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January 12, 2003 | Pastor Brian Shimer
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"The Joy of the Father"
Luke 15
The Baker's Dictionary of Theology says that in the Old Testament there are 10 different terms to express the idea of delight of mind in the good. No language has a many words for joy and rejoicing as Hebrew. In contrary to paganism, joy is coupled with moral rectitude. Pure joy is joined in God as both its source and object. God is a God of Joy (Psalm 104:31).
In rabbinic Judaism joy in the law is emphasized. Reading the pentateuch is described as the joy of the law. God alone has pure joy; in is other-worldly, but comes to man in mystic union with him. (Brown, p 357)
I. Once a year the pastors of Forest Grove go away together for a couple nights to pray and fellowship together. This past Monday and Tuesday were our days away. Always in the context of sharing are the stories about life and life experience. Dave Miller, pastor on the Pacific University campus, had a dad who preached on Sunday and then kicked him around at home the rest of the week. The intonations of godly living never became flesh and blood at home. When Dave came to college, he knew in his heart, he hadn't deserved love, that his dad had treated him as he deserved. And God? Well, God may be real but certainly did not have any effect on daily life.
Dave had not been on campus long when one day he bumped into the campus pastor who said, "Did you know Jesus loves you?" Dave didn't. Nor had the thought that there was one who loved him, who would perfectly parent him, crossed his mind. Within 3 months of coming to college, Dave came into a real relationship Jesus and become a Christian. Dave was talking to the campus psychologist about what he had experienced as a child. This man recommended to Dave that he write his dad a letter and not necessarily send it, and in it list everything that his dad ever did to him, and tell him he forgave him.
That Christmas Dave went home and decided as a new young Christian, he would just tell his dad. Dave did. "Dad, I just want you to know that I forgive you for the way you mistreated me as I was growing up." Dave figured he would be beaten. But instead, his dad just said, "thank you." Something broke in their relationship with that forgiveness. And Dave, although mistreaten and beaten all those years, has a vital relationship with a loving Heavenly and Good Father who makes all the difference.
OT references to God as father come in few places
Ps 68:5 "a father to the fatherless"
Ps 89:26 "Thou art my father…"
Ps 103:13 "like as a father pities his children, so…"
Is 9:6 (of Jesus) "everlasting father"
Is 63:16 "You O Lord, art our father, our…"
Is 64:8 But now, O Lord, thou art our Father
By comparison, the NT is full of references to God as our Father, often through Jesus. He should know.
A great picture of the Father's character is in Luke 15 where Jesus tells the parable called the prodigal son or the lost son. It is the "lost and found" chapter in the Nt.
In the first verses we read that the sinners and tax collectors -- the rabble of society-- were flocking to Jesus, gathering around him, to hear him. And this aroused the criticism of the Pharisees and the Scribes. Rather than gathering, they were muttering, murmuring, or in the most complete sense, they were "complaining throughout the crowd" about Jesus: "He welcomes sinners and eats with them." This was their accusation.
Why? The Pharisee called such sinners "the people of the land." These were those of whom they wrote: "When a man is one of the people of the land entrust no money to him, take no testimony from him, trust him with no secret, do not appoint him guardian of an orphan, do not make him the custodian of charitable funds, do not accompany him on a journey" (barclay, p 206, luke)
Jesus' actions were then in direct conflict with this level of belief. In addition, His parables, depicted something that they did not comprehend. The strict Jew said, not, "There is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents," but, "there is joy in heaven over one sinner who is obliterated before God." They looked sadistically forward not to the saving but to the destruction of the sinner. (Barclay, p 207, Luke).
By parable, then, Jesus is speaking into the lives of all his hearers, giving them a glimpse of the truth about the God they serve and the character of the heavenly kingdom.
In the first two parables, what do we learn of God?
1. That he is searching for those who are lost, as a shepherd would for a sheep or a woman for a lost coin.
I can hear that great 3 word phrase: "How much more…"
If we scour and fuss over the loss of something as a member of a flock, or a coin that has value, how much more does God?
Jesus in his own statement of his earthly mission says in Luke 19:10 "the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost."
2. that God rejoices over one sinner who turns to Him. Rejoices. In v 5 "he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home…"
Is that a picture of the Father? Joyfully carrying those lost home?
3. that not only God but all heaven then rejoices. Something happens in heaven when there is one turning to Christ on earth! Sometimes we make these turnarounds too serious even for God. God rejoices!
It is about a party: "Come and rejoice with me…"
Can you imagine the sneering and upset of the Pharisees? I mean the audacity of Jesus to paint God and heaven in such joyful hues!
So in the first two parables we see Jesus pointing clearly at God and heaven, surely the third parable is pointing more at the younger son. Right?
No, the opening line gives away Jesus' intent: "There was a man…"
Who is it about? The Man! The Father. And who does the Father picture? God.
So the two sons are minor characters, they're only to demonstrate the character of the main character. Who do the sons represent if the father points to God?
The two sons are cast in the likeness of Jesus' listeners at that moment:
The younger son is the perfect picture of these "people of the land" these sinners and tax collectors. These are those who have lived wildly, ran out of all resources, and have at last come to their senses, and we see them "gathering" to Jesus. The word means "drawing near" -- "Draw near to God," James wrote, "and He will draw near to you"(Jms 4:8). And that is the case.
