Looking With Love

Introduction

Else knew I was preaching because they brought in a water, and if Kin was preaching, it would have had to be a red bull. But in Luke chapter 15, Jesus has a more stubborn type of clientele to deal with than either Ken or I are. In verse 1 of Luke chapter 15, we read about the tax collectors and the Pharisees, tax collectors, sinners, and Pharisees, and the bad guy is not who you think. If you think about the parable of the prodigal son, if you think about that great story of the son who loses his way, comes back, his father is waiting for him, and he receives them with open arms and grace. We remember that’s one of the most touching parables in the Bible. But sometimes I think we forget that verse 1 and 2 are the reason Jesus is even telling or sharing that wonderful story.

Read with me, verse 1 and 2. Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, This man receives sinners and eats with them. Now before we read it, we’ll read the first phrase of verse 3. So he told them this parable. What was it that launched this parable, this parable that will be about the sheep that is lost and the coin that’s lost, and then certainly the lost or prodigal son, because that lost son returned. What was the impetus for this? Well, Jesus has an audience of tax collectors and sinners. This is good. People who need the words of Jesus, the sick, have found the physician. But verse 2, what about those Pharisees and scribes?

What about those law experts? Are they joyful? Are they excited? Do they have a loving attitude that these who need Jesus most are here and ready to listen and learn? Well, no. They grumble in verse 2, and again, what is their phrase? This is so important. This man receives sinners and eats with them. It’s not just that he’s around them, it’s that he is accepting of them, he is mingling with them, he’s being one with them. Shouldn’t Jesus, this great teacher, know better than to mix with these sinners? What is he thinking? And what do those people think they’re doing, those tax collectors, those heathens and those sinners, think they’re doing by being with our teacher, being with us. How can that be? Well, it is with that impetus that this morning we’re going to think about the idea of looking to others with love.

Looking out with grace in our hearts, giving people the benefit of the doubt, not just in a casual way, like letting them go first. That would be way too tall of a task on I4. But looking with love to be forgiving. Looking with grace to recognize that I have faults and you have faults. And so we will deal kindly with one another the way we want God so desperately to deal kindly with us. You see, the prodigal son gets all the attention, the father gets the second most attention, but at the end of Luke chapter 15, there’s another son. There’s the older son who’s been working the whole time. And while he seems like the good guy, when you read the context of Luke 15, we see he’s the one with the problem.

1. The Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin

He’s not looking with love. But first of all, we have to understand how does Jesus get there. And the first example is to recognize that he’s being judged for being with sinners, and then he responds. Notice his response in verse 3. As he tells them this parable, what man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the 99 in the open country and go after the one that is lost until he finds it. And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 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 that was lost. Just so I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

So it’s important to keep this context in mind. In verse two, Jesus is being accused of and condemned for receiving sinners. And what is his response with the parable of the lost sheep? Well, not just that sheep that are lost need to be found, but what is the reaction to the lost sheep? Rejoicing. Rejoice with me, the one who found the sheep says, I have found my sheep that was lost. In fact, what does the scripture say about the sinners who return? There is rejoicing in heaven amongst the angels. It is amazing because it causes such a commotion in heaven, as Jesus concludes verse 7 by saying, Over one sinner who repents, then 99 righteous persons who need no repentance. It’s pretty interesting of Jesus to say there’s 99 who don’t need repentance.

The idea of somebody not needing repentance is foreign to Scripture. Surely we know Paul makes the clear case in Romans chapter 3 that Jew and Gentile alike all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. But that’s not what Jesus is fixated on. He says, if somebody is lost, then what is the reaction? First of all, go and find them. That takes love, doesn’t it? To find someone who’s lost, I have to go to them. And you know what’s uncomfortable? Going to somebody who doesn’t agree with me. Going with somebody who has purposely distanced themselves from me. Certainly the most direct application of this is souls. And I wonder through the years how many of us have been a part of the work here and seen members come and go.

And I don’t mean go and move somewhere else or worship somewhere else, but leave the fold of God. Leave the flock that Jesus is the lead pastor over. Have we reached out? Have I looked with love to do something about my now lost brother or my lost sister? If it was my family member, wouldn’t I have moved? You bet. If it was my close friend, would I have made an effort? Of course. Why? Because for those we’re close to, we’re motivated by love. He continues in verse 8, for what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently 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 that I had lost.

Just so I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents. Again, Jesus gets to the bottom line. This one out of ten coins is missing. And what does the woman do? She goes, Ah, I got nine other coins. It’s fine. No, she stops. She seeks diligently for that lost coin. But notice the application in verse 10. Remember, going back to verse 2, what is the problem? Jesus receives sinners. The Pharisees and scribes are very upset that this good Jewish teacher is in the company of tax collectors and sinners. And Jesus says, What happens in heaven when people repent? There is joy before the angels of God. So we think about his response. It’s pretty clear that when he’s talking about the lost sheep and the lost coin, yes, he values those who return.

