bible like this, anticipating they would say, "Matthew 2 and 3," the first one I got there was able to open it up and stand up and read it. So some of you like, "Wow, that doesn't sound like any fun," but you had to be there; it was competition. See, I've always, all my life, struggle to memorize in scripture, but I could turn there fast.

So Ezekiel 18 and 32 says: "For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God, to wherefore turn yourselves and live ye." Justin or neon, I can't see who's back there, but I'm ringing in the monitors.

Zephaniah 3, 17: "The Lord thy God is in the midst of thee, is mighty. He will save. He will rejoice over thee with joy. He will rest in his love. He will joy over thee with singing." Did you, did you catch that? It's not talking about your neighbors, not talking about your, your spouse. It says God will rejoice with joy over you, that God's singing about you. Let that sink in your head for a minute, that he spoke everything that we know all around us, and, and in spite of us — I said that right, in spite of us — he still sings about us. Can you, can you get your head around that kind of love, how good our God is?

Isaiah 62 and 5: "For as a young man married the virgin, so shall the sons marry thee. And as a bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall God, so shall thou God rejoice over thee." Jesus loves us. That statement alone is worth rejoicing. I don't have to talk about the promises in the word of God, I don't have to talk about — just the fact that he loves us is worthy of praise and worship today. Jesus loves us, but there's so much more than just his love.

But today I want to, I want to, you know, when I want to read through the scriptures, I, I, especially the gospel accounts of the life of Jesus, you find him using stories to tell and get across his point, the parables that were there. And oftentimes he gets himself into trouble with the Pharisees, because he's presenting a god that is searching for fellowship with the lost, or the way they would term it, fellowship with sinners, that he was — and they couldn't get their head around that, because God was holy, and God is holy, and, and God is separated from sin, and he is separated from sin. But, but what they had done is, they had created a relationship that was not a relationship. They had created, the only way we had access to God is we had to follow

every rule to the T. And they had become so legalistic that they had separated and took all the joy out of a relationship with God. They had made it impossible to have a relationship with God. And Jesus shows up on the scene, and he begins to, to set things back the way they were supposed to be. And I don't have time today in this sermon to go into all the reasons why I had gotten into the shape the way it was, but, but what I want to try to point out today is that, that there was a parable in Luke 15 that was told, and in it we see that everything in that chapter was lost. There was a lost sheep, there was a lost coin, and there was a lost son. It's the lost chapter. And there is so much depth and richness in this one chapter in the Bible that I don't have enough time to, to, to, to, fully unpack it all today. But what I see in this story, and I hope I can, I can get the point across to us today, is Jesus is beginning to show just the, the beginnings of how deep his love goes for us, because he is about restoring things that have been lost.

Luke 15 and 1 starts this way: "Then Drew neared him all the publicans and the sinners for to hear him. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eat it with him." So right off the bat, do you feel the drama? He's already setting the stage up, because he, he's supposed to be a religious man, he's supposed to be, he's supposed to be a devout man. And yet, when he stands up to talk, the crowd he draws is, is not the, the, the, the social elite. It's not, it's not the who's who of the scribes and Pharisees. Instead, it's the common folk; it's the publicans and the sinners who show, because there's something about this Jesus. He's just different than anything they had ever heard before. He's so approachable. He seems to meet them right where they are, and they're just drawn to him, because his presentation of God is so much different. He talks about a God who desires a relationship with him.

He says things like, in verse number seven of that same chapter: "I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over 99 just persons which need no repentance." Can you just feel the tension in this moment? As the, as the scribes and Pharisees — they're the 99 that don't need repentance, even though they really do need repentance, but in their mind they don't — and Jesus is saying there's more joy in heaven over one sinner who sees the air of his ways, or her ways, and says, "God, please forgive me, I'm a sinner, I have drifted far away from you." Heaven rejoices because of repentance, the 99 that don't need it. Verse number 10: "Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of angels over God, over one Center the repenteth."

