The Father's Heart

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Good morning Chapel family! It’s really good to be back with you all this morning. I spent the last two weeks finishing up the classroom portion of my doctoral studies up at Gordon-Conwell seminary—this is the great group of people I got to spend time with and learn from. So now I have about a year and a half to research and write and defend my thesis. It’s a long process, but it’s really been worthwhile, and it’s made me more passionate about my calling as a pastor, which is a really good thing. So big thanks to the Chapel for supporting me in this, and I look forward to the day Norma Jean will have to call me “Doctor.” That’s going to be nice.

I also have some very personal news to share with you. About three weeks ago I learned that I have prostate cancer. Thankfully, it was detected early so it should be very treatable, but obviously it was not the news I was hoping to hear. As a pastor I have prayed for people with every conceivable kind of cancer, I’ve visited people in the hospital with cancer, I’ve seen both of my parents through their own battles with cancer; I thought I knew my way around this cancer thing pretty well. But when it’s your cancer, it feels a little different. So I will be having some tests in the next week or two and then deciding on treatment. And I deeply appreciate your prayers. Don’t really need your medical advice or your home remedies; got that covered pretty well. But I’d love your prayers. Most of you know that the Chapel had a tough loss back in September when Sal Dolfi died at age 44; and for me, that loss combined with my own diagnosis is loudly reminding me how valuable every day is, and how precious every relationship is. Amen? So thank you for your prayer and support—it means a lot.

Okay…so today we begin a brand new series called Prodigal. When you hear that word, you probably think of the famous parable of the Prodigal Son, right? About the son who runs away from home. It’s one of the most powerful stories ever told. But this series is broader than that. Because that story of the lost son actually follows right on the heels of two other stories that Jesus told, about a lost sheep and a lost coin. And he told all three of those stories in response to an accusation that was made against him. So in this series we’re going to walk through Luke chapter 15 and look at all three stories in their context. And I think this is going to stretch us.

In Tim Keller’s book Prodigal God, listen to what he wrote about the Prodigal Son story: “Jesus’ purpose is not to warm our hearts but to shatter our categories.” I agree. So these next three weeks, I think God is going to shatter some of our categories. He’s going to make us rethink what we think we know about how deals with wandering and rebellious people…about what kinds of people are actually far from God…and here’s a big one: he’s going to challenge the way we think about the prodigals in our own life—people who’ve pushed away from God and maybe pushed away from us. Do you have any of those? Very often, we don’t engage with those people the way God does. So let’s allow the teaching of Jesus to challenge what we thought we knew.

In order to get the most out of this series, I want to make a suggestion. Go to our web site, thechapel.org, and click on “Connect” and then “Small Groups,” and you’ll find a recommended method of personal Bible study. I strongly encourage you give it a try. It’s actually very simple: you print out the entire chapter—Luke chapter 15. And you spend time lingering over the words of Scripture; you take a pen and circle and underline and highlight things that stand out. You find common themes that run through the passage. You jot thoughts in the margins. So this is a picture of

my own study page. And most importantly, you ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you through the words of Scripture. I’m leaving out some detail, but it’s a great way to allow the Bible to sink in to hear the voice of God. So next Sunday I’m hoping to see a bunch of people show up for church with their printed-out copies of Luke 15, covered with scribbles and notes—that would make my heart happy. And by the way, big thanks to Susan Breitz and Jackie Van Hook for their leadership in putting this study plan together.

So…let’s read the Scripture. Today we’re going to read the setup, where Jesus gets accused, and the first two stories that he tells. So Luke 15, verses 1-10. I invite you now to hear the Word of God…

1 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

8 “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” This is the Word of the Lord.

As I have lingered over this Scripture, I believe there’s one clear thing that Jesus is trying to say, and it’s this: Our God is passionate about finding the lost and bringing them home. Our God is passionate about finding the lost and bringing them home.

Before we look more closely at that, let’s look at the accusation being made against Jesus. In verse 1, it says there were two kinds of people gathering around to hear Jesus. What were the two kinds of people? Tax collectors and sinners. What was so bad about tax collectors? Basically everything. In the first century, Israel was not an independent nation. Like everyone else in that part of the world, they had been conquered by Rome—which was humiliating and demoralizing. And as a Roman colony, the people of Israel had to pay heavy taxes to Rome. You think we pay high taxes in New Jersey? We have no idea. But here’s the worst part: the people who collected those taxes were Jewish people who worked for the Romans, collecting these exorbitant taxes from their own people! They were traitors. Backstabbers. On top of that, they had a reputation for collecting even more than they needed to, and keeping the excess for themselves. They were despicable, detestable people. But there they were—gathering around to hear Jesus teach.

