The Prodigal and the Perfectionist - Understanding Grace, Part 2

Have you ever wondered if Jesus was so good, what exactly made the religious leaders so angry that they planned to kill him?

What did he actually do that they thought was worthy of death? It might surprise you that the answer is grace. Stay with me. Interesting time today together. Welcome to this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Living on the Edge features the Bible teaching of Chip Ingram on this daily discipleship program.

I'm Dave Druey, and in this program, Chip continues his series, The Prodigal and the Perfectionist. You know, if you ask most people, they'd say Jesus was meek and mild, but that's not the Jesus Chip's going to tell us about. In fact, when Jesus got done with the parable in today's teaching, the Pharisees were seething.

Want to know why? Well, that's where Chip's headed with part two of his message, Understanding Grace, from Luke chapter 15. Now the tax collectors and the sinners were gathered around to hear him, but the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, this man welcomes sinners and even eats with them.

Then Jesus told them this parable, notice singular. Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the 99 in the open field and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and comes home. Then he calls his friends and his neighbors together and says, rejoice with me. I've found my lost sheep. I mean, they would all get that. Wow, yeah.

I tell you application. In the same way, there's more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who do not need to repent. Another parable, story number two. Or suppose a woman has 10 silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, rejoice with me. I've found my lost coin. It would be like a woman losing her wedding ring or actually the diamond on her wedding ring. It was worth about a day's wage.

Very, very precious to her. In the same way, I tell you there's more rejoicing in the presence of the angels over one sinner who repents. Jesus continues, third story, singular parable. There was a man that had two sons. The younger one said to his father, father, give me my share of the estate. So he divided the property between them. Not long after that, the younger son got together all that he had and he set off for a distant country and there he squandered his wealth and wild living. After he'd spent everything, there was a severe famine in the whole country and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, a gentile, who sent him to the fields to feed pigs.

It's the lowest job a young Jewish boy could ever have. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. Moment of truth. When he came to his senses, he said, how many of my father's hired men have food to spare? And here I am starving to death. I will set out, go back to my father and say to him, father, I've sinned against heaven and against you. I'm no longer worthy to be called your son.

Make me like one of your hired men. So he got up and went to his father. He's repenting. He's come to his senses. My way, my stuff, this direction is not right. I'm going to turn and go back to my father and I've got a speech with three points.

Right? What happens? But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and filled with compassion for him, he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. Now the son's going to start his speech. The son said to him, father, I've sinned against heaven and against you. I'm no longer worthy to be called your son, but in his three point repentance speech, he makes point one, point two, he doesn't get to point three. He gets interrupted. But the father said to his servants, quick, bring the best robe, which was his. Put it on him. Put a ring on his finger, sandals on his feet. Bring the fatted calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate, for the son of mine was dead, is now alive.

He was lost, is found. So they begin to celebrate. A party is going to begin. When they heard this story, they were flabbergasted. The disciples were flabbergasted, but the Pharisees were steaming.

The camera lens zooms from the younger to the older. And now we get the second son. Verse 25, meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing.

I mean, this is a real party. So he called one of the servants and asked him, what's going on? Your brother's come home, he replied, and your father has killed the fatted calf because he has come back safe and sound.

The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out to plead with him. But he answered his father, look, all these years I've been slaving for you and I never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But this son of yours, not my brother, but this son of yours who squandered your property with prostitution comes home, you killed the fatted calf for him.

The father's response, again, completely culturally unacceptable. My son, the father said, you're always with me and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad because the brother of yours was dead and is alive again.

He was lost and is now found. Jesus is explaining to two different groups, if you ever wanted to know what God the father is like, this is the clearest, most powerful picture you'll ever get. And it's one parable with three stories.

Let's walk through, I'll walk through fairly quickly just some observations to kind of give you an overview and then I'll make some points here toward the end. This is an incredible and a Jesus time culturally flabbergasting chapter of scripture. And you'll see this more and more. If you read the context, which I always love to do, some of you, go ahead and read Luke 14 because it comes right before Luke 15. Luke 15 is really addressed to the Pharisees. But in Luke 14, they've come to know who Jesus really is. And then he makes this outrageous, unless you take up your cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciples. And if you look at the end of Luke 14, he actually goes on to say, unless you give up everything, you cannot be my disciple.