Yes, he’s going to value the prodigal son. God values, loves, heaven rejoices when I, as a son who has left the faith, has left my father, come to my senses, humble myself, repent and come back. God is excited about that. That is absolutely an application of Luke 15. But who is he really making this story about into? Those Pharisees and those scribes in the earshot of the tax collectors and the sinners. The answer is that we all need what God offers. We all need to be one with the Father. And by the way, if you consider yourself righteous, verse 7, the parable of the lost sheep makes it clear.

2. The Prodigal Son Squandered It in Reckless Living

And so when we come to the story of the prodigal son, we’re going to see not just that the prodigal son is of importance, but look at his whole family dynamic and see that maybe I find myself relating to one of the two sons this morning. One of them is the prodigal son, who is described as lost and found by the end of verse 32. But notice with me in verse 11, here is the story as Jesus lays it out. There was a man who had two sons, and the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me. And he divided his property between them. Now 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 in reckless living.

And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. Verse 15 says, So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate. But no one gave him anything. You think about the prodigal son. I think, unlike the 99 sheep who didn’t leave, if we’re honest, we recognize I have been that son before. I have known that God offers love. God offers grace. God offers every good and perfect gift. But I’ve chosen to live my own way. I’ve chosen to do what I want to do. If you notice what the son does in verse 12 and 13, he demands his inheritance, and what does he go out and do?

Squanders it in reckless living. Could Jesus be more clear to the point of the waste that was this son’s life? He squandered the possessions, the inheritance, with reckless living. Those are powerful descriptors. Squandered, reckless. And that’s what it’s like when we give up our relationship with God. We’re squandering something of immense, irreplaceable value. And we replace it with something reckless and worthless. And where does it get him, by the way? Miserable. Alone, unsubstantiated. He has nothing. And what does he notice in verse 17? When he came to himself, he said, How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread? But I perish here with my hunger. Humility strikes when we’re at our lowest point. But I want you to think about this path that he took.

He decided, this younger son, I am going to be happy, and so I’m going to demand my inheritance now. And you know what’s interesting about the father? We’re going to fixate on him in a moment. What does the father do about the son? Let’s him go. You notice that? That’s not really what we think. We think of a father ruling with an iron fist. He’s going to tell him, You don’t do that. You don’t waste my inheritance. You don’t waste what I have built up for you. No? He lets him go. What do you think the son is seeking? What is he looking for? He’s looking for fulfillment, joy, happiness. And what does he find? Despair. Emptiness. And loneliness. In fact, insultingly, in verse 17, he realizes I am the son who has an inheritance, who arrogantly went to my dad.

3. The Father Is Patient and Gracious

I realize his servants are living far above my current standard of living. And so he decides in verse 18, I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before you I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Just treat me as one of your servants. And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him, felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. You know what’s interesting about the father? The father is patient and gracious. Do you see this verse? It’s so powerful in verse 20. As the son is coming back, where is the father? Apparently waiting and looking. You notice that the son is coming back, and the father meets him on the way.

Well, he was a long way off. His father saw him. That means he was looking.

How does God, obviously the embodiment of the Father, show us love? Well, first of all, he is hoping, he is desiring that we come to be with him. That’s one difference between God and man. You know what’s really easy for us to do? To wait for somebody else to make the first move in a relationship. Right? It’s very easy to love when somebody else has first loved us, but God teaches us through his Apostle John in 1 John chapter 4, we know love because why? God first loved us. And while God does permissively allow us to go our own way stubbornly and rebelliously, he also is waiting. And he’s not just waiting, he goes, he embraces his son. You feel the love and the warmth. And he had what for him?

He had compassion. Why would a father show compassion for his arrogant, spiteful son? Because he’s motivated by love. Is it possible that he saw that he had humbled himself to even come back? Sure. But there doesn’t seem to be a lot of conversation before his father came and had embraced his son. In fact, it’s not till verse 21 that the son says what he rehearsed, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before you I am no longer worthy to be called your son. The father is waiting. He’s looking for the return. This is difficult. Because one of the attitudes of looking for love is not just waiting for somebody to come back, it’s this forgiveness principle. You know what makes us really uncomfortable? Having to forgive somebody who doesn’t seek our forgiveness.

And I want to be clear on something that’s sometimes a mystery. If you look in the scripture, it’s pretty clear if your brother has sinned against you, what do you do? You go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If you remember you have something against a brother, as Walcott talked about this morning, you leave your gift at the altar and go reconcile with your brother. However, what about the person who doesn’t accept or offer an apology? Who doesn’t repent? It may very well be that, like God, he’s willing, we’re waiting to repent. But if it’s not sought after, what do I do? Well, sometimes there’s a statute that says, Well, if you’re not going to come apologize, I’m not going to forgive you.

And other people say, Well, God won’t forgive, and that’s true, that God won’t forgive unless we seek his forgiveness, unless we humble ourselves, like the prodigal son and run back to the Father humbly, tail between our legs, recognizing that only he can provide us what we need. But we also have to be like God, waiting not to prove somebody wrong or to put it in their face that they messed up. But we need to be looking for a chance to show grace. Do you see the difference in a father who is embracing his son, who’s come back, has compassion and is willing to forgive? And me standing like here very frustrated and waiting for you to come apologize because you owe me that. Because I tried to seek you out and you ran away from me.

There’s a difference in attitude. And here’s the scary thing. Can you imagine for a moment, on the day of judgment, if God forgave the way I sometimes forgive? That would be terrifying. I won’t ask for a show of hands, but if you’ve ever held a grudge, ever been mad for more than a couple hours about something? That would be pretty disturbing if that level of wrath, multiplied by the infinite power of God, is all of a sudden facing you at judgment day. It’s a terrifying thing to fall in the hands of a living God. When we think about what the Father does, he shows us what it means, not just to look out with love, but to receive somebody in love. Moving past what happened and moving forward to the future.

Notice what he says in verse 22. He says, Bring quickly the best robe. His son has said, I will be your servant. I will work for you. I have degraded myself. It’s my fault. I am owning up to it. And his dad doesn’t say, Okay, I accept. No, he says, verse 22, bring quickly that best robe, put it on him, put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet, and bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate, for my son was dead and is alive. He was lost and is found. And so, back to our context of Luke 15, what do they do? They began to celebrate. Why? Because the son came home. Did the prodigal son need to return?

Yes. Was he living a life of sin when he was squandering away his inheritance in reckless living? Yes. And so that is the love the Father shows, to be willing to accept one back. And you notice he doesn’t take him back and go, All right, go to the servant’s quarters. How does he receive him back? As a treasured son, treasured family member. That’s why the best robe was on him. That’s why verse 23, they killed the fattened calf, and they celebrated because this wasn’t a monumental staff signing. This was a life-changing family moment. Do I look with love like the father does? Am I looking to show love? Am I waiting for any and all opportunities? Or am I angry like the older son? We read about the older son in verse 25.

4. Angry Like the Older Son

Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and draw new, near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, Your brother has come and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has received him back safe and sound. But he 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, I have never disobeyed your command. Yet you never gave me a young goat that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.

And he said to him, son, you are always with me. And all that’s mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead and is alive. He was lost and now is found. See, the older brother is interesting because if you think about what he’s doing in verse 25, he’s working. And if you accept his claim at face value in verse 29, what has he been doing? Serving faithfully this whole time. He’s the one doing the right thing. He’s the one committed. He’s the 99 sheep who didn’t leave. And who is the father celebrating? The son who wasted and squandered away the family’s inheritance. At least his portion of it. And in our mind, if we’re fair and don’t look at this from Jesus’ perspective from a moment, look at it from an earthly one, we say, that’s not fair.

How is that possibly right? Here he is working for his father, never leaving, never quitting. And this son arrogantly left. And he comes back and he’s rewarded, he’s celebrated. I think he’s right. Until we remember the context. And remember, like the 99 sheep who have never strayed, like the 99 people who have never had a need of repentance, we recognize this older son was not perfect, no matter what he claimed. It’s probably true that he was devoted to his father, but would any of us claim that we are in the position of a son to be able to say out loud, I have never left God. I have never forsaken him, I have never questioned him. Well, no.

5. We Should Look With Love

Which means, isn’t it a good thing that our God is so gracious and merciful to forgive? Because I too need his grace every day. You see, the brother had a problem. He considered himself the faithful son, and that gave him in his mind a rank over the other son, the prodigal son. Probably like the Pharisees in the context of Jesus telling these parables, this older son has missed the point. What is the point of the lesson in Luke chapter 15? Jesus says, God cares about those who are lost. We should all care about the lost. We should look with love. That means two different elements of application. One, I go find somebody I can show love to. If somebody has lost, I make an effort. And by the way, if I don’t have a connection with people who leave, shame on me for not taking that opportunity.

If we think for a moment about anyone who needs to hear God’s message, maybe someone who’s been part of the fold and left.

Somebody I had a relationship with. But if I don’t, if you don’t, be making relationships, because somebody, statistics say, is going to leave the fold. James is clear in James chapter 5 one who recovers a sinner from his erring ways covers a multitude of sins. When we think about what God is calling us to, Jesus says, you are to be looking with love. The Pharisees were looking with judgmental bitterness. They said, We’re better than these tax collectors and sinners. Jesus, why are you receiving them? Why are you dining with them? They are below us. And you see, that’s exactly what the older brother was doing. And you know the disturbing part of the Luke 15 parable of the prodigal son? For me teaching it, and for most of us who are here worshiping God today, it’s more likely we are the prodigal son’s brother at this moment in time than the prodigal son.

It may be that there is someone lost who has squandered what God has offered them, and we’ll make an invitation for you in several minutes. But as you think about what this means, I have to look to people who have problems, who have struggles, and say, not only am I not better than them, but I am to be helping in serving them. The bitterness and the self-righteous attitude isn’t just corrosive and divisive to a family unit. It will separate us from our Father. Does anybody want to be in the camp with the Pharisees and the scribes who were complaining to Jesus in verse 2? How dare you eat with sinners and tax collectors? Because that’s what we do. That’s the camp we keep when we judge others’ decisions without thinking about our God first.

6. If God Judged the Way I Judge

Again, we ask the question if God judged the way I judge, can you imagine possibly getting through the judgment as the older brother? Saying, he failed. He messed up. You can’t have grace for him. You know what God’s going to say to me? You messed up. You failed. How dare you look at another one of my children with that judgmental attitude? Matthew chapter 6 and Matthew chapter 18, Jesus makes it clear the standard with which we judge others is the standard we will be judged by. So we need to be very careful that we don’t let bitterness separate us from Jesus. It’s interesting a picture of God in Romans chapter 10. If you’ll turn with me to Romans chapter 10. There’s an idea of God. And there’s the stubborn, rebellious people Israel.

They have refused him time after time. They have killed his prophets, they have killed the Son, they are coming for the apostles in the New Testament times. And in Romans chapter 10, the question is rhetorical. Did the Jews not understand verse 19? Have they not heard verse 18? But when you come to verse 21, notice this picture of God, not altogether different from the prodigal son’s father. But of Israel, he says, all day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people. Think about that picture. All day long, I have held my arms out to a disobedient and contrary people. What does that mean? That means while God is reaching out to us, we are arrogantly denying him time after time after time.

And God still allows for forgiveness for those who will repent. The good news of Luke 15 isn’t that the older brother was self-righteous, it’s that those who humble themselves like the prodigal son can be forgiven. And here’s the good news. If I am humbled like the prodigal son, then I can love like the Father. Because I know what it’s like to be loved by the Father. Bitterness has no room in a heart full of love. And so I must fill my heart first with love, knowing nothing can separate me from God when I do. And so we need to have the Father’s vision. We need to be the one who looks to the prodigal son’s brother and says this in response to his anger. He goes out and entreats his favor, and he tells him in verse 31, Son, you are always with me.

And all that is mine is yours. But verse 32, it is fitting, it is proper, it is right to rejoice and be glad. Why? Because the brother was lost. And the prodigal son was found. When we think about what this means, it has some powerful implications. It means that I have to look to serve with love. Find somebody who needs encouragement. Find somebody who needs to be reached out to because that is what we want from God. And when somebody acknowledges fault, when somebody shows fault without acknowledging it even, I need to be loving and gracious the way I desperately need, want, and crave God to be gracious and loving to me. The older brother is not pictured in a beautiful way. He’s compared with the Pharisees and scribes, in which, if you read any of the gospel accounts, is one of the most insultingly biting things we can do.

Conclusion

And the problem is it’s very easy to be that older brother to say, look how much I’ve served you, God. But missing the point, we don’t serve God for the reward. We serve God for love, and our loving God gives a reward. We think about what it means to serve God, it means that we can be spared from a terrible fate. It is true that God first loved us, and because of that love, in sending Jesus to die on the cross for our sins, it is possible to be washed, to be cleansed, to start over, to be the prodigal son returning home to my relationship with my Father. If you hear the word, do you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God?

You’re willing to confess Him as Lord and all that that means in your life. Repent of your sins. Acknowledge that my way doesn’t work. But God’s way brings true holiness, peace, and lasting salvation. And baptized into that death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, we can start anew. We can start afresh. If you are a Christian, you’re too much like the older son, recognize we can pray with you. We can pray for you. We’re all on the same team. We’re to be unified. We’re to be loving and accepting the grace that God so willingly offers. It’s a blessing to serve God. Take advantage of the opportunity as we stand and sing the invitation song.