David Ashcraft
About 2000 years ago, Jesus told three similar stories, parables about something which was lost; these are recorded for us in Luke 15. They are commonly called the parable of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin and the Prodigal Son. Although these are three separate stories, the main point of each is the same: God’s love for sinners. It is beyond my comprehension that God loves me, and he loves you, and he loves the most notorious sinner in
Some have called Luke 15 the “gospel of the gospels;” “the most precious chapter in the Bible.” As we study these parables, you will see why. Note in Luke 15:3, the Bible says that, “Jesus spoke this parable to them.” If we back up to verse 1 we see that Jesus had a large audience that included tax collectors and sinners. The "tax collectors" (publicans, KJV) were considered extortionists and traitors by the scribes and Pharisees. Extortionists, because they often collected more than was required, for personal gain and traitors, because while Jews, they represented an occupying power,
The "sinners" were people of bad reputation. Perhaps these sinners were people who had been excommunicated from the synagogues. Perhaps the sinners included women, some of whom were of ill repute, who were known to be receptive to the preaching of the kingdom, Matthew 21:31-32.
Pharisees and scribes were also present in the audience; note what the Pharisees were saying under their breath in verse 2, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” Pharisees were legalists who determined what was right and what was wrong. They considered themselves very religious and better than sinners and depended on their goodness for their ticket to heaven.[1] There were adamant that a good Jew would not be contaminated by anything unclean, especially someone who did not keep the law – people they called People of the Land. Their rules said, “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 accompany him on a journey. Do not be a guest in such a man’s house; have no business dealings with him.”
This is not the first time the accusation of associating with sinners has been lodged against Jesus. He selected a tax collector to be one of His disciples, and did not hesitate to dine with other tax collectors, Luke 5:27-29. Sinners would often linger around Him, to the consternation of the religious elite, Luke 7:36-39. Jesus sensed the Pharisees’ complaints against Him, and addressed them head on.
The Lost Sheep
To illustrate their own hypocrisy and inconsistency, Jesus challenges the Pharisees to consider whether they would do any different by starting out with: "What man of you..." [Any one of them, with a hundred sheep, but one sheep having gone astray]...”Would leave the ninety-nine and go after the lost one till he found it and would bring it home rejoicing and would invite others to rejoice over finding the sheep that was lost.
I can hear Jesus saying to the Pharisees, “If you didn’t understand the story about the lost sheep perhaps you’ll get this one.” And then He told them the parasble of the lost coin. Any woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, will light a lamp, sweep the house, and seek diligently until she finds it. Upon finding it will call her friends and neighbors together to rejoice with her
The silver coin, like the Roman denarius, was equivalent to a day's wage. The home of the poorer classes was usually small, with dirt floors covered with straw and usually a single window. Finding a lost coin in a dark and dusty place would not be easy. The word seek diligently can also mean scoured. The woman searched every nook and cranny until she found the coin.
The Application by Jesus
Jesus himself gives the application of these two parables in verses 7 and 10: Just as the Pharisees would rejoice over finding one lost sheep or finding a lost coin, there is joy in heaven, joy in the presence of angels in heaven – I think God is joyful when one sinner is saved. What a contrast to the Pharisees who would condemn all sinners to hell but would search for one sheep. These first two parables give us a glimpse of the heart of God and His great love for sinners.
With the parable of "The Prodigal Son", Jesus reaches the apex in His response to the charge against Him by the Pharisees and scribes, "This man receives sinners and eats with them." His answer is a resounding, “Yes, I do.” “These are the people I came to save.”
The Prodigal[2] Son
The younger son asks his father to give him his portion of the inheritance due him. According to the Law of Moses, the eldest son received a double portion, Deuteronomy 21:17. Since there were two sons, the younger son would receive one-third. Like so many impatient young people today, the younger son desired to be free from parental restraints. He desired to have his father's inheritance "now." The father grants him his request, and the younger son soon takes all that he has to a distant country.
