July 2019

Lay Reader = Revelation 21:1-6

21Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; 4he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.” 5And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.

Introduction

We are continuing our series looking at the parable of the prodigal son from a very different angle. Last week we learned how Jesus is a very different – and better – kind of brother to us. He represents a third way, and we asked how Jesus is knocking on our door right now.

This week we are looking at the feast. In the parable, the younger son is invited to a glorious full-community bash to celebrate his return to the family. The older son is able to go to the feast as well after his day out in the field, but he’s angry and refuses to go in. Interestingly, the younger son AND the older son have the opportunity to enjoy a feast with the father. That’s the final destination.

And we see that same image throughout the Bible when we’re looking at heaven or the resurrection. Some people joke that the word Presbyterian means, “let’s eat,” and it sounds like we’ll have lots of opportunities to eat together in God’s holy future.

Our text today is from the prophet Isaiah. This particular text comes near the end of the reign of Babylon and anticipates the people of Israel being freed by the Persians. Prophecies almost always move on multiple timelines. This prophecy looks forward to the imminent celebration at the expense of the Babylonians. And it also anticipates a cosmic party when God’s final redemption takes place.

Isaiah 25:1-10a

25O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you, I will praise your name; for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure. 2For you have made the city a heap, the fortified city a ruin; the palace of aliens is a city no more, it will never be rebuilt. 3Therefore strong peoples will glorify you; cities of ruthless nations will fear you. 4For you have been a refuge to the poor, a refuge to the needy in their distress, a shelter from the rainstorm and a shade from the heat. When the blast of the ruthless was like a winter rainstorm, 5the noise of aliens like heat in a dry place, you subdued the heat with the shade of clouds; the song of the ruthless was stilled.

6On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear. 7And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations; he will swallow up death forever. 8Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.

9It will be said on that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation. 10For the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain.

The What or the How

If you could have any gadget, any invention, any piece of technology that humans have ever imagined, what would it be? It can be futuristic, it can be unrealistic, but if it has appeared in a book or movie or TV show, it’s fair game. What technology would you love to have? Pick your poison.

For me, this is an open-and-shut case. It’s easy. Give me the Star Trek transporter every day of the week. I hate driving, and flying coach with the boys on an airplane isn’t much better. So if I could step on a platform and materialize anywhere in the world? Done!

But there are some real-world issues with the transporter. Scientists actually have teleported things, but with some major limitations. First, it only works on individual particles, not even whole atoms. Second, it doesn’t actually move the particle from A to B, but it makes another particle that’s already at the destination take on a perfect copy of the traits of particle A. And third, it’s really easy to lose the signal in transit. All of these problems stem from a fundamental concept in quantum mechanics that’s called the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. I’ve already bored you, so I won’t put you to sleep with the details. Just know that the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle is what makes teleportation so difficult.

Now, Trekkies really like to know how the futuristic technology in Star Trek works. So they ask real science questions of the show creators and the writers. And someone asked how the transporter worked given the limits imposed by the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. So the writer replied, “Well, the transporter has a Heisenberg Compensator.” “How does that work?” “Very well, thank you.”

I love that answer! Because sometimes I think we get lost in the details, we get lost in the “how,” we get lost in the problems and so we miss the big picture. We miss the “what.” We miss where we’re going.

It’s kind of like in the movie Patch Adams. Patch is in a mental hospital, and one of the other patients is a former businessman who comes up to Patch, holds up four fingers, and asks “How many fingers do you see?” Patch replies “four” And the businessman walks away chastising him for giving the wrong answer. Patch later asks the man about it, and he tells Patch to look beyond the fingers. Because if you focus on the problem, you’ll miss the solution. So Patch looks past the fingers and replies, “eight!”

Many times we get caught up in the details, we can’t see past the problems, we get too busy wondering how the transporter works instead of just stepping on the platform.

As a Presbyterian pastor, I get questions about predestination. How much are we responsible for our own faith, and how much of our faith is because God took the initiative in helping us have faith? As Ephesians reminds us, it is by grace we are saved through faith. So where does that faith come from? From us? Or from God? Or maybe it’s created by Apple Computers, I don’t know! Who gets credit?

