Remembering Why Our Savior Died…

 

As much as I would love to take credit for the insightful commentary that follows most of this was inspired by challenges presented to  us at church recently that so impacted and convicted me I want to share them here. And I wanted to do it in time for our Resurrection celebrations. I can’t help but wonder how many among us consider the walk we walk in light of what really matters to God? Before I go any further, a relevant passage of Scripture:

  Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach.  This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them!

 So Jesus told them this story:  “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it?  And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders.  When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!

 “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and sweep the entire house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she will call in her friends and neighbors and say, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost coin.’ In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels when even one sinner repents.”

  To illustrate the point further, Jesus told them this story: “A man had two sons. The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons.

 “A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living.  About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve.  He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything.

  “When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger!  I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you,  and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’

  “So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.  His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.’

  “But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet.  And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast,  for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.

  “Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working. When he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house,  and he asked one of the servants what was going on.  ‘Your brother is back,’ he was told, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf. We are celebrating because of his safe return.’

  “The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him, but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!’

 “His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours.  We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!’” (Luke 15, NLT)

The first verse of Luke 15 read, “Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach.”

Sinners were attracted to Jesus! They “drew near” to Him and “often came to listen” to Him teach. Are sinners attracted to us? Does the love we exude in conjunction with the righteousness we champion draw them to us in search of what we have found? Or do we repel those most in need of the message we preach?

The hypothesis offered as a possible reason for our rejection by many in the world is that far too many do not come to the church through repentance and the shed blood of Jesus, but simply walk through the front door and rehabilitate rather than repent. Too many come in another way, and Jesus expressly warns us in John 10  that this will not work. When we come another way, we cannot hear His voice, and are easily led astray. Often by what seems like good and godly pursuits,  but fail to address the things most important to God- the souls of the lost whom He loves.

 As we continue to read Luke 15, the parables paint a picture of a God, a Father, who rejoices at the salvation of one rather than at the 99 who need no repentance. We end it with the most telling portrait of the legalistic believer that has ever been illustrated.

In the parable of the prodigal son (ever notice how we refer to that parable as if the prodigal is the only relevant part of the story?), we see a picture of a man with two sons, both of whom are equally disconnected from him, though we tend to focus on the one overtly so. Maybe it’s because so many of us identify with the out of control life he lived during his time of rebellion. Still, it’s clear that the son who remained at home was as isolated from his Father in spirit as the son who was isolated physically.

So many of us are just like that older brother. We have no mercy or concern for the lost. We look at them through eyes of contempt rather than compassion, and wonder why we are unable to win souls. It’s because the “light” we offer is no more appealing to them than the darkness they currently reside in. Not only do we treat them contemptuously, but we do the same to each other, oblivious to the fact that this type of behavior negates our witness as a disciple of Christ. 

We don’t even find it strange that while Jesus attracted sinners, the majority of our churches attract only dissatisfied and disaffected folk from other churches. Our pews are full of people playing musical churches and we find nothing wrong with it as long as the numbers hold up. We are busy celebrating with our friends, the 99 who need no repentance, rather than rejoicing with the father over the one who repents, mainly because we haven’t bothered to draw anyone in so that we can rejoice over what our Father rejoices over. Our lack of compassion and reluctance to lovingly call the lost to repentance is further evidence that we have forgotten that we were cleansed from our old sins. Or worse, that we somehow feel entitled to an attitude of moral superiority. Heaven help us!

As we gather this weekend to commemorate the resurrection of our glorious Savior, let us not forget the true meaning of the season that we celebrate. The resurrection is evidence of Jesus’ great love for sinners, love that we have received because while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly. Not for the righteous. We need to care enough to tell someone what He did for them. Not what they need to do to be acceptable to us.

I really wanted to share these thoughts as we enter into this blessed week.

Enjoy a worshipful Holy Week and Resurrection Sunday!