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Well, good morning. My name is Kenton Hawk. I am the youth director here at Grace Church. And if you have your Bibles with you today, we are going to be sitting in Luke 15 for the majority of this morning. So my wife and I, uh, Kelsey, we recently celebrated our son Carson's second birthday. And so while he's only two years old, that didn't stop us from going all out when it comes to celebrating his birthday, right? We got him nothing but cupcakes. We got, right, we got all kinds of gifts for him. He had a fancy spaghetti and meatball dinner, but like with homemade hand-rolled meatballs. And then we had family over to enjoy it. This little dude barely knew that he was celebrating his birthday, right? Let alone did he know that he wanted fancy cupcakes instead of dollar ones that I could get on the discount store like shelves. But he didn't even know that he wanted all those presents. He didn't even know they existed. And he for sure did not need hand-rolled meatballs. But we don't just celebrate for his memory, for his desires. We celebrate because of our love for him. We celebrate because of the value that he is to us. We love him so much and we celebrate the things that we love. And so this morning we're going to look at a few different passages that talk about how we can celebrate the things that bring us joy. And what are those things that bring us joy? And so we're going to be sitting in Luke 15, like I said, and generally when we read a parable, we want to first see what was the purpose of the parable told. And so we're going to be down in the middle of Luke, but I want us to first look at Luke 15, 1 through 3. Why did Jesus tell this in the first place, and who is his audience? So Luke 15, 1 through 3 says this. So Luke begins, chapter 15, he starts it out revealing to us who is the primary audience that Jesus is talking to. And we know that it's a group of tax collectors, sinners, Pharisees, and scribes all standing around. But the Pharisees and scribes start to complain. Why does this man, why does Jesus eat with sinners? Why does he even talk with them? Why are they even here? What's going on around this place? So they start to complain. Which means that our primary audience at the moment is actually the Pharisees. Jesus is responding to their complaint while he's understanding that there are both tax collectors and sinners surrounding them in this conversation. So he actually tells three parables about this interaction or after this interaction. And for the sake of this morning and time, we're not going to read all three. We're going to focus on the third one, but I want to cover the first two because they actually, I think, enlighten a bigger picture for this third parable. So the first one, we have a parable of lost sheep. If you're following through in Luke, we have a shepherd who has a hundred sheep. One goes missing. The shepherd leaves the 99 and goes to find that one. It's a little crazy, but he does it out of his love. And after finding it, he calls all of his friends and his neighbors and they celebrate. Come party with me. Come celebrate. Then after that, he flows into the next parable. The second one is the one of the lost coin. A woman has ten coins. One goes missing. She searches high and low all around until she finds this one coin. She calls her friends and neighbors and again celebrates. Come celebrate with me. I have found this lost coin. Why? Because the Father places so much value on lost things becoming found, but even more so on lost people becoming found. He actually wraps up both of those parables with the phrase that says, and just like this, even more so, heaven celebrates when one lost person becomes found. When a sinner repents and comes back to the Father. And so he he breaks it down starting from one out of a hundred, which is valuable, but one sheep out of ninety-nine is not as much. Then you have one coin out of ten coins. That's now a tenth, significantly more value. And now we get to this third parable. But first, I would argue that these two set us up to understand and read this third one. So each of these has a character who loses something. Then they search all around until they find it, and then it comes back. These two parables are spoken to emphasize the value of lost people becoming found people. And he shares it that heaven's going to rejoice, it's going to celebrate, and that should provide hope for all of the tax collectors and sinners that are hearing this message. They're going, wow, we actually matter. Because they're standing and surrounded by these Pharisees, who would be the 99 righteous, right? The tax collectors are going, wow, I matter. I'm valuable in this conversation. And most likely the Pharisees don't disagree with this concept, at least fully disagree, based on the premise that for them, they would be less excited about someone coming to repent, but they'd be more excited about there being a little bit less sin around them. But they're not opposed yet. They're on board with where Jesus is going in that idea. So with those two in mind, let's read this third passage together. So we're going to read Luke 15, 11 to 24. He also said, A man had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the share of the estate I have coming to me. So he distributed the assets to them. Not many days later the younger son gathered together all he had and travelled to a distant country, where he squandered his estate in foolish living. After