The Parable of the Prodigal Son

Yesterday, Dr. Gene Veith, over at Cranach, put up a link to this sermon preached by his pastor last Sunday. It is on the familiar passage from Luke 15 and the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Such passages are hard to preach because everyone has heard it umpteen times. This pastor chose to put the parable in modern terms to make it come alive. Here is the introduction:

A man had two sons.

The first son was every parent’s dream. He was polite and respectful. He always did his chores. He never talked back. He was dependable and honest, and a good student. He went to church, was always well-dressed, ate his vegetables, and even volunteered to help the poor. The whole town thought well of him, and thought well of his father because of him. What a blessing, they thought. Maybe God even has special plans for him, that he be a ruler or leader someday.

The second son, however, turned out not so good. In fact, he was what we would call a slacker. He was the rebellious one. His chores often went undone. He questioned his father’s authority. He spent most days hanging out with his friends at the mall, wasted his money, and stole from his father. He got suspended from school, liked to fight, was disruptive in church, and some nights got so drunk he never came home at all. The whole town thought they’d be better off without him, and felt sorry for his father because of him. What a burden, they thought. What a shame.

Click on this link to learn the identity of the real prodigal.  St. Athanasius Lutheran Church: Lent 4 Sermon

We Are All Beggars, Sermon by Rev. Dr. Mike Horton

I saw a link for this over at the Heidelblog. Great example of redemptive historical preaching!

Click on the link below to find Dr. Horton's sermon from last Sunday, "We Are All Beggars."

CURC Sermons - Rev. Dr. Horton

Good-O-Meter

That's why its called grace.

God's Perspective on our Service - Luke 17:7-10

"Will any of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, 'Come at once and recline at table?' Will he not rather say to him, 'Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink? Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty."

The word for unworthy, 'achreioi' in the Greek comes from the word, 'chreioi' meaning useful. The prefix, 'a' added to it signifies the opposite of useful: useless or worthless. Some translate the word to mean 'unprofitable.'

Think of that for a moment: the God who owns all things and has need of nothing, calls us to himself and then sends us out into the world to serve Him. But as we serve Him even the best of our efforts are useless, worthless and unprofitable. Quite literally, by enlisting us to serve Him, God, operates His kingdom at a loss.

Think of it this way: He could've chosen a more efficient and profitable means of getting the job done. Yet, He has chosen to use people like you and me, to be His servants. Paul describes us as jars of clay -- cracked earthen vessels (II Corinthians 4) into which God has poured His treasures.

As you go forth into the world keep these thoughts in mind. Some are tempted to exaggerate their own importance in the Kingdom of God. Deep down they think that God is happy to have them on his team; that He is glad for their gifts and contributions to His kingdom. But the Scriptures prove otherwise. Though He has employed us as His servants He could've quite easily created a more efficient way of getting the job done. By utilizing fallen people like ourselves he operates His kingdom at a loss.

"For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever! Amen." Romans 11:34-36.

Calvin and the Christian's Motivation

Last Sunday I preached on the text, Romans 12:1-2. My sermon was entitled, "In Light of God's Mercies." As I did my sermon preparation I couldn't help but recall how this passage was misapplied by so many teachers and pastors in my past. By ignoring the little phrase, "therefore...by God's mercies" we do great injustice to Paul's line of reasoning and take these verses out of context. By ignoring this phrase we circumvent what has preceeded it -- Romans 1-11.

John Calvin hit the nail on the head with these words from his commentary on Romans,

“But this exhortation teaches us, that until men really apprehend how much they owe to the mercy of God, they will never with a right feeling worship him, not be effectually stimulated to fear and obey him. It is enough for the Papists, if they can extort by terror some sort of forced obedience…But Paul, that he might bind us to God, not by servile fear, but by the voluntary and cheerful love of righteousness, allures us by the sweetness of that Favor, by which our salvation is effected…”

The key words I want to draw your attention to are 'extort' and 'allure.' Those who ignore Paul's reasoning ('therefore...by the mercies of God) use extortion in their teaching and preaching to garner obededience. In Calvin's day he spoke about the Roman Catholic Church: in our own day we can speak of most evangelicals who use this passage to preach Law instead of Gospel. Extortion, properly defined, is forcing someone to give you something that they are not inclined to give. So pastors who extort use threats of divine judgment, harangues and guilt trips to get people to become 'living sacrifices.' In short, they argue, "Do this or else God will get you."

In contrast, Paul, and Calvin, use a different methodology. Instead of extortion they relied on the subtle, yet powerful method of attraction and allure. They argued that if we can understand God's mercies (ie. the doctines of Romans 1-11) we will willingly give our hearts to God in response to all that he has done for us. The Heidelberg Catechism captures this beautifully with its three sections: Guilt, Grace and Gratitude. So does Calvin, who is often viewed as cold and austere. Here is his motto, first in Latin, then in English:

"Cor meum tibi offero, Domine, prompte et sincere."

"My heart I offer to you, O Lord, promptly and sincerely."

Would that today's preachers repent of their methods of extortion and begin to attract and allure God's people by expounding His mercies. Believers will only offer their hearts to God on silver platters if they can understand the mercies of God and how much he has done for them in Christ.

