MESSAGES
FROM THE
WORD
The Passion of the Father
Luke 15:11-32
SERIES: EASTER
“It was the best of times; it was the worst of times”. So began Charles Dickens in his novel, A Tale of Two Cities. That is the story of Easter. Jesus had been crucified, the disciples were in disarray, Jerusalem was in turmoil, and God was about to work the greatest miracle in the history of the Human race. The Passover was to be replaced with the empty tomb.
When sin entered the human family at the Garden of Eden, God provided for the problem of sin. When the sacrificial system was implemented through the ministry of Moses, God was very specific on who could offer sacrifices and how they were to be administered. One of the most important aspects of the Passover sacrifice was known as the scapegoat. The High Priest was to bring two animals to the altar. One would be killed as the sacrifice for the sins of the people. The other was to be taken out into the wilderness and released. This was done after the High Priest laid his hands on the animal and ceremonially transferred the sin of the people onto the animal.
This is the picture of the crucifixion of Christ. As he was lead outside of the city, He was both the sacrificial lamb and the scapegoat. He was the lamb slain for the sins of the people, and the animal taken outside the city with the sins of the people placed upon Him.
As you are aware, The Passion of the Christ is the highest grossing film of the year. Mel Gibson has taken much criticism for many parts of the film. One of the criticisms leveled against him is the lack of emphasis on the resurrection. I am curious in how many Hollywood executives would be interested in following up on this issue by producing a film dealing with the resurrection and time of Christ’s many appearances to the disciples leading up to His ascension into Heaven.
As we come to Easter, there is no more important time of the year for Christians. Easter is the “Raison de’tre”, that is the reason for existence, of the coming of Jesus into the world. While Jesus was on Earth, He taught thousands, fed the multitudes, healed the sick, and raised the dead. However, those events are all meaningless unless He died on the cross and came out of the tomb on Easter. This year I want to focus not on the tomb, but on the Father. Mel Gibson portrayed “The Passion of the Christ” brilliantly. What I want to do this morning is to draw our attention on, “The Passion of the Father”. Why would the Father allow His son to come to Earth to die? That question is answered when we understand the passion for which the Father has for His creation. Many of the mystical religions taught that God created the universe and then walked away. The Greek and Roman gods were portrayed as simply exalted humans who wanted nothing to do with the human race. Judaism and later Christianity were different. They portrayed a God who loved His creation and who through the person of Jesus Christ came to Earth to demonstrate that love to His creation.
As we look at the passion of the Father, we are going to look at one of the most famous parables told by out Lord. It is called the “Prodigal son”, but for today we are going to entitle it, “The Passionate Father”. It is found in Luke 15. As we move quickly through this passage we are going to look at six passions demonstrated by this Father.
FIRST, WE SEE THE FATHER’S PASSION FOR GENEROSITY. If there is a false stereotype, it is that God is stingy. God does not seek to horde all of His goodies. He seeks to generously give His blessings to His children. We read, LUKE 15:1,2` Many of us might have been hesitant to split up our inheritance with a son we suspected might squander the wealth. It is important to remember the purpose of parables. A parable is a story that has a single, simple moral. The purpose of this parable is not to give up principles on how to plan a will, or how to split our estate. The purpose of the parable is to teach us of God’s love for us, even if we choose to run for the hills.
This idea of the generosity of God is seen throughout the Bible. We read, MATT. It is God’s nature to be generous. We read, MATT. 7:9-11 We understand a father’s desire to give good things to his child. God is that same way. I heard the story this past week of a little boy who went into a diner and sat at the counter. When the busy waitress walked by, he asked how much a chocolate sundae cost. She told him that it was 50 cents and then moved on to customers who were going to order more expensive meals. She walked by again and he asked how much a scoop of ice cream cost. She told him that a single scoop was 35 cents and that is what he ordered. The waitress took the order and quickly went on to her higher paying customers. After the boy had finished his ice cream, the waitress handed him his bill. When she returned the boy was gone. However, on the counter was left 50 cents. He had enough for the sundae, but sacrificed that so he would be able to leave her a tip. If we understand this concept, how much more does God? We saw in II Peter that God has given to us, “EVERYTHING PERTAINING TO LIFE AND GODLINESS”. God is not hording.
SECOND, WE SEE THE FATHER’S PASSION FOR TOLERACE. I want to say something about this that needs to be understood. We live in a culture that believes that tolerance is accepting and approving of everything that is done by another, regardless of how bizarre their behavior might be. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines tolerance as, “the act of allowing something” and defines tolerate as, “to put up with something”. To tolerate someone’s actions has nothing to do with accepting them or approving what they do. It simply means we allow those individuals to do what they want. Luke writes, LUKE 15:13-16 The father did not approve of the son’s actions, nor did he accept them as good. However, he did allow the son to make the decision. He was tolerant, even though he did not approve of the actions. Here is the key point. The father tolerated the decision of the son, but he did not protect the son from the consequences of the son’s behavior. God is not an ogre. He allows us to make our own decisions. He then allows us to suffer the consequences of those behaviors. We go to God and say we want to live a promiscuous life. He tolerates us and the consequences are numerous. We go to God and say we want to dedicate our life to making as much money as possible. God may tolerate our greed, but He doesn’t protect us from the consequences of breaking the tax code, from violating personal friendships, or from neglecting our children. We go to God and tell Him we want to abuse our body. He tolerates that decision, but we pay a terrible price for that abuse.
There are two principles that play out in this scenario. God gives us free will to do what we want and He tells us that what we sow we will reap. We are free to do our own thing, but we are not free from the consequences of those actions. You might be here this morning living a lifestyle of your own choosing. You need to understand that God may tolerate your actions now, but the harvest is not yet complete. The bill will be collected. This is why the church must speak out on social issues. We are not against people enjoying life or behaving in ways we feel are wrong. However, we must warn people who behave in certain ways of the consequences of their actions. When we face God on the Judgment Day, we will not be able to appeal the decision to the 9th District Court of Appeals.
THIRD, WE SEE THE FATHER’S PASSION FOR SECOND CHANCES. One of the most important of all of God’s characteristics is His forgiveness. You will remember that the disciples asked Jesus how often they had to forgive those who had offended them. He responded by stating that forgiveness had to be given out “SEVEN TIMES SEVENTY”. That is a picture of God’s forgiveness . Luke continues the story, LUKE 15:17-20a There are two critical aspects to God’s second chances. First, we need to come to our senses about our sinful behavior. As long as we refuse to acknowledge that we might be wrong, we actually stifle God. You may have been asked at one time, “Is there anything God can’t do”? The answer is yes. The Bible tells us that God cannot lie. The Bible also teaches that God cannot bless those who flaunt their sin before Him. However, that leads to the second aspect. When we come to our senses and acknowledge our sin, God is there, in fact He is staring down the road for that single sign that we have desired to return. When He sees us turn, He is there to bless us.
FOURTH, WE SEE THE FATHER’S PASSION FOR COMPASSION. Do you have people in your life who always seem to make poor decisions and come to you to bail them out? When they come, what is your response? If you are normal, you probably want to ring their necks. I am glad that God does not treat us the same way we treat those who offend us. We read, LUKE 15:20b-24 Did you notice the father’s response? He showed compassion to his son. I want you to notice three principles in demonstrating compassion to those who have sinned against you. 1) You have to open the door and allow them back in. The father could have seen the son and had his servants thrown him off the farm. If someone sins against you, only you can open up the door to allow them the opportunity to seek forgiveness. 2) He allowed (required) an act of repentance. If the son had returned and said, “I spent all of my money, I’m coming home”, it would not have been compassionate to receive him. It may have been something the father wanted to do, but it would have been an act of self desire and not compassion. Compassion does what is in the best interest of the other person and repentance is in the other person’s best interest when they sin. It allows the wall to be broken down. 3) He blessed the repentant sinner. He had an all church BBQ to celebrate his son’s return. When you sin, a wall goes up. We read, ISAIAH 59:1,2 It is only as repentance is made that God can bless us.
FIFTH, WE SEE THE FATHER’S PASSION FOR JUSTICE. As the story continues we run into the older brother. We read, LUKE 15:25-30 The older brother is a very interesting psychological study. He is the safe son. He does what he is told, he stays out of trouble, he causes his parents little grief, and he does what is expected of him. However, he loses it when his brother returns home. He is shocked and offended when his father accepts the brother back into the fold. It is paramount to this entire study that you understand the heart of the older brother, because it gives you a glimpse into the heart of the father. The older brother’s heart is revealed in verse 29 where he states, “I HAVE BEEN SERVING YOU AND I HAVE NEVER NEGLECTED A COMMAND OF YOURS, AND YET YOU HAVE NEVER GIVEN ME A GOAT, SO THAT I MIGHT CELEBRATE WITH MY FRIENDS”. Here is the key. The father was wrapped up in his sons, while the sons were wrapped up with themselves. Both sons were self centered. The younger manifested it by splitting. The older manifested it by staying. However, the father now realized that the pride of the younger son had been broken. The older son had not yet been broken. The father wanted the older son to know that his actions were just. The older son was not losing anything by the return of his brother.
LAST, WE SEE THE FATHER’S PASSION FOR MERCY. Those who are like the younger son and are always messing up, really get on people’s nerves. However, those who are very self righteous are sometimes even harder to endure. “I’ve never messed up”, is pretty hard to deal with sometimes. Jesus gave a parable about this. We read, LUKE 18:9-17 The problem with the Pharisee was his arrogance. To believe you never mess up places you in a dangerous position, because you never feel the need to seek God’s forgiveness. If I was the father, I would have taken him behind the wood shed and revealed to him all of the times he had messed up. He didn’t mess up, but he wasn’t perfect either. Notice the response of the father. We read, LUKE 15:31,32 He puts his arm around his older son and manifests his love to both sons. He shows mercy to his younger son, but he also showed mercy to his older son by not coming down hard on him.
Let us bring this into the Easter weekend. Begin at Palm Sunday, go through the Passover meal, the institution of the Lord’s Supper, the arrest, trial and conviction of our Lord, the crucifixion, three days of quite and the resurrection. Take all of those events and ask yourself what was God doing that week? He was manifesting generosity, tolerance, second chances, compassion, justice and mercy. That is the heart of the Father. It is the heart He wants to manifest to you.
This message is from the teaching ministry of Glen Jackson, pastor of Faith Christian Church in