he had spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he had nothing. Then he went to work for one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. He longed to eat his fill from the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one would give him anything. When he came to his senses, he said, How many of my father's hired workers have more than enough food, and here I am dying of hunger. I'll get up, go to my father, and say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired workers. So he got up and went to his father. But while the son was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him. The son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. But the father told his servants, Quick, bring the best robe and put it on him, put a ring on his finger, and sandals on his feet. Then bring the fattened calf and slaughter it. Let's celebrate with a feast, because this son of mine was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found. So they began to celebrate. But starting out, we see this younger son go to his dad and say, Hey, I want a portion of the estate now. Or he's asking for his inheritance early. And the idea of asking for and receiving an inheritance early is a big deal. You see, the father's not just gonna go pull out$10,000,$1,000 out of his 401k and say, here you go, and deal with the ramifications later. You see, inheritance in this time was passing on everything owned by that person, so by the father, and split amongst the children only after the father passes away. Which means in this culture, in this time, the younger son basically looks at his dad and says, Dad, I wish you were dead, because the things that you provide are more valuable to me than your life. That's a bold claim. Just let that sink in. Wishing death upon the father just to have his things. So the younger son is saying, Dad, split up your entire estate, and I want my peace. So we're thinking animals, farms, buildings, money, all the things that the father owns. And now his older brother, which we'll look at later, is gonna get about two-thirds of this estate as part of his birthright. That means that this younger brother is getting one-third of the estate that he's asking for. And so what happens? The father just smacks him, right? And says, No, go away. No. But that's what he should have done, probably. Because he's saying, Dad, I want you to be dead. And yet, the father just says, okay. And allows the younger brother to freely take everything that he has. So, because of this parable, I actually try to look up what are the benefits of giving an inheritance early. Are there any? And the only one that really stands out to be anything of benefit is doing so now so that you can see the next generation thrive with the wealth that you've built. That's the only reason that I've seen that has value. Is being alive to be able to actually see it used by the next generation. I'm not making an argument that you should do that. So, what does the younger brother do, right? He takes all the things the father has, sells them to quick make a quick profit, and leaves town with all of the cash. So much for the father at least being able to sit back and enjoy seeing his wealth that he's built used by the younger son in a wise way. So after leaving town, it says that he foolishly spent all of the money, every last drop. If you ask how foolishly, the Greek actually implies that he's washing his feet with fancy wine, right? He's pulling out the rose and he's pouring it over. I have no idea about wine, but that's that's a color, right? Washing his feet with it. What else does he do? He goes to the fancy, nicest steakhouse, he gets the largest steak he can at, and he gets, he says yes to the gold flakes being sprinkled on top. They don't even taste good, right? He walks into an Apple store, he buys three iPhones for all of the friends that he just met today. And then he goes to local donkey races, he plates places the bets on the donkeys with the biggest ears to win the race. I think you get the point, right? The text wants you to see that he spent his money in the most foolish, wasteful, and sometimes sinful ways possible. He went out and just wasted all of it. After spending all of his money, a severe famine hits the area, and the younger son goes hungry. And so for the first time, this younger son has nothing. His father's not there providing for him. He has no job, and he has a large sum of cash that is completely run out and gone. He's sitting there saying, What do I do next? And so he gets a job. He does the first right step. Although it's probably the worst right step that he could have taken. So remember, we have a Jewish audience here, and we see that this young man goes and gets a job in a foreign country raising and feeding dirty, unclean pigs. You see, in this time, Jews were forbidden by law for raising and owning pigs, and just the idea of feeding pigs was unclean. And so now you have this Jewish young man who's feeding pigs, longing to eat the food the pigs are eating, and nobody's even giving him that. He is broke, he left all of his family, he's living in a foreign country and disgracing himself over and over again. This is the epitome of hating rock bottom. He has nowhere else to go. And so at his lowest point, he's sitting there just in his fields and wondering, how did I get here? What got me to this point? And I think you might have asked yourself a question like that at some point. Or, what could have gone