And then he follows that with, salt is good, but if salt loses its taste, it's not good for anything. And so if you're Peter or James or John or one of the 12 and you're following him and you're thinking, look, we've left our house, we've left our homes, we've left our business, left our finances. I mean, we're not exactly very popular hanging around with you. We've been kicked out of the synagogues. What do you mean give up everything? And what Jesus is going to teach is about the goodness of God and what he's going to tell them instead of you guys looking at all this things you think you need to give up. If you could grasp the grace of God, if you could understand what my father is like, it would be like a multi-multi-billionaire coming to you and saying, I want you to give me the keys to your car and the deed of your house and your bank account and I'll take care of it for you, okay? And I'll either parcel out whatever you have, whatever you need. And by the way, I might just add a million or two or five or 10 here just because I love you.

Would you be willing to trust me? See, that's the God that Jesus commitment, right? Commitment. This radical call of discipleship is entrusting who we are and all that we have because surrender or commitment is the channel to which God's biggest and best blessings flow. It's the channel through which that grace. So as he tells the story, the disciples are getting all, I mean, they're as shocked as the Pharisees.

Culturally unacceptable. Second, this is the only time in scripture where Jesus tells three stories in one parable. He wants to dramatically emphasize some essential, something essential and to his audience, a revolutionary truth about God. There's not superlatives in the Hebrew language. In other words, we use good, better, best. That's not in the Hebrew language.

When you want to make a point, you would say good, good, good. Or like you'll notice in scripture when Jesus is making a point, he'll say truly, truly or some translations verily, it's underlined, get with it. When the angels are claiming God, what is it?

Holy, holy, holy. So the fact that he says, he tells them a parable and there's one, two, three things. He's saying, guys, there's nothing more important that you'll ever hear than what I'm saying right now. Notice he goes on. Jesus wants us to know what God is like.

That's what this is all about. He wants them to know what God is. They have a marred view of God, both the disciples and the Pharisees. Second, Jesus wants to understand the heart of the Father. See if you think that God's arms are crossed and get with the program and you don't quite measure up and you know, here's the rules you need to keep and have you done this and what about that, you'll never trust God. And that's not the God of the Bible.

It's the God of performance. Jesus ministered in a Middle Eastern peasant culture. Some of you that do a little extra Bible study, the book is called The Cross and the Prodigal or just Google.

I put it I think on the back of the notes, Dr. Ken Bailey. He lived in the peasant cultures of the Middle East for 60 years, taught at Hebrew University. It is one of the most fascinating little books I've ever read that will go far deeper than I can in our time together. It'll give you a new lens of looking at what the world was like when Jesus was teaching. Even the urban and the educated had their roots in the peasantry.

So everyone understood what he was talking about. It's kind of like today, you could be in the city, you could grow up in the country. But if I invited you, let's just say I said, I want you next Thanksgiving to come to my house. What do you assume will be the diet? What are we going to eat? Go ahead, tell me. Turkey and what else?

Stuffing, what else? How do you know that? You guys are geniuses. How would you ever know that?

My wife hasn't even prepared it yet. What's in American culture, what do we know about Thanksgiving? Everybody knows. Rich people know that, poor people know that, white people know that, black people know that, Asian people know that, Indian people know that, right?

At Thanksgiving in America, turkey. What you need to understand is even to this day, if you go into rural areas of the Middle East, the cultural mandates and the way that Jesus is talking is still true today. How villages operate, the role of the oldest son, the role of the elders, the role of who gets what, when, where, why and how. And Jesus is cutting across some things that go very, very deep.

The peasant culture, customs and traditions were known by everyone in the culture. Everyone's on the same page here. He's saying some things that their minds are going bing, bing, bing, bing, bing and we miss a lot of it. Verses one or two, he says, Jesus welcomes sinners. He welcomes sinners. What flabbergasted and angered the scribes and the Pharisees was that Jesus who claimed to be God and to be one with the Father received sinners as friends.

