Lost and Found

Luke 15:1-3, 11-31 Most of us know the parable of the prodigal son by heart.  But do we know why Jesus spoke it and to who and when.  That is where we will begin this morning—with the context.  The Bible says that:

Tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear Jesus. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” 

            Jesus’ ministry was bearing fruit.  People were taking to heart his words, repenting of their sins, and following him as his disciples.  All kinds of people.  Notorious sinners.  Tax collectors.  Adulterers. Roman soldiers.  And the hated Samaritans.

Jesus welcomed them all and the Pharisees didn’t like it one little bit.  They said that if Jesus were a man of God he would know what kind of people he was associating with.  But of course—he was—and he did. 

The charge the religious leaders of the Jews made against him (that Jesus received sinners and ate with them) they meant as a harsh rebuke—but they are some of the sweetest words in the Bible:  Jesus does receive sinners and eats with them. 

Jesus wanted the religious leaders to understand why this was such good news—not only for the notorious sinners—but also for those whose self-righteousness blinded them to their own need to be received and welcomed by Jesus.  And so he told them this parable about a son who said to his father:  ‘Give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ 

            Can you imagine:  going to your parents and saying, “Just curious, how much am I going to get from you when you’re dead and, by the way, can I have my cut now”—caring more for what we can get out of our parents-- than our relationship with our parents.  It’s pretty shocking—but it’s just exactly how we often treat God.

We want financial blessings but we don’t want God’s counsel on how to spend our money and certainly don’t want to return just a small tithe to him as a thank-offering.  We want a happy marriage but we don’t want to order our lives as men and women by his Word.  We want all of the good things that our heavenly Father provides, but we don’t want him overly involved in our lives. 

But the Bible teaches that the blessings we receive from God are given so that we are drawn to God himself.  That relationship is what really matters but often times material blessings push us away from God.  It certainly did for the younger son. 

Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property--and he began to be in need--and hired himself out to feed pigs—and longed to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate.

            Everything that the younger son desired apart from life with his Father—he lost.  He went from plenty to poverty—he went from freedom to servitude—he went from a son to a servant.  This is what happens when we pursue a life away from God. 

If you had told this young man that this was the direction that his life would take, he would have never believed you because he thought he had it all.  But this is always the course that sin takes in human lives.  The Bible says that desire gives birth to sin and sin brings forth death.  So it was for this young man—he could not have sunk lower.

Decent Jews would have been horrified to be close to pigs.  To be reduced to caring for them would have been unimaginable.  But to desire to eat from the same trough—this was degradation beyond belief.  And yet, as low as he had sunk—he was not beyond hope-- because he had a father who loved him. 

So long as you have breath in your body—so long as your heart is beating—no matter what you have done—no matter how you have squandered the treasures of life God has given you—you are still objects of the Father’s love and he will graciously and providentially work in your lives to bring you to himself.  

God’s saving work begins with seeing the truth about ourselves-- just like it did for the young man.  Jesus says that when he came to himself, he said:

I will arise and go to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am not worthy to be called your son--treat me as a servant.”’

            This is the heart of repentance—that we finally come to a place where we see the truth about ourselves:  we are sinners who are not worthy to be called God’s children and that life with the Father is infinitely greater than anything we have on our own.

But it was not just the truth about himself he saw—it was also the truth about his father.  Given everything that he had done:  the harsh words and wasted life--he still knew that his father loved him and would welcome him home.  And this is really the key to his journey home (what he knew about his father) rather than his own repentance. 

We know how often our sincere-sounding words of repentance are really self-serving.  We’re sorry that we got caught.  We’re sorry about the consequences.  And we want to make some deal with God.  That’s what the young man did.  Even in that moment of repentance he still wanted to dictate to his father the terms of his return.

Fortunately, the welcome we receive when we repent is much more about who God is-- rather than the purity of our repentance.  Jesus says that while the young man:

was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.

            The son’s trust in the father’s love was not misplaced.  The father had been longing for the son’s return—he was always watching for him—hoping for him—praying that he would come home.  He never washed his hands of him and said good riddance to bad rubbish.

In that day, grown men did not run anywhere—it was undignified.  And they certainly didn’t run out to meet disobedient, disrespectful children.  And they most certainly didn’t engage in this embarrassing, undignified spectacle of hugging and kissing a wayward child.  But this father did—such was his love for the son.

The scandal and shame of the father’s love that casts aside his dignity to embrace the sinner is fully shown in the outstretched arms of the Savior upon the cross.  There we see the length to which God will go to welcome sinners and make them his children. 

The younger son had his speech all ready but before he could say another word—the father restored him to his rightful place as his son.  That is what the robe and the ring and the sandals meant:  that this sinner was now a son and that called for a family celebration--but the older son wanted none of it.  Jesus says that:

“the older son was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat…but when this son of yours came who has devoured your property…you killed the fattened calf!’

            Now we get to the point of the parable.  The religious leaders are the older brother in the parable--scrupulous in how they lived—merciless to those who didn’t measure up.  They resented the compassion Jesus showed to sinners—but he loved them too.

And so Jesus told this parable to get them to see the truth about themselves:  that they ought to be rejoicing to see sinners welcomed back into the family of God—that all men, whether Jew or Gentile, were ultimately God’s children whom he loved. 

Their lack of joy to see a sinner saved was a real problem because they also failed to see how their own lives with God were not what they were supposed to be-- and so Jesus told them this story so that they could see how far they had fallen.

The older son saw his life as that of a slave rather than a son-- and his father as a master whose commands had to be obeyed rather than a father whose words are received with thanksgiving—and he was just as much concerned with getting his share as was the younger son-- and embittered when he thought he was shortchanged by his father.

It is so easy for us who have been life-long Christians to fall into the same trap.  Isn’t there an earthly bonus for years of faithful service to the Lord?  Isn’t it a little bit unjust for the gift of salvation to be given equally to those who have led a dissolute life as to those who have served God faithfully?  Shouldn’t the faithful get more from God?

Jesus told the story of the older son because he wants us to know that this kind of attitude alienates us from God just as much as those who lead scandalous lives. 

But he also wants us to know that he loves the Pharisee too and wants them to have a place in the family.  And that is why the father in the parable did another unbelievable thing:  he went out to the older son and begged him to be reconciled to his brother and take his place in the family.  The father said to the older son:

‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’”

            From lost to found—from death to life.  This is what our heavenly Father wants for all of his children.

Whether we identify with the younger son who did everything wrong and had to be reduced to nothing—or whether we identify with the older son who thought he did everything right and yet regarded his life with his father as an unpleasant burden to be borne—God wants us to know that there is a place in his family through faith in another Son named Jesus.  Amen.

Lent 4c General Prayer

O Lord, we confess that You are our salvation and so we call upon Your name in prayer, trusting that You will comfort us:

We give You thanks and praise that Your anger has been turned away from us on account of the sacrifice of Your Son Jesus upon the cross.  Give us hearts that long to sing Your praises in worship and help us to regard Your Word and Sacraments as a well of salvation that we can draw strength from again and again.

Bless and empower the mission of the church and especially this congregation that through our witness and gifts the Good News of salvation would be made known in all the earth.  As You gave the Holy Apostles the ministry of reconciliation continue to raise up men for the pastoral office who will fulfill this ministry in our own day.

We thank You for the gift of Holy Baptism through which Rhett has become a new creation.  Remind us that our own baptism is a promise of life and salvation from You that we can return to each day of our lives.  Let us hear with fresh ears the earnest appeal You make to us to repent of our sins, be renewed in our faith, and reconciled to You through Jesus.

Let Your hand of blessing rest upon our families.  Where there is anger and discord grant love and peace.  Help us to rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep and thereby show the compassion and concern You have for all the members of Your family.  Especially do we ask your blessing upon Wes and Harriet as they celebrate their 50^th wedding anniversary.  Continue to strengthen their love for one another and You and help us all to follow their example of wedded love and faithfulness.

We also ask You to comfort the Fry family as they mourn the loss of Cody’s grandfather.  Assure them that he is at rest in Your presence, waiting for that great day of resurrection when they will see him again and join him around the throne of the One who conquered death by his own resurrection.

Be the strength and comfort of all who stand in need of Your mighty and loving care.  Send rain upon this dry land.  Grant healing to the sick according to Your wise fatherly will, especially Darlene.  Provide for the needs of all of those who lack the necessities of life.  Open our hearts and hands to care for the needs of others.

As You were great in the midst of Israel let it be so in our own nation.  Guide those who govern and protect this country and grant that they would be men after Your own heart.  Make us and our fellow citizens decent and upright and hardworking.  Rid us of those national sins that destroy Your good gifts of family and marriage and children.

Whatever else You see that we need-whatever is good for our neighbor and whatever brings glory to You—grant to us dear Father for we confidently ask in the name of Your Son Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Repent or Perish!

Luke 13:1-9 Christians are killed in church on Christmas Day by Muslim terrorists.  A bridge collapses and with it dozens fall to their death.  A tsunami sweeps thousands out to sea.  A family on vacation is killed in a car wreck.  And a madman breaks into a school and kills little children.  These are the tragic headlines—big and small--of a world that has been wrecked by sin and evil.  And we can’t help but wonder:  why?  Why that place?  Why those people?  Why this moment?

But rather than trying to figure out why some die this way and others do not—rather than speculating about the lives of others and what God is doing in the hardships he allows--Jesus says that we are to view each tragedy as an opportunity for us to repent of our own sins so that we do not perish eternally.  The Bible says that:

There were some present at that very time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

            The tragic headlines of Jesus’ day were the result of a madman on one hand-- and a construction accident on the other. 

On one occasion Herod’s soldiers came into the temple and murdered people as they worshiped so that their blood mixed with the blood of the sacrifices they were offering.  On another occasion, a building project in Siloam collapsed killing eighteen workers.  In both cases there were victims and there were survivors. 

What the people wanted to know was:  what the difference between those who died and those who lived?  Was God reaching out and directly punishing those who died?  Did they have some secret sin that made them worse than others?  And conversely, were those who were spared, the good folk with whom God was pleased?

To all these questions about others Jesus simply says:  no!  Then and now Jesus does not permit us to delve into the providential mysteries of how God runs the universe.  He does not invite our speculation about the sins of others. 

Instead, he wants us to understand that we are not magically immune from tragedy and so we are to be spiritually prepared through repentance and faith—at any moment-- to stand before God. 

We live in a broken world.  Satanic activity and human sin have wrecked God’s good creation.  There is moral evil in the form of madmen who kill innocent people.  There is physical evil in the form of hurricanes and earthquakes that destroy cities and nations.  And there is personal evil in the form of the devil and his angels who try to destroy our life with God by tempting us to sin. 

All of us are affected to one degree or the other by sin and evil.  All of us will finally succumb to death—unless the Lord comes first.

It is an exercise in futility-- and sinful speculation—to assign moral guilt to people because they get cancer- or die in car wrecks- or suffer through natural disasters- while others don’t.  Instead, Jesus says that we are to view these scenes as an opportunity for personal repentance. 

Each time we read some headline in the paper about some violent crime—each time we hear of someone struck down by cancer—each time we hear on the evening news about some terrible car wreck—right then and there we need to repent of our sins and turn to Jesus in faith.

Rather than sinful speculation about others, we can repent over our thanklessness for God’s mighty provision that preserves and protects our lives. 

Rather than sinful speculation about others, we can repent over our lack of compassion for those who are undergoing the hardships of living in a broken world. 

Rather than sinful speculation about others, we can repent of our judgmental attitude that wants to find secret sins in the lives of others that has caused them to suffer some tragedy.

Each time the brokenness of this world strikes down a fellow human being, we have an opportunity to turn from our sins and turn to Jesus—the One who has truly suffered the fullness of God’s wrath over our sins upon the cross—offering us in their place the assurance that in all things God is working for our good and that no evil thing can separate us from his love.

We should heed these opportunities for personal repentance that tragedy provides because there is coming a day for each of us when the time to repent and believe in Jesus will come to an end.  Jesus said: 

“A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”

            Noah preached for 120 years, calling the people of the world to repentance before the flood.  Jeremiah preached for 40 years, calling Judah to turn from her evil ways before her destruction by Babylon.  Jesus preached for 3 years, calling the people of Israel to repentance and faith before they were destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D.

An early church father said that God is merciful and “does not bring in punishment silently and secretly but by his threatenings first proclaims them to be at hand, thus inviting sinners to repentance.” 

The Bible says that God is “patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” and bear fruits in keeping with that repentance and faith.  That is why he has redeemed us and that is what he desires from us—a life of genuine, heartfelt Christianity that shows itself in the fruit of faith.

Farmers plant for a purpose:  to gather the harvest in the fall.  They are not doing because of the aesthetic appeal of straight rows of green plants—they are doing it for what the plant produces. 

Two thousand years later we have no trouble understanding Jesus’ illustration about the fig tree.  The believer is portrayed as a plant—either fruitful in good works or barren. 

The question for us to ask ourselves in all seriousness is this:  when God examines my life of faith---does he find the fruits of that faith?  Am I diligent in doing good works?  Am I bearing fruits of the Spirit such joy, peace, and patience?  Am I walking by the Spirit, guided by God’s Word?

God has created us and redeemed us and sanctified us for that very purpose!  Most of us were born to Christian families and grew up in Christian homes.  We were baptized and heard about Christ at a young age.  We have been in worship throughout our lives, hearing the Good News of the Gospel and being fed with Christ’s true body and blood.  What more could God have done for us than he has already done?

And yet when we look at our lives (and more importantly when God looks at our lives!) does he find a fruitful faith consistent with the care and concern that he has lavished upon us?  Too often the answer is “no” and we need to hear that warning (“cut it down”) that God speaks to us in all seriousness. 

But the Good News for us today is that Christ intercedes for us.  Jesus is that vinedresser who sees more in us, than we could have ever imagined or hoped for from our Christian life, because he sees his own work on our behalf. 

He is the One who stands between us and judgment with his own holy life and bloody death as that which takes away God’s wrath.  He is the One at work in our life, shaping us into a fruitful Christian filled with good works.  He is the One who provides spiritual nourishment to us in Word and Sacrament just like a gardener fertilizes his plants so that we can be the faithful, fruitful Christians God wants us to be.

We have a tendency to look at our spiritual lives and see only what we lack but we also need to be assured that we can be better Christians in the future than we have in the past because of Christ’s ongoing work in our lives.

In Jesus’ story, the vinedresser goes to work with purpose and hope—not in futility and despair.  He knows better than the plants what they can become when they receive his care. 

And so the Lord is at work in our lives—speaking his words of law that rebuke and correct us and his words of Gospel that comfort us and encourage us and build us up. 

The Good News for us today is that Jesus has given us this day of salvation—this period of time in our life-- to hear and heed his call to repentance and faith-- and be fruitful in that faith so that do not perish. 

But we also need to realize that this opportunity of grace is not unlimited so that we do not squander it or postpone our repentance but turn from our sins and trust in him.  Amen

Lent 3c General Prayer

Lord God heavenly Father, it is by the abundance of Your steadfast love that we have entered Your house this day.  Hear us as we bow down before You in prayer:

Continue to raise up watchmen for Your house who will speak Your words of warning and comfort without compromise or fear-- and grant Your people believing hearts to hear them and respond in faith. 

Help us to be a people whose faith in You translates into lives that are just and right.  Empower us by Your Spirit to walk in the statutes of life, repenting of our sins, and doing good to others.

Renew in us a love for Your Word so that we know and believe the lessons that are written there for our instruction.  Let us take heed of Your stern warnings and temporal judgments so that we would fear Your wrath and trust in Your merciful love.

You know that we live in a world that is broken by sin and evil—a world where the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for those he may destroy.  Each time we encounter great moral or physical evil, lead us to repent of our sins and be renewed in our faith in Your Son Jesus Christ.  Let Your Holy Spirit be at work in us through the means of grace so that when You look for the fruits of faith in our lives we would not be found lacking.

We believe that You are not a God who delights in wickedness but hate all evil-doers and so rid our nation of those besetting sins that destroy the lives of the poor and weak and unborn and undermine Your good gifts of marriage and family.  We also believe that You are a God who abhors those who are bloodthirsty and evil and so we pray that You would protect our military men and women who serve to protect our nation from those who would do us harm. 

Lord, You know the way of the righteous and we thank You that we can be counted in that number on account of Christ’s righteousness that is ours by faith.  Grant us those good gifts of healing- and daily provision- and rain that we need.  Especially do we ask Your blessing upon the Becker grandchildren who celebrate birthdays, that they would be counted right in Your sight every day of their lives and have all their needs of body and soul richly met by You.

As we have entered Your house today by the abundance of Your steadfast love, so be with us throughout our days that we would enter the eternal home You have prepared for us.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.