Today I did not go to church. I was up very late last night finishing an important project. So, I decided to just stay up until 8:30am this morning and watch the Time of Grace sermon on TV instead. Pastor Mark Jeske -- of Time of Grace -- also happens to be the pastor at my home church. So, if I am unable to get to church on a Sunday, I still get the chance to hear the Message.
So, that said, I thought I would share the Lesson for the day with you. It's taken from one of my favorite Biblical parables, Luke chapter 15:11-32. For those of your familiar, it's The Parable of the Lost Son.
As follows is part of the transcript of Pastor Jeske's sermon:
I think you know the story, don’t you? Let me just remind you of one or two of the details... A dad had two sons. He had an estate. The boys were working for him and the bad one -- the naughty son -- pesters his father for his inheritance early, which is a jaw-dropping thought.... Wanting the inheritance early is a MIND BOGGLING concept to me. I can’t imagine the CHEEK of a boy who wants -- or can’t wait for -- the old man to croak. He wants to cash in NOW. And the astonishing thing is, against all odds, the dad says yes. I wouldn’t. He did.
So, let me just quickly sketch out the story, and then I want you to taste the story with me. So he loads up his pockets with gold and goes out and has a hell of a time. I do mean it in that sense of the word. He was a bad boy. He was a BAD bad boy. And he spent his money on ALL the bad things that I don’t want my sons or any of you to spend your money on. And he had a hundred and a thousand friends while his money held out, but then he burned through it and he was stupid. He made bad investments....
People of good will - honest, decent people - make bad investments. This was not making bad investments. He was acting like a pig. And he ended up FEEDING pigs, and he wished that he could eat as well as the pigs because there was a famine. And while he was waiting for his next paycheck, stone BUSTED broke, he wished somebody would share some of the pig slop with him. That’s low, isn’t it? But, being low like that finally beat some sense into him.
Remember I said a couple of weeks ago, there’s only two ways to learn? You either learn by talk or by - remember? Pain. Those are the ONLY two schools you can go to. He flunked out of talk school, so then he went to the school of experience, and NOTHING educates people like pain. He got the message and he thought, "I’m an idiot."
Let me just read those words for you...
"When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare - I’m lower even than the servants who used to work for me. I’m starving to death. I will go back to my father and I’ll say, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Just hire me. Can you just give me a job? I won’t even claim my sonship back - just please can I have a job?’"
"And so his father had compassion on him, saw him at a distance, ran up to him, gave the orders, ‘Let’s have a party; get him a ring; I want some decent clothes on him; get him a bath.’" Probably didn’t get him a shave - probably kept his beard. "’Get him a bath and get him some sandals. The poor guy’s barefoot. He doesn’t have shoes any more. He’s walking barefoot. And you know that calf we were saving? The tender one - the veal? You know, the good one we were saving for the special occasion? The special occasion is now. Kill it.’"
And then the older brother - the GOOD boy - got into a fit over that. "Huh?" "Huh", is what he said. That’s the Hebrew word -- "huh" is the Hebrew word for "huh"!... Do you know how that works? It’s like this. I learned this word in Hebrew class at the Seminary. This is the body language ...[Jeske slumps shoulders as if pouting]... "Huh. Mr. Big Shot comes back to town; comes crying to daddy, and now he gets a party and those good clothes, and I sit here and work my BUTT OFF, and he gets the party. Huh." His lower lip curled out and his nose went up in the air, and he says, "I’m not going in there." There were thunderclouds over his head. His lower lip was out about an inch.
And then comes the punch line. "’My son’, the father said, ‘you are always with me, and EVERYTHING I have is yours. But we HAD to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’"
Now, let’s talk about this. It’s funny. As I’ve gone through my life, I’ve been all three of these people. I’m in stage three right now. In my younger years, I was a bad boy too. Yeah; yeah I was. And I’ve done plenty of things I’m ashamed of now. I hope to God you never find out....
Well, what are you looking at me like that for?.... [Those impulses for all the bad things] they’re alive and well in you, too. Because your appetite for sex and money have often fuddled your brain. Your zeal urge is for self-indulgence, to do it my way, to blow God off and ignore him. That is alive and well and throbbing in your brain, too. And don’t ever get airs, or get uppity, just because you have nice clothes on and are sitting in church. You’ve been bad boys, and you’ve been bad girls. So you know that feeling. You ALL have squandered resources that God has given to you. You ALL have done that. You’ve ALL ignored your treasures -- what is really important. You have ALL mismanaged your stuff. You have and you know it.
You have NOT been good investors of your time. And you have all been selfish and greedy with your money, fooling yourself by thinking it’s yours, and it isn’t. And you’ve all burned through stuff. And sooner or later, either God has already (or WILL when necessary) put his lumber to the side of your head, and you, like that bad boy, will say, "What a fool I have been. I must go back. My only hope is to go back home; come back to my father."
Jesus was sending a powerful message, that the people that he came to save are not the arrogant people who think they’re fine in and of themselves. Jesus CAME for the bad girls and the bad boys. And he eats with them and has time for them. He wants them to understand why their life is so hard. And he wants them to repent of their sins. In sorrow and honesty, to say "I have sinned." In other points in my life, I’ve been the good boy. I’ve been the church boy. I’ve been the boy who stayed home and worked while the others were out fooling around. And so I have also come to identify with that part of the story.
My lower lip has already curled out. I’ve scorned other people for being weak, where I thought I was so strong. I’VE scorned other people for being polluted, while I thought I was clean. I looked at other people as unworthy, and thought, "I am worthy." I have unfortunately let the satisfaction of a job well done occasionally morph into pride, which morphs into arrogance, which, of course, is a faith killer. And so I also need to be straightened out by Jesus’ words.
What’s at stake here is a human being’s life. And being a Christian is not about gathering together in achievement clubs, like country clubs, where it costs an arm and a leg to get in, and only the elite get in. Christianity and the Christian church are not clubs for the elite achievers. It’s a hospital for people who are broken and sick. And if you’re doing better - if the Great Physician’s work has been working on you, do not look down at people who are still bleeding or are still broken. But instead, use your love, use your skill, your persuasion, your acceptance, and your openness -- your arms open wide -- to help people find Jesus before it’s too late.
Personally, I find Pastor Jeske to be a very good speaker. He knows how to present the Message (aka, God's Word) in a way I can understand and relate to. He's direct, descriptive, and honest. Sometimes, we as Christians just need to hear God's Word presented in a way that's plain and straight to the point. And I'm thankful the pastor of my home church has been blessed with that ability. Because, quite frankly, sometimes I really do need that "lumber to the side of my head" remainding me what a fool I've been. It's that much-needed remainder that I can't slack off, and that I have to step up my diligence in my walk with my Heavenly Father.
I pray that you too -- should you share my religious belief -- remain diligent in your own walk with God. May He remind you daily that you too are in need of his councel. May he continue to guide your path as well.
