WEBVTT 00:00:00.640 --> 00:00:05.200 So, do you remember Tarek and Michelle Salahi? 00:00:05.440 --> 00:00:06.959 Not the flipper-flop couple. 00:00:07.360 --> 00:00:09.119 This is a different couple, okay? 00:00:09.599 --> 00:00:13.919 Almost 10 years ago, President Obama had a banquet at the White House. 00:00:14.080 --> 00:00:17.600 It was to celebrate a state visit from the Indian Prime Minister. 00:00:17.760 --> 00:00:23.760 And Tarek and Michelle Salahi attended the banquet, got their picture taken with Joe Biden and Katie Kirk and many other dignitaries. 00:00:24.079 --> 00:00:27.519 But it turns out they weren't invited, okay? 00:00:27.760 --> 00:00:37.600 This couple who's described themselves as aspiring reality TV stars, they just walked up, went through all the layers of security, and crashed the party. 00:00:38.479 --> 00:00:40.960 It was kind of a kind of a scandal, a little bit of a scandal. 00:00:41.119 --> 00:00:44.719 The White House was embarrassed, the Secret Service was no doubt horrified. 00:00:44.880 --> 00:00:49.119 It's a huge scandal when the wrong people attend a banquet. 00:00:49.439 --> 00:00:57.600 So the two parables we're going to look at today, they have in common a banquet where the guest list is top of mind. 00:00:57.840 --> 00:01:02.399 The first parable that's not that well known is called the Parable of the Great Banquet. 00:01:02.479 --> 00:01:04.799 And yeah, each of the parables has to have a name. 00:01:04.959 --> 00:01:07.200 This one is the parable of the great banquet, okay. 00:01:07.359 --> 00:01:12.400 The second parable we're going to look at, almost everyone has heard of, is the parable of the prodigal son. 00:01:12.879 --> 00:01:20.560 And what these two stories illustrate are two specific ways in which God's grace is unexpected. 00:01:20.959 --> 00:01:24.239 The sheer size of God's grace is unexpected. 00:01:24.400 --> 00:01:27.280 Think of that as the principle of incredible grace. 00:01:27.519 --> 00:01:31.680 And then God's grace goes to people who are unexpected. 00:01:31.920 --> 00:01:36.959 Think of that as the principle of scandalizing grace, incredible grace and scandalizing grace. 00:01:37.120 --> 00:01:46.560 And these two parables we're going to look at today interact with those two ideas of incredible grace and scandalizing grace in very different ways. 00:01:46.719 --> 00:01:53.280 We're going to try to take a step back and see if we can try to hear these parables the way Jesus' listeners would have heard them. 00:01:53.439 --> 00:01:59.359 And then we'll see how these principles of incredible grace and scandalizing grace kind of come out in the stories. 00:01:59.680 --> 00:02:04.079 So let's dive into the first parable, Luke 14, 15 through 24. 00:02:04.719 --> 00:02:06.319 Jesus is a guest at dinner. 00:02:06.480 --> 00:02:07.200 He did that a lot. 00:02:07.280 --> 00:02:09.759 He ate with sinners and with Pharisees. 00:02:10.159 --> 00:02:21.199 He's made the point that the Pharisees should invite the undeserving people, the blind and lame and crippled, the people that can't repay them, and then they would be repaid at the resurrection of the just. 00:02:21.439 --> 00:02:33.840 Now, as you can imagine, you're in this dinner party with all these rich upstanding people, and when Jesus says, you should invite a bunch of like lowlifes to your banquet next time, that's not a message they really want to hear, okay? 00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:36.800 And one of the guests, seems like he's trying to change the subject. 00:02:36.879 --> 00:02:41.360 One of the guests says, Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God. 00:02:42.159 --> 00:02:47.280 In Isaiah chapter 25, there's a description of a banquet at the end of time. 00:02:47.680 --> 00:02:52.960 And he's saying, Blessed is everyone who's invited to that banquet that's going to be at the end of time. 00:02:53.439 --> 00:03:01.280 And Jesus responds by telling a story, a parable, about who is invited to the banquet and who will attend the banquet. 