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The Prodigal Brother
Sunday May 15, 2022
The Prodigal Brother
Luke 15:28-29 28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.
A couple was going through premarital counseling and saw a video where a husband and wife each kept a ledger of each other’s behavior. When the husband brought home flowers, she wrote down 10 points, and he was pleased. But when she noted that he had forgotten to take out the garbage, she deducted five points to his dismay. Pulling out his ledger, he removed five points for her failure to pick up something at the store. And so on.
True forgiveness cannot exist in a counting environment.
That’s not how God our Father’s works. The pardon of sin is according to the magnitude of God's grace, and salvation by His mercy, and not by our works.
To illustrate this, Jesus tells the parable of the prodigal son and his brother.
Luke 15:1 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.” It’s important to note Jesus’s audience here, sinners, Pharisees, and His disciples. So, these words are meant for everyone. And not just for those first century living in Judea, but for us. 3 Then Jesus told them this parable: First, The Parable of the Lost Sheep, then the Parable of the Lost Coin, and finally The Parable of the Lost Son or Prodigal Son. A prodigal is someone who carelessly and foolishly spending large amounts of money, time, energy.
In Luke 15:11, Jesus tells a story about a father who has two sons. The father is good and loving, but the younger son rejects him. The younger son goes to the father, tells him he’s leaving home and asks for his share of the inheritance. The dad gives it to him, and the son goes off to distance lands and blows all the money on sinful living. Broke and starving the son returns home in hopes his father will hire him as a servant and feed him.
But this was uncertain. The Jews during the time of Jesus had a method of punishing any Jewish son who lost the family inheritance to Gentiles. It was called the “qetsatsah ceremony”. Any violator would face the qetsatsah ceremony if he dared return to his home village.
The ceremony was simple: The villagers would bring a large jar, fill it with burnt corn, and break it in front of the guilty son. While doing this, the community would shout, “You are cut off from his people.” From that point on, the village would have nothing to do with them.
This was a religious ceremony designed to publicly embarrass and humiliate a prodigal son. Being Jewish a prodigal son was well aware of this option.
We pick up the story in: Luke 15:20 So he got up and went to his father. “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. 21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 “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. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
This is an illustration of how God the Father welcomes a repenting sinner, with joy, with love, and mercy.
In the two previous parables of Jesus here in chapter 15, The Parable of the Lost Sheep verse-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. And in The Parable of the Lost Coin, verse-10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Jesus paints a beautiful picture of the joy and rejoicing over anyone who repents and gets saved.
Turn in your bibles to: Luke 15:25-30 25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ 28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
All the commentaries on the Protocol Son say the elder brother was a representative of the Pharisees. The father approaches with compassion to this angry elder son, as Jesus tried to win over the mistaken Pharisees.
But I think it is so much broader than that. We don’t have much association with Pharisees today, except what we read in the Bible, but this conflict is so universal and with us today.
The parable tells of the very real issue, in some ways the same issue, with both sons not able to see past themselves. The younger prodigal son selfishness and only cares about his desires. The elder angry son who can’t be happy for someone else’s salvation.
Both sons have vision problems. They don’t see things the way God does, but the way the world does.
One son is greedy and self-centered, the other son is obsessed with fairness and lacks mercy.
Some Christian’s road to salvation was a long walk, others a rocky road, and others traveled through hell to get to salvation.
Is it fair that some had a stroll while others battled so hard to get saved? What’s not fair is that any of us sinners get saved. What’s not fair is our loving Father had to send his sinless Son to save us.
To get saved, first you have to realize and admit you are lost.
