Lost, but He Welcomes Sinners

He Welcomes Sinners
Session 2 Luke 15:1-10
Issue: How do we find and enjoy True Community? What foundation?
We are made for community. However, life together is challenging on every level; we must be refitted for it. The parable of the Prodigal Son describes a new way of perceiving, a new kind of living, a transformation that only God can bring about, which readies us to live in community.
If we are to experience this sort of transformation, the one that prepares us for true community, we must comprehend three things from the first two parables of Luke 15…
1. The nature of God.
2. The nature of sin.
3. The nature of salvation.

The religious leaders around Jesus were confused and angry over His view of God.
I. We must have an accurate view of God if we are to understand sin, salvation, and community.
a. There are three sets of people around Jesus. vv. 1-3
Luke 15:1–3 NASB
“Now all the tax-gatherers and the sinners were coming near Him to listen to Him. And both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”
And He told them this parable, saying,”
i. His early disciples, who have set aside their incomes and followed him.
ii. A group of fascinated outsiders, those excluded by their choices and their lifestyles from among the religious of the land.
iii. A group of insiders, who were critics of Jesus…

The problem: Jesus seems to connect with the wrong sort of people! The Pharisees were shocked by Jesus’ naïve association with the wrong sort of people, the sinners of the region.
They were grumbling.
• They did not hear Jesus correcting their life choices rigorously enough.
• The Pharisees were persuaded that if all Israel were to fully obey the Law of Moses, then God would bring in the Messianic age, the time of peace; Jerusalem would be the centre of the earth.
• The whole purpose of Israel was to obey God so that He would fulfill all his promises to vindicate them and restore their standing in the world.

Jesus was wrong in not excluding sinners from table fellowship, one way in which friendship and acceptance was parceled out.

NOW THOSE ARE CENTRAL ELEMENTS OF COMMUNITY: FRIENDSHIP & ACCEPTANCE.

b. There was a common confusion about God.
i. The Pharisees & scribes were attacking the very thing about God that they needed most—graciousness to all people.

That someone could be called “rabbi” and NOT preach against sin of every kind was unthinkable, just the beginning of a long list of disappointments they had with Jesus.

ii. The disciples had proven that they had no answer to the Pharisees & scribes questions and charges.
iii. The tax collectors and sinners were merely confused!

Jesus does NOT directly answer their questions. Instead, he makes up three stories, parables. His answer was a direct challenge to the Pharisees…
First, Jesus challenges the attitude of the Pharisees.
Second, Jesus challenges the categories of the Pharisees.

They were confused about the nature of sin.
We must have an accurate view of God if we are to understand sin, salvation, and community.

II. We must understand the nature of sin, if we are to deal with our sin and other sinners. Vv. 4-5, 8
a. Jesus confronts their categories of sin.
i. All three lost things stand for people who are spiritually lost, far from God.

ii. Each one was lost for different reasons, but the first two are completely UNABLE to find their way home.
1. The sheep is lost through foolishness,
Isa. 53:6—all of us like sheep have gone astray
2. the coin through thoughtlessness, and
3. the son through willfulness.
iii. The sheep taught the hearers that we are confused and hopeless, that we always do the most random, self-defeating things.
1. We show our lostness by our confusion over what matters most.
a. We believe that a relationship with a “special person” will give us hope, will grant us meaning, only to discover that that person is expecting the same thing from us and he/she is not willing to live only for us, but expect us to live only for them.
b. We believe that a particular job or vocation will grant us ultimate satisfaction.
c. We believe that the respect of our friends will make our lives significant.
d. All religions consider humans to be merely animals, who can be trained to do the right thing.
2. To be brought all the way home, we need someone who will do everything for us!
iv. The SEARCH for the lost things taught the hearers that the community in heaven celebrates sinners saved by grace.
1. What’s a community?
a. Bonded by shared values & an intense common experience.
b. Phi Delta Theta: atheist, agnostic, Catholic, Protestant, Jew.
c. Values in common brought us together, common suffering bonded us together.
2. Jesus left his community with the Father in order to bring us into a new community by his work.
3. People brought into this new community by grace have unlimited joy, because they did not earn this, they aren’t better or worse than anyone else in that community, they belong with one another and to one another.