He soon depletes his possessions. His poverty is complicated by a famine striking the country. In desperation, he hires himself to another to feed his pigs. This would be most degrading to a Jew, for pigs were considered unclean, Leviticus 11:7. There was a saying current among the Jews at that time: "May a curse come upon the man who cares for swine" With great hunger, he would have gladly eaten what was given to the pigs. He finally comes to his senses. Recalling how well fed were his father's hired servants [They had plenty,] and here he was, perishing with hunger. So to hunger and humiliation, there is now added homesickness; he resolves to return home not only to confess his sin against heaven (i.e., God's will) and his father but to confess his unworthiness to be called his father's son
How might you expect a Pharisee father to react to a wayward son? The father in this parable was not a Pharisee because while the son was still a great way away, the father sees him (had he been looking for his son?) The father's great love is immediately evident. He has compassion; he runs to greet his son; he throws his arms around his son's neck and he kisses him. The son quickly confesses his sin, and his unworthiness to be called a son, but before he can even say “Make me one of your hired servants", the father joyfully calls upon his servants to bring out the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand, and sandals on his feet. Kill the fatted calf in order to celebrate his return. All of which serve to reinstate the son as a person of importance and authority. What this means to the father is touchingly summarized in these words. "For this my son was dead and is alive again." "He was lost and is found."
The elder son, returning from the field, wonders what the celebration is about. When told by one of the servants, he angrily refuses to go in. The father comes out, and pleads with him...The elder son's complaints:
- For many years he had served his father.
- He had never transgressed his father's will.
- The father had never provided such a celebration for him. But when the son, who squandered his father's inheritance with harlots returns home, the fatted calf is killed for him.
Note first how tenderly the father treats the older son (addressing him as "child" in the Greek.) He recognizes the elder son's faithfulness ("you are always with me.") He then reassures the son that the remaining inheritance is his ("all that I have is yours".) Yet the father maintains that it is right to celebrate. “Your brother..." (Note the contrast, the elder son had called his brother, "this son of yours." The father emphasizes the brotherly relation, "your brother…was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found." (repeating what was said to the servants in Luke 15:24.
Lessons Learned
In this parable of three parables we see:
Three things lost: a sheep, a coin and a rebellious son
Three people who are happy when the lost is found
The target audience – Pharisees
Secondary audience – Sinners
Tertiary audience – us
What are the lessons to be learned for us – almost 3,000 years later?
- God –creator, omnipotent, omniscient, Lord of Lords, Kings of Kings, Truth, Love, Holy Perfect, Just. God Loves me.
- Loves. Agape, sacrifice, died for.
- Me. David, a sinner, a lost sheep, a rebel; best I can do is as filthy rags in his sight.
God loved me enough before I was even born to send his perfect Holy, only son to earth, confined in the body of a man to be ridiculed and spit upon and beaten and crucified so that I might live. God loves me enough to call me his son when I accepted His call to “come home. I placed my trust in what the Bible says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.” He immediately welcomed me home and the angels rejoiced in the presence of God. If you haven’t trusted Jesus as your savior you are like the lost sheep or the prodigal son. God is reaching out to you, He wants you to turn from your sins, confess that you are a sinner and trust Jesus.
God Values Me. It is obvious from these three parables that the shepherd, the woman and the father each valued greatly that which was lost. The object which is lost is valuable to the owner and he/she will make every effort to find it. In the separation of man from God because of sin which occurred in the Garden of Eden, God lost something which he formerly possessed and valued greatly. He lost the daily fellowship. Remember in Genesis how God went looking for Adam and Eve? We are valuable to God because he can see what we were created to be and what he can still make of us.
God Seeks Me. There is an adjective that describes God’s love: seeking. God’s love is a seeking love. Because He values me, He sought me and still seeks me when I wander away. It is not God who moved out but me. It is I who must return home where God is waiting. The prodigal son could have thought about His father all day long and all year long and would not have known his father’s forgiveness and blessings until he turned and walked home. God is waiting for outstretched arms, but we have to accept Him.