I don't know about you, but in this moment I can just feel the tension there. I can see, I'm just starting to, to get all worked up and all built up, because they don't like what they're hearing from Jesus, because he's not making a presentation of the god that they have been talking about. Because they've talked about a god of law, and about a god of rule, and how things were cut and dry, and black and white, and there was no room ever for sin. Now make more mistake, God is never for sinned, but one thing God is about is restoring the lost. And somewhere along the way, they left that part out of what they were doing. Somewhere along the way, they made it seem like you could never, ever make a mistake, because if you make a mistake, God's kicking you out and no longer wants anything to do with you. But I don't know about you, but I don't know how to be that good. Maybe you do — you don't — but maybe you do, but you don't, because you're wrapped in the same flesh I'm wrapped in, and that flesh is constantly trying to rule my day, and that flesh never wants to do the right thing.

And God comes down, robed in flesh, and begins to set things back the way it was supposed to be, to restore what was broken and what had been taken away. When God gets involved, he brings with him joy. He brings with him joy. He brings with him joy. I don't know about you, but I want joy in my life. I want God in my life, and God brings joy when he shows up. He's not waiting to start to party when there's a thousand who join, or even a hundred, or even ten, but he said, when one, when just one repents, we're going to have a party, we're going to celebrate, when one person — that's why we get so excited during worship, and we get excited then the message is, when people come down here, and, and some that come are seeking repentance, and we get happy, because we know in heaven, heaven's happy, and if heaven's happy, we ought to be happy. Joy of God in the presence of angels is what the scripture says. The 15th chapter here studies out things that are lost. Even the Muslim world is acquainted

with Luke 15, because of the impact it has, and how counter-cultural it is in Middle Eastern culture. It's critical for you and I to spend some time understanding and comprehending why Jesus set the parable up the way he did, because nothing was accidental with him. Everything he did was on purpose. Every story he had was rich and detailed, and had so much meaning there. And oftentimes we, we view it through the lens of our sanitized American way. And there's nothing wrong necessarily with doing that, but oftentimes when we view it only with that lens, we, we, we put boundaries on a story that's trying to cross over into areas of our life where God wanted it to go. So if you allow me today to unpack it a little bit better for us, I feel like this story has something for everyone in the room.

And I wonder if, if I could just do this — could, could you maybe, for the next — and I want, I, I try my best not to be long today. You like honest preachers, right? I try my best. But I wonder if we could approach this way: can you, can you maybe, the next 15 or 20 minutes, just say, "There's something here for me"? You did not just say it, but actually, "There's something here for me." Can we do that? Say, "Something here for me. There's something here for me." Let's look at it.

Look, I'm going to go — so, with the lost sheep and the lost coin, they're good, but, but the real meat of the chapter is in the lost sun. So I'm going to go there. Verse number 11, and chapter 15, says that he said — that was Jesus — "A certain man had two sons." How many sons? "And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living." Now, notice it said he divided unto who. Let's go back. "A certain man had" — how many sons? "And the younger said, I want the stuff that's supposed to come to me." And the father divided unto — okay, so the two got the division. You guys with me so much here? Don't, don't skip the words. If you missed the words, you missed the story, okay?

13: "And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, their Rose and mighty family" — boy, doesn't that happen? Just when you run out of money, nobody's hiring, there's a famine — "and he began to be in one." Verse 15: "And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him to the fields to feed the swine. And he would feign and filled his belly with the husk of the swans that eat, and no man gave unto him."

Now, I pray I can get this out the way it's in me. One of my favorite stories, if not my favorite story, out of, out of the calvary's account that's in the Bible, because of all that's represented in this story. The prodigal son is a name that we've attached to it, but what's interesting, the word prodigal doesn't appear in the Bible, but it means wasteful. This wasteful sun — the text here opens that there was a man who had two. So we have three characters in the story: two sons and a father. Everybody with me so far? Surely we can keep up with three characters, can't we? We got a younger, we got an older, and we got a dad. And here we see this story, and it's, in, in it, we, we can't fully get to the depth of it unless we discuss all three. We can't neglect any of them. This interrelationship between the three of them is supremely important. The older son is, is clearly as important as the younger son, and we can't leave the father out.

