Redefining Sin

The parables of Luke 15 were birthed out of the Pharisees' mumbling among themselves that Jesus ate and fraternized with sinners. Jesus knew what the Pharisees were thinking. He could overhear their muttering. However, rather than slinking away and avoiding their accusations of questionable behavior, He confronted them with three stories about lost things being found. Actually, to be precise Jesus tells one story in three different ways. Verse 3 says “Then Jesus told them this parable...” There are three different scenes to describe the same story about lost thing. Today, we are going to focus in on how Jesus redefines sin.

For the Pharisees, sin was merely breaking the rules. But in these stories, Jesus redefines their paradigm to help us understand that sin is so much more complex.

In the first a shepherd with one hundred sheep loses one. He leaves the ninety nine to go on a search and rescue mission for the lost sheep. He returns from the wilderness with the sheep on his shoulders, and invites everyone to rejoice with him over the return of the one lost sheep.

In the second scene, an nameless woman loses one of her ten silver coins. She turns her house upside down, until she finds it. And when she does find it, joy overflows, and again, a celebration!

In the third scene a rebellious son turns his back on his Father, losing himself in the far country. Broke and destitute, he turns towards home to live as a servant rather than a son.  But before he can spill out his excuses, his father,  the one he rejected, runs to him in an open, joy-filled embrace. The lost son has come home. And again, a celebration!

Luke 15 is three scenes telling the same story of lost things being found. Why? The Pharisees had a 21st century view of what was sinful. To them, a sinful person was someone who broke the religious rules. Sinful people were the rule-breakers. And rule-breakers are lost to God.

But in these three scenes Jesus goes way beyond the Pharisees definition of sin. Sheep were known as foolish animals. So the people hearing Jesus when he spoke this parable would immediately assume the sheep was lost because of its foolishness. It did a dumb, sheep-like thing and was separated from the rest of the flock and the shepherd that protected it. It followed its appetite into lostness

A coin is in inanimate object, incapable of thought and certainly incapable in itself of finding its way home. The coin is lost through thoughtlessness of its owner.

And the prodigal son finds himself lost in a far country because of his own poor choices. The son is lost because of willfulness.

The lostness of these three objects were not just the result of breaking rules. In these three scenes Jesus is challenging the Pharisees simplistic view of sin...that sin is breaking religious rules. Jesus is saying that people find themselves lost, far from God, for a complex set of reasons.

Tim Keller gives a great example. "Mr. Smith has a problem with abusive anger, he often flies off the handle and is verbally abusive and sometimes physically so. Why? Is his problem genetic? Is it a matter of brain chemistry? Is it just part of his inborn nature, 
as in the example of the sheep?  Or is his problem the result of a bad environment? Perhaps the result of poor parenting and family life? Was he, like the coin, mismanaged by his 'supervisors'? Or does his problem stem from selfishness and pride, as with the prodigal son?"

The answer is that usually, in varying degrees, it is all of the above. The fact is, usually sin (mistakes and failures) occur in our lives for a mixture of complex reasons: our foolishness, other's thoughtlessness, and/or our willfulness. Keller continues: "Sin is deeply complex. It is inborn in you, it is magnified by sinful treatment, and is deepened and shaped by your own choices."

Perhaps we can find discover a greater depth of mercy for the sinner when we realize the complexity of his lostness.

Redefining "Sinners"

Perhaps Jesus’ most famous parable is one involving two very different sons and the Father who loved them both. Many of us know it as the story of the Prodigal Son. For two thousand years this story has spoken to people across cultures and generations. Some commentators suggest that the multi-layered meaning of the story is the best summary of all of Jesus life, teaching and ministry.

Over the next five weeks we will be plunging into the depths of this story. But the context of the story begins in Luke 15:1-10:  Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering around to hear him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them." Then Jesus told them this parable: "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.' I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. "Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.' In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”


In this passage, Jesus was surrounded by two particular and distinct types of people. There are the Pharisees, a group of very religious men who were committed to studying the scriptures and living a holy and pure life. They were the rule-keepers. The Pharisees were very committed to understanding and applying God’s law in living their lives. To help them do this, drawing on tradition and their understating of the scriptures they developed their own rules as to how one should live to please God. There were rules for everything: how you ate, how and when you worshipped, sexual relationships, how and when you bathed, what clothes you wore, what you did on the Sabbath...everything. These rules and traditions were collected in an extensive written record called the Mishnah. The Pharisees took particular pride in applying their life to keeping and upholding these traditions. They were the rule-keepers. Religion is about keeping the rules. The Pharisees in Jesus’ day were the rule-keepers.

Then there were the tax collectors and sinners. This was a motley group of outsiders, many of whom would have been shunned by Jewish culture because they had not kept the rules. If the Pharisees were the rule-keepers, sinners and tax- collectors were the rule-breakers. Tax-collectors broke the rules by not only associating with the Roman occupiers, but by working for them. People suffering from leprosy, or suffering long-term illness, or with a physical disability must have broken the rules to be suffering the way they did. Prostitutes broke the rules about sexual purity.

The problem for the Pharisees is that Jesus, himself a teacher of the law, spent time with the rule-breakers. Verse 2 says, “The Pharisees and teachers of the law muttered, This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” 

This was not an observation. It was an accusation. Sinners and tax collectors who were used to rejection and abuse, Jesus’ radical welcome and hospitality was Good News. For many of the Pharisees it was bad news. Jesus knew what the Pharisees were thinking, he could overhear their muttering. Rather than slinking away and avoiding their accusations of questionable behavior, he stares them down with three stories about lost things being found.

This story is usually told to remind us that God will rescue prodigals. But it is important to remember that the context of the story is the murmuring of the Pharisees about Jesus associating with the rule-breakers. The Pharisees, represented by the older brother, are going to discover that the sin of religious pride is just as rebellious as the sins of the Prodigal. Jesus redefined the term sinners to possibly include rule-keepers as well as rule-breakers.

An Astonishing Sacrifice

Yesterday, I reminded you that the Bible prophetically refers to Jesus in the Song of Solomon as The Rose of Sharon. Whenever we receive a rose or a bouquet of roses, you not only receive a flower with a beautiful bloom and fragrant aroma, there is also something on the stem that that can bring you pain...the thorns up and down the stem.

Those thorns represent the pain and suffering that Jesus endured as the sacrifice for our sins. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son.” Jesus lived a life filled with love and compassion for men, women, and children. However, even after He had performed miracles and clearly demonstrated His love for mankind, He was rejected, falsely accused, beaten and put to death.You see, Jesus came to earth to die for you and me. Like a rose, His sacrifice is painful and beautiful all at the same time.

The whips that scored His back, the crown of thorns that pierced His brow, the nails that pinned Him painfully to the cross, reminds us of the ugliness of sin and the terrible price that hatred, pride, murder, theft, greed, and so on exacts on each of us. And that ugliness touches every human soul. The Bible tells us in Romans 3:23,  “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

So God, in His overwhelming, astonishing, love for us, gave His only Son to take our punishment upon Himself. Jesus allowed Himself to be arrested, tortured, mocked, and then executed in the most horrific way possible...a slow, painful death on a Roman cross. This was a sacrifice so painful that a new word came into human language to describe it: excruciating, which literally means the pain of the cross.

And that death was accompanied by loneliness, despair, anguish, heartache, betrayal, and a multitude of other emotions that we all experience at some point in our lives. But Jesus’ astonishing sacrifice on the cross reveals how great is His love for us, how completely He understands us, and how fully He feels your sin and shame, your pain and hurt, your disappointment, discouragement, and distress.

He understands it all … and longs to forgive you, to free you, and to restore your joy! You can live free because He died for you. “For God so loved you that He gave His one and only Son.”

The Thorn Part 1

Easter Sunday Sermon, Part 1

He's Alive

What a fabulous celebration service we had at Hickory Valley yesterday. We doubled our attendance, the worship was dynamic, the special music was uplifting, the dramas were challenging, and the presence of God was evident. Renae Miller and Galen Bell provided monologues during the message, with Galen giving the invitation to say "yes" to Jesus at the conclusion of the message. Ten people responded to the invitation and opened their heart to the life-changing love of God.

In John 3:16, Jesus gave us three amazing truths concerning God's great love. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  Jesus came to this earth because of love. He lived a life of love. He came with a clear mission. The Bible says in Luke 19:10, “The Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” 

What was lost? Well, that would be you and me, all of us. From the moment sin entered the world, it entered every human life as well. Every one of us, almost from the moment we could speak, learned to say “NO!” and “MINE!” Our sinful and rebellious ways started early and continued long after we were old enough to know what we were doing. The Bible calls this sin, and it not only creates problems IN us, it creates problems FOR us. Sin damages relationships, divides families, and destroys all hope of a loving and eternal relationship with God, the kind of relationship HIS heart longs for, and ours do too. So God unveiled a mind-boggling, almost unbelievable plan.

Jesus literally brought the immeasurable love of God down to earth. He dressed it in plain clothes. And He showed us that it’s a love for everyone, man or woman, young or old, light or dark, then or now. On these days after Easter, I hope you can feel and OWN the love of Jesus for you. No matter what you’ve done, no matter how you feel, regardless of whatever dirt or darkness is in your life, you can know the measureless, matchless love of Jesus. The resurrection means that what Jesus did for the people He met in His lifetime He wants to do, AND CAN DO, for all of us. Wherever you are today, whatever mountain you’re on or whatever valley you’re in, He’s reaching down in love for you. All you have to do is take His hand.