Sermon Companion
Read: Luke 15:1-2
Devotion
Jesus spent much of his ministry with the kinds of people that “nice” people often avoid – “those” people. The religious leaders of the day grumbled among themselves about this. We may not think of grumbling or complaining as a big problem, but it reaches much deeper than we think.
Someone said, “Grumbling comes from our agreement with something that is contrary to God’s will. It’s a symptom of faithlessness, and so our mouth declares our agreement with hopelessness.”
Grumbling has a way of exposing our idols. The religious leaders’ grumbling exposed their idol of pride. They drew lines between those God would love and those He wouldn’t, and the ones He would love (in their minds) were of course those who earned his favor by keeping the law. Them. They failed to see that they were as lost as the rest.
God’s people in the Old Testament had a problem with grumbling too. They grumbled about food, grumbled about their leaders, grumbled about the ways that God chose to work among them. Numbers 14 tells of the account of how their grumbling turned to disobedience and caused a whole generation to miss out on seeing God’s promised land.
A lifestyle of grumbling and complaining reveals faithlessness in our lives. It reveals pockets of our hearts that are still unsurrendered.
Think about it
Do you have a grumbling/complaining habit? What are the things that you are most likely to grumble about? What does reveal about the areas you struggle to believe and follow God’s leading?
Challenge
14 Do all things without grumbling or disputing, 15 that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world (Philippians 2:14-15)
When complaining would be easy this week, practice asking God to give you a heart of faith instead, asking God to align your heart and mind with His. Changing a habit takes time. Keep at it.
Read: Luke 15: 3-10
Devotion
To answer the grumbling of the religious leaders over his association with sinners, Jesus tells three parables. We’ll look at the first two today. He tells the parable of the Lost Sheep and the parable of the Lost Coin. We should make four observations:
1. The searching man and woman represent God.
2. The sheep and coin represent the tax collectors and sinners, the wayward and lost.
3. God goes out and searches for those who are lost.
4. God celebrates when the lost are found.
Side Note: In verse 7 we should not read this as Jesus saying there is a category of humans who keep the law so perfectly that they don’t need to repent (the ninety-nine). Rather, the religious leaders THOUGHT that was the case for themselves. God celebrates the lost repenting precisely because everyone does in fact need to repent!
Consider verses 7 and 10 for a moment. God rejoices over those who are lost but then are found. The creator of the universe is overjoyed at those who turn to Him. Do you often think of God as a God of joy?
Think about it
How should it change how we bring our own sin before God if He is overjoyed by our repentance? Do you find that you can be overjoyed by the repentance of others, or does your response tend to be frustration, skepticism, or something else?
Challenge
8 The Lord is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
9 He will not always chide,
nor will he keep his anger forever.
10 He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
13 As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. (Psalm 103:8-10)
If you have a habit of isolating from God and others when you’ve sinned, this week practice bringing your sins to God and trusted others quickly and boldly, even the ones you’re having difficulty wanting to stop.
Read: Luke 15:11-14
Devotion
Jesus tells a third parable about a man who had two lost sons. The parable begins with the younger son asking his father for an early inheritance. Upon receiving it, he promptly sells it, gathers his money, and moves away into a far country. Jesus says there he squanders all that he had been given and he begins to be in need.
Why did he move away? Likely, he wanted to do with the money what he wanted, away from the watchful eyes of his father and his community. He wanted to escape anyone who could or would put boundaries on his independent foolishness. He wanted to get away from anyone who could speak into his life.
As humans, especially American humans, we place a ridiculously high value on our independence. There are some valid reasons for that. However, we have to ask ourselves the question, “Is my independence a cover for sin and/or foolishness?” Could it be that our independence is actually hiding?
Contrast life lived in sin and foolishness with life lived in wisdom. Perhaps we fear that life lived by wisdom will not be satisfying because limitations feel like constraints, but that’s not the picture scripture paints.
Think about it
Where in my life might I be using independence as a cover for allowing myself to continue in sin and/or foolishness? Do I welcome accountability and growth, particularly spiritually and relationally?
Challenge
13 Blessed is the one who finds wisdom,
and the one who gets understanding,
14 for the gain from her is better than gain from silver
and her profit better than gold.
15 She is more precious than jewels,
and nothing you desire can compare with her.
16 Long life is in her right hand;
in her left hand are riches and honor.
17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness,
and all her paths are peace.
18 She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her;
those who hold her fast are called blessed. (Proverbs 3:13-18)
Living by wisdom, as scripture describes it, is actually much more rewarding for us in the long run for so many reasons. Identify an area of your life today where you need wisdom. Who is one person you can form a relationship with who can help guide you in this area. Reach out to them.
Read: Luke 15:13-19
Devotion
Yesterday, we thought about the relationship between wisdom and isolation. Today, we consider what wisdom is for.
The son lived foolishly, spending everything he had. And after that the environment changes around him. The place he was living begins experiencing a food shortage. His own resources have already dried up, and now there are no handouts to be had from anyone he knew. He hits rock bottom, starving and ashamed.
He comes to himself and recognizes not only the goodness of his father, but also the wisdom of how his father operates. His father has dependents and servants that he takes care of, and all of them have plenty to eat. The father’s wise living have allowed him to become someone steady and good, someone who provides for others. His father is someone of both character and, crucially, competence.
When the son returns to the father, it turns out well for him, better than he could have imagined. But let us consider something: is the father’s ultimate goal just that the son personally flourish? No, a good father wants his son to become a person like him, someone who can provide for those he is responsible for, raise up others to do good, and be in a position to show others compassion in their need.
Think About It
Am I becoming a person who is steady, trustworthy, and responsible with what God gifts me? Does the pattern of my life consistently put me in the place of being in need or am I growing to be able to meet the needs of others?
Challenge
34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers,[f] you did it to me.’ (Matthew 25:34-40)
Living in wisdom grows us into people equipped to provide, disciple, create, and give. We take on this role in the lives of others, and Jesus says that doing so is a mark of faith – it shows that we love him. Identify an area in which you are growing to become wise. How can you begin to give to others in that area?
Read: Luke 15:25-32
Devotion:
There was an older brother in Jesus’ story too. When he hears the sound of the party and finds out about the party for his brother, he becomes angry and refuses to take part at all. Now, if we put ourselves in his position, we can understand why he might be legitimately angry. He could be angry at how his father had been treated, and how the younger brother had treated his family. It’s not wrong to be angry at injustice.
However, if we read to the end of the story (v. 28-30), we see his anger has less to do with injustice toward the father and more to do with own attitude. His viewpoint of worth and value is based on earning. The younger brother had not earned his place in the father’s love, and in the older brother’s mind, he had. In his mind, he had measured up. He fulfilled all the expectations.
The problem was, his attitude had turned him into someone who was angry, uncompassionate, self-righteous, and judgmental. When we live in a mindset that favor must be earned, we have no room for compassion for the failures of others… or ultimately of ourselves. We either have to cover over them, pretending they don’t exist and constantly rewriting the narrative to fit, or we have to justify the failure in our own minds, blaming circumstances or others.
The father didn’t pretend the younger brother’s sins were nonexistent. But he responded with compassion when he encountered the younger brother’s changed heart.
Think about it:
Do I respond to the failures of others with anger or compassion? Do I hold failures over others even when they demonstrate repentance? How do I respond to my own failures? How do I tend to respond when my failures are pointed out to me?
Challenge:
8 The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.
9 He will not always accuse,
nor will he harbor his anger forever;
10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us. (Psalm 103:8-12)
Today, practice being slow to anger and abounding in love. Repent from sin if you have it. Confront the sin of others in love if necessary. Set boundaries if necessary. Then, stop holding sin that God forgives over the head of yourself or others, requiring some kind of never-satisfied payment.
Read: Luke 15:25-32
Devotional:
What a statement by the father: 31 And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.
Sometimes we get so caught up in serving God or doing the right thing, that we fail to remember that life with the Father is supposed to be joyful. Not that it will always be easy, but the older brother had begun to see his father as some kind of taskmaster and himself a slave in drudgery. He imagined that the father was withholding good from him. Nothing could be further from the truth! The older brother had the father’s presence AND all that was the father’s was available to him!
Do we sometimes talk about the cost of following Jesus so much that we begin to imagine it to be nothing more than bitter slavery? Do we make a practice of considering with clarity what life outside of God actually is, and why following Him is better? He made the world good, including all of the systems in which it functions. He gives us the gift of his presence, and the bounty that is His is ours. He cares for our needs. He gives us community in His people. He gives us purpose and the gifts and talents to carry it out. He gives us joy in creation. He gives us the joy of doing right and being right with Him. It is truly good to live in the Father’s house.
Think about it:
Do I tend to think of following God and walking in his ways as pain, withholding, and deficit, and sin as the thing that I really want to do but shouldn’t do? Do I make a habit of holding up and speaking of the beauty of life in Christ?
Challenge:
7The law of the Lord is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure,
making wise the simple;
8 the precepts of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
9 the fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever;
the rules of the Lord are true,
and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
and drippings of the honeycomb.
11 Moreover, by them is your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward. (Psalm 19:7-11)
Remind yourself of the beauty of God’s ways today. If you tend to think of God as a spoilsport and sin as some kind of rebellious joy, it’s time to lament your hard heart and repent.