I feel that we need to take a minute. So let's talk about the younger son, because after all, he is, he's, he seems to be the star of the story, because the most that's written is written about the younger son. So let's think about the younger son for just a minute. What in the world would cause a son to go to his father and say, "I wish you were dead, but since you won't just die, I want to go ahead and get my inheritance"? Maybe saying, "Pastor Kevin, that's not what the word of God says." Oh, but it is. That is what the word of God is saying. He's saying, "Dad, I want the stuff that's going to fall down to me now." I want you to know, the moment he said that — he being Jesus, telling the story to those that are listening, everybody that's in a circle around him, because in my mind they're in a circle around him. Do you guys see it? I have — you have to see it, or I can't move forward. Everybody see it? Okay, good. So he's in the middle, and he's telling the story. And as he's telling the story to him, when he says the younger son goes to the father, and I'll — he says to the father, "I want the portion, I want my inheritance, I want what I'm going to get when you die, even though you haven't died yet" — everybody in that circle would have been so — we need everybody to

do that. Yeah, I know, so controversial, this story, because they knew how unbelievably disrespectful it was for a son to go in and demand anything, much less the inheritance, from the father. Oh, oh, it was there immediately. You can see him — I mean, whether they were sinners, publicans, scribes, or Pharisees, every one of them is mad in this moment: "No way! A son would have any right, much less thought, to go into their father and say, I wish you were dead, but since you won't die, give me what belongs to me." Obviously, we see some self-centeredness and pride in the middle of this. But listen to me for just a minute: it's important that I give you the full story. A relationship is broken, but the law wasn't broken. I don't know if you knew this or not: the son must have done his homework, because he didn't break the law. Deuteronomy 21-17 states his portion is one-third, and it does not state that his father has to be dead first.

Okay, now I know it bothers us, and I'm telling you right now, it definitely bothered them. But even the Pharisees and the scribes couldn't necessarily say he didn't have the ability to ask. It's just unbelievably disrespectful. So no rules were broken. He didn't break the law. He doesn't care what it costs the rest of the family, because — and they didn't have banks and ATMs they could go to and just withdraw the money. Without any doubt in my mind, everything was tied up in the family estate. They usually had multi-family housing that was there, and farms and livestock. So at some point the father had to go out and make a sale, and it says it only took a few days, which means he was taking less than what it could have brought, if he had been willing to wait. But the son wasn't willing to wait. He says, "Dad, I want what belongs to me, and I want it now." Demanding privilege without responsibility, not thinking for a minute the consequences that this set's in motion, the domino effect through the family. Because it wasn't just Dad that was going to be affected, but it was the entire family that was going to have to endure what he said in motion with that request. Again, I say, he demanded privilege without responsibility.

He cuts himself off from his roots, which was something that was unheard of. If you ever wonder why the scripture talks about someone's name as being, being Mike, the son of, the son of — because you were tied to families, and family is where you found your security. Because if you ever found yourself traveling somewhere, you could say, "I am so and so, son of so and so." Usually you reference whoever the patriarch was in the family, and it was because of that, you were accepted in society. But the son comes up and says, "I'm willing to take a risk and cut all of that out of my life, because of the demands I feel like I'm due." Who am I speaking to, anybody, today? Anybody had a selfish motive before? Anybody been self-centered for just a little bit, and, and didn't care about the consequences you were sitting in motion by the decisions or the demands you had? Oh, we've all been there. We may not raise our hands in this service, but we've all, at some point or another, been just like this boy: demanding things and not wanting the responsibility that come along with it.