Keller: Taken together, this is a nuanced, multi-dimensional view of sin.

b. Sin is deeply complex.
i. People in our culture joke about those who even mention sin.
ii. Yet, the track of history highlights the fact that something is desperately wrong with humanity.
1. Even in ideal settings, we do harm to our selves, to one another, and to our environment.
2. We make enemies of those we do not understand.
iii. Sin’s complexity…
1. Sin is inborn.
2. Sin is magnified by those who mistreat us.
3. Sin is deepened and personalized by our own choices.
iv. Those who ridicule any mention of sin have missed the comprehensive nature of it and the nuanced view of the Bible as sin is discussed.
c. Sin’s complexity means we must recognize it ourselves.
i. Sin is NOT merely bad deeds.
ii. Sin includes doing good things for wrong reasons.
iii. Sin is in US! Looking to any other source for life, for good, for worship, for insight, reflects sin in our souls…
powerpoint
Jeremiah 2:13 NASB
““For My people have committed two evils:
They have forsaken Me,
The fountain of living waters,
To hew for themselves cisterns,
Broken cisterns,
That can hold no water.”

They were confused about the nature of salvation.
We must have an accurate view of God if we are to understand sin, salvation, and community.
We must understand the nature of sin, if we are to deal with our sin and other sinners.
III. We must comprehend the nature of salvation. Vv. 6-7, 9-10

Luke 15:6–10 NASB
““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!’ “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.

“Or what woman, if she has ten silver coins and loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? “And 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!’

“In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.””

a. People in every culture seek some sort of religion
i. as humanity’s search to believe in a god.
ii. Most religions emphasize gaining divine approval by obeying some set of religious laws.

b. Anyone who thinks they have found or contacted god through their obedience have little patience with those who have not searched and not found. In that sense, we disdain “sinners.”

c. Jesus through this parable teaches us that we are wrong in this view of “sin and salvation.”
i. The sheep cannot find its way back.
ii. The coin did not even realize it was lost.
iii. The categories of all religions are wrong.
1. We cannot find god by trying hard.
2. We only know God because He has come seeking us.
3. We are “saved” by his grace not as an achievement of our own.
We must have an accurate view of God if we are to understand sin, salvation, and community.
We must understand the nature of sin, if we are to deal with our sin and other sinners.
We must comprehend the nature of salvation.

Understanding the aggressive love of God, the true nature of sin, the deeper mystery of salvation…
IV. We will then have a new attitude towards one another & the lost.
If salvation comes at God’s initiative, then we will recognize the reason for joy at the end of each parable.
a. God does not look at lost people as the Pharisees do, but rejoices over them. If we see ourselves as sinners,
i. We will NOT disdain the lost.
ii. We WILL rejoice when “sinners” are reached and found.
iii. We find joy because we come into the community, the family because of HIS joyous work for us.
1. Not because we have done better than others.
2. Not because we are superior to the outsiders.
iv. That bond is more intense than any other, connecting those who have been purchased by God himself.

b. Jesus was said to be more joyful even than the shepherd of the first parable:
i. Knowing his pursuit of the lost would cost him the presence of the Father,
ii. Enormous suffering,
iii. His own death,
iv. He found overcoming joy as he contemplated finding us!

Powerpoint Hebrews 12:2 “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” NASB

This is the foundation of True Community.
Grace builds relationships that are unique, where…
…sinners are free to admit they are sinners.
James 5—confess your faults to one another…
…give yourself to one another, because the Great Shepherd has given himself for you
All who enter by grace will find themselves growing in UNDERSTANDING, NONEXCLUSIVE, EMBRACING, and PATIENT with those who do not yet comprehend the way to the Father.
We will not be mystified by the sinful behaviour of our neighbour, because we will recognize our own brokenness.
This is the Gospel that leads to Community.