And right there with them was the “sinners.” Wait…aren’t we all sinners? Well, yeah—but these were the notoriously bad ones: hard-core partiers, drug addicts, strippers, prostitutes, alcoholics. Probably also people with physical deformities and sickness, because the belief was, if you have a disease, you’re obviously being cursed by God for something you did wrong. Sinners.

So, bottom line: these were the outcasts of society. Some of them were rich, like the tax collectors; some of them were poor. But all of them were the kind of people who stayed far from the synagogue, because everything in their culture said, “God does not want you!” And yet—this is so strange—they gathered around Jesus, listening to him teach. Hmm.

And watching this whole thing were the religious leaders. And they were muttering, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them." See, in that culture, eating with someone wasn’t just eating with someone. It meant you were accepting them. You wanted to get close to them and be associated with them. And so here was Jesus—who claimed to be a rabbi, eating(!) with these worthless people. It was more than the Pharisees could bear. So they muttered. (By the way, part of being a Christ-like person is that sometimes, religious people will mutter about you. Right? If there’s nobody muttering about us, or about our church, we’re probably not following Jesus very well. We’ll talk more about that later).

So in response to all that muttering, he told these three stories: a shepherd who loses one of his sheep, a woman who loses one of her coins, and a father who loses his son. And through those stories, he’s showing that our God is passionate about finding the lost and bringing them home. So, from the first two stories, can I tell you a few ways God demonstrates that passion?

Here’s the first way: He Takes the Loss Personally. He takes the loss personally. The story about the woman who loses the coin resonates deeply with me, because I’m married to the queen of losing things. And I say that with a lot of affection. A few years ago we were lying in bed, and she looked at her wedding band, and the diamond was gone. This is a diamond that was a family heirloom, because years ago it was given to my mother’s aunt, and her fiancée went off to World War 1 and was killed in the war, and the diamond was passed down through the years, and it wound up on Norma Jean’s engagement ring. And now there was an empty space where that diamond used to be. So I said, “Honey, don’t worry about it—let’s just look for it in the morning.” You believe that? Hah.

We got out of bed, and we searched. We looked under every cushion and every rug. Then my wife said, “Open up the vacuum cleaner bag, and check for it in there.” So I ripped that bag open (did you ever do this?) and I pulled through the dust and everything that was sucked up by the vacuum—but it wasn’t there. And we had flashlights, and we were on our hands and knees. No diamond. So we finally went to bed, but she was upset—just like the woman who opened up her little pouch, and she counted out nine coins, and she realized one was missing. And her heart felt sick. Do you see what Jesus is saying? That’s how God feels when a human being that he’s created is lost. When they’re living in rebellion and disconnection from him. His heart is sick. He loses sleep over it.

But the story of the lost sheep is even more powerful. Here’s this shepherd with a hundred sheep. And every night, after they come in from grazing, he counts them. He knows he has a hundred sheep; in fact, he knows them by name. But this night, he only counts 99. He counts again. And sure enough, one is missing. You would think that losing one out of a hundred wouldn’t be that big of a deal, right? But that’s not how shepherds think. He immediately starts to worry about that one sheep, because sheep are pretty defenseless. The shepherd’s stomach is in knots.

When our second son, Jonny, was a little kid, he was a wanderer. I remember being at Dorney Park with the kids—tons of people everywhere—and we turned around, and Jonny was gone. Parents—are you feeling this? So at first you try to act casual—you don’t want to cause a scene. He’s got to be right around here. But then after about a minute, the panic sets in. And I can remember Norma Jean going one direction, and me going another, frantically looking for this defenseless sheep. I finally found him waiting on line at some Snoopy ride—“Oh, hi daddy.” Totally calm—and completely oblivious of what he just did to his parents. So don’t miss the point: that’s the way God feels when one of His children is lost. When they’ve pushed away from him, and they’re trying to make life work without him. It ties His stomach in knots! That’s what God is like! He takes the loss personally.

