June College Night

On Sunday, June 28th our College and Lead Pastor Ben Kaempfer spoke to our students on Luke 15. He taught us what it means to be a Christian that seeks after “the one” the same way God sought us out. Join in and learn what the scripture is teaching us in Luke.

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I'm gonna pray for us as we kind of move into that. So, Jesus, I ask that you would help us to see you clearly. God, we know that if we see you, you'll change everything. You'll change every single heart, every single life in here. And that doesn't matter if the person whose life you're changing has known you, has followed you, has committed to you, is completely sold out. Jesus, when you show up, you you change us. And so we pray that that would happen. By the power of your word, by the power of your spirit, in all of our hearts. Amen. So we're gonna be in the book of Luke, and I'm gonna tell you about why we're gonna talk about the set of verses that we're gonna talk about. Luke Book of Luke, um, Jesus. Jesus was a master storyteller. Um, he taught things and said things in ways that that confused the right people and clarified uh or confused the people he wanted to confuse and was clarifying to the people who he wanted it to be clarifying to. Um but there was this tendency, and if you haven't, a lot of times when you're growing up, you're handed this faith. This is what God looks like, this is what Jesus looks like, this is what the Bible looks like, right? And it's and it's very clean and it's very nice and it's very neat, and it fits in kind of these segmented compartments. But when you actually get to read the Bible as an adult, you realize this stuff's kind of wild. So Luke chapter 15, it picks up this scene and it says, now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to him in verse one. The idea behind that, which was culturally absurd, was that, and some of you might know this, but but the idea of a tax collector, why they were hated, didn't just like, oh, nobody likes taxes. It was because these people were seen by the Jewish brethren as actual traitors, that they would use Rome and leverage Rome against their own people to make money. They were seen, they they were legitimately put in with pagans and prostitutes and tax collectors. That was this group. So you imagine, I want you to imagine, right? What would you think if all of a sudden you're like, man, I go to this church, but this pastor, this lead pastor is wild. Every time I see him, he's just with, I don't know, he's just with traitors and prostitutes and pagans. What's a pagan? I don't know, but y'all know what I see him, you know? And you start to think, this guy, wait, I thought you were a pastor. Because you know what holy people do? They hang out with holy people, but not Jesus. And no one knew what to do with that. Everybody saw that. And everybody said, What? People hang out with people who are like them. You are, you are supposed to be the Son of God. In fact, you if nothing else, you're a rabbi, you're a teacher, you're not, you, you know the Jewish ceremonial law. Those are not people we hang out with. But constantly, the people who were nothing like Jesus were magnetized to Jesus. And not just magnetized, he was magnetized to them. And no one knew what to do with it. Because what do you do when the holiest person who has ever walked the planet refuses to hang out with the holy people and walks around with the people who all of the holy people say we can't hang out with them? And all of them were drawing near to Jesus. And it's a different version of Jesus because if you think about it, I mean, I mean, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, and if if you're here for long, you'll know this. I'm gonna push you to think about this on a very human, I call it reading the Bible with empathy. Not as if it's like, oh, here's some things that happen. But like, come on, wouldn't that be wild? Imagine you're walking around and it's Jerusalem and there's this guy who's claiming this stuff, but you see him with the dirtiest people. And that's nowhere in the religious idea. And so they all look at him and say, Well, they're grumbling. And they're saying, This man receives sinners, and it was worse. And he eats with them. That was that was not just like a, oh, I talked to you in the hallway, how's it going, Phil? Right? That was like, no, that was actually a sign of relational connection, almost in an equitable sense, almost like we are on the same level. And they're like, this makes no sense. And here's how I know that almost all of us have something to learn tonight. Because whenever I preach this passage, there's two groups of people. There's one group of people who you're the person, you're like, I know my life. I know I am nothing like Jesus. And he wants to have dinner with me and hang out with me. Like I, here's just to be honest, when I was walking in the doors today, I thought I might get hit by a lightning bolt, like 50-50 chance, right? Like you have this view of God, he's sitting up, he's like, Oh, I see him, bang, right? He just like snipes you from a long way off because you walked in the door. He's like, How could thou be a sinner, right? And that's what you've been given. And then there's some of us who, if we look at our text messages right now, the last 10 people we texted are all saved, saved. And we're not even kind of accused of hanging out with people who aren't like Jesus. And we're the people who would look and say, Easter morning, why aren't you here with us? This man receives sinners and he eats with them. So we told him this parable because I didn't understand it. He says, What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the 99 in the open country and go after the one that is lost until he finds it. Now, I know all of us are very fluent in shepherding. I'm sure that was an elective in high school, right? No, culturally, we're like, this does not make any sense to us. But what Jesus knew is this you have all these sheep that are found. You leave what's secure to find what's not. He's like, all right, you know, shepherds, they would have been in the crowd. He said, Okay, you got you, you get this, you understand. You leave. You wouldn't just say, okay, no, no, no, he's fine. We'll let Bob go his own like little way, right? Like, I know I'm 43. You gotta forgive me for that. But like, you've got to see this, and they he wouldn't just let him go. There have been times, and in not many, where we're somewhere as a family. My kids are a little bit older now, so this doesn't happen as much. My daughter's 11. She just went to her first youth on sun on Wednesday night, which is just like it's so beautiful and so tragic at the same time. I'm like, I love you and I hate you. You know, want to put a brick on your head, don't grow. Um, but when they were little, and you know how little kids are, they're squirrely, man. Like you're in like a crowded place and all of a sudden they just take off. I remember one time, that joker. We were at Costco, okay? And you know how like you there's like Costco and you're like walking down all the aisles, and then there's like the refrigerated aisle. But then there's like the back place behind the refrigerator that we keep like dog food. If you've never been to Costco, just think big aisles and you know industrial stuff. Well, Rhodes, he was about two at this point in time, maybe two and a half, because he was all he's he was he was thick when he was a little kid. We call him little density. Um, true story. Um, but I remember he was, he would, we'd always just let him run back and forth. Because some patients are like, oh no, stay with him. I'm just like, bro, just free little bird. Go just run around. Um, and so I kid you not, he went up ahead and he was, you know how you get to like a point in the show where you have to turn right? Well, he got to the stop part where you kind of have to turn right. And now he was probably from me to maybe the sound booth. Now he's like a decent way off, two and a half years old, crowded Costco on a Saturday, right? That joker looks at me, I kid you not, he smiles and he just takes off running, right? I'm like, what? So I'm literally flying across Costco, right? The problem is, is I have my cart and I have Ava in this cart. Lindsay's not kind of around, and so I just yell my Lindsay. So if I start like going like really fast, she comes out of like the peanut butter aisle or something like that, right? And I just literally like let go, I take off running after this little joker. He goes and he crosses, you know, like the center aisle where people are going to like check out. He crosses that. I see a friend from high school, I'm like, yo, like I kid you not, and I run. He gets to the other side of the store, takes the ride, because I'm also gonna run as fast as I can, you know? Because that's embarrassing when you're like 40 and you got this little kid that's also just like taking off in Costco, because part of you is like, no, I'm I know what I'm doing parentally, right? And I'm like, Rhodes, like in the middle of the thing. Here's the point. I get across the other side, I scoop them up, and I'm both like frustrated and like happy. Now, you know what never happened in that? Rhodes didn't take off. And I wasn't like, Lindsay, take all the eggs, take the cart and take this. She's like, no, no, no, no, no. We still have Ava. You don't have to go get him, we've got another, right? Never literally, that was not a thought. Jesus is like, okay, yeah. Why would I take what's secure and not leave to go towards what's found or towards what's lost? Right? I have ADHD, which means I am so gifted at losing everything. My keys are the worst of the culprits. I've never said, Lindsay, you know what my keys are? And she's like, nah, but but you're good. You still have a car. It's like, neat. I need my keys. That's not separate. Oh, do you know where my you know my credit card is? No, but you have the rest of your wallet. It's like, yeah, but I'm missing that, right? But here's here's Jesus' point. Of course, of course. You leave what's secure to find what's not. You leave what's found to find what's lost. And he says, and here's here's what happens. It's almost like the first two are like from the perspective. He says, so when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. When he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost. Just so, he says, and let me let me bring this home. He says, just so I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents and over 99 righteous persons who need no repentance. And I think he said that tongue in cheek. Because he's talking to a Pharisees who don't realize that their greatest sin is their own self-righteousness, that the entire way that they related to God is all of the things that we've done, which created a, okay, now God, you owe us to spend time with us. And so he says, you know, there's this rejoicing. Because this son, this daughter, this sheep has returned home. He goes on and he says, Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep a house and seek diligently until she finds it. When she's found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I have lost. What most people look at will say with this, is this was some type of a symbol of a dowry, that this was something that somebody would have given her if she was going to be engaged. It's something like losing a part or a stone of a wedding ring or an engagement ring. And I paid a lot of money that for that for Lindsay. And if she was missing a stone, well, actually, if she was missing a stone, you know what we have? We don't have to find if we don't want to, because we got insurance, baby. But one thing I would not say if we did not have it wouldn't be, bro, it don't matter. You have the rest of your ring. Because that's true. And it's not that that's not valuable, that's in fact that's incredibly valuable. The point was why am I hanging out with these people who you would look at and you would say, you ought not hang out with them? It's like he's saying, You don't understand. You are looking at them on the basis of what they've done. I don't look at them because when you look at them on the basis of what they have and have not done, here's the problem. You're looking at them transactionally. And I look at my children relationally. I don't love you because of what you do or don't do. I love you because you're mine. He says, so when they found this coin, everybody got together. They all rejoiced. Of course they did. This thing that was lost is now found. Just so I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents. And then he said a story that if you were reading in a Bible, it says the parable of the prodigal son, and I wish to God they had never written that in the Bible. Because this is not a parable about a prodigal son. If you've ever read this story, you know, and think about the context. Jesus is talking. There are sinners there. There are tax collectors there, there are prostitutes there. And so are all the priests and pastors. And he's got dual audiences. And so I think for the first two parables, he's like, let me explain this from my perspective. They're lost. And I am so thankful when they're found. We rejoice when they're found. It's a party when they're found. It's incredible. But it's almost like he's like, let me actually talk about what's happening in the room right now via a story. And as the master storyteller, he weaves this together. He says, There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, he says, Father, give me my share of the property that's coming to me. He divided his property between them, and not many days later the younger son gathered all he had, took a journey into a far country, and he squandered his property in reckless living. So, you know, if you've heard this story before, this is this is all of a sudden the son who looks to dad and says, Dad, give me my half of the inheritance, which I just want to say, I don't really think that that's an option very often. Like, you know, I've got parents who are still alive, and I'm like, hey, give me half your money. But for some reason, Jesus, you know, thought, let me let me just tell this story. And sure enough, the father got everything together, gives it to the son, and the son goes off. And it doesn't say a lot about what happens with somebody, just so he squanders it, right? That makes perfect sense. Because whenever we run from the Father, there's something that we're looking for. There's something that we're trying to fill. And that makes perfect sense. I I can I just tell you, I have so much empathy when we run from God. Because I've done that so many times too. And it's one of those things where I've realized, not because of the fact that I've just like, oh, here's, you know, from my high horse and my white castle what I've seen and other people do. It's like, no, no, no, I have seen so many times that when I embody the spirit of the prodigal, it's because there's something inside of me that hurts often, that's looking for something, that wants something to be filled, that longs for something. And I'm willing to squander and make bad decisions, not because I'm defined by bad decisions, but because what's happening inside of me wants to be filled so bad that I'm willing to do anything and squander whatever I have to not feel that anymore. The emotional loneliness, the sense of abandonment, perhaps, the sense of anger, the sense of frustration, the sense of a lack of respect, a lack of connect. I mean, whatever it is, right? I mean, we're people, of course. It's the human nature. That's the flesh. We all have it. So he goes. He does what he thinks is going to satisfy. Until it doesn't. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine rose in that country and began to be in need. And he began to be in need. He went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country who sent him into the field to feed pigs. That was a problem. At this point, you did not mess with hogs. Thank God for the New Testament sausage is okay, and so is bacon. But when he came to himself, he said, How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread? But I perish here with hunger. I will arise and go to my father and I will say to him, because here's what he knows, here's what he knows. He has done so many things wrong, he feels like he doesn't deserve to come back to the father. And he knows that he certainly doesn't deserve to come back as a son, and so he wants to come back. And he says to his father, he kind of has this thing, I will arise and I will say to him. And you, every single person knows this because you know that there has been a time in your life where you got caught by your parents with something, and you already had the speech in your mind before you got home. They knew that you were snuck out and that you were caught. They knew that you were at the place where you said you weren't, and you were like, but mom, but dad, you know what I mean? And you have the whole thing rehearsed in your mind. Well, so does he. He says, Father, this is what he's gonna tell him. He says, You know, I'm gonna go to my father and I'm gonna say to him, Father, I've sinned against heaven and before you, I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants. He's like, All right, I think that'll do. Verse 20, and he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion and ran and embraced and kissed him. Do you guys know we have a parking lot team? I promise. We have an educated church, y'all can figure out where to park. You don't know I have a rally alley. Because the father didn't wait for them to get in the doors of the house. As soon as he saw him turn in, he ran and he embraced them. When people show up, we want it to be that exact same look, that exact same feel, because every single time we gather together, whether or not it has been a prodigal who has completely run from God, or in your heart there are areas that it's running from God. And every time that happens, you're in that season, you show up to a place like this, and you're terrified that someone's gonna know or someone's gonna find out. We want you to know that your father loves you, embraces you, and is so glad. His father sees him when he's a long way off. He's looking for him, he's scanning the horizon, and he sees his son. And I think in their day, their religious expectation of God, the God who holds the lightning bolt and throws it down, is this God who would look and see his son long way off and say, All right, we'll see what he's got to say when he gets here. I'll see if his story, if his repentance is good enough, is it strong enough, is it enough for me to actually find it believable that he wants to come and that I'm going to accept him or not. You see, the sons, the older, the younger son, the son who went off, the prodigal son, his biggest error is that his belief is what keeps him from the father, is all the things that he's done. His father sees him when he's a long way off. He embraced him. He kissed him. Everybody who said, What? I mean, you're you're embracing him when he's a long way off. He braced him, he kissed him. And the son said to him, He says, He's like, Dad, hold on, Dad, I got a speech. Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his servant, he said, Bring quickly, bring quickly the best robe and put it on him, bring a ring and put it on his hand, and shoes on his feet, and bring the fattened calf, kill it, let us eat and celebrate. For the son was dead and he's alive again. He was lost and he was found. And they began to celebrate. You notice he never even addresses the son's concerns. Why? And I can't emphasize this enough. Because the tendency with the Father, the tendency with God, is to think that God is still transactional. He's like, no, no, no, no. I don't care what you've done. You're my son. You're not my employee. You don't work for me. You now you honor me maybe in what you do. You love me, you trust me, and so you do what I say, because what I say, the things that I tell you to do, is actually the loving thing to do. And I want you to live into that. I want you to live through that. I want that embodying you. I want you that to be a light through you. But but you're my son. You're my daughter. I don't care. Hey, anybody got a ring? Bring it over here. Anybody got a robe? Bring it over here. Anybody got shoes? Hey, bring it over here. Hey, hey, we got a calf, right? All right, perfect. Hey, kill it quick. I don't know how you're gonna cook, like cook that whole thing so quickly. But kill it, cook it. We're about to have a party, because my son was lost, and now he's found. And they begin to celebrate. And then the story picks up. To be honest, that's for most of us where we end. We're like, oh, see, so if you're a prodigal, you've been running, come home. But Jesus isn't done with this story. Because there are sinners there that needed to hear that he loves them and he wants them and he embraces them and he runs towards them. And it's not because of the transaction of what you've done or not done, it's simply because of the fact that you were made in the image of God and died for by Jesus. Sons and daughters. Now his older son was in the field. He came and drew near to the The house. He heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he's dead to him. Your brother's come. In fact, your dad, your father, he's killed the fattened calf because he received him back safe and sound. But he was angry and refused to go when his father came out and he treated him. See, he's angry because this entire time he's like, whoa, whoa, whoa. So freaking Billy just gets to go over to wherever, right? He gets to go over to Nashville for a little bit, or maybe he goes to Vegas and just does his little thing, and all of a sudden now he comes back and we're like, let's throw a party for Billy. Bro, I have been here this whole time. He was angry. He refused to go in, and his father came out. He entreated him. You know, he says, Come on, come on come and talk, come and talk, come on. But his father he answered his father. He said, Look, these many years I have served you and I never disobeyed your command. Yet you never gave me a young goat. He's like a fattened calf. Pops, I'll take a goat. It doesn't matter. I didn't even get a goat. That I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, and I love how until this point, it's been so bibly in its language, it's like, oh, squandered it, reckless living, right? But you know that one person that they're just bitter at this point, they're just angry at this point. And let me just tell you, this has the tendency to be the posture and the perspective of the religious people. The longer that you've been saved, the more this tends to define and describe us. Because after a while, when you've been loving God and you've been serving God and you've been obeying God, this interesting thing happens is you have done that for a while, and so you think you actually deserve prioritization with God. And so when God does something good to somebody who has just come to know him, it's infuriating to you. You feel overlooked. The younger son is or the older son's looking and saying, Well, what about me? Don't I matter? Look at everything that I've done. Look at all the years, look at all the hard work. I've done everything that you've told me to do. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you kill the fattened calf for him. He doesn't pull any punches. He says, I'm telling you exactly what my feelings are, Pops. And maybe you feel overlooked by God tonight. Because you've tried and you've done the right thing. And it feels like God's not doing for you what he's done for others. It's frustrating. Let me tell you, I've also felt that more times than I want to admit. And it's not that you're angry at the other brother. And he, the father, said you were always with me. And all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad. For this year brother was dead and is alive. He was lost and is found. You see. Both the prodigal and the older brother had the same problem in opposite directions. Both of them thought, look at what I've done. Look at what I've done. One said, look at what I've done. Father, I don't deserve you. The other says, look at what I've done. Father, I deserve more than what you've done for me. And here was his point. You guys keep wanting me to be transactional. But I'm relational. The reason I love you is because you're my son. It's because you're my daughter. It's because you're you. And that's the Imago Day of Genesis. We are made in the image of God. And when sin entered the world before in Genesis, God kicks them out of the garden. There's this scene where God is talking to Adam and Eve, and he pronounces the curses, and as he talks about it, he says, you know, that there's going to be this sense in which that God's going to do something through the seed of woman. And he's going to bruise your heel, but you're going to crush his head. In other words, and you're going to ultimately defeat, but it's not going to come without a cost. God knew from the beginning that his plan was to redeem his children. God knew from the beginning that his plan was to call his prodigals. God knew from the beginning that his plan was to hope like crazy that the religious older brothers would come in. Because again, you've got to think about this. He's saying this in the middle of a context where he's got the Pharisees and he's got the prostitutes right next to each other. And he's sitting there looking at him saying, and both of y'all think the reason I care about you is because what you've done. Will you get it? Then it's because I'm your father and I love you. Because you love me, I want you to do what I say because you trust me, because I'm your dad, because I'm gonna say when you don't want to say, Don't touch that stove, it's gonna hurt. Don't touch that stove because it's gonna hurt. I want you to trust me. For some of us tonight, we've been avoiding God because of the fact. We've been avoiding God because of the fact that we have done so much. You might be like in your first, you know, semester, first summer, and you feel like you've already messed the whole thing up. You know that it had nothing to do with what you did that made God love you. If we could mess it up, we would have. He wants what's best, he wants life, but he also allows us to make choices that sometimes come back with the scar tissues. Or we posture to God and said, I'm not even worthy to be called your child. He says, I don't care. I'm throwing a party anyway because I love you. And for those of us who you've been following Jesus for a while, you know Jesus, and you feel like, man, I've done so much. And God, you don't speak through me. I've done so much. And why does it feel like everybody else hears from you? I've done you and you're continually trying to relate to God through all the things that you've done. What I love about what he says to me says, here's the thing you're mad because you've never felt like you've been celebrated, but you've had access to the celebration the entire time. And everything that's mine is yours. You're a kid, you're a child, you don't have to worry about the best way I can describe this, and I'll end with this part, and we're gonna sing a last song together. And for those of you who you're at the point where, man, maybe you've never actually maybe maybe never understood the fact that our sinfulness is what separates us from God. And God saw that and knew that he did not say, I hate you away from me. He did the opposite. He leaned in, he sent his son. Our sinfulness caused death. And so all of our deaths simply meet their consequence because it's sin. We live in a sinful and a broken world. Jesus, who was perfect, there had to be something. If if if the wages of sin is death, there had to be someone who was perfect, divine, to overcome that sinfulness, because any other death would have just made sense. But when perfection died for brokenness, when the blood of the perfect, spotless Lamb forgives us, it has nothing to do with what we've done because the impetus of our faith is that we cannot. And he did, he has, he's forgiven us. So now we have freedom to just run to him, to trust him, to live for him, not because of this begrudging, awful, moralistic religion, but because we trust our Father in heaven. For some of us, it's the transactional nature that we feel like we've done too much, and for some of us, it's the transactional nature that we feel like he hasn't done enough because of all that we've done. And we're self-righteous. And we're hypocrites and we don't realize it. And the call is to simply come and enjoy your father. I'll end it with this. I never would have thought about this. And I think my wife got it, she's from Tennessee, so I think she got this from the grandmother of all Tennesseeans who was Dolly Parton. And she tells our kids this all the time, and it's so beautiful. Especially at bedtime. She looks at him and says, Do you know what I love you? And at this point, they do. And she used to say to them all the time when they're little, and now they say back to her every time. Because for years she drilled into their head, I love you because you are you. And that is what makes you special. Not the places that you go, not the things that you do, because you are you. Your father in heaven loves you because you are you, not because of the things that you do, and not because of the things that you have done. And if you ever wondered if he does, he sent his son to die for anybody and everybody to be welcomed into the party of King Jesus. So the invitation, whether you've been running because of all you've done or all you haven't, is to come enjoy the forgiveness and the celebration and the party of the Father. During this next song, I don't want you to pour out your heart and say, God, here's all the things, you got your thing, you got your stopping. I just want you to worship and enjoy the celebration of the Father who gave everything for each and every one of us. Let's pray together. Father, I ask and I pray that you would help us to see this clearly. God, I pray for those of us who know you, who have been following you, we would see this not just as a sense of coming back to you. But we would be motivated, mobilized. God, would you help us to enjoy you, to love you, and go from a group of the older brother who was simply working in the field to taking the heart of the father, that we would help our father look. We would be on the front porch, we would be on the lookout for one of our friends, one of our prodigals, one of our brothers, because we want our brothers and sisters to know you. We too were once lost, we too were once blind, we too can now, we we can see we've been found, but not because we're great, but because we know you are great and mighty and beautiful and wonderful and amazing God. Help us to leave the 99 to find the one, but only because we have realized the only reason we do that is because we know you, the Father. Help us to lay down all of our works, all of our righteousness, to know that it was never a transactional, but it was always in a relational God. And I pray for every prodigal in this room. And those of us who maybe have the posture of the older brother on the outside, but on the inside we are prodigal. Just running, trying to fill that void, trying to fill that thing, trying to fill that hurt, trying to fill that emptiness, trying to fill the linen. And God, you know our story, you know why that's there. Would you help us to see that your party is greater than anything that we could go after? That your kingdom, your love, knowing you, a relationship with you, not because of the things that we do, not because of the things that we say, not because of the places that we go, but because we're us and you died for us, which is crazy. But we thank you. So, Father, we return to you. We love you, we worship you, we give you our lives. We're here for you. Help us to celebrate, King Jesus.

unknown 35:36

Amen.