I’ve heard it said that salvation is like a door. From one end of the door, it looks like it’s all up to you. You have to decide to open the door. But once you’ve walked through the door, you look back and see how God was the one who gave you the ability to open the door. So how does salvation work? Is it up to me or is it up to God? How does it work? “Very well, thank you.” We know there’s grace. We know there’s faith. We know you gotta have Jesus. That’s what we know. If you want the full details, ask Jesus when you get there! I can tell you various theologies and how they try to answer that question, and I can tell you my thoughts, but I can’t tell you 100% which one is correct. Well, I could tell you, but the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle prevents me!

We just read the good part of this section from Isaiah. The previous chapter went into excruciating detail enumerating everything that was wrong. It was fully focusing on the four fingers – the problems of the day. But then Isaiah shifts focus to what God has in store eventually. Isaiah looks past the four fingers, looks past the problems – but only after acknowledging them – and reminds his readers what God has in store. He doesn’t give the “how,” because he doesn’t know how. He tells them the “what” – what does God have in mind? What is God going to accomplish some day? What’s our actual destination regardless of the road we’re on right now?

Someday, God will gather all the nations for a great feast. Someday, God will swallow up death itself. Someday every tear will be wiped from our eyes. Someday the poor will have refuge. Someday all people will sing of their trust in God. Someday all of those who oppose God will be frustrated and defeated. Some day. Isaiah doesn’t tell us how. But he says that’s what God will do some day.

In the parable of the lost sons, the great feast is the final destination. The great feast is where the father wants both sons. For the younger sons among us who have suffered as a result of their bad decisions, the Father invites you to a great feast. For the older sons among us who have suffered as a result of our own religiosity, the Father invites you to a great feast. That’s what the Father has in mind.

Heaven on Earth

Early in the days of smart phones, I decided to truly rely on my phone for driving directions for the first time. I was performing a wedding in a mountainous region of Pennsylvania, and my shiny new phone had maps and GPS – and remember this was when that was a new feature, not something everyone had.

So I pulled up the map when I left my house, and sure enough it had great directions to the resort where the wedding was. It worked perfectly. It was brilliant. After the wedding, I fired up my phone to get directions home. One problem – no cell phone Internet access in the mountains. You see, my phone still had the map in memory when I left from home. But when I started in the mountains, it couldn’t pull up the map without the Internet. So I had no directions.

But I knew that the mountain was to the West of where I wanted to go, so I just drove East. Every time I had the opportunity to turn, I headed East. And yes, that meant I found myself in the middle of a corn field on a dirt road, but that’s when my phone found the Internet signal again and resumed guidance to bring me home! I guess corn acts as an antenna or something.

I knew which direction I needed to go. I didn’t want to go North or West or South. Only East. Knowing that, I knew if I was getting closer or further from my destination. And then I had faith that I would eventually get a good signal if I just kept heading East, and then I could get my final directions.

That’s how it’s like in our faith, I believe. If we know where God is headed, even if we can’t pull up the address, we know broadly which way to go. We know broadly if we’re getting closer to or further from where God wants us to go. And eventually, the Holy Spirit will show up to reveal the specifics.

This text from Isaiah is a vision of God’s overall direction. The things listed in Isaiah are like knowing to go East instead of North or South or West. If we head toward these things, we’re headed toward God.

I asked you earlier what technology or gadget you would choose. Well if you could pick one thing from Isaiah’s vision to be a reality right here, right now, what would you pick?

Would you love to see the nations gather together? Would you love to see suffering end? Would you love to see those who weep be comforted so they cry no more? Would you love to see all kinds of people singing of their trust in God? Would you love to see those who oppose God frustrated and defeated? Would you love to see the poor have refuge? What would you pick from this vision of God’s ultimate plan?

Because those things are God’s plan. Those things are God’s will.

And what do we pray in the Lord’s Prayer? “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done…” where? On earth as it is in heaven. In Littleton as it is in heaven! On this block as it is in heaven! On my cul-de-sac as it is in heaven!

If you want to see God’s ultimate reality someday, how about helping it happen in the people and places around you? God’s kingdom come, God’s will be done, in my life as it is in heaven.