But that's the younger side. Let's talk for just a minute about his brother, the oldest. He knows the entire story that's going on between the father and the son, see, it's a small village. And in a small village, gossip happens. In a small village, people talk. Servants and, and helpers and, and, and, and close family members, they're all going — I promise you, from the moment he asked, within about an hour, the entire village knew the audacity of that boy and what he asked of his father. So there's no doubt in this preacher's mind that the oldest son knew what was going on. And the reality is this: he was actually supposed to be the mediator between the two. I don't know if you know that or not, but because, because anything that would cause disrespect in Middle Eastern culture, they did everything they could to save face. So whoever the closest family member should have been the mediator between the two. But we see, from what little information we have, that he is refusing to step between his father and his brother. He's refusing to go to, and then say to his brother, "What are you thinking? Are you really, are you really demanding that our dad give you the inheritance? Have you, have you lost your mind? What's wrong with you? Do you know how much shame you're bringing into the family by doing this?" And we don't see him going to his dad, saying, "Dad, what are you doing? He doesn't deserve that. He doesn't deserve anything, because of how much he's disrespected you." Instead of playing the mediator, he steps back, and he himself is refusing any responsibility. See, there's a lot to the story that you have to unpack. He would have been second in command. Maybe, just maybe, he might have been the source of contention that caused his brother to go and ask for the inheritance. This is the way things were set up: the oldest would have gotten two-thirds, if there was only

two, and the youngest would have got one third. I would have been divided amongst the children, equal portions, but the oldest always got more, because the oldest had the responsibility and obligation of taking care of Mom and Dad when the, when they got on up in years. That's why it was set up that way. But instead, he remained silent the entire time.

And then there's the father. He does not sever his relationship with either of his sons, but we see a breakdown in the relationship because of what the sun is asking of his dad. But the father still holds out, and, and is hanging on to what I see is, is just a broken rope connection. But he refuses to drop the rope, hoping at some point that it could be mended again. But in doing so, he suffers himself. If the father had disowned the son, there would be no possibility of reconciliation. There would be no possibility of restoration. I'm going to say that again: if the father would have disowned the son in that moment, there would have been no possibility for a reconnection, or a restoration, or reconciliation. Somebody needs to hear what I'm saying today, that the father knew: as bad as this hurts, as much as this stings, as much as I'm going through in this moment, I cannot let go of what I'm hanging on to, because maybe, just maybe, there might be a day. The father's suffering provides the foundation for the possibility of a return.

Romans 6: 23 says, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." The death didn't come when the prodigal got in the pig pen — I'll get there in a minute — but to death came the moment he left the father's house. In that culture, they would have actually had a funeral, because of the shame and disrespect the son brought into the family. The moment he left the little community, the little town there, they would have had a funeral, as if the son had physically died. Because to them, what he did was so shameful, he should be dead.

Please hang on to the words I'm, I'm telling you today. I'm painting a picture that I wasn't the one who painted; it was Jesus who's telling this story. And those in the circle who are listening to, they are painting a picture in their mind of someone who could do something that would be so shameful and disrespectful. Where possibly could this story go? You see, this was Jesus creating the ultimate sinner. Listen to me, Jesus was crafting a master story, and in the middle of the story, because of the cultural norms of the day, he had built up in this story the ultimate sinner, someone who would actually sperm the love of God and walks away in rebellion, and does incredibly, ridiculously stupid things, waste all their blessing, and ends up on the street with nothing, a victim of their own sin and stubbornness. That's what this story did.

So the question is, how does God treat the worst sinner? Because if we know that, we will know how he will treat us when we have sinned. See, it wasn't accidental that he tells this story the way he tells it. It wasn't just happenstance that he includes the details that he includes, but he's doing it on purpose, not just for that moment, but for all these thousands of years later, when we're reading this scripture verse and we have it unpacked, that we can understand that he was purposely creating the worst, the ultimate sinner, because of how he acts and how he treats everyone around them.