Christ-Centered Preaching — Gene Veith

In a day when much that goes on in the church (including its preaching) can be characterized as "Moralistic, Therapeutic, Deism,*" Gene Veith gives a wonderful example of Christ-Centered preaching. Click Here to read the short excerpt.

I've preached on Jesus' baptism before and found it somewhat perplexing. John's baptism was one of repentance, but Jesus never sinned and never needed to repent. Furthermore Jesus was baptized 'to fulfill all righteousness' (whatever that means). Somehow I never made all the connections that this pastor did. What a wonderful example of Christ-centered, God-honoring preaching! May you be as encouraged as I was.

* The term "Moralistic, Therapeutic, Deism" is not original with me. It arises from the research of sociologist Christian Smith who has studied American Evangelicalism. I first heard the term on the White Horse Inn radio program (available on the internet). Dr. Mike Horton's recent book and DVD series, "Christless Christianity," uses Smith's research as a starting point to discuss recent trends in the evangelical church. I can't recommend it enough.

More Thoughts on Giving

In II Corinthians 9:7 Paul makes a bold statement: God loves a cheerful giver. The Greek work for cheerful is 'hilarion' -- this is the root of our word 'hilarious.' The idea is that God loves those who give to support the work of His kingdom with a sense of gladness, happiness, merriment, and joy. Put differently God loves those who give with a sense of reckess pleasure and abandonment. This is not to say that God loves those who simply throw their money in the direction of anyone who asks for he expects us to use discernment in determining whom we should support. It means that God loves those who willingly part with their money for the sake of His kingdom. Such people realize that giving to God's work is a better use of their money than investing it or having it sit in some account and earn interest.

But a question arises about this entire proposition: Why does God love a cheerful giver? I have to admit that it is a question that I had never fully answered until this last week as I prepared my sermon. Here is what one pastor wrote:

"Why does God appreciate generosity? It is because He himself is not a drudging or manipulative giver, but the most generous being in the entire universe. We have a reminder of this in verse 15, which speaks of 'God's indescribable gift', a gift so great that words cannot express the wonder of it, the gift of a Savior to a desperately, but wholly undeserving world. Generosity is therefore one of the marks of holiness. It makes us like God." Strength in Weakness, J. Philip Arthur, Welwyn Commentary Series, p. 173.

There you have it -- God loves a cheerful giver because such people mirror His generosity towards us (II Cor. 8:9 and 9:15). When we give cheerfully to the Lord's work, according to our ability (8:3) we are 'a chip off the old block.'

C.S. Lewis on Giving

"Charity -- giving to the poor--is an essential part of Christian morality...I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. In other words, if our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc., is up to the same standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little. If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot do because our charitable expenditure excludes them."

Mere Christianity, book III, chapter 3, paragraph 7 pp. 81-82.
As quoted from The Quotable Lewis, published by Martindale & Root.

Postscript:
Recently I was reminded of this quote as I visited the Cabela's store in Dundee, Michigan. I walked out of there without making a purchase.

Reflections on Giving

Over the course of the summer I've been preaching through the book of II Corinthians which happens to be my favorite book of the Bible. Much of the reason why I like this book is that provides us an inside look at the Apostle Paul's heart. But another important reason why I like the book is that it reveals what biblical leadership looks like.

Over the last two weeks we've been covering chapters 8 & 9. These chapters concern Paul's efforts to collect funds among the Gentile churches to relieve the suffering of their Jewish brethren in Jerusalem due to a famine in the land. As Paul carefully brings up this issue -- something they gladly said they would do one year earlier -- he reminds the Corinthians of God's lavish spending to procure salvation for them: "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich" (II Corinthians 8:9).

The theology of this verse is staggering: Christ had everything he could've possibly needed or wanted in heaven. Yet he left all that behind along with his glory and took the form of a servant (Philippians 2) to save us from our sins. He who was rich...became poor. Why? For our sake. We who were impoverished have been enriched by His perfect life, His sacrificial death, His atonement for sin, His resurrection, and His ascension into heaven. Indeed, our sins were imputed to him so that we might be clothed with the robes of His righteousness.

So when Paul reminds the Corinthians about giving he doesn't talk about percentages or lump sums. He simply points to Christ as evidence of how much God gave to save us from our sins (100%) and asks us to give generously, with a heart of gratitude.

A Christmas hymn captures the mystery of it all: Thou Who Wast Rich Beyond All Splendor (#230 in the Trinity Hymnal).

He who was rich beyond all splendor,
all for love's sake becamest poor;
thrones for a manger didst surrender,
sapphire-paved courts for stable floor.
Thou who wast rich beyond all splendor,
all for love's sake becamest poor.

Thou who art God beyond all praising,
all for love's sake becamest man;
stooping so low, but sinners raising,
heav'nward by thine eternal plan.
Thou who are God beyond all praising,
all for love's sake, becamest man.

Thou who art love beyond all telling,
Savior and King, we worship thee,
Emmanuel, within us dwelling,
make us what thou wouldst have us be.
Thou who art love beyond all telling,
Savior and King, we worship thee.

You can listen to a MIDI file here