wrong? What did I do wrong to end up here? And you start to look back over the course of your life and the actions that you've taken. And in this young man's case, verse 17 says that he came to his senses. The literal meaning of that phrase is actually to repent. I don't think we always get that when we read that in the English. But he says, to repent. So in the son's misery, he realized that as he looks back at his own wrongdoing, he brought upon his own broken fate. He started to see the trends and cycles of sin that he caused. And he came to his senses. He said, This is not how it should be. He even acknowledges that his father's servants are living a better life than he is, seeing that his need for the father is only coming out of the depth of his despair. He decides that it's time to get up and go back to his father. So he starts to plan his return speech, right? How do I come back to my father? Well, I wish him to be dead. I took all of his things, and then I sold it, and then I wasted it all. Now I have no money, and I fed pigs. How do I go back to dad with that? I clearly can't go back as a son. I have to go back as a servant. So he says, Father, I've sinned against God and you. I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. And he heads out. That's the speech he starts to build. And I'm sure while he's going, he's just walking, right? He's going, Father, I've sinned. I've messed up. I'm not worthy. Uh, should it be God? Should I have I sinned against heaven first or you first? What I've sinned against God and you, right? He's he's just practicing over and over and over again to get these words correct because he wants to be right, but he also wants to be welcomed back. And so while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. What does this mean? It means that the father was looking and waiting for his son's return. He's not just in the house making tea. He's outside looking and he's searching and he's wondering, where is my lost son? I'm imagining that every day he's getting up and he's looking out and just wondering, will I see my son today? And that brings us to the first point about our father. You see, the father breaks every cultural expectation in this story. He undignifies himself for the sake of the son. You see, he runs out to meet his son, which back in that time running was undignified and highly frowned upon for a man of the father's position. But he ran. He embraces his son, he kisses his son. And the idea actually of running, embracing someone, and kissing them in Scripture is a theme that we can actually find multiple times. Every single time that this theme is used, it's an immediate sign of forgiveness and restoration of a relationship. So that's what happens after that action takes place. And so when we we read this, we we can sense that. We go, wow, something's changing here in this relationship. And I would argue that at this point, Jesus' audience, the Pharisees, are starting to get a little bit uncomfortable. Why was the father actually waiting and watching for this man? Why would the father run to meet him? Why in the world would he immediately embrace him? The cultural expectation for the father, even if he sees the son at a distance, would be at minimum to wait there, like the dad. Just wait for him to come, wait for the apology, listen to all of it, and then say, get out, you're dead to me. That is the expectation, at minimum, that the culture would have for this father. Because the son wished him to be dead. The culture around would probably rally around and hope that the younger son was dead. And that is not what the father does. He runs out. He doesn't wait for the son to get there. He embraces him, shows him compassion, and then the son starts this pre-planned speech. Father, I've sinned, right? But our passage has the entire speech written out. But the way that it's written actually implies that he was cut off. He didn't actually finish his speech. So I actually kind of see this moment of a broken son coming up to his father and saying, Dad, I've messed up. I, I, and the the father just grabs him, right? Holds on tight, and then before the son can get out another word, he just yells, Quick, quick, bring, bring everything, bring the robe, put it on him, bring a ring, put it on his finger, put sandals on his feet, bring the fattened calf, slaughter it, and let's celebrate. Oh, while this son is still processing, how do I get the words out to say I've messed up? Why? Because this son of mine was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is now found. You see, these actions are more than just compassionate, they are prodigal generosity by the father. The father is just lavishing his love and grace upon his son. And in one moment, the father undignifies himself and chooses to dignify his son. You see, the items that the father gave to his son are not random, but they're actually highly significant. The robe, he says, bring out the best robe. It's only one that a son would wear. He's establishing his son back into a position within the family. Through his action, he's telling his son and the servants that this man standing in front of me is my son again. He's not just a servant, he's being reinstated now. This robe often is usually worn during festive celebrations as well. And so, if there was any doubt why a feast was being prepared, if people are looking around going, what's this party for? They can look and see this young man standing in the robe. And it is now evident that he is