So verse 17 of chapter 15. Now he is — I've read the story up to this point: he's taken Dad's money, he spent Dad's money, he has no money, and now he's in want, because there's a famine. Verse number 17: "And when he came to himself" — anybody had to come to themself moment before? Anybody, anybody been there? Any, anybody just stopped and said, "What in the world am I doing? Like, how did it get this far? How did I end up here? Why is all this going on in my life? Why did I set those things in motion?" Anybody ever had a come to yourself moment? So we can identify here where he is. "And when he comes to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my fathers have bred enough to spare, and I perish with hunger. I will arise and go to my father, and I'll say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, and I'm no more worthy to be called thy son" — listen to what he's saying: "I shouldn't even be called your son" — "Make me as one of your hired servants. And he arose and came to his father. But it was a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And he said, Son — and, and son said unto him, Father, half sinned against heaven and in thy sight, and no more worthy be called thy son. But the father said to his servant, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and she was on his feet, and bring hither the fat of Kath, and kill it, and let us eat and be married, for this son was dead and is alive again, and was lost in his found."

And they began to be married. Everything is wrong in this story. That's not how it's supposed to go. Now remember, he's telling the story, and everybody's around him in a circle. He's still there — bring it back, I know I lost a couple of you. So he's telling the story, and he gets to this point, and I promise you, a couple of them pass flap out. This, this fell over, because there's no way he, he — this, everything's wrong, everything's out of order, nothing makes sense, and in their little minds there was just a little explosion, because they can't comprehend that kind of love. They've never known it. To them, it didn't exist. Jesus has created the ultimate sinner. He has crafted the perfect story of the worst of the worst. But instead of damnation and punishment, there's acceptance and restoration. They can't handle that. The prodigal should have crawled home and shame and humiliation, because that's what he deserved. He should have been held in content by his father and his family, at the very least. He should have been made to take a bath before anybody ever talked to him. Should have had to work for years to pay everything back that he lost. This is what the Pharisees are expecting, because that's what the law demanded. In fact, the law demanded the ultimate price.

See, that's why, when he's crafting the story, that Jesus included the part that, as the son is making his way back, that the father seen that his son's coming back, and he runs. Remember I talked about, they had a funeral because of the disrespect that the father — this, the father endured because of the son. The father knew, that's why he always kept his eyes looking down the road. Remember, he was hanging on to something: "I can't disown him, because there's no possible way of restoration, there's no reconciliation." But the father knew this: because of the shameful act of my son, the village, the community, they'll handle it for me, because I have endured enough. They will take care of business. If my boy ever shows up, they'll take care of him at the city gates. Therefore, the father was always looking down the road, every day, for the possibility that his boy might come back. And the moment he's seen him topping the hill, he takes off running after his son, because he knows, if I don't get there first, they'll stone him to death. So he openly grabs his robe, he shames himself, and he runs. Listen to what I'm saying: Jesus is telling the story about a father openly shaming himself to reach out to a son who's been disrespectful and who left the wrong way. He's talking about the fact that the father loved enough to say, "I'm willing to endure the shame, I'm willing to endure the ridicule, because I got to get to my boy. If I don't get there, they'll kill him."

Rebellious sons are supposed to be stoned. Deuteronomy 21: 18. "If a man have a stubborn rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, the voice of his mother, when they have chastised him, we're not hearken unto them, then shall his father and his mother lay hold of him, and bring him out into the elders of the city, and to the gate of his place. And they shall say unto the elders of the city, This is our son, is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice. He's a glutton and a drunkard. And all the men of the city shall stone him with stones that he died. So shalt thou put evil away from among you, and all Israel shall hear and fear." Fear. But he loved enough that, regardless of the law, he was willing to restore. Regardless of what the law said, he was willing to override the shame and run.

Do you know who the prodigal son is? It's me, and it's you. That's us in the story: that he was willing to overlook the law to reach out to where we were, to restore. You know who the father is? God incarnate, who loves so much that when we were still filthy sinners, he was long and he looking for us to come home every single day. Who broke all the rules about the quorum and dignity, and ran to us in a moment we decided to walk away from sin and come back home. Who kissed us and held us when everybody else wanted to punish us and push us down. Who prevented the stones of judgment from hitting us. Who actually transferred our shame unto himself. Jesus is saying to the Pharisees, "Does your God do this? Because that's how God loves, because if you don't know this about God, you don't know God."