But I don’t want you to spend too much time looking at the four fingers. Don’t spend too much time wondering about how you could possibly make that happen. You can’t. God is the only one who can make that happen. But if you keep heading East toward God’s ultimate plan, then your neighborhood or the people in your life might experience a little more heaven on earth today.

Or if you’re intimidated by these big ideas from Isaiah, how about something easier to wrap your head around? How about a feast? In the parable of the lost sons, the father invites both sons and the community to a grand feast. Isaiah mentions a feast, too. The book of Revelation mentions a feast, too. So how can you help your neighborhood or this city or the people in your life experience something like a heavenly feast?

A heavenly feast is very different than what a lot of people think about Christianity. A heavenly feast isn’t about everyone sitting down quietly and making sure you use all seventeen forks in their proper order according to religious etiquette. A heavenly feast isn’t about a bunch of boring rule-sticklers. That’s the older brother.

But the heavenly feast also isn’t about a bunch of hedonists gorging themselves self-indulgently. That’s the younger brother.

The heavenly feast isn’t about celebrating ourselves, it’s celebrating in the presence of the Father. All the people from the community who were invited were celebrating for the Father, because his family was reunited and they knew it made him happy. Their day might have gone poorly. But they were happy to celebrate with and for the Father. That’s the heavenly feast. Celebrating joyfully when God’s will happens on earth as it is in heaven.

So how can you celebrate joyfully when you see God’s will happening? How can you help others celebrate joyfully when God’s will is happening? That’s a little taste of heaven on earth.

Summary

Sisters and brothers, God’s ultimate vision for us is a joyful feast, where nations are gathered in worship, where suffering has ceased, where every reason to weep has been removed, where the poor are welcomed as first class citizens, where those who oppose God have been overcome, where we can be glad and rejoice in our salvation.

I don’t know about you, but I like that vision of the future. It’s not reality today, and I don’t know how to make all of that happen, but I know how to head in that general direction. How might you help your life, your relationships, your neighborhood look a little like that vision of heaven on earth? Amen.

Lay Reader = Ephesians 2:4-9

4But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us 5even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— 9not the result of works, so that no one may boast.

Introduction

This is our third week in our series looking at the parable of the prodigal son from a different angle. Last week we saw how the father in the story is recklessly extravagant with his love toward both of his wayward sons. But the father did expect both of his sons to be willing to lay down their pride so that they could joyfully enter the feast.

This week we are looking more closely at how Jesus chooses a third way – Jesus is a very different kind of brother toward us. And to get there, we’re going to look at what Jesus said about a particular church in the book of Revelation. Laodicea was a very wealthy, important trade city in modern-day Turkey. Its prominence and its very large Jewish population made it fertile ground for the early church. It was one of the places that had its own bishop.

But in the midst of their immense wealth, in the midst of their expanding church, in the midst of their enviable position, listen to what Jesus says to this church.

Revelation 3:14-22

14“And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the origin of God’s creation: 15“I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot. 16So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17For you say, ‘I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing.’ You do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. 18Therefore I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich; and white robes to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nakedness from being seen; and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. 19I reprove and discipline those whom I love. Be earnest, therefore, and repent. 20Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me. 21To the one who conquers I will give a place with me on my throne, just as I myself conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.”

The Good Brother

As you’ve heard many times, my brother and I grew up with a wee bit of conflict between us. I like to say that my brother and I only had one fight…it just lasted from ages 2 through 16 or so. But let me balance the scales a little bit by telling you a different kind of story about my brother.

As you also know, I am an unrepentant geek, and in my past I was a bit of a know-it-all. Some have accused me of that in my present, not just my past. So what typically happens to a geeky know-it-all at a rural Texas high school? Often times, there are less than pleasant consequences for such a person.

But I never had to worry about that. My geeky know-it-all friends also didn’t have to worry about that. When I came into Clifton high school as a freshman, my brother was a junior. And he told all the seniors that I was off limits, and my friends were, too. Now, my brother was feisty but not the most physically imposing figure in the world, so it probably helped that Chris’ best friend John was standing with him when he said this. John the bodybuilder, the guy who bouncers asked for help when they couldn’t handle someone. So John probably helped my brother’s cause, but he would’ve said it anyway even if he didn’t have John.

