THE HEART.

Two kinds of lostness. Two way to get the fathers stuff,

Introduction:

There is a famous story in the book of Luke. For century’s it has been know as the parable of the prodigal son. It’s a story about a son who takes the fathers inheritance and wastes it all and who returns to a forgiving father. It is a great mistake to think that this is just a story about one son. It’s actually a tale of two sons. they story about a younger brother and an elder brother. We are meant to compare and contrast them. If we don’t compare and contrast them we miss the radical message that Jesus is leading us to. this parable undermines the existing paradigms, the existing categories for understanding our relationship with God

Two Sons, One Good, One Bad, Both Lost

1. Irreligious Heart: - My Rebellion is the way to Salvation” 

Two Sons "ONE BAD” LOST BECAUSE HE WAS BAD

The heart condition here is clear. Living as you want without God & disregarding God’s laws.

"The younger one said to his father, “Father, give me my share of the estate.” So he divided his property between them.” ‘Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. Luke 15:12-23

This Amounts to wishing your father dead. (Dividing 1/3 and 2/3) only happened wham the father died. 

Irreligion is: “I don’t have to obey anyone but myself.” A person living this way feels that they are in control of their own destiny.

The Younger son wants the father’s things, but he does not want the father. He wants the fathers wealth and the estate. He wants the comfort and the prestige and the independence that goes with those things. But he does not want the father.

Some people are like the younger brother, they want the things that God provides, but they don’t want God. they want their independence, they want to live there lives the way they want to live them and they believe it will bring them happiness. Some of them like the younger son one day, decide to go home.

Because the father in the parable being told, is being likened to God we are being told - “No matter who you are , no matter how awful the stuff you have done, if you come home God will accept you and he will love you and it’s all by sheer grace. 

Almost always when people think of this story it’s always about the younger son coming home and the father’s acceptance. As a result almost everyone thinks of this story in sentimental terms. We imagine the original listeners, with tears streaming down their faces in wonder. this not what would have happened, those who were hearing this story would have been thunderstruck, they would have been offended. Jesus purpose in telling this parable was not to give us a sentimental message, that somehow God will accept us no matter what we do. Jesus tells this parable because he wants to say this - “That everything you have ever heard, and everything you have ever thought about how to approach God is wrong.

2. Religious Heart - My Righteousness is the way to Salvation” (Prodigal Son 2) 

Two Sons “ONE GOOD” LOST BECAUSE HE WAS GOOD

The heart condition here is clear it is about bargaining with God, Working hard to be good and obeying God’s moral laws

The elder brother is furious and by not going into the feast he is saying “I don’t want to be part of this family if he (Younger son) is in it. the elder brother is abrasive to the father. He is upset about the cost of the feast. The fattened calf. The entire village would have been there. this would have been the greatest day in the fathers life and he is showing this. This does not matter to the older brother. All he sees is the father, is using his inheritance in a way he does not approve of. He cares about the fathers things but not the father’s heart. He is furious. The father resounds tenderly with grace and mercy.

 “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. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!” Luke 15:29-30

Religion is: “I obey, therefore I am accepted by God.” A person living this way feels that God “owes” you salvation”

The older brother cares for the father’s things but he does not care about the father’s heart.

The same thing is now true for the older brother as it is true for the younger brother. Both are lost, both are alienated, both want the fathers things but not the father. They want what the father has got but not a relationship with the father. In the story of the younger brother we have a very traditional definition of sin. In the story of the second bother we see Jesus turning the tables on what is sin. Both brothers are guilty of the same Sin, they both want the fathers things, they have both been using the father to get from him the things they really, really love which is the wealth and the status. One of them is doing this by being very, very bad and the other by being very, very good. It tells you in the story of the older brother “I have never disobeyed you” the thing that keeps him from having a good relationship with the father is not his sin but his goodness. It’s his righteousness that is keeping him away. The younger brother was trying to get hold of the fathers things by breaking all the rules but the older brother was trying to get control of the fathers things by obeying all the rules. Both were lost. They are both without a relationship with the father.They are both alienated from the father.

So there are two kinds of lostness, that’s why jesus put the older brother in the parable. You can escape God as much through a morality and a religion as you can escape God through immorality and irreligion. Elder brothers obey to get things from God. 

Which kind are you? 

The listeners of Jesus must have been astounded for the lover of prostitutes is saved and the man of moral character is lost. We like to think that the good are saved and the bad are lost, but Jesus shows that both are lost and although they may look different on the surface underneath they are both the same. We think that the way to be saved is to repent of you sins and Jesus shows us that you also have to repent of even the very reason that you did anything good at all.

The context has tax collectors and sinners and the pharisees and religious leaders. In the parable we see two ways that people try to make the world right and to relate to God. Self discovery and moral conformity. Jesus says you are both wrong, both lost and both far from home. The gospel of Jesus in not morality or immorality. It’s not religion or irreligion Whether you are a younger brother or an older brother you need to come home. there is only one way home.

1. The Love of God - Father goes to both sons.

2. Repent for something more than just our sin, not repent just of sin, but repent for sins and righteousness. Repent for the reason we did our good things.