I love that the son had his speech prepared. I love that, because that's me. I don't know about you, but if I got to do something I don't want to do, I build it up my head, and I walk through it a few times. I talk it over up here a lot. There's a lot of things going on up here. If you guys only knew, I got a filter. That filter ever breaks down one day, I'm in trouble. But he builds it up, he's talking himself, and I see — I don't know how long the journey was, but this is my story, it was away. All right, when you preach it, you have an hour long, you want to be. But I see him

as he's walking, he's talking to himself: "Now, Dad, I know I didn't do right. I don't know, I'm so ashamed of, of my actions. I can't believe I've even said that to you. I can't even believe you gave that to me when I asked you to do that." I just see him. I see him, Taylor — he's, he's doing the whole story in his mind, he's building it all up there, and he doesn't even realize that his daddy has already seen him, and he's running towards him. Brother Johnson, in my head, the way I see it is, he looks up in a moment, and when he does, it's just the moment his dad's right in front of him. Because if you'll notice in the story, when he was in the pig pen, he said, "I'm not worthy to be your son; just make me one of your hired servants." He can't even get that out as he's in front of the father. And as he's telling, telling him what he wants to do, "I'm not worthy to be called your son," his dad breaks in and says, "Bring the robe." He doesn't have a chance to ask to be a servant, because the father's already restoring him to sonship, because that's what our God does: "I'm not worried about what you've done. I'm just glad you're home. You're forgiven, you're forgiven, you're forgiven. I'm gonna put you back where you're supposed to be. I'm going to put a robe on you. I'm going to put shoes on your feet. I'm gonna put a ring on your hand, because that, that was dead is alive again." Bring forth the best — you know what the best strobe was? That was the father's rope. That was Dad's rope. Get the best one, put it on him. See, the party wasn't about honoring the sun's sin; the party was about honoring the father's forgiveness.

Verse 25: "And his elder son was in the field." We can't forget him, right? We've got character one, the sun; we got the father; we've talked about him. But there's still one more. "He was in the field, and he came and drew near to the house, and he heard music and dancing." "Hey, what's going on? What's going on home? There's a party? I was out here working; I didn't even know there was a party." "And he called one of the servants and asked, Was there a party, what's going on? And he said unto him, Thy brother has come, and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound." Where's 28: "And he was so happy" — wait a minute, sorry: "He was angry, and he would not go in. Therefore came his father out, and he treated him." And he answers — so, so much I got to unpack here. You guys, okay, okay, so much, there's the god unpacked, there's a lot and those two sentences right there, so much. "And he answered and said his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed eye" — that's funny — "at any time thy commandment. And yet thou never gave us me a kid, that I may make Mary with my friends. But as soon as this thy son" — not my brother, as soon as your boy — "was come, which had delivered thy living with harlots" — where'd he get that story at? — "thou has killed him the fatted calf. And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is dying. It was meat, it was, it was good that we should make merry and be glad, for this thy brother was dead and is alive again. He was lost, and he's found."

So there's one person out at the party: the eldest brother. And he, he would have been content to have never seen his brother again, and he didn't understand the celebration at all. He's angry, he's mad. He doesn't realize that he also is a prodigal. Well, I told you the word means wasteful. He also is wasteful, because he's wasted opportunities in the father's house. One left, wasted inheritance. But the other stayed and wasted opportunity. In all these years, he had worked hard, but he resented the work, because he never got a party.