On September 3, 1989, Varig Airlines Flight 254 at Brazil's Maraba Airport preparing for takeoff. Normally the flight to nearby Belém would only take 48 minutes. Captain Garcez consulted a computer-generated flight plan and read the number 0270 which corresponded to the magnetic heading from Maraba to Belém. But Capt. Garcez inadvertently entered 270 into the Horizontal Situation Indicator. Minutes later, flight 254 took off and climbed to an altitude of 29,000 feet. Instead of heading northeast toward the Brazilian coastline, the plane turned west and headed straight toward the Amazon rainforest. Captain Garcez sensed something was wrong. At this point in the flight he expected to be able to have visual contact with the Belém airport. Frustrated, the captain executed a 180-degree turn. Having been notified by the flight attendants that the passengers were wondering what was happening, Garcez lied. He announced there was a power failure at the Belém airport, and that he would circle the area waiting for the power to be restored. Despite not knowing where he was, Captain informed the flight coordinator on the ground he estimated the plane would be landing in Belém in five minutes. He ordered the flight attendants to serve a fresh round of drinks to the bewildered passengers. At 7:40 p.m., when the flight was 70 minutes overdue, the first officer identified the problem and started to explain to the captain his mistake. But the captain dismissed it. Refusing to ask for help, he began counting the minutes until the plane would run out of fuel, while he searched the ground hoping to find an airport where he could land. About an hour later, out of fuel, he made a remarkable crash-landing in total darkness in the dense tropical forest. The plane was 700 miles from the intended destination. All six of the crew survived, both Captain Garcez and the first officer had their commercial licenses revoked. They never flew again. But 13 of the 48 passengers were killed. All because they refused to admit they were lost.
We know from the story the Prodigal Son eventually realizes that he is lost and admits his sins returning to his father.
His angry older sibling, who can’t rejoice over his lost brother being found, we don’t know how it ends.
Luke 15:30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ 31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”
The parable ends there. Why don’t we know how his story ends, because it’s up to each one of us to write our ending.
This story lives on in each of us, after we have been saved, how do we look at others? As God’s lost children, who can be transformed by God’s love and grace? Or foster feelings of superiority over others, as a privileged one who has solved the mysteries of God and know the truth? If we have difficulty celebrating a former terrible person who repents, or can’t forgive someone, then we are the Prodigal’s sibling.
Most of us have been or are either the Prodigal one or the sibling. It is possible for someone to be both.
A Prodigal who lived selfish, wildlife of reckless sin. Who then repents and was saved. Only to turn into the angry sibling, who judges others, becomes judgmental, and lacks mercy. He becomes like the Pharisees who wants power and prestige but can’t find joy even in the presence of Jesus.
Both didn’t see who they were, or what was truly important, and who loved them.
A preacher once passed a shop which was no longer open for business. A sign hung in the window that said, "Closed for Alterations." The owner had closed shop for a while in order to remodel the store. After some time, he reopened the business with changes and improvements.
This is a picture of the death of the believer. For we will move out of our body temporarily until the resurrection, when we are restored, renewed and our spiritual self is glorified with God in heaven.
Remember in verse 31 the father said, everything I have is yours.
Jesus tells us: In My Father’s house are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you. John 14:2
Separation is the ultimate consequence of sin…isolation from the One who loves you the most. If you separate yourself from God in this life, He will separate from you in eternity. If you define sin as choosing your own way instead of God’s way, then sin places you on a path away from God. It separates you from Him.
Separated. If you’re lost at sea or lost in the forest, then you are separated and isolated from about everything that is important: separated from sufficient food and clothing; separated from protection and shelter. And even if you can find food, clothing, and shelter, you are separated from the most important thing: your existence in the context of other people…you’re separated from your friends and family. You’re separated from your loved ones.
And yet, what does the father do? Does he turn his back on his son? Does he turn the son over to the townspeople? Is he met with the qetsatsah ceremony?
Does He make this child grovel in the dirt?
That’s how the Pharisees would have expected Jesus to finish this story. I guarantee you that they were shocked when Jesus said, “But while he was still a long way off…filled with compassion…ran…threw his arms…kissed him.”
And what does the Father tell the angry sibling, does he punish him, insult him, demean him (us) in any way? No, he reminds him, and us, that “you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.”
The Apostle John tells us in his chapter 5 of the time Jesus healed someone who was an invalid for thirty-eight years, but because Jesus healed him on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders were angry and persecuted him.
It is God’s mercy that allows His grace to work in our lives. The phrase “His mercy endures forever” appears 41 times in the Old Testament.
Justice calls for sinners to be punished. If God only distributed justice only and not “Mercy and Grace” then not one of us could have salvation. His mercy and love overrides justice to make room for grace. Mercy allows the sin to be punished - but the sinner to be forgiven.
Mercy allows for another to pay the price of sin instead of the sinner. God’s mercy prevents His wrath from falling on us.
Justice screams, “Death, death, death!”