So even though my brother had fought me and picked on me thousands of times, he let everyone know that no one else could fight me or pick on me. It was a very kind and definitely useful gesture for me. That was the actions of a good brother who actually cared about his younger brother, even if he was a geeky know-it-all who could insult you in Klingon.

Have you heard of Cain and Abel? They were the first two sons of Adam and Eve after they were kicked out of the Garden of Eden. And Cain was jealous of Abel, and did what brothers do and murdered him. And there’s this interesting exchange between Cain and God right after he murders his brother. God says to him, “Where is your brother Abel?” And Cain replies, “I don’t know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”

That rhetorical question used by Cain, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” appears in the fourth chapter of the Bible. Pretty early on. And over and over and over again in the Bible, we see how God answers that question for different generations of the faithful. “Am I my brother’s keeper” we may ask, but God says, “In many ways, yes you are.”

What’s the Greatest Commandment? Love God with all you’ve got, and the second is like it: love your neighbor as yourself. Be your brother’s keeper. Be your sister’s keeper. This isn’t an unlimited thing. We each have our own responsibility before God, for sure. But God doesn’t paint us as a picture of little islands or boats floating around. We are interconnected and interrelated.

Jesus tells the church in our text today that they were apathetic. They were complacent. They were comfortable being wealthy and influential. They were fine being fine, even though so many others around them were not fine. So Jesus says he’s going to spit them out like lukewarm water unless they become refreshingly cool or usefully hot water in their communities. Jesus wanted them to, in some sense, be their brothers’ and sisters’ keepers instead of only looking out for their own church.

That’s the same charge Jesus leveled against the Pharisees when he told the parable of the father and the two sons. The younger sons in his audience, the tax collectors and sinners, had made really bad decisions. But the older sons in his audience, the supposedly righteous religious leaders, had watched it from a distance, judging but not moving to make a difference. Jesus condemns them for praying, “Thank you God that I’m not like one of those people.”

Essentially, Jesus is telling the “good church folk” that they weren’t being good brothers and sisters to their community.

In Luke 11, Jesus tells them, “”Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone.” They were so religious, they were bringing a tenth of their garden herbs to the Temple so they didn’t cheat God out of the offering that was his due. That’s pretty religious, right? And that’s not all bad – Jesus acknowledges that they were serious about their offering. But they “neglect justice and the love of God.” They were very religious, but they were bad brothers and sisters to their communities.

How about us? We have a bunch of religious people here. But do we have a bunch of good brothers and sisters to our community? Are we like the church of Laodicea – doing fine, taking care of the church, but being neither refreshingly cold water nor usefully hot water to our neighbors? Are we, like the Pharisees, taking care of the little details of our faith but neglecting justice and the love of God? Are we, like the older brother, sitting back and relying on our goodness and judging those younger brothers and their badness around us?

Two weeks ago, we were up at Charlie’s special needs camp – Adam’s Camp. And Charlie didn’t have his best week. We got there a little early for registration, so we went to a playground. But when it was time to leave, Charlie wasn’t having it. Kids have this ability to become invertebrates when they don’t want to go, right? They channel their inner Gumby and become almost like a fluid – impossible to pick up. And kids also have the ability to change the gravitational constant and make themselves five times heavier when they do this, as well. Physicists should really study this – it could be useful if we could harness that.

So Charlie was laying there in all his extra-gravity Gumby-ness, impossible to pick up and unwilling to move. So we tried a time-honored parenting trick and we just started walking away from the playground to see if he would follow. We got a few steps, and Caleb kept looking back. We got a little further and Caleb started looking worried as Charlie didn’t follow. Finally, Caleb refused to move forward any more and turned around and shouted, “Don’t leave him! That’s my brother!” It was hard to be too mad after that. That’s a good brother, right?

And a few days later they were with a large group of kids for the parents’ night out at the camp. And we asked Caleb how it went when we picked the boys up. And he told us, “Charlie tried to wander off, but I went and got him.” I don’t know if that’s totally true or not, but I could believe it. Caleb has a very high awareness of where Charlie is and what he’s doing.