Let me ask you a personal question: do you have any lost people in your life? People who have turned their back on God? Or maybe they never knew God in the first place. Maybe they consider themselves atheists; or maybe agnostic. Maybe they’re loud and aggressive about their distaste of God. Or maybe they just quietly live their secular life. Anybody like that in your life? I’ve got some in my life. And the first thing we need to know is that God takes that loss personally. He’s not like, “Oh well, I’ve got lots of other people who follow me—no big deal.” He feels their absence; he misses them personally; and he wants them back. That’s why Jesus was hanging out with those people, and that’s what he’s telling us through these parables. I also realize that for some of you, you’re that sheep. You’re that coin. Because you have moved far from God. And you need to know that God feels your absence. He sees that empty place at his table that you’re supposed to be sitting at. And it bothers him.

Our God is passionate about finding the lost and bringing them home. And the first way he shows that passion is that he takes the loss personally.

Here’s the second way he shows it: He Conducts the Search Fervently. In both of these parables: the lost sheep and the lost coin—the person who lost something goes after it. The woman lights a lamp and sweeps the house—she’s almost obsessive in her passion to find her lost coin. And the shepherd is even more extreme. He leaves the other 99 sheep in the open country, and goes after the lost one! It almost seems irresponsible, doesn’t it? But the shepherd is so passionate to find the lost sheep, he’ll do anything.

A few chapters later—in Luke chapter 19—Jesus tells us his personal mission statement. Look at this—Luke 19:10—For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost. In other words, “That’s why I showed up here! To seek—to go after the lost—and bring them home. That’s why I’m here.” So his decision to have lunch with the sinners and tax collectors that day wasn’t unusual. They didn’t catch him doing something he didn’t normally do. He was doing exactly what he came to do.

For the past few months, we’ve been partnering with Pastor Charles Salinas in Paterson, reaching out to the homeless of the city. We just had a team serving there yesterday. But Pastor Charles said when they first started this work, they would set up food and other things at their church, and invite homeless people to come to them. And he realized that wasn’t working. So he started a process of finding out where homeless people in Paterson spend their time. And he wound up identifying sixteen different areas—in parks, under bridges, at train stations—16 places where homeless folks sleep and congregate. And he started going to them. If you ask him why that strategy, he always says, “Because Jesus left the 99 to go after the one.” That’s his model. And I have to tell you: it has been an amazing experience to be part of that ministry. These people matter to God so much, and it’s an honor to join God in the search.

God conducts the search fervently. And that sometimes involves risk. We mentioned earlier that leaving the 99 in the open field seems a little reckless, right? Because it’s exposing the other sheep to risk. But the shepherd is willing to take that risk. When Jesus ate with the tax collectors and sinners, he knew he was risking his reputation. And he was willing to take that risk. If you pursue the lost people around you, there is a very real risk that they will reject you. That adult child that you reach out to again, and invite them to church—there’s a good chance they’ll say no. That friend you text and offer to pray with—they might ignore your text. That addicted family member that you offer to help get sober, they might angrily push you away. When we join Jesus in his mission of seeking and saving the lost, there’s all kinds of risk. Are you willing to take the risk?

Our God is passionate about finding the lost and bringing them home. And he shows that passion by conducting the search fervently. It’s what Jesus came for.

And then here’s one more way he shows that passion: He Celebrates the Return Joyfully. Look how Jesus ends both of these stories. He says when the woman finds the lost coin, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.' In that woman’s little house that night, there’s a party. When the shepherd finds the lost sheep, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.' And in that shepherd’s humble home that night, there’s a party. And then both times, Jesus ends the story like this: In the same way, I tell you, (so here comes the point—because Jesus obviously isn’t talking about sheep and coins, right? So here’s what the parables are actually about…)…in the same way, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

See, the reason Jesus risked his reputation and probably risked his safety spending time with tax collectors and sinners is that he passionately wanted them to repent. What does that mean? It’s actually very simple: to “repent” means to turn around—to have a radical change of heart and mind, and turn away from your sin, toward God. And God never forces people to repent! He honors our dignity; he honors our will. God could have designed programmed robots, but he designed thinking humans, who have a choice whether to love him or reject him. So Jesus came to seek and save people who had used their free will to reject God. And Jesus called them to repentance. Because he loved them, and he knew that if they turned toward God, their life and their eternity would be so much better.

Jesus called people to turn around and come home to their father. Maybe that’s what he’s calling you to do today. And here’s the best part: when that happens—when somebody who’s been resisting God and rejecting God and buying into the lie of our secular world—when somebody like that repents and comes home to their father, something takes place in heaven that’s so surprising and so breathtaking…it’s almost too beautiful to put into words. When someone far from God returns home, all of heaven breaks out into a party. And at the center of that party—think about this—at the very center, celebrating the loudest—is God himself.

You know, sometimes we have such a warped view of who God is. We picture God as very stoic and stern: “If thou obeyest my commands, thou shalt be blest.” He definitely has a British accent, right? Or we pull all the personality out, and we think God is a force or an energy: I feel God everywhere—he’s in the sunrise; he’s in the mountains; I see him in my Grande mocha cappuccino every morning. But that’s not who God is, according to Jesus. The God that Jesus calls people to turn to is a personal God who thinks and reasons and feels emotion, and every time a sinner repents, he breaks out in joyful celebration. That’s what our God is like!

I love those moments in our worship services when the band leads us in a song, and we get to the end of the song, and there’s a cheer that goes up from the congregation. We’re not clapping for the musicians! We’re not congratulating the guitar player on a great solo. We are responding to a song that just lifted up the glory of this God who came to seek and save us. Some people say, “Well, it’s not appropriate to clap in church.” And I respect that opinion; I’m just saying there’s a party going on in heaven, and I count it as a privilege to join in the party. We worship a God who celebrates.

In two weeks we’re going to be baptizing people in both of our morning services. So we’re going to hear story after story of sinners who have repented. People who were lost and separate from God, but now they’ve given their lives to him. And when each person comes out of the water, there’s going to be celebration in this place—cheering and clapping and carrying on. Not just because we’re happy;

not just because we want that person to feel good; it’s because we are imitating our Father in heaven. We worship a God who celebrates.

Earlier this fall we did our first Paterson homeless outreach. And after about three hours we all came back and gathered in one place. So picture about 50 people gathered in this parking lot right by the Paterson Great Falls. And I’ll never forget this moment: Pastor Charles said, “Okay, tell me how it went? How was your experience out on the streets?” And I never expected this: the entire group broke out in cheers. People started clapping and whooping and whistling. It was an awesome moment. But here’s why they were celebrating: because in the parks and under the bridges of Paterson, we shared meals with people. We prayed over people. We listened to people tell their stories. And we helped two people get into a really good drug rehab program. In other words, we were joining Jesus in his passion to find lost people and bring them home. Man, how do you not celebrate that?

By the way, in case you’re wondering, about five days after Norma Jean lost that diamond from her ring, she was in the bathroom, and she saw something on the floor, hidden under the baseboard heating register—and sure enough, it was the diamond. And I remember, she called me at work, and she said, “I found it!” And that night there was great rejoicing in our house! Because I didn’t have to buy another diamond! And Norma Jean was so relieved and so overjoyed! Because something precious had been lost, and now it was found, and when that happens, the only thing that makes sense is to celebrate!

Our God is passionate about finding the lost and bringing them home. How about you?

Will you join God in this passion that he has? I’m going to guess there are some prodigal people in your life. They’re far from God. And maybe you’ve given up on them. Maybe you’ve stopped hoping that they’ll turn to God. And I want to challenge you this morning to hope again. God hasn’t given up on them. So today I want to challenge you to start praying that they will respond to God’s pursuit, and that God will use you in that process in any way he wants. Be willing to take some risks, just like Jesus did. Christmas is coming up—invite them to the Christmas Village, Christmas Eve Services…Christmas concert. Send them a sermon, or send them a book. Be present in their life and let God use you. Join God in his pursuit.

Or maybe you are the lost person. As we read these parables today, you’ve realized that you are the lost sheep. You are the lost coin. Maybe you’ve been hurt by the church; maybe you’ve been beat up by life; maybe you have intellectual doubts—for whatever reason, you’ve been keeping your distance from God. But today you’ve seen a fresh vision of Jesus, and you’re drawn to him. I mean, that’s how I feel: I’m just drawn to Jesus. Even when other things about the church confuse me or annoy me, I can’t get over Jesus. Maybe that’s what you’re feeling. And he won’t force you—repentance is never coerced. But he calls you. Will you repent and turn to him? I pray that you will.

Would you rise for our closing?

After service come up for prayer if (1) You need to repent and turn to God, or (2) You have a prodigal in your life that needs to repent. Either way, we want to pray with you.