00:03:01.360 --> 00:03:03.919 And it turns out those are two different groups of people. 00:03:04.159 --> 00:03:04.479 Okay? 00:03:05.199 --> 00:03:10.960 So in this story, there's this guy, presumably he's wealthy and upstanding, and he invites a bunch of people to his banquet. 00:03:11.120 --> 00:03:13.039 He wants to have a very big banquet. 00:03:13.280 --> 00:03:24.719 And in those days, uh, when it came time for the banquet, you would actually send your servant out to greet each person that's been invited, and the servant would escort that person back to the banquet. 00:03:24.800 --> 00:03:27.840 It was a courtesy to have the servant escort the guest back to the banquet. 00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:35.360 So the servant gets to go out and he gets to find the invitees and he gets to say, Come, everything for the banquet is now ready. 00:03:35.919 --> 00:03:37.280 So far, so good. 00:03:37.439 --> 00:03:38.479 Then it gets weird. 00:03:38.639 --> 00:03:40.000 The story really gets weird. 00:03:40.240 --> 00:03:45.360 The invited guests, for no apparent reason, make up these excuses why they can't attend. 00:03:45.520 --> 00:03:51.840 And not just any excuses, like transparently lame excuses, like dog eat the homework excuses. 00:03:52.560 --> 00:03:55.520 I have bought a field and I must go out and see it. 00:03:55.759 --> 00:03:58.000 You don't buy a field without seeing it. 00:03:58.080 --> 00:04:00.960 And by the way, even if you did, it'll still be there the next day. 00:04:01.120 --> 00:04:03.120 How is that a reason for not attending a party? 00:04:03.280 --> 00:04:06.400 I've bought five yoke of oxen and I go to examine them. 00:04:06.639 --> 00:04:09.919 You don't buy five yoke of oxen without examining them. 00:04:10.159 --> 00:04:12.879 I have married a wife and therefore I cannot come. 00:04:13.120 --> 00:04:14.560 Now this one's a little bit more clever. 00:04:14.719 --> 00:04:25.600 Under Jewish law in Deuteronomy 24, 5, a person was excused from military service or any business for the first year of marriage to bring happiness to his wife. 00:04:25.759 --> 00:04:26.879 I see Alex back there. 00:04:27.360 --> 00:04:28.560 That'd be a good deal, huh? 00:04:29.519 --> 00:04:30.639 That'd be a good deal. 00:04:31.279 --> 00:04:35.920 But that means freedom from business or war, not freedom from attending parties. 00:04:36.079 --> 00:04:37.279 That's crazy. 00:04:37.519 --> 00:04:41.360 So the person giving the feast understands these people are lying. 00:04:41.519 --> 00:04:44.079 He gets it, and he is furious. 00:04:44.399 --> 00:04:48.959 They've come about as close as they can in their culture to saying, we don't want your stupid banquet. 00:04:49.120 --> 00:04:52.240 So the master, he wants a full house for the banquet. 00:04:52.399 --> 00:04:59.759 So he tells the servant to go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame. 00:04:59.920 --> 00:05:01.439 The servant says, There's still room. 00:05:01.519 --> 00:05:05.120 So he says, Go out on the highways and hedges and compel them to come in. 00:05:05.519 --> 00:05:09.439 Jesus at this point slips into the first person in telling the story. 00:05:09.600 --> 00:05:14.720 He says, For I tell you, none of these men who were invited shall taste my banquet. 00:05:14.879 --> 00:05:23.199 It's almost like Jesus himself is saying, This is my banquet, and he's personally passing judgment on these people who don't want to attend the banquet. 00:05:24.319 --> 00:05:29.680 The story itself doesn't say why these people rejected the invitation. 00:05:29.759 --> 00:05:31.439 But think about the context. 00:05:31.680 --> 00:05:32.000 Okay? 00:05:32.399 --> 00:05:42.639 The Pharisees who were at this dinner party felt that like they were entitled to an invitation to that banquet at the end of time in Isaiah 25. 00:05:42.720 --> 00:05:46.319 They felt like they earned their invitation to that banquet. 