40DaysOfCommunity Intro

Lost at Philpott: Is This Community?

We are made for community. However, life together is challenging on every level; we must be prepared for it. The parable of the Prodigal Son describes a new way of perceiving, a new kind of living, a transformation that only God can bring about, which prepares us to live in community.

Who is lost?
How do you know whether you are lost?
How can we know we have been truly found?

Who is lost?
I. In the parables, the Sheep, the coin, and the son were lost.
a. The sheep was lost, helpless, and hopeless.
b. The coin was senseless; lost but didn’t know that.
c. The son was lost by design; found by intent; restored graciously.

How do you know whether you are lost?
II. You know that you are lost if…
a. You are NOT home!
i. You do NOT being home.
ii. You look for any reason to leave home.
iii. You prefer non-family to family.
b. You long to be belong and know you do not.

How can we know we have been truly found?
II. We know that we have been truly found because a celebration occurs when we arrive.
a. Joy
b. Feasting together
c. No one wants to leave again!


APPLICATIONS:
There is a sense that one can be LOST @ Philpott…
We can be “lost” even while we are at home.

Who is lost? The Bad people?
1. The “Bad” son, the Prodigal Son was lost.
2. But the “Good” son proved to just as lost.
1. Lost can mean GOOD:
Rich young ruler:
Mark 10:17–22 NASB
“And as He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and began asking Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. “You know the commandments, ‘Do Not Murder, Do Not Commit Adultery, Do Not Steal, Do Not Bear False Witness, Do not defraud, Honor Your Father And Mother.’” And he said to Him, “Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up.” And looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess, and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But at these words his face fell, and he went away grieved, for he was one who owned much property.”

Obedience always has its limits!

Pharisee & the “sinner”
Luke 18:9–14 NASB
“And He also told this parable to certain ones who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee, and the other a tax-gatherer. “The Pharisee stood and was praying thus to himself, ‘God, I thank Thee that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax-gatherer. ‘I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ “But the tax-gatherer, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, but he who humbles himself shall be exalted.””

Those who think highly of themselves because of their obedience are in grave danger.
One of my worst nightmares: I stand here commending you at a memorial service, thinking that you had been “found,” while you are NOT enjoying the presence of God in heaven.

How do you know whether you are lost here?
i. Lost:
1. Most attend worship then leave for home.
2. About half the adults are in a small group, more this week perhaps.
3. We live our lives in isolation, we have other friends, this is not our family; that would be Lost At Phillpott. Some have only acquaintances; that would be lost….
ii. Belong:
1. I have learned to entrust my very life with a few believers.
2. I have learned to be a faithful friend to a few people who trust me.
3. My life is enriched by my participation here…
a. My spiritual life.
b. My intellectual life.

How can we know we have been truly found?
1. God seeks us, as the shepherd of the lost sheep persevered until the lost sheep was returned to the fold.
a. God is a seeking God.
b. God is the Seeker of all who are lost, regardless of the nature of their lostness.
c. Where does it say that He seeks the Lost?
iii. Lost Sheep. Luke 15:3-7
iv. Lost Coin. 15:8-10
v. Lost Sons. 15:11-32

a. Why doesn’t God seek me?
vi. But He is!
vii. If there is a God, he would be cruel NOT to show himself to his conscious creatures.

The Grace of God creates true Community among the LOST.

There are pockets in the congregation that are tasting life together. It’s meant for all. That’s our quest in the 40 DAYS OF COMMUNITY Venture …
We are made for community, but…
If we are to experience true community, a tangible LIFE TOGETHER, then we must experience the sort of DEEP CHANGE that God intends for us. That change is described in the parable of the two sons.