I am still working on catching up ... thanks for your patience. Bro T Day #179 - Luke 15-16 Luke 15 - Verse 1 was a verse that gave me great pause. We see that tax collectors and sinners drew near to Jesus; they wanted to be around Jesus. I wonder if the lost of our society want to be around me? Around you? Too often than Id like to admit I likely have come across more as a smug Pharisee than I have the loving Christ. Why in verse 2 do the Pharisees get so bothered about Jesus being around these types of people? As the added to the law they would go to great lengths to avoid people like these lest they be made unclean. Jesus on the other hand constantly set aside their petty laws like the ceremonial washing before meals and made people His priority. We start with the parable of the lost sheep. As I read this I have often wondered what would make a shepherd leave 99 sheep to go look for 1. The shepherd knew that the 99 would be safe in the sheepfold. Because of the great value placed on each sheep, the shepherd would go looking for the one that was lost. Gods love for you and I is so great that when we were lost he sent person after person across our path that we might be saved and then He rejoices when we are found. Then there is the parable of the lost coin. Again, as I have read this I thought whats the big deal about a single coin? Was she poor? No, the reason this coin is significant is because Palestinian women received as a wedding gift on their wedding night 10 silver coins. So to lose part of such an important wedding gift would be distressing. Again the story is designed to show that God places such value on each individual person, that when even one is lost, He grieves when they are lost and rejoices when they are found. Finally is the parable of the prodigal sons (plural as both are prodigals in their own right). Here we find all of the elements of salvation. The boy ends up in the far country (verse 13) where he wastes all hed been given with prodigal living. Verse 17 - When he came to his senses - he recognizes that he is lost and there is absolutely nothing he can do about it. Verse 18 - he decides to go to his father and tell him what happened; thats conviction. Verse 20 - And he arose and came from his father - here he turns from the sin of the far country and turns toward his father; thats repentance. Verses 21 - Father I have sinned - here he puts forth confession. When all of that happens the father in the story in verse 22 demonstrates through the gifts he gives to the son that he is more than a servant to him (thats all the son asked to be). No, the father makes it clear that he is his son. The older brother is probably a lot like many of us. Someone gets saved that has been a rather notorious sinner and all of a sudden they are in the limelight, it is easy to get frustrated thinking that we have lived right for years and here this person who has been living for the devil for years as a new believer gets showered with attention. We sometimes hold people like this in suspicion; is there salvation genuine. They did the same with the apostle Paul when he was saved. He was so notorious that it was a few years before he gained acceptance than was often having to deal with his past. This older brother in Jesus story represented the Pharisees who were getting upset that sinners were being welcomed into the family of God. Luke 16 - Someone goes to the wealthy man and tells him that he may have a problem with his steward. So the wealthy man brings him in and asks him about the rumors he had been hearing. The steward panics thinking I am too good to beg and I cant dig (cant do manual labor) so he decides to do something for the debtors that when his boss fires him they will feel obligated to take him in. So he cuts one mans debt to 50% and another to 80%. There is a huge struggle with interpreting this parable because Jesus commends him in verse 8. The Lord commends him not because he approves of what the steward did but because he is impressed with his shrewdness. Basically Jesus is saying look how clever this man was to secure a good future. Hes in essence wanting to know why His listeners are not as zealous to take care of their eternal future. Verse 9 Jesus is saying that we should use worldly riches so that others may have an everlasting home. Verse 13 is a strong sermon about the fact either the Lord or your money (mammon) will be your master. Many debate whether the story about the rich man and Lazarus was real or a parable. It seems as though every place in the gospels where Jesus uses a name, they are real people and so this passage should be interpreted that way too. This story stunned the Pharisees as they connected a persons wealth to Gods blessing; in their minds the rich man would have been the one living more righteously. But Jesus turns the table and says wealth has nothing to do with righteousness. The fact the rich man is stunned to end up in hell and wants someone to go warn his brothers was an implication by Jesus that some of the Pharisees who were listening would be stunned when they open their eyes in eternity as well. When the rich man asks for someone to go from the dead he is told that his brothers have access to the Word of God and that should be enough. Its worth noting that Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem to die. As God He was fully aware of the fact the when He raised from the dead, most of the religious leaders would not accept Him, even though He had risen from the dead.
Posted on: Fri, 04 Jul 2014 03:02:55 +0000
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