So let’s contrast Caleb’s reaction – “He wandered off, but I went and got him.” Let’s contrast that with the two sons in Jesus’ parable. One brother wanders off, and what does the other brother do? He watches with disgust and essentially says, “good riddance.” When the father welcomes back the prodigal son, what does the older brother do? He refuses to accept his brother back and essentially says, “I wish he were still gone.”

So on one hand we have a brother saying, “he wandered off, but I went and got him.” And on the other hand we have a brother saying, “he wandered off, and good riddance!” Which one sounds more like Jesus?

In our text today, Jesus tells the Laodiceans who were apathetic toward their community, “you say, ‘I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing.’ You do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.” In other words, when we only care about ourselves or only care about our church, when we see our brothers and sisters wandering off and don’t care or even say “good riddance,” it strips our souls down to nothing.

So are we good sisters and brothers? Or are we content good church-folk who know how to keep the church running? I don’t want to just ask that rhetorically. I want you to really think deeply about that.

I’ve given you three examples of how to be a sibling to your community. The Pharisees and the older brother in the parable said, “I’m glad I’m so much better that those people. Good riddance!” The Laodiceans said, “I’m glad I have such a great church so I can escape from my shady neighbors.” And Caleb said, “My brother wandered off, but I went and got him.” Which one sounds more like Jesus? Which one sounds more like your inner monologue? Think about that. Because Jesus didn’t sit back and wait. He came in person to get us when we wandered off. Are we being that kind of sister or brother to those around us?

Jesus Knocks

After challenging the Laodiceans in our text today, this is what Jesus tells them: “I reprove and discipline those whom I love. Be earnest, therefore, and repent. Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me.”

Let’s imagine that you’re in your house and someone knocks on the door. What are the possible scenarios? It could be a salesperson – maybe you won’t open the door if they’re trying to sell something. Our previous house had original windows, and we got window people knocking on our door anytime someone from our neighborhood had window work done. It gets a bit annoying by about the ninth time another window company knocks. So if you don’t care about what they’re selling, maybe you don’t open the door.

Or another scenario – maybe it’s kind of late and getting dark. A scruffy-looking man is outside the door. Do you open the door, or leave it closed? If you’re afraid of the person at the door, maybe you don’t open it.

Another scenario – you ordered a package online and the delivery person is just ringing your doorbell to let you know there’s a package on the front porch. If it’s just a package for yourself, maybe you don’t bother opening the door yet.

But what if it’s a good friend? A family member? A family down the block you’ve been meaning to meet? What are the scenarios where you would open the door when someone knocks?

I think most of the reasons we don’t open the door are because we don’t care or we’re scared. And most of the reasons we do open the door are because we do care and we’re secure. Jesus is telling the Laodiceans that they are too focused on themselves and their stuff and their positions. They don’t care about their community. Maybe they’re even scared of their community. So, Jesus says, if you’ll start caring, if you’ll open yourself to your community, then I have a grand opportunity for you. Are you willing to open the door and follow me?

How is Jesus knocking on your door right now?

As a church, we’ve said that we believe Jesus is calling us to focus on the one mile around our church and also on the neighborhoods where we live. Our church’s neighbors, and your personal neighbors. That’s how Jesus is knocking.

We already had the community dinner. We already had the Saturday lunch program. We added the movie night and parents’ nights out. We already had a partnership with Love INC, and we’re adding a new partnership with Arapahoe County where churches can help fill gaps that their case workers can’t address. It’s called the Care Portal, and we’ll hear more from them next month. We have our Pastor’s Breakfast to help people get to know us better. We have a couple of pioneer dinner groups that are meeting in their own neighborhoods.

Now, maybe you understand the service-oriented activities, but what about the fun activities like movie night? How is that us answering the door when Jesus knocks? Well caring about someone is really powerful.

Last week a dad came to see me, because he was at the end of his rope. He couldn’t catch a break. Things were falling apart. He was trying his best, but it just wasn’t working. He was telling his adopted kids that things would be OK, but inside he was panicking. We connected him with several resources, but I also invited him to the movie night we just had on Friday. I told him that I knew as a dad he wanted to give his kids a good time, something special – it’s fun to see your kids have a good time! So I said, “Come to the movie night! They get to see a great movie, hang out with some other kids, and get popcorn, snacks, and drinks, and you don’t have to pay a thing. We’ll help you give your kids a good time on Friday.”