a central reason on why they're celebrating, because the sun was lost and is found again. And the second one is the ring, right? This ring is a symbol of restored power and authority to the sun. So he was not given a probation period or partial forgiveness and said, Well, welcome back, but we're gonna have to put some rules in place. He said, Welcome back, here's everything you once had. You've been restored and redeemed with the same authority and power in the estate again. And lastly, he's given sandals. These sandals or shoes would be a sign that a person was no longer a slave but was a free man. He's able to wear shoes again, and oftentimes the house master would wear shoes even in the house, unlike guests who would take them off. And so being given these shoes now is an indication of both freedom to the son and also more authority and power. The son was not a guest in this home, but has returned to the same position, authority, and freedom in the house as a son again. And so the father then wraps up. And he says, Turn up the music. Let's party, let's celebrate. Why? We're gonna say it again. Because my son was dead, but he is alive again. What was lost is now found. So just like we celebrate, found sheep, found coins, we celebrate together. Why? Because it doesn't matter how small, one out of a hundred sheep, one out of ten coins, or one out of two brothers, heaven rejoices when even one sinner returns to the Father. When the lost become found, we and all of heaven celebrate because the dead are alive. But the father does not forgive reluctantly, he forgives and restores joyfully. All of this is happening while the older brother that we heard about in the very beginning is out in the field working. And so this is where Jesus turns the story towards the Pharisees. Up until this point, each of the three parables has had a similar kind of flow and main point. We celebrate when lost become found. The Pharisees, again, would not fully even argue with this concept, but Jesus has now been preparing them to hear this next part, directed at them, at them, and about them. So let's see what happens next in Luke 15 25. Now his older son was in the field. As he came near the house, he heard music and Dancing. So he summoned one of the servants, questioning what these things meant. Your brother is here, he told him, and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf, because he has him back safe and sound. Then he became angry and didn't want to go in. So his father came out and pleaded with him. But he replied to his father, Look, I have been slavy years for you, I have never disobeyed your orders, yet you never even gave me a goat so that I could celebrate with my friends. But when the son of yours came, who has devoured your assets with prostitutes, you slaughtered the fattened calf for him. Strong words, right? The older brother is in the field and starts to hear the party music and probably starts wondering, what's going on? Like I didn't I didn't have anything on my calendar for today. Why is there a party happening? So he sends someone, he goes, Hey, can you go find out? Go what's going on, what's happening, and report back to me. I find it interesting that nobody came to him. No servant said, Hey, hey, your younger brother has returned. We're gonna throw a party. Come come celebrate. Nobody did that. Which I think probably at least makes me wonder did they all know that the older brother's gonna be upset about this? He's not happy that the younger brother has now returned. In his mind, this younger brother is dead and should never be restored. You see, now the older brother gets this report back that his younger brother is here and that they're throwing a party. Instead of being excited, we see that he gets angry and refuses to go celebrate. So the father again goes out to his son, but this time he goes out to the older brother. You see, the older brother's words reveal something to us about his own heart. He says, I have been slaving many years for you, and I have never disobeyed your orders yet. Why haven't you given me a feast to celebrate with my friends? Like I didn't even get a goat. And he's getting this fattened calf. Father, what are you doing? And then he says, but this son of yours returns. He's no longer his younger brother, right? He's just someone else. This son of yours. He starts to separate and break them apart. What's heartbreaking about the older son is that he hasn't actually seen himself as a son. The older son sees himself as a servant of the father, slaving away. He works so hard to earn his father's grace and love that it's caused his heart to be callous towards the father. The issue for the older brother is not direct rebellion, like the younger brother. It's self-righteousness. The older brother believes that he's earned his position and his authority within the father's estate, so much so that he believes that he should be elevated based on his own merits and work. And this actually mirrors the heart of the Pharisees that Jesus is now speaking directly at. Right? How could Jesus welcome anyone who doesn't follow the rules like us? We've done everything right. Why would you talk to them? The elder brother focused so much on his behavior, on his moral goodness, that he actually missed the love of the Father. He built himself up so much so that he eliminated his felt need for the Father. So first, I think we would sit back and we judge this perspective a little bit. You're like, really? You have everything. You