There are four different attitudes one can assume toward the lost:
- Hate them. Self-righteous individuals like the Pharisees may have this attitude.
- Regard them with indifference. Some people who call themselves Christians have this attitude. The evidence is the lack of baptisms in their churches. Some churches go for years without a baptism.
- Welcome them when they come to you. The Pharisees and scribes considered Jesus guilty of this one.
- Seek them out.
From the first two parables and the setting which precipitated their telling, we learn that Jesus not only "welcomed" them, He "sought" them! Luke 19:10, “The Son of Man has come to seek and save that which is lost.” He is not simply waiting for those who are lost to find Him, but He has and continues to reach out for those who are lost! As evidence of this, God sent His Son to save the world, John 3:16
The parables in Luke 15 were directed at the Pharisees. Yet, imagine how these parables comforted the hearts of those "tax collectors and sinners" who had drawn near to Jesus to hear Him. Though considered unacceptable by the religious elite, they learned that they could be accepted by God. They learned that God was seeking for them, and would lovingly receive them if they would repent.
God Rejoices When I am Saved. In this parable, Jesus simply says there will be "joy in heaven" over one sinner who repents. And rightly so, in light of what might have happened if the "lost" had not been "found. That which is lost is extremely valuable to the shepherd the woman or the father.
- Something is lost and must be found
- There is a longing for that which is lost
- There is a need to view the lost from God’s viewpoint. He loves me. He created me. He knows the consequences if I remain lost. He wants me to have fellowship with Him.
Implied in all this is the thought that we should have the same attitude of love and joy when it comes to the salvation of sinners.
What is our attitude when a sinner repents?
- Are we indifferent? ("Ho hum, so what...")
- Are we skeptical? ("I wonder if they really repented")
- Are we judgmental? ("Shame on them for sinning in the first place!") or
- Are we full of joy? ("That's wonderful! Praise be to God!") When a soul repents, it should be an occasion of great joy, 2 Corinthians 7:4-9
It is important that we posses these same attitudes toward the lost; we are to imitate our Father and our Savior - Ephesians 5:1-2. Jesus felt it important enough to tell two parables that are virtually identical.
God Through Jesus set the Example for Us. All of Jesus’ parables require some kind of action. I think the action called for by us is to follow the example of Jesus: “seek and save that which is lost.” We are to take the gospel to a lost world.
It is true that Christians are to be "separate" from the world, 2 Corinthians 6:14-18. We must not be "unequally yoked together with unbelievers." We must "come out from among them and be separate." But does this require isolating ourselves from those in the world? No! Paul recognized that we could eat with those in the world 1 Corinthians 5:9-11. He instructed the Corinthians to eat with those in the world, 1 Corinthians 10:27-29. We cannot be the salt of the earth unless we mingle with the meat, Matthew 5:13. We cannot be the light of the world unless we shine in the darkness in the world, Matthew 5:14. If associating with sinners is truly an effort to "seek and save that which lost," we are demonstrating the kind of love for the lost displayed by our Father in heaven, and His Son Jesus Christ, We can look forward to the same joy experienced in heaven when one sinner repents!
But, love for the lost may sometimes mean that we have to:
- "go into the wilderness" to find the one which is lost - Luke 15:4 Jesus told his church to Go ye and teach and preach. We can’t win the lost by remaining inside these walls and expect the lost to come here. We’ve got to go out into the community of Knightdale and then
I believe that every time we hear the word of God preached or taught, we have a decision to make.
Perhaps you are like the prodigal son. You have rebelled against God and have never accepted him as savior. You are lost; unless you trust Jesus as savior, the Bible says that you will go to hell.
Maybe you trusted Jesus as savior long ago, but you haven’t been using your spiritual gifts for him. You’ve had a ho-hum attitude about Christianity. Tonight you can commit to be active for Jesus, using your gifts where God has already called you. Remember, he is seeking you.
If you are like the prodigal son after he returned home and are in fellowship with God then tonight you can praise Him for his greatness and thank Him for his love for you.