And they came. It wasn’t a handout he had to feel guilty about accepting. No one pays at movie night. It’s free! In fact, some might say it’s extravagant – prodigal even? So that night he got to be just a dad like every other dad in attendance. His kids got to be just like the other kids. They didn’t have to worry about whether they were spending too much of their dad’s money that he didn’t have. They got to just BE. They got to simply BELONG. They got to BE LOVED!

Jesus got in trouble for eating with people you wouldn’t want to open your door to in the night. And that’s what he did for them. He helped them belong, believe, and be loved. That’s what our movie night was able to do for that family on Friday. That’s a little taste of the prodigal love of the father. That’s a little experience of Jesus our brother saying, “you wandered off, but I came for you.” That’s a little glimpse of the Gospel.

So how is Jesus knocking on your door?

Maybe you want to be more involved with the one mile around this church. Maybe you want to show a glimpse of the Gospel to your own neighborhood.

Or, this is key for our church. We’re electing our nominating committee today. They nominate the next wave of top-level leaders for the church. I can’t tell you exactly what that’s going to mean, because our focus is shifting a bit. My first four years here we were really trying to get stable – we were plugging leaks in the boat. But our boat’s ready to go. It’s ready to sail out into our community to be the hands and feet of Christ.

So up to now, we’ve been organized around plugging holes. We need to be organized differently if we’re really going to focus our energy on where Jesus is knocking and leading and pursuing our brothers and sisters in our community. We need a new wave of leaders who can help us fix our gaze on the horizon, not just our own deck. We spent the last four years becoming fine, like the church in Laodicea. Now Jesus is knocking.

If you care about this church and you have the energy to think about how we can achieve our ministry in the name of Jesus, not just keep from sinking, then we need you. If that’s you, I need you help!

We’ve had a great crew of leaders as we fixed a bunch of leaky holes. But now we need some people who have energy to help us chart the course out of the harbor. I think I’ve taken the sailing analogy as far as it will go. We need people in this next phase of our church life who can help our church be good brothers and sisters to our community. And we have some ideas on that, but we need help fleshing it out.

Summary

Sisters and brothers, Jesus didn’t sit back and wait for us to come back, he ran to us. Jesus didn’t watch us walk off and hope we’d come to our senses, he came to us in person. We wandered off, so Jesus came to get us. That’s what a good brother or sister does.

So how is Jesus, your good brother, knocking on your door? If he’s knocking, don’t wait to be asked. Step forward. Don’t hope someone notices you. Run ahead. If Jesus is knocking, don’t hope the nominating committee thinks of you. Be a good brother or sister and come forward. We need you. Our community needs you. I need you!

When Jesus knocks, open the door. Are you ready to open the door and see where the adventure goes? Are you ready to be a good brother or sister to your community? That’s what it looks like when we open the door to Jesus. Amen.

Sermon starts at the 3:25 mark after the music

Lay Reader = Acts 9:1-19

9Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 3Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” 5He asked, “Who are you, Lord?” The reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 6But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” 7The men who were traveling with him stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one. 8Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. 9For three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

10Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” He answered, “Here I am, Lord.” 11The Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. At this moment he is praying, 12and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” 13But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem; 14and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name.” 15But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel; 16I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” 17So Ananias went and entered the house. He laid his hands on Saul and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized, 19and after taking some food, he regained his strength. For several days he was with the disciples in Damascus,

Introduction

This is our second week in our Prodigal God sermon series. And a reminder that starting next week I will be leading a class between the worship services at 9:30 – and given how many people have signed up, I think we need to move to Ficklin Hall downstairs. We’ll be using Tim Keller’s Prodigal God discussion guide.

Last week Pastor Carol showed us that this is a parable about two sons and their father. Jesus doesn’t end the story with the younger brother’s return. And those two sons correspond with the two groups of people listening to Jesus at the time. The tax collectors and sinners were like the younger brother. The Pharisees were like the older brother.