The older son is the pharisee listening to Jesus who when he hears of rejoicing over a sinner who has repented, even a fellow human brother or sister, is incensed.
You've heard the story read, and you've read it many times yourself.
What does Jesus tell us about the father in this parable?
1. First, notice, the Father listens to his son. He is not an absent father. God is there to hear your prayer, to meet your heart. There is a picture here of the phrase applied to Jesus: "God with us". God is with us.
And when the son says, "I want my half of the inheritance" the Father complies. Perhaps he is of age. Perhaps it is time he allows him to try his wings. Whatever the reason in the story, how does this apply to people?
Already God has given to you and to me everything we need for life and godliness. We have all that we need for spiritual growth. And we now choose how we will spend it. The younger and the older sons spent their inheritance unwisely.
The younger son: leaves, spends, loses all, and then comes to his senses. Literally, "he came to himself" -- clearly this is a state of life that does not picture what God intends for him. He remembers his Father -- that his father is a better master to his servants than his current experience. So, the son decides "I will set out and go back."
The older son: never leaves physically, but never knows the father as the younger one does. He does not entrust his life to his father. Indeed, sweats out his work as duty, and has no enduring nor endearing relationship.
Notice, it was the son who left the Father. Not the other way around. We run from God, God does not run from us. We flee the holy. We flee relationship with God. God awaits our return.
2. And this is our second observation about the character of the Father. The father waits for the son's return!
Verse 20 gives a clue to the father's actions, saying, "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him…" Like he is looking day by day down that road for just a glimpse of His son's return.
How does this position of waiting picture the search of the previous stories?
The Father had already given the son everything he needed to return.
In the previous two stories we are dealing with "wandering" sheep -- who did not have what it takes to return, and an "inanimate" object, which could do nothing for itself.
Clearly, Jesus is showing three different kinds of lostness in these parables.
Some are like sheep who have wandered, they have not the capability to return. They have known the fold and have not rebelled against the shepherd but stupidly wandered from the flock. This one the shepherd searches for.
Others are as dead as that coin, they have value to God, they are innately valuable, that the image of God be restored, but they are dead. These God is searching for by the Holy Spirit and in both these situations, through His body the church.
But the younger and older sons have rebelled. The younger one had relationship with the father and now in rebellion thwarted all the Father is and has given, and gone off to make his own way apart from his father. The Father has given all necessary to return. So, the seeking for this one means to wait. I know of a man named Steve in just such a situation, the younger son of a famous evangelist, Steve has turned from ministry, his wife, his children, and gone off into a life of wildness, prostitution, and sin. He is in rebellion. From whatever cause, Steve is blaming everyone else for his difficulties, but not accepting any responsibility himself. So, perhaps, was the younger son's path.
The older son had rebelled in attitude against the father -- because he did not agree with how his father was parenting, perhaps? Because he also did not appreciate the character of the father -- who had compassion, who forgave.
This is a father who not only listens but watches for his children. You can see him sitting in front of the stone structure, watching across the vast property, down the stony path leading to the road. Watching, day by day, for his son to "come to himself" and know enough to return home.
What would a parent do? Pray? You bet. Worry? I imagine. As all those images of all that could be happening to this boy came to him, he would intercede for God to intervene.
Notice now verse 20 continues, the father "SAW"
"WAS FILLED WITH COMPASSION FOR HIM"
When the Lord God passed before Moses on the mountain he described his character as: "The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin" (Ex 34:6-7).
The father was filled with compassion -- the word is used of Jesus exclusively except for here. It means to feel from the inward depths for another, it literally refers to the "kidneys". This father had deep compassion for the son.
The father runs to the son -- a display of emotion without the decorum of the wealthy in that society -- hugs and kisses him.
What a picture -- this is God? No demand for penance? No recriminations? Only such an embrace?
I do believe the church is harder on those returning home than God is. God says: "Come home Child! I want to have a party in your honor."
See how easy it is to come home to the Father? And look what the Father does: "Robe: righteousness; Ring: authority; Sandals: returned to status of son; food and party"
How does a person return to God? With words! And with action! And you will be welcomed by the Heavenly Father in ways you cannot imagine!
The older son, meanwhile, is incensed that such a sinner would be welcomed home. The older son reminds the father of his years of servitude -- he sees himself as one of the slaves, but does not see his position as one of blessed.
The focus of his life is one of blame: "You, you, you…"
The older son misses the blessing of relationship with the father who says to him: "You are (present, active, indicative) always with me. Everything I have is (PAI again) yours"
Notice. The older son never enjoyed the privileges that were his, but envied his younger brother's wild living and apparent joy.
Look at the compassion of this father, this listening, speaking, loving father. What a picture! And notice in the last statement, this lost son is paralleled to that coin: "dead" and to that sheep: "lost". Powerful imagery
I enjoyed reading Sherwird Wirt's description of this parable in his little book, "Jesus, Man of Joy": "But where did He get the idea that God would order music and merriment and dancing? There's only one place: He got it in heaven. That's what heaven is going to be like. You'd better learn how to clap your hands, because there will be a lot of rejoicing in heaven. I'm not sure what kind of merriment there will be, but there's going to be a lot of joy in heaven because that's all heaven is: joy" ( 137).
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