got two-thirds of the whole estate. But there's a room full of mostly Christians in here. Our temptation is more often to be like the older brother and less the younger. Some of you may be the younger brother in this room. Some of you may know a younger brother, but the majority of us will lean into a temptation of the older brother and less the younger brother if we're followers of Jesus. You might find yourself serving in church, working hard, praying for your family all the time, giving to the church all good things. But in the back of your mind, are you doing it with an expectation to earn your status or to prove your faith in God? Are you trying to prove yourself, earning your relationship with Jesus? Or are you resting in the grace and love of the Father without a need to earn by merit your faith? Now, that one, maybe some of you are like, no, no, I know I don't need to earn my faith. Let's get a little closer. As followers of Jesus, we might not believe that we need to earn it, but we often believe, even deep down, that we've earned the right to avoid certain things. Right? Have you ever said the phrase or heard the phrase, God, why me? Why not them? Right? Think about your health for a minute. Or somebody you know who follows Jesus. They serve at church. Like all of the time. They basically live here. You know who they are. They've done everything right. They give, they serve, they pray, they're generous beyond measure. And yet, they get a cancer diagnosis. God, why me? God, why them? Haven't we done everything right? Or at least we followed you so well. They've followed you so well. Why couldn't you have allowed someone else? Right? We're starting to catch those words at the end and the implications that they actually have. What about the parent who has raised their kid right? But one becomes a prodigal and walks away. What's your prayer? God, why my kid? I did everything right or at least really well. Nobody's perfect. We parented them correctly. We made them go to church every week. We did family of devotions together. They even tithed on their allowance. Why did you let my kid fall away and not so-and-so's kid? Right? They let their kids go to soccer practice on Sunday mornings. Why not them? Why mine? And that's the heart, the mentality of the older brother. Starting to believe that we've earned something, or at least earned the ability to avoid something and separating ourselves from others in that way. The older brother mentality has confused being in the father's house with having a relationship with the father. You see, the younger brother and the older brother are both far from the father, but just for separate reasons. One is more obvious than the other, and one is even more accepted than the other. Right? We can sympathize with the older brother's mentality at times. But let's look at the end of our parable. And let's look at the father's response to the older brother. Luke 15, 31 to 32. Sonny said to him, You are always welcome, or you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found. Just like he ran for the younger son, he pursues the older son as well. And first he says, Everything I have is already yours, right? This is both figurative and literal. The younger son already took his portion, which means that everything left in the estate already belongs to the older brother. And if the older brother's not benefiting from the things the father's given him, it's because he hasn't asked. We've seen it clearly in this passage. Second, he says we had to celebrate and rejoice. It was necessary. We had no other option. Your brother's back. We had to party because the lost are now found. And Jesus never actually tells us how the older brother responds. It's left open-ended. We don't know what the brother, brother, what the older brother chose, but we know that he was given an option. Do you want to come in and celebrate this lost son, or do you want to harden your heart and walk away? This is intentional. The Pharisees were the primary target audience of this parable, which means that all of the Pharisees still have a choice. Jesus is pursuing the Pharisees to repent of their self-righteousness and join in the celebration. They're not too far gone for Jesus. The ones that are planning to kill him were not too far gone yet for Jesus. So everyone is welcome to the table. James 4 10 reminds us: humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. It's not our job to elevate ourselves, to earn our status, to build ourselves up. If we humble ourselves before the Lord, He will do the work, He will exalt you. Now, as we read this parable, the listener of this parable, within the context that Jesus has shared it, will start to catch the similarities of these three stories. In each parable, something is lost, right? A sheep, a coin, a son. And in each of those, someone gets it back. And then there's a huge celebration at the end. But there's one major difference in this third parable that we don't see in the other two. In the first two, someone goes out and searches diligently until the lost is found. In this third story, we hear about this lost son. And we should expect someone to go out and start seeking and searching. Not just watching from a hill, but actually searching for him there. And yet no one searches. I think Jesus puts these parables together for us to ask the question: who should have searched? Who should have gone out and looked? And I'm going to make the argument today that it should have been the older brother. He's the one that should have gone out and sought the lost brother. The older brother should have said, Father, my brother has been a fool. He's wasted everything, he's left the estate. I'm going to go bring him back at my own expense. And that might sound odd for some of us in the room. But in this story, the father has already divided everything up. He's given everything he owns to both the younger and the older brother. Now the only thing left is owned by this older brother. So when the father gave the younger son robes, rings, sandals, and this feast, they were all already out of the inheritance that was going to the older brother. He's giving the older brother's things to the younger brother. And we ultimately wish, we wish that forgiveness was totally free. We always picture the idea that the father comes to the younger son and just gives unconditional, no cost things. But the things are owned by somebody. They belong to someone, and there is an expense. No debt can ever just disappear. Right? Like Dave Ramsey likes to say, someone's paying the debt. It might just not be the younger son. So who pays the younger brother's for his return? It's not the father. He's already given everything away. It's the elder brother that has to pay for these things. Just like Jesus, he's our true and right older brother. All things belong to God, and yet Jesus leaves heaven in search for us, the lost sons and daughters. And this is the gospel, right? That humanity was in perfect relationship with God the Father until we sinned, separating us from God. And out of God's love for us, he sends Jesus to search for us. Luke 19, 10 says, For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost. Jesus came down to earth and humbled himself in search for us. Then, after finding and inviting us to follow him, he paid the cost for our return to the Father. He died on the cross, taking our sin upon himself, so that we could be in relationship with the Father again. He paid the cost for our sins. We were freely given grace, but it wasn't free for Christ. Jesus had to lose everything so that we could gain everything. If you're the younger brother, your debt has been paid. You can come home. No matter how far you've gone, no matter what you've done, if you are in this room today and you don't have a relationship with Jesus, today could be the day that you come back to the Father. That you're reunited with Him. He will not withhold anything from you. There's no probation period, there's no waiting period. He says, Welcome to the family today. When you repent and turn away from your sins, you're immediately justified before God, just as if you've never sinned. And will be given the robes, the rings, the sandals and kingdom now and later. There's a both and promise. If you want to take your next step in your relationship with Jesus, we have our next steps center out there. Go talk to them. Say, hey, I want to put my faith in Jesus. I want to follow him. Maybe you have been and you've just walked away for a long time. Come back to the Father. They would love to pray with you today. Our prayer team up front would love to pray with you today. And if you're here this morning and your testimony matches anything like mine, where you were practically born in the church, right? I grew up in the church, I did almost everything, almost the way you should do it. If you know me, I like I like to bounce off the rules a little bit. But for the most part, I did the things that you were supposed to do. If that's you, watch your heart. You see, the tragedy, tragedy of the older brother, is that he never left the father's house, but he also never understood the father's heart. Our faithfulness to God's law without his love and compassion, and our true understanding for our need for his grace will lead us to a self-righteous discontentment for his people and his church. Are we people who are so focused on pursuing sanctification that we miss the sanctifier? Are we focused on him or on us? And lastly, let me ask you this question: Who's your younger brother? As a church, we're doing the Who's Your One campaign? Who's the one that is far from God that you feel compelled to go out and seek and find? You're not the one that gets to do the saving. That's Jesus. But you can go seek and find those that don't know him and invite them back to the Father. And when they do, we will celebrate big. You see, the offer of the Father is clear. Salvation is available for everyone who is far from the Father. And we're gonna celebrate when lost people become found people. But Jesus is also very clear. The older brother still has a choice, and he's invited to soften his heart and draw near to the Father. Let's pray. Father, we pray, soften our hearts. God, break our hearts for what breaks yours. Allow us to see people, see ourselves in the way that you do. Reveal to us who our younger brother is that we can invite back to church with us. And God, thank you so much for being a God that has love that goes beyond understanding. God, if we have an older brother's heart, God, break down the calluses, soften our heart for what breaks yours again. Allow us for to see you in a new way, to feel your love and your grace. And God, if we are the younger brother, God, I pray that we would turn our hearts to you, that we would stir in our hearts, that you would you would open our heart to see you in a new way. Lord, we love you so much. Thanks for loving us first. Amen. Go ahead and stand and worship with us.