Quote from Forum Archives on March 3, 2010, 11:20 am

Posted by: bhfbc <bhfbc@...>

 

SERIES: THE PERSON OF CHRIST #1/7

 

JESUS REJOICES

February 21, 2010

 

 

Text: Luke 15:1-10

    

 

Last weekend, I needed a particular piece of documentation I had received several years ago, so I went to get it from where I knew I kept it.  I was surprised to learn that it wasn’t there.  So I looked for it in the second location I thought it might be.  After another search, I did not find it there either.  This continued throughout the day.  Every time I thought of a new location that made sense for it to be, my search turned up nothing.  I finally gave up, but I was concerned.  This was documentation that I would need at some point, so I knew that this was something I had not thrown out.  I had put it in some safe place, but I did not know where it was.  I realize that the thought of Pastor Chuck not being able to find something is comes as a surprise to you, but I could not find this piece of paper, and I was troubled by that.

 

A couple of days later, while I was home for lunch, I thought of one more place I could try.  To my joyous surprise, I found it.  I was so glad that I found it, I began working on the project that I needed it for right then and there.  I was rejoicing greatly that I had found this document with its information that I needed.  I was so caught up in all this that it wasn’t until I had my coat, hat, and gloves on to return to the office that I realized that I forgot to eat lunch!  I grabbed a little snack to tide me over, but I didn’t care too much.  Something important to me that was lost had been found.  That is what occupied my mind in that moment.

 

Just a little later, it dawned on me that I just had a Luke 15 experience.  The fifteenth chapter of the Gospel of Luke contains three stories, or parables to use the Greek word, about finding that which is lost.  In the first, a shepherd looks for a lost sheep.  In the second, a woman looks for a lost coin.  And in the third, which I did not read this morning, a father keeps a watch for his lost son.

 

Each of these stories tells us something important about the character of Jesus.  In our Sunday evening services during this season of Lent – the Sundays before Easter – we are viewing “The Case for Christ” series by Lee Strobel.  In this series, Strobel – an atheistic reporter for a Chicago paper at the time – examines the evidence to determine the reality of Jesus.  I think that it is important for Christians to have an understanding of the real world evidence that we have which substantiates the Biblical accounts of Jesus.  At the same time, it occurs to me that Jesus is much more than just an historical figure to be studied and analyzed.  I shared last week an excerpt from an article by Philip Yancey in Christianity Today: “After two weeks of reading the entire Bible, I came away that God does not care so much about being analyzed.  Mainly, he wants to be loved.” 

 

Jesus is a person.  What does this mean?  It means that he exhibited human characteristics to which we can relate.  It means that he related with real people in his day that either attracted them to him or repelled them from him.  It means that if we are to model ourselves after Jesus, then we should know something about his human characteristics and teaching and what they mean to us.  Looking into the person of Christ is what I intend to do in this year’s Lenten sermons.

 

I am by nature a curious person.  As Lois will quickly tell you, she sometimes wonders why I cannot leave some things well enough alone.  I sometimes wonder why I cannot leave some things well enough alone!  But that’s the way I am: frequently wondering why things are like they are and how they can be changed if they need to be changed.  Maybe you wonder about things, too.  Here is a question we can consider: why do so many churches have so much trouble attracting people to their services?  Services which are supposed to be celebrations of Jesus’ victory over sin and death?  Services which are celebrations of our salvation?  Services which celebrate the presence of a holy and loving creator God who cares so much about us that He sent His only Son to die in our place?  This very moment we could stand outside the front of our church, point randomly in any direction, and be pointing at a household where there are members who have no intention of attending a church service.

 

Like you, I have an idea of the many excuses that people offer for not coming to church or even for not becoming a Christian.  Most, if not all, are lame excuses.  By the same token, what part do we play in turning people away?  Now I know that we don’t turn people away from church or God intentionally, but that doesn’t mean that we are innocent. 

 

One example came to those of us attending the American Baptist Churches of Indiana convention about seven years ago.  We were talking with a man in a wheelchair at a booth promoting accessibility.  During the conversation, he asked us, “Do you see people with canes or walkers or in wheelchairs at WalMart or Meijer or Kroger?”  “Well, yes,” we had to acknowledge.  “Then why don’t they come to your church?” he asked rhetorically.  “I’ll tell you why: the churches don’t have ‘shut-ins’ as much as they have ‘shut-outs.’  These people will go wherever they can get in.”  Again, we may not be intentionally keeping someone away from church, but it happens.  We have addressed some of those issues over the years, but it happens not just physically; it happens emotionally and spiritually as well.  Like I said, I’m curious.  What is it about us, a Christian fellowship, that makes watching “Face the Nation” on Sunday morning a more attractive option than attending a worship service that is supposed to praise and celebrate the Living Lord?

 

Look again at Luke 15.  What are the first two things Luke has us notice?  First, tax collectors and “sinners” were gathering around Jesus to hear him.  They did the action; they gathered; they came to Jesus’ church!  We don’t know what his specific message was on this occasion, but I like to imagine that he was saying something along the lines of what he spoke in the Sermon on the Mount.  Jesus could have been contrasting the kingdom of heaven with the kingdom of the world.  He was bringing these people a new covenant message of acceptance into God’s kingdom!  You remember the beatitudes: “blessed are the poor in spirit... blessed are those who mourn... blessed are the meek... blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness... blessed are those who are pure in heart... blessed are the peacemakers... blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness.”  He was filling these people with the true vision of God’s better kingdom for the present and the future.  Jesus attracted followers.

 

Second, Luke lets us know that some Pharisees and teachers of the law were also in the vicinity.  They muttered.  Other translations say they “complained.”  Complained?  About what?  “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”  What a terrible indictment.  How absolutely horrible that Jesus welcomed and ate with sinners!  How absolutely terrible that Jesus, the Son of the Living God, literally rubbed elbows with sinners!

 

In reality, though, this is the revelation that is at the precise core of the New Testament good news.  There was only one person at that party who was not a sinner, and he was not a Pharisee or a teacher of the law.  God rubs elbows with sinners; that’s how we come to be saved from hell and made clean to enter the kingdom of heaven!  God rubs elbows with sinners!  Jesus parties with sinners!

 

In order to get this message across to the Pharisees and teachers of the law, he told them three simple stories from everyday life - two of which we have read.  In the first, we have a shepherd with a hundred sheep; except one is missing.  But sheep are worth something.  The shepherd gets wool from it or he can sell it or it can provide food for his family.  I’m sure that anyone who has raised livestock can relate to this simple story.  You don’t put all the effort and resources into raising the animals and then just shrug if one of them wanders off.  You go look for it!  You hope to find it and bring it back home!  Jesus may have exaggerated a bit about the party thing at the end, but he was trying to make this point: if you find what you have been searching so hard for, you rejoice!  You’re happy!  You forget to eat lunch!

 

The second simple story is basically like the first.  A woman loses one of her ten silver coins, worth about a day’s wage.  Most of us, I suspect, would take the time to look for a lost day’s wage.  Something like that would be worth looking for.  Again, we don’t go out to work and earn our living and then just sit back if we happen to lose part of it.  You know, if part of it doesn’t make it to the bank when it’s direct deposited, we check with the bank to find out what’s going on.  If the check is supposed to show up in the mail, and it doesn’t, we check with the employer or social security or the post office.  We want to know where our money is, and when we find it, we’re joyful.  We’re happy!  Jesus says, “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

 

The third story, which I didn’t read this morning, is familiar to many as the story of the prodigal, or lost, son.  This is the one that gets to the heart of the matter.  This is the one where I can completely comprehend the party at the end.  The father calls his neighbors and servants and throws a neighborhood block party because his son, who was a runaway, came back home.  As the father put it, “[My son] was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.”  Jesus wanted the Pharisees and the teachers of the law to know without any doubt that he was seeking and finding his Father’s lost sheep; his Father’s lost coins; his Father’s lost sons and daughters.  Jesus was only doing what the very angels in heaven were doing: rejoicing and throwing a party every time a sinner repented!  Jesus rejoices!

 

Now back to my earlier question: why do the churches have such a hard time getting people to come to God’s party?  Why aren’t we full to overflowing this morning?  My sad suspicion is that the answer to these questions is found back in these first two verses.  With over two decades of professional ministry experience, I have discovered that although non-Christians may not have a really accurate picture of the Christian faith or of Jesus, they do typically tend to have some image of what Jesus might be like.  It’s not necessarily a false image.  They perceive him as compassionate, forgiving, accepting, humble.  Hey, sounds Biblical to me.  And they are attracted to that image.  So were the tax collectors and sinners of Jesus’ day. 

 

They also have an image of what the church is like.  In fact, for some, they have experience with what the church is like.  The church that is supposed to believe in Jesus, teach about Jesus, and be a real, live reflection of Jesus.  And they compare the two - Jesus and church - and they don’t match.  They don’t match.  Among other things, the church “mutters,” “complains,” is suspicious of those not like us, is condemning and legalistic.  Tell me it’s not true; I would like to believe otherwise.  Who was doing the muttering in Luke 15?  The Pharisees and the teachers of the law.  Sometimes we just have to face the sad truth of the old cartoon character Pogo and his famous revelation, “We have met the enemy, and he is us.”

 

Church growth literature abounds with ways to build growing, vibrant churches.  Almost every publisher of church growth literature tells us that the most effective way to reach the unchurched is to start a new church.  Why?  A variety of reasons, but one consistent reason is that a new church tends to be more flexible and daring with its styles of worship, outreach, and other ministries.  New churches are not tied to long standing traditions - formal or informal - that can sometimes keep it from experimenting with different ministries.  New churches do not have a history of muttering and complaining and arguing that help keep vibrant, growing ministries from happening. 

 

Does this mean that established churches are irrelevant?  Like many others in professional church leadership, I do not think so.  Among other things, established churches continue to provide for the spiritual nourishment of long-standing members and families; they are a source of support for the community; and they form the foundation for the establishment of new ministries and churches.  But everyone in an established church needs to remember that it is our call to do everything we can to celebrate Jesus and to extend his invitation to as many sinners as we can.  This is what Jesus tried to get across to the Pharisees and teachers of the law.  Jesus was not shutting them out as he ate with tax collectors and sinners; they were shutting Jesus out as they placed their agendas of self-made righteousness and legalisms ahead of God’s agenda of invitation and salvation and rejoicing.  Jesus rejoices!

 

The Luke 15 parables are not just about an event.  They are about an attitude that should be carried by Christians wherever they go.  Christians should be the people who create celebrations wherever they are placed.  The New Testament is filled with biographies of believers capable of doing this.  Even when imprisoned, those first-century Christians were able to rejoice, much to the surprise of their baffled jailers and fellow prisoners.  Consider the imprisonment of Paul and Silas:  “And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely: Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.  And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.” (Acts 16:23-25)  A rejoicing lifestyle was part of what made early Christianity so infectious.  Both pagans and Jews found something very marvelous about a religious faith that enabled people to sing and praise, no matter what the circumstances.

 

Jesus’ invitation to rejoice in no way excluded the Pharisees and the teachers of the law.  On the contrary, he invited them to join him as he rejoiced and celebrated with those they had excluded.  In fact, he paid the Pharisees and teachers of the law a rather big compliment in verse seven:  “I tell you that in the same way there is more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”  Jesus implied that they were righteous.  In my words, Jesus said to them, “You’re righteous, and that’s great!  Now these sinners are righteous, too, for they were lost but now are found!  So, come on in and join my Father’s party!  It’s great!”

 

“Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?  And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’  In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”  No wonder Jesus is so attractive to so many people.  Jesus rejoices.  We can complain...  or we can join Jesus’ party.

 

 

 

Rev. Charles A. Layne

First Baptist Church

179 W. Broadway

PO Box 515

Bunker Hill, IN 46914

765-689-7987

bhfbc@bhfirstbaptist.com

www.bhfirstbaptist.com

 

 

 

--
To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: abesermons-unsubscribe@welovegod.org