The Introductory statement (15:1-2) A real-life choose-you- - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

God’s Grace

Luke 15

Scandalous Grace (Luke 15)

Introductory statement (15:1-2) Parables of the Found Sheep and the Found Coin (15:3-10) Parable of the Loving Father (15:11-32)

The

Introductory statement (15:1-2)

A real-life choose-you-

• wn-adventure story!

So, choose. But not so fast…

Introductory statement (15:1-2)

A real-life choose-you-

• wn-adventure story!

So, choose. But not so fast…

Critics found the presence of tax collectors, and

• ther sinners and “unholy” folks around Jesus to

be “something contradictory, or inappropriate, or unsavory, or repulsive, or socially disruptive, or in violation of the nature and purpose of true religion.”

• F. B. Craddock, Luke, 184

Introductory statement (15:1-2)

A real-life choose-you-

• wn-adventure story!

So, choose. But not so fast…

Do you also find these sorts of folks (and interacting with them, identifying closely with them, etc.) in some way inappropriate? Why or why not?

Food for thought…

Introductory statement (15:1-2)

“My child, if sinners entice you, turn your back on them! They may say, ‘Come and join us. Let’s hide and kill someone! Just for fun, let’s ambush the innocent! Let’s swallow them alive, like the grave; let’s swallow them whole, like those who go down to the pit of death. Think of the great things we’ll get! We’ll fill our houses with all the stuff we take. Come, throw in your lot with us; we’ll all share the loot.’ My child, don’t go along with them! Stay far away from their paths.”

Prov 1:10-15 [NLT2]

Introductory statement (15:1-2)

“Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers…”

Ps 1:1 [NLT2]

“Get out! Get out and leave your captivity, where everything you touch is unclean. Get out of there and purify yourselves…”

Isa 52:11 [NLT2]

Introductory statement (15:1-2)

“Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness? What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever? And what union can there be between God’s temple and idols? For we are the temple of the living God.…

2 Cor 6:14-18 [NLT2]

Introductory statement (15:1-2)

… As God said: ‘I will live in them and walk among

• them. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

Therefore, come out from among unbelievers, and separate yourselves from them, says the LORD. Don’t touch their filthy things, and I will welcome

• you. And I will be your Father, and you will be my sons

and daughters,’ says the LORD Almighty.”

2 Cor 6:14-18 [NLT2]

Introductory statement (15:1-2)

One more time: with which characters in this introduction do you most identify?

Food for thought…

Parable of the Found Sheep (15:3-7) and Parable of the Found Coin (15:8-10)

The two parables are really just introductions to the “main event” below (15:11-32) Two important themes introduced (to color how we hear the next parable):

Relentless Seeking (what is “lost”) Hilarious Joy (when the “lost” becomes “found”)

Parable of the Loving Father (15:11-32)

What does this story say God is like? God’s grace is This story is identity-shaping It’s choose-your-own-adventure time again!

Parable of the Loving Father (15:11-32)

What does this story say God is like? God’s grace is This story is identity-shaping It’s choose-your-own-adventure time again!

[From these parables] God…

• …cares deeply for those far away ()
• …longs for their return ()
• …actively pursues those far away ()
• …rejoices ridiculously when those far away come near ()
• …welcomes all to draw nearer (, ,)
• …does not always seem “fair” to us (, )

Parable of the Loving Father (15:11-32)

What does this story say God is like? God’s grace is This story is identity-shaping It’s choose-your-own-adventure time again!

If Scripture seeks to give us an identity, which it does, this parable is a prime identity-shaping text. It says, in effect, that humans are not legitimately inhabitants of the far country, that they are not prodigals or slaves. Rather, they are children of their father and belong with their father.”

• K. Snodgrass, Stories With Intent, 141

So, choose-your-own-adventure!

Which son in the story do you feel more like? [Check one]

The “prodigal” son? The older son? A little of both (see a doctor)

So, choose-your-own-adventure!

Which son in the story do you feel more like? [Check one]

The “prodigal” son? The older son? A little of both (see a doctor)

Is there something you feel is prohibiting you from “returning home”? Some reason you feel that God wouldn’t welcome you?

Question for the “prodigal” son

So, choose-your-own-adventure!

Which son in the story do you feel more like? [Check one]

The “prodigal” son? The older son? A little of both (see a doctor) “This is a good time for me to ask you two probing

• questions. Only you can answer them: 1. Do you add

to others’ guilt or do you lessen it? 2. Are you the type who promotes another’s liberty or restrains it?”

Questions for the older son [from Chuck Swindoll]

Here’s how the story HAS TO END We must become the COMPASSIONATE FATHER

Here’s how the story HAS TO END We must become the COMPASSIONATE FATHER

Becoming the compassionate father: Henri Nouwen says of the parable that it made him “come to the awareness that my final vocation is indeed to become like the Father and to live out his divine compassion in my daily life… Indeed, as son and heir I am to become successor. I am destined to step into my Father’s place and offer to

• thers the same compassion that he has offered
• me. The return to the Father is ultimately the

challenge to become the Father.”

Here’s how the story HAS TO END We must become the COMPASSIONATE FATHER

3 ways to become the compassionate father:

GRIEF FORGIVENESS GENEROSITY