This week we are going to focus on the father. Tim Keller titled his book Prodigal God because the definition of prodigal is “recklessly extravagant.” The younger son certainly is recklessly extravagant in his spending in the foreign land, but the father is also recklessly extravagant with his love.

Luke 15:11-12, 17-32

11Then Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.’ So he divided his property between them. 17But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! 18I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; 19I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.”’ 20So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. 21Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; 24for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate. 25“Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. 26He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. 27He replied, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.’ 28Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. 29But he answered his father, ‘Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. 30But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!’ 31Then the father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.’”

The Father’s Price

Well being the geek that I am, I regularly read a sci-fi web comic. And one of the characters in the story is a scientist who is brilliant but also a bit reckless. He’s more of a “I wonder if I can…” guy than a “I wonder if I should…” guy. And his girlfriend is upset with him because he invents something that she thinks will be used very, very badly. And he doesn’t care, because it’s really cool. Later on, the massively bad thing his girlfriend was afraid of happened. So she comes to his room and he asks if she’s there to say “I told you so.” She says she’s there to comfort him. And his response? “I’d be a whole lot less miserable if you’d hurry up and say ‘I told you so.’”

This gets at one of my quibbles with our Catholic brothers and sisters when they have confession and penance. We’re on the same team, but I have to quibble on this point. I think penance is missing part of the point of our faith, because we as humans kind of want there to be penance. We want there to be an exchange rate for our mistakes and our sins. We want absolution that we have paid for – as long as we didn’t have to pay too much, of course. So sure I’ll do seven Hail Mary’s and nine Our Father’s as long as I can keep on cheating and scamming. Sounds good!

I read a research article a while back that studied the impact of imposing fees when parents were late to pick up their kids from school. The school started with no fee – just some stern looks from the teachers and administrators who had to stay late because you were late. Then they added a small fee – I think it was like $5 – not too much, but no nothing either. So what do you think happened? The number of parents picking up their kids late SKYROCKETED! Because now instead of insulting the teachers, they felt like they were simply paying a low rate for childcare. Now that there was an agreed-upon cost, they could decide if it was worth it or not. It was no longer a mistake. It was no longer an insult to the teachers. It was no longer a parent being rude. It was merely a financial choice – it was a service the school offered. And when they got rid of the fee at the end of the study, guess what happened? Parents kept arriving late. Now the school was providing a free childcare service! How nice! So that’s how some churches operate – come to church, keep putting money in the plate, and your sins are forgiven. You’ve paid the minimal price. But that’s not what we see in this parable.

Other churches take a more extreme approach. My younger son’s first preschool charged something like $5 per MINUTE you were late picking up. That can get steep in a hurry. So some churches raise the price of forgiveness – turn or burn! Shape up or you’ll be in hell! But that’s also not what we see in this parable.

There is certainly a price paid for the sins in this parable. The father pays most of them. He liquidates his assets to give the younger son his inheritance early. This is no small price. Jewish thought at the time talked about people “belonging to the Land,” not the other way around. It’s not like the father sold off some stocks and bonds. No, he sold the family land. He sold part of the Promised Land. This would be like selling part of this church building to pay a debt. Would you want to sell a third of the pews and a third of the organ pipes and maybe the entire top floor of the building? Would that be easy? I don’t think so! And don’t worry – we’re not going to do that!

The father also paid to bring the younger son back into the fold. People rarely ate meat in those days, because it was so expensive. And the fattened calf was the prized meal. It was for occasions like a wedding. And weddings ain’t cheap, you know? What if I told you that we were going to have a four hundred person wedding reception later this evening, and I wanted you to pay for it with no preparation or advanced notice? Would you joyfully say yes? Would you even have the resources set aside to do that on the spot? That’s what the father does.

But the father also pays a more difficult price. And that price is pride. For the family patriarch to pull up his robe and run like this father does when he spots his younger son – that’s scandalous. Do you think it would make the news if Bill Gates ran out of his mansion in nothing but his boxer shorts to warmly embrace a wayward child? That would make the late night comedy shows, right? That might even make it into a Saturday Night Live skit. It takes a remarkable willingness to swallow your pride to do something like that.

And the father does the same thing for the older son as well. I mean, the father is throwing a community-wide bash to celebrate his family being reunited, and here’s his older son pouting outside and refusing to go in! How embarrassing! But instead of writing him off, instead of ignoring him, the father leaves the party and goes to the son. You have to swallow your pride to do something like that.

This pouting about the younger son’s return and lavish reception reminds me of one of my seminary classmates. We were talking about who will be in heaven, and she shouted forcefully that if some of her free-living, sinful relatives find their way into heaven she’s going to be furious with God. Because she was the good one! She was the one who swore off all those fun but immoral things! She was the one who lived the good life! Not them! They don’t deserve to be in heaven! God owed her, not them!

That’s the older brother mentality. God owes me because I’ve been so good. And if God welcomes in some of those sinful younger brothers, then I’m taking my ball and going home.

Despite this insult, notice that when the father arrives to talk to the pouting older son, the father doesn’t chastise or berate or threaten the older son. The text says he was “pleading” with him to come back inside. Begging your pouting adult son to come to your family reunification party? That requires swallowing your pride.

Once the older son responds, it’s not exactly respectful. He starts off by shouting, “Listen!” And how does the father respond? By gently calling him, “Son.” To shrug off such insolence requires swallowing your pride.

So the father gives up a third of his land, his essence, his identity, when the younger son asks for his inheritance early. The father spends lavishly on a party to celebrate his younger son returning. And the father throws caution to the wind and swallows his pride over and over again – he casts away his pride when he runs to the younger son. He casts away his pride when he goes to his pouting older son. The father pays money. The father pays in reduced status. The father pays in pride. That’s recklessly extravagant. That’s prodigal.

Our Price

So from this parable, it seems that the father is willing to pay any price to reunify his family. It seems the father is willing to endure pretty much any insult to reunify his family.

So God is willing to pay any price for you. If you’re a younger brother who has taken all of God’s gifts in your life and squandered them – God’s still got a feast ready for your return. And if you’re an older brother who has tried to make God owe you with your good behavior, if you’ve looked down on people who aren’t as good as you – God’s still got a place for you at the feast.

But there’s a price to be paid by both brothers, too. The father is willing to pay any price, to endure any insult, but he asks for the brothers to pay one price, too. Did you catch it?

Both of them have to swallow their pride, too. Neither one can be at the party without swallowing their pride. The younger brother did it. He waited until his life was so bad that he was jealous of the pigs, but he swallowed his pride and came back. He wanted to pay his own way, he wanted to do penance, he wanted to keep some measure of his pride by showing that he was willing to reimburse his father, but the father wouldn’t let him pay anything back. So the younger brother swallowed his pride, accepted the robe and the ring and the party.

But the older brother never did it in this story. The story ends with him still pouting outside the party, because he wasn’t willing to swallow his pride. He wasn’t willing to accept the father’s extravagant love. He still had his pride that he was the good one. He was the righteous one. He didn’t get what the father OWED him! So he’s outside the party, pouting. He thinks the problem is the younger brother. He thinks the problem is his extravagant father. He could never be part of the problem, because he always does what is right.

Swallowing our pride is a steep price to pay. Because everywhere we look, the world is telling us there are only three important people in this world: me, myself, and I. But God tells us it’s not about us. It’s not about me. It’s not about you. If you’re more of a younger brother, the universe doesn’t exist for your pleasure. If you’re more of an older brother type, God doesn’t owe you for your goodness. It’s not about you or me.

And every time one of us lays down our pride, God’s got an extravagant party ready.

We see the great summary of this in Philippians 2:

⁵ You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. ⁶ Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. ⁷ Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, ⁸he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. ⁹ Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, ¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹ and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

That’s our model. That’s our goal. And that’s not the younger brother or the older brother.

Summary

Sisters and brothers, God is willing to pay any price for you and for me. Jesus swallowed his pride even to the point of death for you and for me. The Holy Spirit will be an advocate and helper in your life no matter what you’ve done.

But God asks for one price. That we swallow our pride. That we get over ourselves. Because only then can we experience and even hope to express the extravagant love of God. Is that a price you’re willing to pay? Or do you think God owes you something else? Amen.