I'll tell you why in just a minute. Jesus was shaming and defiling God's reputation. To the Pharisees, God is high and holy and other, which is true. But then anybody that didn't live up to their little box of righteousness, Jesus said, I am God, I'm one with the Father. If you're one with God and you're hanging out with these kind of people, you are desecrating God's reputation. It would be like someone going in and I mean putting swastikas in a church or a synagogue. I mean that's how, they're angry.

They're so angry they want to kill him. How can you welcome sinners? Because it goes on, he even eats with them. Eating a meal in the Middle East had the significance of a sacramental act signifying total acceptance and conferring a blessing. In the Middle East, if you were negotiating a contract or a treaty, you would never sit down and eat first. Because if you invite someone into your home in the Middle East and you eat with them, you're saying we're family. Therefore, if we're family, you've been in my home, we've shared a meal together, therefore I will protect you. And they're thinking, this man claims to be God and he's eating with prostitutes and tax collectors and sinners.

I mean they're just, their lights are going. And Jesus was saying yes, that's what the Father is like. This act defiled Jesus according to the Pharisees. And in their mind, that's why they were justified in wanting to kill him. The word used here, muttered, is only used twice in the New Testament here and in Luke 19, 7.

It has a special prefix as you'll notice in the notes and the murmuring was through the crowd. They were stirring up public undercurrent of discontent and disapproval. In other words, they are so upset, so angry, they're, hey, do you hear this?

As he's talking to you, we've got to take him out. This is unholy. This is, I mean, this is the most, and so the Pharisees are angry, angry, angry at Jesus' action. And this story, this parable with the three parts is to address their misconception, to address their view of God and why though they're very religious, they're completely missing God.

Notice the progression of this chapter. In the first story, one in a hundred, right? In the second story, it's one in ten. In the third story, it's one in two. This is a master storyteller, sheep we all get, right? And they rejoice.

He didn't have to persuade people to come, oh yeah, one in ten. The masses, general, one out of two. Super, super precious. Really, really important. Notice then the first one is out in the wilderness. I mean, something's happening out there. It's lost way out there. The second is lost inside of a house. And the third is lost inside of a home.

And so as you can see from the chart, it's the picture. God, the shepherd, the woman, the father, the sinners, the lost sheep, the lost coin, the younger son, and what we'll see is the religious sinners, the ninety-nine sheep, the nine coins, and the older son. In every story, something very valuable is lost. Something very, very valuable is found. And each one, there's celebration, celebration, celebration.

And please don't miss the point. I mean, it is, there's an excitement, there's a joy. I got the sheep. I found the coin.

She's on the phone. You got to come over. It's unbelievable.

It's amazing. I found it where it was. It was stuck in a crack in the door and you got to find it. And there was a party and there's dancing and Hebrews know how to celebrate. And he's taking the story and is bringing it now to the sons. And the first son, as we'll learn next time, is found. And how the father responds will be the absolute opposite of what every elder or Jewish boy or disciple could ever even fathom or imagine that will give them a snapshot of God the Father and the grace of God like never before. And then he's going to turn the tables and he's actually going to speak to these Pharisees in ways and offer grace even though they're trying to kill him. Jesus is teaching that sinners matter to God.

Religious sinners and people that are far, far away from God who think there's no hope. And that when one sinner, one person recognizes their need and says, I'm far from God and I might be far from God and read my Bible every day and going to church three times a week. Or I'm far from God because I know my living situation and my finances are a mess and the addictions that I have. This message is there is a father who's pursuing you and loves you. In fact, here's what this it goes from 100 to 10 to one out of two.

And then actually it comes right in this room. God says you matter. You matter more than a sheep. You matter more than money. You matter more than I love you.

I'm seeking you. The Holy Spirit, every single person that has personal relationship with Jesus Christ and has trusted his work on the cross. The Spirit of God has been seeking and pursuing you and going to amazing lengths and bringing people into your life and circumstances and doing all kind of things that got you to the point where you saw that you had a need and you repented of your self-sufficiency and I don't need God and I've got it together and my way is better than. That's how much you matter.

