The Prodigal Son: A Story of Grace
UNPLUGGED
S-1809
Andy and Me: Picture of Grace
Mrs. Crosley got me in.
My performance wasn’t good enough.
My performance doesn’t get me in with God. Jesus invited me in.
Contrast: with a story from the “Good and Beautiful God” by James Bryant Smith:
“Woman calls Smith: I just have one question. May I come to your church?”
“Surely, of course you can come! Why would you feel like your couldn’t?
“Before you answer, let me tell you my story:” Got pregnant in junior year in High School by a young man who had no interest in me or the baby. After much soul searching, decided not to get an abortion.
“Thought other girls might benefit from the story of her mistakes, so asked pastor if she could speak on the pressures of dating and sex.
Pastor said, “No, I’d never allow that. I’m afraid that you’re just the type of person who might rub off on them.”
Liked child hood church so decided to stay.
Began to feel the need to get my life in order. Decided to get child baptized.
Pastor: “Not in my church I’d never baptize an illegitimate child.”
Pastor’s attitude is not new. Trace it back to the whole story of Prodigal Son in Luke 15.
Most well known Parable: the prodigal son.
Profligate son. Welcomed with opened arms: that’s grace.
Elder brother: Performance based religion of legalism.
☻SLIDE: Prodigal Son: Grace Based Christianity
☻SLIDE: Luke 15:19-24: “I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.” So he got up and went to his father.
(What is he thinking dad will say? “I knew this would happen, waste all that money and then come back for more!” Where have you been all this time? What kind of friends did you have?)
But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
The son said to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.”
But the father said to his servants, “Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.” So they began to celebrate.
High school curfew :”disappointed in you” story.
According to the Prodigal Son story, God did not respond at all like my mother (although I deserved what she said.
☻SLIDE: Hebrews 9:
☻SLIDE: Older brother: Performance based religion:
Have to do all sorts of things in order for God to like you and invite you into the throne room.
☻SLIDE: LUKE 15:25-27: Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. “Your brother has come, “he replied, “and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.” The older brother became angry and refused to go in.
Why so upset? Performance-based religion and love. ”He was all wrong and I was all right and it’s not fair. He needs to be punished for his behavior and I need to be rewarded for mine.”
Pastor we mentioned earlier was the Elder Brother: I would never let a person like you talk to our teenagers—you might rub off on them.”
John Dvorak: “If your Methodist pastor dad had been a Baptist this never would have happened.”
Performance based acceptance began in our families.
Do well in school and are praised.
Make winning goal and praised.
Handsome or beautiful well affirmed.
We quickly learned that our acceptance is based on talents, abilities and performance.
How do we gain God’s acceptance? We must perform.
Ask average person: “What do we do for God to bless us or like us?”
Answer is clear and consistent: “Well, I think that I should go to church, read my Bible, give some money and take care of some people: and by the way, stop sinning.”
This is called, “legalism.” Legalism is an attempt to earn God’s love through our own actions—and to avoid God’s punishment by our religious activities.
This is a narrative for many of us.
Thank God this is not Jesus’ narrative. The actions of God show just the opposite.
He welcomes sinful, broken down people—He doesn’t ostracize them or turn away from them and reject them.
Matthew 9:9-13: As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and “sinners” came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?”
On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Despicable tax collector; sat at roadside booth and worked for the bad guys, the Romans, and skimmed money off the top for themselves. Cheating traitors.
Follows Jesus and friends all follow Jesus and Jesus’ choice is ludicrous and shocking.
More comfortable if said, “God was so mad at the world that He sent His one and only Son who came down to tell all people to shape up and those who measure up will have everlasting life.”
It appears to me that God is fond of sinners.
The stunning reality is there is one thing that separates us from God is not our sin. It is our self-righteousness.
Our self-righteousness doesn’t turn God away from us. It turns us away from God.
“The Good and Beautiful God” by James Bryan Smith
Love III poem by George Herbert.
The invitation to draw near to God and you want to draw near, don’t you? but we hesitate.
Love bade me welcome, yet my soul drew back,
Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack
From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning
If I lacked anything.
“A guest,” I answered, “worthy to be here:”
Love said, “You shall be he.”
“I, the unkind, ungrateful? ah my dear,
I cannot look on thee.”
Love took my hand and smilingly did reply,
“Who made the eyes but I??
“Truth, Lord, but I have marred them; let my shame
Go where it doth deserve.”
“And know you not,” says Love, “who bore the blame?”
“My dear then I will serve.”
“You must sit down,” says, Love, “and taste my meat.”
So I did sit and eat.
Quite an invitation
Focus on “Sit down and eat.”
Must unplug.
Popcorn Brain
Text during meals
2.5 hours per day on TV.
Jesus knew the benefits of Unplugging.
When we unplug, good things happen.
He Unplugged From The Crowds And Spent The Night In Prayer to know God’s heart. He liked being with Him.
Jesus: “I am gentle and humble in heart.
He unplugged to rest when He was tired and woke up to calm the storm on the Sea of Galilee.
Looking for a miracle?
Marriage, Cancer, Teens
Unplugged from jostling, demanding crowds long enough to feel the timid touch of a woman with an issue of blood,
So self focused we fail to see the needs of those around us. Hurting teenager, facing loss of house;
Unplugged and took a two week walking vacation from Jerusalem to Tyre.
Unplugged in Garden of Gethsemane to know the will of God for His life.
Struggling to know God’s will and to do it.
“Your will be done.”
I surrender.
Make will so clear I can’t miss it.
Unplugged long enough to fulfill all of God’s will for His life: “It is finished.”
REST STOP Applications
Unplug and try to reconnect with the loving heart of the real God.
Disconnect from for 15 (10) minutes per day this week the things that create static and distractions from Jesus’ narratives about love and life.
I put a clock in my office that plays different tunes at the top of every hour. Hear it and it is m y signal to quiet down and regroup for the next hour.
Play some instrumental music and listen to the voice of God.
Be still or go on a long slow walk and enjoy the wonders of the desert.
Disconnect from the TV.
Go to the mall and deliberately find a bench and be an observer. Try to imagine the needs of the people passing by.
Once a week take a time of silence and read the poem, “Love III.”
Read some Psalms to get to know the heart of God.
Read some Proverbs to know how to get along with people.
On another morning read Zephaniah 3:17 and ponder the implications.
The LORD your God is with you,
He is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
He will quiet you with his love,
He will rejoice over you with singing.”
Consider throwing away the religion-based resume you are building to please God and rest in the free grace He gives you in Christ.
●SLIDE #: Revel in what God thinks of you when you wake up in the morning.
How deeply we can go into the throne room in Heaven is directly related to what we think God thinks of us.
He is disappointed in me: I never am good enough.
“Oh, great, roger is waking up. I wish he wouldn’t bother. I am so disappointed in him.”
He is inspecting me.
Oh great, roger is waking up. I wonder what sort of trouble Roger is going to get into today.
He is distant.
He doesn’t know I am awake.
Right view of the real God.
Psalm 139:1-3: You are intimately and caringly involved in my life.
Grandma, “He’s awake, He’s awake.”