3. We need to be melted and moved to what it cost Jesus (The true elder brother) to bring us home.

3. Related Heart - “My Relationship is the way to Salvation” 

Another Son - ANOTHER WAY

A relationship with God for your salvation. We see this in the way that the father reacts to the return of the son.

The heart condition here is clear , this heart does not depend on righteousness of their own, but simply on God and his grace.

‘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 round him and kissed him. The son said to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” ‘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. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.” So they began to celebrate. Luke 15:20-24 

In the story the older brother does not go out at his own expense and bring the younger brother home. The younger brother cannot come home except at the expense of the older brother.This is why the older brother is mad, The younger son in this story does not have a good elder brother but we do. What Jesus the elder brother has done at his own expense has brought us home. Jesus is our true elder brother. It was at his expense, the expense of his life, the expense of the cross, the expense of his death. this is what it cost to bring you home. He brings you home, cry out to Jesus.

The Gospel is: “I’m accepted by God at infinite cost to Jesus Christ, therefore I obey and serve.” A person like this knows that "It’s all of God and none of themselves".

We are given a relationship with the father which is free, God accepts me because of his grace, my heart is changed, i am no longer lost and I am no longer far from home.

Resurrection Chaos

The fellowship at Harehills Lane have had a wonderful time this Easter.

“It all began on Maundy Thursday when we had four pallets of non-perishable food delivered to the front doors of the church. This was not planned - it just happened out of the blue. A quick decision was made to distribute some Easter provisions to those who we know in the community who are finding things a little tight.

“The food was donated by food suppliers that had over-runs. If we had not agreed to take the food it would have been incinerated. All the food was in date with long sell-by dates.

“We had to make a temporary shop in our prayer room in the church building. We are calling this a ‘cashless shop’ - it was packed from floor to ceiling with food and had a grand opening after the service on Good Friday,

“Many asylum seekers and people with no money came and took food for themselves and their families. The news was networked by those who had received the food and people continued to arrive with much laughter and relief. This was a wonderful thing and a great resurrection provision.

“The blessing continues.........

“We gathered for worship on Easter morning for a baptismal service for a friend who has been coming to God's Garage in Dewsbury. After his baptism I made an appeal from the baptistry to those who are followers of Jesus but had not been baptised yet. I asked if anyone wanted to come and be baptised to come forward.

“I announced that we had plenty of towels and clothes from our community clothes store downstairs, so they had no need to walk home in the wet.

“Someone came forward when I made the appeal and they were baptised..... after the baptism I renewed the appeal....this happened five times.....after each baptism I made a fresh appeal and they kept coming. Five more came forward and with much laughter and joy were baptised.

“Andy Hobbs (who is part of the fellowship) gave me a hand with the extra baptisms. After the baptisms I sprinkled everyone who was gathered around the baptistry as we also renewed the baptismal promises of all those in the service. It was wonderful resurrection chaos and we could sense God was up to something!

“Also on Easter Sunday morning we heard some more resurrections stories of where the food had gone to on Good Friday.

“One story is that of a young woman who has been part of the church for some time (an asylum seeker) and her son. As they made their way to the Good Friday service the young woman was praying ‘God can you provide for me? I only have a small amount of money for food and I need to buy clothes for my son, so I will have to go without food to provide for my baby.’

“When she arrived at church she was greeted with the ‘cashless shop’ and could not control her joy and wept as she was doing her shopping for free and also wept all the way home. This was one of many resurrection stories that we heard on Sunday about the provision of the ‘cashless shop’.

“These are only a few tales of the adventures we had a Harehills Lane over Easter!”

People of the second chance

During the last few months at Harehills Lane Baptist Church in Leeds and God's Garage Dewsbury UK we have been studying in Luke 15 where we find the parable of the father with two sons. Often we have misquoted this parable as the parable of the prodigal son. Jesus is very clear that this father had "TWO" sons. 

Jesus begins this parable to counter act the accusation that he spends time with Tax collectors and "Sinners" (The social outcasts of his day) He tells a parable in response to this. "A certain man had two sons" The parable is told in order to show what being in a relationship with God is all about. The two groups of people that are gathering around Jesus at the beginning of Luke 15 are tax colectors and sinners and pharisees and religious rulers.

Jesus shows in the parable that both Tax collectors and sinners and the pharisees and religious rulers are in need of a relationship with God. In the parable both sons need a restored relationship with their father. Jesus shows that one son needs to repent of the bad things he has done to get that restored relationship for the other son Jesus shows that he needs to repent of the good things he has done in order to get  that restored relationship. We get the point!! God is holding out a second chance at a real relationship with himself. A second chance to both groups of people.

It seems to me that within the parable we have a offer of the "SECOND CHANCE". A second chance for the wayward son to come home and be part of the life of the family and to have a restored relationship with his father. A second chance for the older son who stays at home to have a restored relationship with the father.

So what is Jesus getting at?....... Simple!!

Whether you are wayward or stuck in religious endevour ......God is giving you a second chance at relationship with himself.

He is God of the second chance.........and we are called to be people of the second chance..