But it doesn't stop. The great majority of Christians I meet, they kind of get I'm saved by grace and then it's real subtle but there's sort of this click and I'm going to now live my life out on the basis of some works mentality. God loves me when I'm good. He doesn't love me when I'm bad. God loves me when I read my Bible. God doesn't love me when I don't. Now is there blessing to obedience?

Of course. But you know who would want to talk to someone who you believe has created you and died for you, whose arms are crossed, whose toes tapping and basically his number one thing is to point out how messed up you are. What if you woke up every day, God is for me. He's for me in my marriage. He's for me with my kids. He's for me in my singleness. I'm going to go to work and God is for me.

He's for me on the freeway. He cares about me. He wants to give power.

He wants to give strength. Now we're going to learn there's ways that you need to be humble and open to receive it. I did something this week as I was learning because I'm really excited because God is really speaking to me in some ways that are really fresh. And so I think it was Thursday morning and I was just because part of this doesn't kind of happen in snapshots and you go, wow, I get it.

And then I sort of don't get it. I get caught up in myself and my old beliefs. And so I Thursday morning in my journal, I just I just was jotting down sort of what I was learning. And if it helps, I hope it does, because I want to get it from this concept and Moses and his goodness passing in this picture to me and Monday morning and under pressure and when I'm tempted to be negative and when I'm resentful and when as wonderful as my wife is, she has a day that doesn't make me all that happy and right. Thank you very much for your grace, Lord. Your disposition, your mood is one of joy and delight to see me. You want to help me. You enjoy my presence in human terms. You're always in a good mood when we meet.

Have you ever thought about God like that? He's always you want to talk in the car. He's in good mood.

You get up in the morning. He's in a good mood. He wants to see you. Hey, great to see you, Chip.

Love to talk. Your countenance is a smile, a warm inviting smile of approval and welcome. This is not a frown.

It's not a. Just what what when I bring the awareness of the living God, he's smiling at you. He's welcoming you. Your arms are open wide, inviting me to come near and to draw close, be embraced, be protected, be encouraged, be close. You know, like when your kids are little and you do this and they run to you, that's God. In fact, he's not even standing. He's actually pursuing you.

It didn't stop just because you're his son or daughter. Your hands are open. They're not closed. Your hand is open and you point to what's available, what's planned for me today. It's an invitation to partake of grace. Every day I meet with God. And when you start your day or in the middle of the day, in a hard part of the day, here's his hands.

Here's what I got for you. See this? See her? See that? See him? See this? See the sons?

It's this. And you know what his other hand is? His other hands like this. You know that person, that circumstance, that fear, that anxiety, I'll protect you. God's hands are always like this here and here. Your eyes are filled with compassion and mercy. My sin, mistakes, and failure are met with your longings to forgive and remove any and all shame. I don't know about you, but when I mess up, I don't want to be around God because I think he's down on me and what he just wants me to be is honest. When I sin, or just for some of us, we just make mistakes.

We think it's like we're not human. You make a mistake, you forget something. You say something you didn't mean to say. You told him you would do it and you just didn't do it.

You promised God you wouldn't and you did. He meets my mistakes with compassion and longing to forgive and to restore. And then finally you desire great things for me and expect great things from me, but your expectations are reasonable. You're mindful that I'm but dust, magnificent dust made in your image, but dust.

And so you're patient and you're understanding with my struggles. Is that an awesome God? For by grace you're saved through faith. That's not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of works.

These standing man should boast. You are what you are by the grace of God. Chip's going to be back with his application, but just a quick reminder, this message, Understanding Grace, is from his series, The Prodigal and the Perfectionist. Chip's exploring the elusive concept of grace, helping us discover the depth of God's love, so crucial to understanding that our failures are never final when we bring them to him. Chip brings Jesus' teaching to life, looking first at the heart of a merciful father and then his two sons, one a prodigal, the other a perfectionist. As you listen, you'll likely see a little of yourself in each of these guys. The question is, are you positioned to receive the grace your Heavenly Father is willing and able to lavish on you? We hope you'll engage the question and continue the journey by digging into the messages of this series, The Prodigal and the Perfectionist.