Mercy whispers, “Forgive, forgive, forgive!”
For it is grace that provides the path for forgiveness.
It is beautifully described in a song titled: When Justice Called, Mercy Answered.
I was struggling ‘neath the burden
A sin-stained past was all I knew
Then a still small voice came calling, He said, “I bled and died for you”.
When justice called, mercy answered.
There was no way I could earn God’s righteousness.
Just a simple little prayer, and Jesus met me there. When justice called, mercy answered.
• It was God’s mercy that permitted Noah to escape the destruction of the earth when God’s wrath fell.
• It was God’s mercy that permitted Lot to escape God’s wrath at Sodom and Gomorrah. Mercy answered in Lot’s place and gave him an escape from the wickedness of the people around him.
• It was God’s mercy that allowed the Israelites to exit Egypt.
• It was God’s mercy that spared them through the wilderness journey.
When His justice called, His mercy answered. Mercy permitted another to pay the price for us. God’s justice demanded that the sinner pay the penalty for sin. Mercy is part of God’s love. Mercy is available for all who will call for it.
It was God’s mercy that gave victory on the Cross. God’s wrath demanded that all sinners die – his mercy permitted Him to provide another way – - the way of the Cross.
Salvation Self-Portrait
Sunday April 24, 2022
Salvation Self-Portrait
Matthew 16:15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Luke 22:70 They all asked, “Are you then the Son of God?”
Dr. Seamands tells of a Muslim who became a Christian in Africa. Some of his friends asked him, 'Why have you become a Christian? He answered, “Well, it’s like this. Suppose you were going down the road and suddenly the road forked in two directions, and you didn't know which way to go, And there at the fork in the road were two men, One dead and one alive - which one would you ask which way to go?'"
Who would you ask which way to go? A dead prophet, or the alive, living Son of God?
Today’s message is not just about questions, although the two scripture texts for today are both questions. It is about your answer. We all paint our own salvation self-portrait. We are the canvas. The Bible is the paint. And our faith and actions are the brushes we use to paint our salvation self-portrait.
Jennifer Stasak tells the story of the restoration of the Si’wu people of Ghana. The first thing you notice when stepping into the Siwu-speaking village of in Ghana, West Africa, is the distinct smell of cocoa. It drifts through the air as you walk along the red dirt roads, while men and women sift and clean the cocoa beans on wooden mats.
The second thing you notice in this community is that God is everywhere. There are churches aplenty in the tiny village Akpafu-Odomi (Ak- pa-fu Oh-dom-me) — but it’s more than just that. As one walks up and down little rocky paths, you find that people have written spiritual messages on their homes.
The first one, was easy enough to miss because it was cracked and weathered by the passage of time. Written above an old wooden door it says: “Do good to your enemies.”
And down a sloping hill on the side of a pink building are the words: “Relax. God is in control.”
God is in the village — being praised beyond church buildings only on Sundays, to the everyday spaces of homes and backyards and schools. Because now the Siwu people know God speaks their language. So, they not only paint their lives with scriptures, but their houses too.
Wasn’t always this way. When Christianity was first introduced, they thought that He was only a God for foreigners because God didn’t speak their language. Nor was His word, the Bible in their language.
No more, now the Siwu people know God speaks their language. English is the official language of Ghana, used in major cities and throughout villages. But there is also a local trade language called Ewe that most Ghanaians use in their churches and villages — even though this isn’t the language that speaks to their hearts.
Isaac Kraboe, a spiritual teacher for the Global Evangelical Church and resident of the village, explained it this way: “The Word of God was introduced to us in a foreign language. But we are not Ewes (A-ways). When we go to school, we learn Ewe. And those who don’t have the chance to go to school find it very difficult to speak and understand the language.”
Akpafu-Odomi like most villages in the region, is a rural farming community. When children are grown, most leave the village to find jobs in bigger cities. Since people in cities primarily speak English or Ewe the adults find it necessary to prioritize these languages of Ghana over their mother tongue: Siwu.
As a result, the use of the Siwu language declined — to the point where Siwu speakers wondered whether their mother tongue could continue on. They doubted that God would understand them if they spoke in anything other than English or Ewe. And because they couldn’t fully understand Ewe the hope of having a relationship with God seemed lost. But when the New Testament translation in Siwu was completed and the gospel was brought into the Siwu churches, people began to see themselves and God differently.
Suddenly God wasn’t foreign or just the God of Ewe or the English. God spoke Siwu.
There are two distinct Siwu-speaking groups in Ghana, the Akpafu and Lolobi. Prior to Bible translation of the Siwu language, the Akpafu and Lolobi communities were separated — with no intention of restoring relationship with each other.
The funny thing is that when in talking to people in both dialects, no one seemed to have any idea of how the separation between the Akpafu and Lolobi, actually began over a hundred years ago. Whatever happened to cause the division, they couldn’t resolve the issue. So, they distanced themselves — one group settled to the east and one to the west of the mountains.
Despite the distance between villages, when the community began translating the New Testament into Siwu, they picked a translation committee chairman and vice-chair, one from each of the dialects. Working as a team, they translated Scripture together — navigating the different characteristics in their dialect and assisting each other — eventually completing the translation of the New Testament in 2009.
For years, they were separated because of a disagreement no one from either community can recall. But their mutual desire for the Word of God in their mother tongue gave them a common purpose. When it seemed impossible, the people came together.
The communities are now bonded by the words of the gospel in their own language. God is in the business of restoring relationships, the Lord used Bible translations to reunite two communities who had been at odds for decades. But Scripture’s most important purpose is to restore our relationship with God himself.
That’s exactly what’s happening among the Ghana people. “When we are doing Bible studies in Siwu, even the old ones are making contributions because they understand what you are saying and ask questions,” said Stephen. “They have the liberty. I’ve also seen that people who thought they could only pray in Ewe. But no, we taught them, ‘God understands Siwu.’ They now understand that God is not only an Ewe‑speaker, but also speaks Siwu.”
Although Isaac was a spiritual teacher for his people, it wasn’t until he was able to read stories from the New Testament in his mother tongue that the messages and meanings really began to click. “The Bible is so important to me because I can read it and take home the message. I don’t need anybody to come in and translate or explain it to me,” he said. “Nothing is foreign or a barrier to me.” God is drawing people to himself. He’s restoring dignity to their language, repairing their relationships with one another and bringing hope.
That’s what happens when God speaks your language. Did you notice how I stumbled over the pronunciation of some of the words, like Akpafu-Odomi? But God never does. He speaks your language fluently.
And that’s why they paint scriptures and praise on their houses, fences, schools, and businesses. They are not only painting their homes with the truth of God’s words, but in their heart and speech.
God answered their question of - is He a foreign God or is He my Lord and Savior? When God answered their question in a mighty way, the responded by painting their salvation self-portrait. Now that you know God speaks and understands you, and all languages, and even your thoughts.
How are you at talking with God? And at answering THE question?
We have two scriptures for today’s message: Matthew 16:15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” and Luke 22:70 They all asked, “Are you then the Son of God?”
Turn in your Bibles to: Matthew 16:1 The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven. The Pharisees and Sadducees didn’t come to learn anything, they didn’t come - in love, or to serve God. They came to trap and trick Jesus up. Always unsuccessfully but didn’t stop them from trying.
Matthew 16:13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, He questioned His disciples: “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
This journey took them to a district which Jesus had apparently never visited before and was the northern limit of Jesus’s wanderings. Caesarea Philippi, called to commemorate the cities restorer, Roman Governor Philip, and to distinguish it from the city of the same name on the coast between Joppa and Carmel, was near the source of the Jordan river.
John relates, speaking of what followed after the conversation at Capernaum, in: John 6:66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. The question comes, as possibly it did to the disciples, with a sharp abruptness.
Christ made this inquiry, not because he didn’t know what people thought of him, for their thoughts were perfectly known to him, but that he might have, from themselves, a declaration of their faith.
Verse 14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
The passage is one of the very few that indicate the impressions shaped into beliefs that were floating among the people as to Jesus’s character and mission.
1. Some say John the Baptist. The identification of our Lord with the John the Baptist has already met us as coming from the lips of Antipas, adopted, but not originated, by him as explaining our Lord’s mighty works.
After John the Baptist was beheaded, we read in: Matthew 14:1-2 At that time Herod the tetrarch (the Roman governor) heard the reports about Jesus, and he said to his attendants, “This is John the Baptist; he has risen from the dead! That is why miraculous powers are at work in him.”
Obviously, Herod had no idea of who Jesus was. Although he figured out that John was a prophesized messenger prior to the Messiah.
2. Others say Elijah —Elijah the prophet, came to prepare the way for the Messiah. He was expected as the forerunner of the Messiah, as we read in: Malachi 4:5 “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes.
3. and still others, Jeremiah The name of Jeremiah introduces a new train of thought. As there was at that time a current tradition among the Jews, that either Jeremiah, or some other of the ancient prophets, would rise again before the Messiah came.
4. or one of the prophets. Most people took Jesus for a different person from who he was, because he had nothing of the outward pomp or grandeur in which they supposed the Messiah to be.
Moses wrote in: Deuteronomy 18:15 The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites.
Which the Lord fulfilled this prophesy with John the Baptist, but they didn’t understand that Jesus was the Messiah.
5 “But what about you?” Jesus asked. “Who do you say I am?” The very same question, Jesus has asked every day since. And you answer every day in how you paint your salvation self-portrait.
Our second scripture is from: Luke 22:70 They all asked, “Are you then the Son of God?”
Luke 22:66-70 66 At daybreak the council of the elders of the people, both the chief priests and the teachers of the law, met together, and Jesus was led before them.
67 “If you are the Messiah,” they said, “tell us.” Jesus answered, “If I tell you, you will not believe me,
68 and if I asked you, you would not answer.
69 But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God.”
70 They all asked, “Are you then the Son of God?”
The same basic question, who is Jesus Christ? A manipulator or Messiah? A charlatan or Son of God? A question we all answer by our testimony and the painting of our salvation self-portrait with our life, our words, and actions.
The two answers to these questions are as different as night and day, as heaven or hell.
In Luke the assembly of Jewish leadership led Jesus off to Pilate. Luke 23:2 And they began to accuse him, saying, “We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Messiah, a king.”
Their answer to their question of: “Who do you say I am?” Comes from Luke 23:21 But they kept shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”
Where in: Matthew 16:16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
We all paint our salvation self-portrait. We are the canvas. The Bible is the paint. And our faith and actions are the brushes we use to paint our salvation self-portrait.
No one can paint our salvation self-portrait for us. Your pastor, family or friends can’t paint - our salvation self-portrait, only you.
The graphic that accompanied this sermon, of the cat painting his self-portrait, envisioning himself as a mighty tiger on canvas. There are two ways of interpreting the cat’s interpretation in the painting.
One, delusional, a gross mischaracterization of reality. The cat thinking, he’s something he’s not.
Much like the Pharisees, Sadducees, High Priests, Herod, and Pilate, who thought they had power and authority over the kingdom of heaven, over the Messiah and His mission of salvation, and over the Lord God Almighty.
When in reality they were mere pawns in God’s plan of redemptions. And all the people who shouted, “Crucify him!” thinking had control over the fate of Jesus the Messiah.
Caiaphas, Herod, and Pilate all looking into the mirror believing they were the mighty tiger. All of them are dead, and only Jesus is alive, and sitting on the right hand of God.
You are at the fork in the road, who are you going to ask directions from? The living or the dead?
The second way of interpreting the cat painting his self-portrait, is the face in the mirror is him alone, the portrait of the strong and mighty tige, is him with the power of God. Filled with the Holy Spirit. Of him with the Bible as his paint and surrendering his life to Christ and allowing the Lord to guide each and every brush stroke.
How are you going to paint your self-portrait?
All by yourself, or with the guidance of scripture and the Holy Spirit?
As you may know I do watercolor paintings. Often, I get an idea for a picture, I’ll make a sketch and paint a draft. Sometimes it comes together just as I envisioned. Other times I try again and again, and again without achieving my vision.
In painting your salvation self-portrait, it works best if you hold the brush, do the work, but let God move and guide your hands.
Like when my children were little, and first time writing their ABC’s, they would hold the crayon and I would guide their little hand in the right directions.
In painting your salvation self-portrait, if you don’t use the Bible as your paint, you’ll only paint with darkness.
It is God that brings life, color, brilliance, and love into your life. Jesus gives us each one of us the tools paint a masterpiece, but only if He is our master, and our Messiah. The Son of the living God.