00:05:46.560 --> 00:05:54.240 But then when Jesus came, they rejected that invitation because they found out it involved lavish grace to the unwashed masses. 00:05:55.360 --> 00:05:58.639 This touches on the idea of scandalizing grace, okay? 00:05:58.800 --> 00:06:04.319 That God's grace to the undeserving is scandalizing to people who feel deserving. 00:06:04.800 --> 00:06:13.600 The Pharisees, by wanting to deal with God on the basis of merit, of earning a place at the table, of being entitled to an invitation, had cut themselves off from God's grace. 00:06:13.759 --> 00:06:17.759 And their counterparts in their story, they're left out of the banquet. 00:06:18.000 --> 00:06:23.759 And about the idea of incredible grace, this parable shows the breadth of God's grace. 00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:37.199 The people hearing the story would likely have understood the poor and the crippled and the blind and the lame from inside the city to be talking about people inside the community, that is, Jews who couldn't keep the ritual laws of purity. 00:06:37.279 --> 00:06:39.199 That's how they would have understood those people. 00:06:39.360 --> 00:06:46.240 And the people in the highways and hedges outside the city, the people hearing that story would have thought of them as Gentiles, okay? 00:06:46.639 --> 00:06:52.560 And while it's dangerous to apply rigid logic to a parable, think about this for a second. 00:06:52.800 --> 00:06:58.160 What portion of humanity is covered by the categories of inside the city and outside the city? 00:06:58.319 --> 00:06:58.720 All right? 00:06:58.800 --> 00:07:01.519 And the answer is all of it, all of humanity. 00:07:01.680 --> 00:07:08.720 The servant, excuse me, the master at this point feels free to send his servant to anyone, anyone in the world. 00:07:08.959 --> 00:07:11.439 That's the breadth of God's grace. 00:07:11.839 --> 00:07:16.720 Now, why does the master tell the servant to compel folks to come in? 00:07:16.959 --> 00:07:22.560 Most likely because they would definitely have refused a mere invitation feeling they were unworthy. 00:07:22.720 --> 00:07:28.800 It would have just been out of context to get invited to this rich dinner party if you were a beggar or whatever. 00:07:29.120 --> 00:07:31.120 So the master knows they won't feel worthy. 00:07:31.199 --> 00:07:32.160 He's not going to ask. 00:07:32.240 --> 00:07:36.079 He's going to make sure they attend without asking if they want to. 00:07:36.240 --> 00:07:37.680 Now, what does that look like? 00:07:37.920 --> 00:07:39.120 Well, hold on to that thought. 00:07:39.199 --> 00:07:43.600 The next parable makes it clear, I think, what it means to be compelled to come to a banquet. 00:07:43.680 --> 00:07:45.920 And we'll touch on that in the next parable. 00:07:46.240 --> 00:07:47.759 And about the servant. 00:07:48.079 --> 00:07:54.399 While I think the servant inside the parable is Jesus, it's also true that we are God's servants. 00:07:54.560 --> 00:07:57.199 And this is a beautiful picture of evangelism, okay? 00:07:57.360 --> 00:08:02.800 We get to run out into the world and we get to say, come, everything for the banquet is now ready. 00:08:02.959 --> 00:08:04.959 What a great job assignment. 00:08:05.600 --> 00:08:15.199 Tony Campolo is a pastor from Philadelphia, and he tells an absolutely true story that I think beautifully illustrates the principles of this parable. 00:08:15.439 --> 00:08:24.560 Tony Campolo was invited to a uh a conference in Hawaii, and he flies out there, and thanks to jet lag, he's awake at 3:30 in the morning, okay? 00:08:24.720 --> 00:08:26.399 And he's like, okay, now what I'm gonna do. 00:08:26.480 --> 00:08:43.200 And he all he can find is his greasy spoon diner, and he goes in his greasy spoon diner, and he's sitting there, and uh what he says is this while he's there in the greasy spoon diner taking in a coffee and a donut, he says, In marches, eight or nine provocative and boisterous prostitutes. 00:08:43.440 --> 00:08:46.159 It was a small place, and they sat on either side of me. 00:08:46.320 --> 00:08:48.000 Their talk was loud and crude. 00:08:48.159 --> 00:08:56.159 I felt completely out of place and was just about to make my getaway when I overheard the woman beside me say, Tomorrow's my birthday, I'm gonna be 39. 00:08:56.320 --> 00:08:59.919 I've never had a birthday party in my whole life, why should I have one now? 00:09:00.320 --> 00:09:02.720 When he hears that, he makes a decision. 00:09:02.799 --> 00:09:08.559 And he goes to the uh, after after the prostitutes leave, he goes to the owner, a guy named Harry, and he has this idea. 00:09:08.639 --> 00:09:10.799 And he and Harry conspire together, okay? 00:09:10.960 --> 00:09:17.360 The next night, Tony Campolo comes back at 2.30 in the morning and he brings with him all the party decorations he could find. 00:09:17.519 --> 00:09:27.200 And they decorate this diner from one end to the other, and word spreads, and all these people come, including what felt like every prostitute in Honolulu, and the place is just packed, okay? 00:09:27.360 --> 00:09:33.679 And then at 3:30, uh the door swings open and in walks the guest of honor, Agnes. 00:09:33.840 --> 00:09:42.480 And everybody shouts, Happy Birthday! Campolo says, Never have I seen a person so flabbergasted, so stunned, so shaken. 00:09:42.639 --> 00:09:44.080 Her mouth fell open. 00:09:44.240 --> 00:09:46.080 Her legs seemed to buckle a bit. 00:09:46.240 --> 00:09:51.279 As we came to the end of singing Happy Earth Day, Happy Birthday, her eyes moistened. 00:09:51.440 --> 00:09:57.600 Then when the birthday cake with all the candles on it was carried out, she just lost it and openly cried. 00:09:57.840 --> 00:10:04.480 Okay, she's so moved by this display of love that she can't bring herself to eat the cake. 00:10:04.720 --> 00:10:08.320 She picks up the cake and just walks out and takes it home. 00:10:08.480 --> 00:10:08.720 Okay? 00:10:09.039 --> 00:10:11.200 And the door closes and there's this awkward silence. 00:10:11.279 --> 00:10:17.360 And so Tony Campolo does what every pastor's gonna do when there's an awkward silence, he leaves everyone in prayer for Agnes. 00:10:17.840 --> 00:10:18.159 Okay. 00:10:19.679 --> 00:10:29.440 Campolo says, When I finished the prayer, Harry leaned over the counter, and the trace of hostility in his voice said, he said, Hey, you never told me you were a preacher. 00:10:29.600 --> 00:10:31.679 What kind of a church do you belong to? 00:10:32.000 --> 00:10:41.759 And one of those moments when the right words just came, I answered, I belong to a church that throws birthday parties for whores at 3:30 in the morning. 00:10:42.559 --> 00:10:46.639 Harry waited a moment, and then he almost sneered as he answered, No, you don't. 00:10:46.879 --> 00:10:48.159 There's no church like that. 00:10:48.320 --> 00:10:49.600 If there was, I'd join it. 00:10:49.679 --> 00:10:51.519 I'd join a church like that. 00:10:51.919 --> 00:10:58.080 The parable we've just discussed proves that this actually is the kind of church Jesus came to build. 00:10:58.240 --> 00:11:09.840 And the story that Tony Campolo tells says that we don't often show this side of God's kingdom, the sheer breadth of God's grace and the unexpected people that God shows grace to. 00:11:10.559 --> 00:11:18.080 Well, as in your face as this first parable is, in some ways it's made clearer by comparison to the second parable, the parable of the prodigal son. 00:11:18.399 --> 00:11:23.039 Now, there's not much about this parable that hasn't already been said, but that's not going to stop me. 00:11:23.120 --> 00:11:24.240 I'm going to keep going anyway. 00:11:24.320 --> 00:11:27.200 So let's dive into the second parable, the parable of the prodigal son. 00:11:27.679 --> 00:11:34.799 Starting in Luke 15, 11, there's this fairly well-off landowner, and he has two sons, and the story starts on a jarring note. 00:11:35.120 --> 00:11:38.879 The younger son asks for his share of the inheritance in cash. 00:11:39.120 --> 00:11:42.720 To the listener of the story, that's like saying, I wish you were dead. 00:11:42.960 --> 00:11:50.720 Now, the father, who probably should have punished the younger son, certainly the listeners of the story would have thought the younger son would have had punishment coming at that point. 00:11:50.960 --> 00:11:56.879 The father grants the wish, he sells off part of his property, and he gives the cash to the younger son. 00:11:56.960 --> 00:12:01.360 And what happens next is what any of us would expect, and I'm sure it's what the listeners would have expected. 00:12:01.519 --> 00:12:03.759 Check out the downhill progression. 00:12:03.919 --> 00:12:07.440 He goes far away from parental oversight and he wastes his money. 00:12:07.600 --> 00:12:10.720 And then he's out of money and there's a famine, okay? 00:12:10.879 --> 00:12:19.759 And in his desperation, he clings to some foreigner who, probably trying to get rid of him, gives him a job feeding pigs, which is about the worst occupation for a Jew. 00:12:19.919 --> 00:12:22.799 And even the pig food looks good, and he can't have any. 00:12:22.960 --> 00:12:25.679 Okay, does it get any any worse off than that? 00:12:25.919 --> 00:12:31.039 And you can tell the people listening to the story are probably like, yeah, he had that coming, right? 00:12:31.200 --> 00:12:34.000 And the younger kid, uh finally he comes to his senses. 00:12:34.080 --> 00:12:39.759 I mean, if that doesn't bring you to your senses, what will, you know, and he and he has this little three-part speech planned. 00:12:39.919 --> 00:12:44.480 Um, I've I've sinned against God, and you, I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. 00:12:44.639 --> 00:12:46.399 Make me like one of your hired servants. 00:12:46.559 --> 00:12:52.399 And he decides he's gonna, he's just gonna go back because he's gonna die where he is, so might as well just go back. 00:12:53.519 --> 00:13:02.960 What happens next in the story would absolutely have blown the minds of the people in Jesus' time who were listening to the story, okay? 00:13:03.200 --> 00:13:08.159 While still a long way off, the father sees the son and has compassion on him. 00:13:08.399 --> 00:13:11.759 What can this mean, except the father was watching for the son? 00:13:12.240 --> 00:13:12.559 Okay? 00:13:12.960 --> 00:13:14.960 The father runs, okay. 00:13:15.039 --> 00:13:17.200 That's that's humiliating, that's shocking. 00:13:17.360 --> 00:13:26.480 To this day in the Middle East, it's it's considered humiliating for a man to show his legs, and it's considered humiliating for a man to be seen running. 00:13:26.720 --> 00:13:33.279 Back in the in the 90s, when they showed Bill Clinton jogging, okay, on TV or whatever, in the Middle East they just laughed. 00:13:33.360 --> 00:13:35.360 They thought that was the silliest thing they'd ever seen. 00:13:35.440 --> 00:13:38.399 Okay, it's humiliating for a man to be seen like that. 00:13:38.720 --> 00:13:42.879 Um the father falls on his son's neck and embraces his son. 00:13:43.039 --> 00:13:46.000 This is the son who smells like pig poop at this point. 00:13:46.159 --> 00:13:48.159 The father embraces him, okay? 00:13:48.320 --> 00:13:52.960 And while the father embraces the son out of love, there's an additional reason you need to know. 00:13:53.200 --> 00:14:06.960 Under Jewish law in Deuteronomy 21 through 18 through 21, the father not only had the option, but the obligation to bring the prodigal son out into the town square and have him stoned as an example to others. 00:14:07.200 --> 00:14:13.039 The father is falling on the son's neck to keep the town from stoning the son. 00:14:13.279 --> 00:14:13.600 Okay? 00:14:14.320 --> 00:14:20.159 The father, um, the son starts his speech, his little three-part speech, and the father cuts him off. 00:14:20.399 --> 00:14:26.480 The father brings out the best robe and puts it on the son, which, by the way, the robe covers the pig poop. 00:14:26.639 --> 00:14:31.759 Um, the father brings out the ring and the sandals, okay? 00:14:31.919 --> 00:14:36.799 The ring and the sandals show that this is not, he will not be considered a servant. 00:14:36.960 --> 00:14:38.559 He will be considered a son. 00:14:38.879 --> 00:14:43.519 Servants don't wear rings and sandals, only sons wear rings and sandals. 00:14:43.759 --> 00:14:47.360 And then the father brings him home and he throws a party, a banquet. 00:14:47.600 --> 00:14:52.240 Okay, and you kind of feel like maybe the story's done at this point, but the story keeps going. 00:14:52.399 --> 00:14:52.720 Okay? 00:14:53.039 --> 00:14:57.600 The older son's in the field and he hears the party, and he finds out why there's a party. 00:14:57.679 --> 00:15:00.639 His wild kid brother has come home broke, okay? 00:15:00.879 --> 00:15:03.679 And the older son doesn't want anything to do with the party. 00:15:03.759 --> 00:15:05.120 He wants nothing to do with it. 00:15:05.279 --> 00:15:11.279 And the father, just as he had done for the younger son, the father does the same for the older son. 00:15:11.360 --> 00:15:12.879 He comes out to the son. 00:15:13.200 --> 00:15:16.159 He comes out to the son to plead him to come to the party. 00:15:16.720 --> 00:15:20.480 And the older son is clearly dealing on the basis of conditional love. 00:15:20.799 --> 00:15:25.840 And he's offended that his father is showing forgiveness to the wild younger brother. 00:15:26.080 --> 00:15:29.360 And so the father shows grace to the older son. 00:15:29.519 --> 00:15:34.080 He says, Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 00:15:35.120 --> 00:15:42.080 We've heard every week here at Redeemer that God shows grace to the undeserving, and that's that's you and me. 00:15:42.399 --> 00:15:50.399 This parable also shows that God shows grace to the unforgiving, and all too often that's also you and me. 00:15:52.960 --> 00:15:59.120 Um it's mind-blowing as it is that the that the father showed grace to the wild younger son. 00:15:59.200 --> 00:16:03.919 I think it's just as mind-blowing that the father shows grace to the unforgiving older son. 00:16:04.399 --> 00:16:10.399 Now, circling back to the idea of incredible grace for a second, the first parable shows the breadth of God's grace. 00:16:10.559 --> 00:16:19.440 This parable shows the depth of God's grace, just how far God is willing to go, even to the point of humiliation, to show grace to his sons. 00:16:19.679 --> 00:16:23.679 Remember the servants compelling the wretched masses to come to the banquet? 00:16:23.840 --> 00:16:25.679 Remember, we we we talked about that? 00:16:25.840 --> 00:16:28.399 In this story, we see what it looks like, okay? 00:16:28.639 --> 00:16:32.480 The younger son would no doubt have refused an invitation to the father's banquet. 00:16:32.559 --> 00:16:35.679 He's already said, I'm undeserving, I don't deserve this. 00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:39.039 So the father's not gonna not gonna ask. 00:16:39.759 --> 00:16:42.799 The father sees the son uh uh a long way off. 00:16:43.360 --> 00:16:57.200 The father sees the son a long way off, he has compassion on him, he runs to him, he embraces him, he puts the best robe on him, he puts a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet, he takes him uh effectively by the arm and takes him to the banquet. 00:16:57.279 --> 00:17:02.320 That's what it looks like when the father compels the son to come to the banquet. 00:17:02.480 --> 00:17:04.079 That's what it looks like. 00:17:04.319 --> 00:17:04.640 Okay. 00:17:05.680 --> 00:17:09.599 And about the idea of scandalizing grace, uh, it's interesting. 00:17:09.839 --> 00:17:18.319 In the first story, the expected people don't want to attend the banquet, and so the father invites the undeserving. 00:17:18.480 --> 00:17:24.559 In the second story, the father invites the undeserving, and so the expected people don't want to attend the banquet. 00:17:24.640 --> 00:17:26.799 They're actually kind of mirror images of each other. 00:17:26.960 --> 00:17:30.799 But there's a key difference between these parables, I think, offers us hope. 00:17:31.039 --> 00:17:36.559 In the first parable, the ungrateful invitees are rejected with a chilling finality. 00:17:36.880 --> 00:17:44.400 But in the second parable, the father shows mercy to the ungrateful invitee and shows forgiveness and shows him grace. 00:17:44.640 --> 00:17:50.160 When God is your father, he can show grace even even in your unforgiveness. 00:17:50.880 --> 00:17:53.200 Now, where are you in these stories? 00:17:53.359 --> 00:17:55.359 Where am I in these stories? 00:17:55.599 --> 00:18:01.839 As I look at the different characters in the story, I think I see myself in a lot of different places in these stories, okay? 00:18:02.240 --> 00:18:07.759 At times I feel like I'm the poor and the needy and the crippled and the lame when it comes to the things of God. 00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:12.880 When I'm in this state, uh I'm unwilling or unable to acknowledge God's presence. 00:18:13.039 --> 00:18:15.920 And when I'm in that state, I'm not deserving of God's grace. 00:18:16.160 --> 00:18:17.519 And so what happens? 00:18:17.759 --> 00:18:23.119 The master and the person of the servant comes to me and compels me to come to the banquet. 00:18:23.440 --> 00:18:26.160 At times I feel like I'm the prodigal. 00:18:26.319 --> 00:18:32.240 At times I feel like I just want to turn my back on the things of God or run from God or push him away. 00:18:32.480 --> 00:18:43.599 I get tired of following the rules of uh thinking the right thoughts, of, uh, and I feel like doing things my own way, solving problems in my own strength, saying what I really feel. 00:18:43.839 --> 00:18:46.000 I think we all feel that way at some time. 00:18:46.319 --> 00:18:47.599 And what does the father do? 00:18:47.759 --> 00:18:50.960 He runs to me and compels me to come to the banquet. 00:18:51.200 --> 00:18:54.000 And at times I'm the judgmental pharisical older brother. 00:18:54.079 --> 00:18:58.319 I'm offended at the thought of showing forgiveness or grace to someone clearly undeserving. 00:18:58.559 --> 00:19:00.400 I think we're all that way at some point. 00:19:00.640 --> 00:19:05.039 And the father comes to me and compels me to come to the banquet. 00:19:05.519 --> 00:19:14.640 If you want to be closer to God, and I think you do, and if God's running after you, and I think he is, then all you have to do is stop running. 00:19:15.039 --> 00:19:17.680 Stop running and let the Father catch up to you. 00:19:18.000 --> 00:19:21.599 He wants to clothe you in the robe of his favorite son. 00:19:22.000 --> 00:19:30.400 And when he does, he's gonna throw a huge party that I'd love to attend to come and everything for the banquet is now ready. 00:19:31.440 --> 00:19:32.640 Let's pray. 00:19:37.119 --> 00:19:47.680 Father God, we thank you that you are the father, that you are the father who has sons that run from you, sons that are unforgiving. 00:19:47.920 --> 00:19:51.680 And we thank you that the story doesn't end there. 00:19:51.920 --> 00:20:03.279 We thank you that you are willing to uh humiliate yourself, you're willing to humble yourself, you sent your son to earth to die for your sons. 00:20:03.519 --> 00:20:25.599 We thank you that you come to us, that even in our crippled state, in our running state, you still come to us, and you show us grace, you clothe us in the robe of your favorite son, you say that we are now your sons, and we thank you that you treat us as sons even in our unfaithfulness. 00:20:25.839 --> 00:20:42.640 We pray that your grace, your unexpected grace, your incredible grace, your scandalizing grace would melt our hearts, help us to live close to you, help us to celebrate with you, and we thank you for the joy that's in the kingdom of God, the joy of a banquet. 00:20:42.880 --> 00:20:51.440 And we pray that we would be feasting with our brothers and sisters in Christ, feasting on your word and feasting in the joy that comes from knowing you. 00:20:52.000 --> 00:20:53.759 In your Son Jesus' name we pray. 00:20:54.079 --> 00:20:54.480 Amen.