To listen again or to check out the resource options, go to livingontheedge.org, call 888-333-6003 or tap Special Offers on the Chip Ingram app. Hey, before I come right back and give some practical application to today's message, this is a word for men. You're leading a men's group or you hang out with a bunch of guys or you're a pastor, associate pastor. And what you know is, when men are growing spiritually, when men are leading their home, great stuff happens. And what you also know is it's a journey and it's really hard and it's really difficult. And so what I want you to know that's available in Father's Day is a Good Time is we put a little booklet together called The Portrait of a Father, How to Be the Dad Your Kids Need. It's a quick read, about an hour, maybe a little bit more. It's going to give you the four specific roles that God calls you and me to be as a dad, a priest, a leader, a lover, and a teacher. And I'll tell you how to do that with very specific ways.

Here's what I know. It was so hard to learn how to be a dad, but as I learned and as I got some other guys around me to help me learn, my kids are different today. They came out completely different because God showed me what He expected of me and how He would give me the power and the grace to be that kind of dad. Perfect.

No way. But I made progress. That's what I want for you. And in fact, we so want you to do it with others. We've discounted it so that you can buy 2, 5, 10, 20 copies and get it to a lot of people to help them too. To order your copy of Chip's new book, Portrait of a Father, How to Be the Dad Your Child Needs, go to LivingOnTheEdge.org or call 888-333-6003. And as Chip just said, we've discounted this resource so you can get as many as you need, whether it's a couple or for your whole church. We hope this book will encourage every dad to be the leader God has called them to be. Again, to get your hands on Chip's new book, Portrait of a Father, before Father's Day, go to LivingOnTheEdge.org or call 888-333-6003.

Okay, Chip, let's get to that application you promised. As we close today's program, many of you that have known the Lord for many years, I'm sure you nodded your head and said, Yes, this is the prodigal son. I've heard this story many times. It's a great parable. I'm so glad to be reminded that no matter how far off we find ourselves, that God still really cares. And yet the fact of the matter is there's other people listening today that they're hearing this and maybe they've heard it before and it's either too good to be true or it's just too hard to believe. I recently sat in a room as a man with small children wept in tears over an affair that he had and felt like God could never forgive him again.

I have sat in a room with a very loving and kind mother who in a moment of anger slapped one of her children in the face and felt like, How could I live this way? And I've had more conversations with men who are stuck in the cycle of porn, breaking the habit back in it, breaking the habit back in it that feel like there's absolutely no hope. And here's what I want to tell you. God wasn't kidding when he gave this parable. Here's the real key to experience God's power and his forgiveness when the level of shame and failure and hurt and despondency overwhelms you. Psalm 145 18 says, The Lord is near to those who call upon him, to those who call upon him in truth. If there's anything we learned from the 12-step people, it's this. Until you hit rock bottom and stop playing any kind of game and just come to God with raw honesty, tell him what you did.

I mean, just get it so real, get the hurt, get everything out. God promises in a millisecond when you come honestly, he'll meet you. Psalm 34 18 says, The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and he saves those that are crushed in spirit. If we can forget the trying to earn his favor or pay him back, going through all the God forgave me, I can't forgive myself and just stop and become broken before God. Here's the promise. Your Heavenly Father will greet you and help you the way this prodigal's father greeted him.

Notice it's when he turned around and just said, I don't deserve anything. Father, I pray now in Jesus name to those who you are speaking so directly to right now. Would they stop everything that they're doing, even if they have to pull off the road and would they cry out in honesty and get as real as they've ever been that they might meet your forgiveness, your love, your kindness, and then would you give them the grace to tell their secret, their problem to someone they can trust and take the first steps toward wholeness in Jesus name. Amen. As we wrap up, I want to say thanks to those who are giving regularly to the ministry of Living on the Edge. You're making a huge difference helping other Christians live like Christians. If you're enjoying the benefits of Living on the Edge but aren't yet on the team, would you do that today? You can set up a recurring donation by calling us at 888-333-6003, tapping the donate button, or visiting us online at LivingOnTheEdge.org. Thanks for doing whatever the Lord leads you to do. Well, for all of us here, this is Dave Druey saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge.