"How to Rise Back after Falling"(Luke 15:11-33)

How to Rise Back after Falling 

Luke 15:11-33 

The parable of the Prodigal Son is one of the best known lessons which Jesus gives us. Sometimes it is difficult to look at the parables such as this one with new insight. Pastor Donald looks at three main points in this parable which are the power of sin , the unfathomable love of God,  and our role  in the salvation of God. 

1. The Power of Sin
Jesus warns us about sin. Sin will eventually destroy you if you allow it to enter your life and do not repent. We look at the son who wants to live his life and leave his father. He takes his inheritance and squanders it on reckless living. Then later ,just to survive, he takes a job feeding pigs which are considered dirty. Then he even considers eating the pig slop because his situation is so desperate. Sin will slowly move you to do things that you would have been ashamed to do. Sin eventually kills everything we value. Just like sin in our lives, our situation becomes worse and worse and eventually leads to death if we do not return to God.
2. The Unfathomable Love of God

The father has an unfathomable loving kindness towards his son. We suspect that the father did try to stop the son. Any father would do that, and although the father has the authority to deny the son, he allows his son to go. The father allows himself to be ridiculed. Everyone would have known that the son left the father in an insulting way. Also, the father knew he will lose wealth and that the son would fail. Yet, the father had prepared gifts for the son's return and waited for the son to come back. It is important to see that the son walked away from the father. When believers come to the father, we are part of his house. When we sin as believers, we move away from the father. The father does not move away from us, but he does wait for us to return.

3. Our role in the salvation of God 

 When we look at the son, we see he took certain actions to be saved. First he knew who he was. We need to know our identity in Christ. Second, the son realized the mistakes he had made and took full responsibility. We need to consider ourselves responsible and take accountability. Go to God in humility. Come with a broken heart.  Next, the son moves to the Father. He takes action to change his situation. It means to be practical. Even if it means that we drop friends, practices or situations that are causing us to sin. Finally, we must willingly accept the cost of our actions. The older son is not impressed with the younger son coming back. We need to be ready to accept that although God forgives us, others may not.

"He Saves the Unworthy and Recovers His Own"

Often times Jesus was criticized by the Pharisees for the company he kept. Religious leaders ostracized tax collectors and others who were deemed sinners and even denied them the chance to attend religious assemblies. Jesus accepted all and was criticized for this. Such is the case in Luke 15:1-10 when Jesus responds with two parables about lost things being recovered.  For the Pharisees Jesus wanted them to understand that God loves all men and not just the righteous or those who are not lost; however, Jesus also shows the nature of God which is abnormal in our human understanding. Pastor Donald teaches us that Jesus' nature when He Saves the Unworthy and Recovers His Own 

In the first parable of the shepherd who leaves behind the ninety-nine sheep to go and search for the one lost sheep, it does not seem to unusual until we think about it more closely. Who is watching the ninety nine sheep while the shepherd is off looking for one? The time that he is looking for the sheep would have been at night when it is more dangerous and less likely he would have found the sheep. The efforts the shepherd uses to find the one sheep shows the great value that the shepherd has for the sheep. Much the same the woman who searches for the lost coin may have exerted more effort than the actual value of the coin. In both cases after great effort of finding what was lost, the owners express their joy. It is the joy that an owner experience when finding something that has great value to them even if the value is not recognized by others. 

From this we learn three points about God.

1. He endures with sinners because he own humanity.

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 

Genesis 1:26 ESV 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 

John 1:1‭, ‬3‭-‬4 ESV 

2. He endures with sinners because they bear His image and therefore are precious to Jesus.

“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? 

Luke15:4

 “Or what woman, having ten silver coins,^[a] if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? 

Luke15:8

3. He endures sinners because He delights in our wellbeing.

Like the lost sheep, we must listen for our Lord's voice and respond to the calling of the shepherd. Otherwise we will remain lost and miss our chance to be rescued. 

So Jesus again said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.  All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.  I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. 

John 10:7‭-‬9 ESV 

Invited to Enter Heaven, but His Way

Invited to Enter Heaven, but His Way 

In Luke 13:22-30 , we read about a man who asks Jesus if those who will be saved will be few in number. 

Jesus answers back and says, "Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able," Luke 13:24 ESV. The answer Jesus gives is not one that many of us want to hear. Pastor Donald preaches about this question and the answer Jesus gives that many believers ponder over when reflecting on their lives and the security on their salvation.

We do not know who this person is, but we do know that he calls Jesus Lord. This person must be a believer of Jesus. Why else would he call him Lord and ask about salvation.  It is important to know this because Jesus is addressing believers and not unbelievers when he answers back. As we read further on Jesus tells us that there will be two categories of people in the church. Those who will enter and those who will not be allowed.

When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, 'Lord, open to us,' then he will answer you, 'I do not know where you come from.' Then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.'  But he will say, 'I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!' 

Luke 13:26‭-‬27 ESV 

What is the Lord's way? The narrow door is the answer. The invitation is given to everyone, but you must enter the narrow door. What is the narrow door? There are two requirements to enter the narrow door.

1. We need to have a deep personal relationship with Jesus. Some people are religious, but they do not know Jesus. By knowing Jesus we need to have an intimate relationship and not a superficial one. If He is our Lord, we follow what Jesus tells us. We pray to know His will and obey.

"If you love me, you will keep my commandments.  And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,  even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.  "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.  Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.  In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.  Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him." 

John 14:15‭-‬21 ESV 

 

2. Entering in the narrow door is a life of self denial and one focused on the Kingdom of God. Those who invest in the world will be poor in heaven. People who put their interests in their current life and not in heaven, will not go through the narrow door. Just as Jesus lived a life of self denial and sacrifice, so must we also live a life like Jesus' life.

We know more than anyone else if we are following Jesus as our Lord. Those who allow Jesus to be their true master will be saved. 

2.