Please listen to me. So I'm afraid that some fall into this category, that you have grown bitter, setting in church, and you no longer celebrate restorations, but you cast down condemnation, and you waste opportunities in the father's house. One prodigal was rebellious, while the other got religious, and they missed the part on both ends, that all Dad ever wanted was a relationship. One severed it by leaving and being selfish. The other severed it sitting right at the table with him, because he refused to engage. We know who the younger son is: it's the sinner. Remember the story: he's standing in the middle, they're circled around him, he's telling the story. The younger son was a sinner, the father was God, the oldest was the Pharisees, because they've become so legalistic about what was right and what was wrong, they took the relationship away from the father. The elder brother is just as lost as younger, but he doesn't know it. And the story ends awkwardly, because we never find out in the parable what the elder brother did. But we know who he is, we know who he is, we know who the elder brother is. So we really do know exactly what he did: he got so angry at the father for welcoming

the prodigal home, that he picked up a piece of wood and he beat his dad to death. Because it was the Pharisees that nailed him to the cross. He was the Pharisees that said, "He hangs out with sinners." It was the Pharisees that had tried to entrap him in his words. It was the Pharisees that said, "Do we not have a cause? This man claims to be God." It was the Pharisees who put him there.

So think all you want about a younger brother: he came back, and a relationship was stored. But it was the one who had been there the whole time, not realizing how broken the relationship was, that ended up killing the dad.

Luke 7: 44: "And he turned to the woman and said to Simon, See a style of this woman? I entered into the house that gave us me no water from our feet, but she has washed my feet with tears, and wiped him with the hairs of her head. Thou give us me no kiss, but this woman, since the time I came in, hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with all thou did not anoint, but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. Wherefore I stand there, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven."

As I get ready to close — and musicians are going to come — God wants to move, because he desires to restore relationships. He always desires to restore relationships. It is not possible to capture in any parable the mystery and the wonder of God in Christ. Yet in this matchless story, this parable, this beautiful picture that God brings to us about love, we see a clear indication, or at least part of what these things mean, because the father in his house clearly represents God. And the best understanding of this text is to see that, when the father leaves the house, he takes upon himself a humiliating posture on the road, and becomes a symbol of God incarnate. For he openly shames himself, running after his lost son. He does not wait for the prodigal to come to him, but rather, at great cost, goes down and finds and resurrects the one who is lost and dead. These actions clearly affirm one of the deepest levels of meaning of both the Incarnate and the atonement. Because Paul says in Second Corinthians 5, in Christ, God was reconciling the world unto himself. He was finding that which he'd went astray. And he left the comfort and convenience of heaven, and he came down the broken road of humanity, and he openly shamed himself, yes, even the shame and reproach of the cross. He took on the punishment of what the son had brought on himself, and said, "Don't think for a minute that you have to be a servant, but I want to restore back where you were supposed to be, all alone. So, son, you asked for forgiveness, I give it, give it, and I don't put any stipulations on it. Here's a robe, your shoes, here's a ring."

But there was another boy, who the father loved just as much, who refused ask forgiveness. He was just as lost, though he never journeyed far. He was lost in the house, because he was so caught up and making sure everything was just exactly the way it was supposed to be, that he lost the relationship with his dad.

Paul affirms this great truth about the mighty God in Christ. John talks about it, when Jesus is quoted saying, "I and my father are one." The mystery of the fullness of God, and the son is his Incarnation. Is, is it, is the mighty God in Christ, that truth, that revelation, to me, when I look at Luke 9, Luke 15, when I, when I read through it, it's so apparent, evident, right there.

So as I close this now, I want to know: are there any prodigals? It was just wasteful, that's all it means. Has anybody been wasteful? Wasteful in your relationship, wasteful and not doing, not being, not having, not — as I pray today, this altar is open. There's been waste in your life. Father stands ready to restore. He's willing to go to great lengths to make things right. He's just simply looking for you to say, "I'm sorry." Will you pray? Jesus, thank you for being here with us. Thank you for the truth that is in scripture. Thank you, God, for being willing to go to great Lakes to restore back what is broken. Pray today, in this, this moment we have, God, that you would mend the broken hearts, you would restore the broken relationships, God, you would take away the hurt, the pain, the bitterness, the offense. You would bring us back to where we need to be. Put a robe on us, the shoes, and a ring. Restores back. Oh, that there might be joy in heaven for one sinner that repents. Let it be today, God, let it be today. It's prayer time. I think we all need to do a little reflecting in this moment.