Blog Archives - WELCOME TO THE JOY OF TROY

May 31, 2021

5/31/2021

Paying Attention to the Word

        There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores. Luke 16:19-21, ESV.

    Here is Jesus at His graphic best as a storyteller. The thing to note is the absolute contrast, with the rich person having it all in luxurious profusion and the poor individual being about as destitute as one can imagine. Notice the "nice" touches, with dogs licking his sores and his just wanting a few scraps from the table. With Lazarus we have the only person Jesus ever gave a name to in all of His parables. Interestingly enough, his name means "the one who God helps."

    In due time "the poor man dies and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom," while the rich man died and ended up being tormented in "Hades," from which he spotted Lazarus. "And he called out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy upon me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in anguish in this flame.' " But Abraham merely told him to remember the past, in which he had had all the good things and Lazarus the worst. Well, then, he requests, at least send him to warn my five brothers, "lest they also come into this place of torment" (see Luke 16:22-28, RSV).

    And then comes the punch line: "Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.' And he said, 'No, father Abraham; but if some one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' He said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if some one should rise from the dead' " (verses 29-31, RSV).

    Some have viewed the details of this parable as literal. But think about it for a moment. Is heaven so close to hell that you can converse between the two? Beyond that, it is based on a Greek view of life after death and of Hades rather than the Jewish idea of sleep in the grave (Dan. 12:2).

    Jesus put together some interesting folklore and mythology of the day to make three points: (1) being rich is not a sign of God's blessing or eternal reward, (2) we need to remember those less fortunate than ourselves, and (3) even a miracle as a sign will not change a person unwilling to learn from the Word of God as presented in the Bible.

    Help me, Father, to let Your Word shape my life today. Help me to appreciate it more while it can still do me some good.

May 30, 2021

5/30/2021

Extending Hope to Church Members

        And he said to him, "Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found." Luke 15:31, 32, NKJV.

    What a tragedy to spend all your life in the father's house while never understanding his heart. Even worse, what a travesty to spend all one's life in church and never coming to grips with the Father's love and grace.

    With the elder son we have returned to the parable of the coin earlier in Luke 15. Shiny and nice, the coin looks good on the outside. But it is lost. And being a coin it doesn't have any spiritual sense. Impressed with its own outward appearance, it doesn't even know that it is lost. But it is still in the house, the church, the synagogue.

    Here Jesus returns to the Pharisees in His audience of verses 1 and 2. Speaking to all those listening to Him, He provided the parable of the lost sheep for the commoners (average sinners) who knew they were lost but didn't know what to do about it. He presented the story of the lost son to represent the listening tax collectors, rebels at heart who were living it up on their ill-gotten gain. But the scribes and Pharisees and other "good" church members get two doses: the parable of the senseless coin and the parable of the church-going, hardworking person who appears to have everything in order, but who is totally lost, yet doesn't know it.

    The parable closes with the older son, who doesn't have the slightest idea why God loves a party. He is feeling critical of others and sorry for himself. Yet he could have had a party. All he had to do was ask. The tragedy of the older sons of life is that they never understand the Father. They just sit in church and grumble--even about grace.

    The story closes with the father going out into the dark to see if he can't reach the heart of the older son, searching for him just as the woman did for her coin.

    The most frustrating part of the parable is that we don't know what happened. That's because it hasn't ended. It's me and you who are out there on that dark evening. And God is asking us if we are going to continue to have the mind of a hired servant or are finally going to become genuine sons and daughters.

May 29, 2021

5/29/2021

A Lifelong Church Member's View of Salvation

        Now his elder son was in the field; and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing....He was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, "Lo, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command; yet you never gave me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your living with harlots, you killed for him the fatted calf." Luke 15:25-30, RSV.

    Not everybody likes a party!

    The older son was one of those. And as a 19-year-old convert when I first read this parable I agreed with him. After all, he did have an excellent argument. Why rejoice at his brother's return? After all, he has recklessly spent his share of the inheritance. And now he wants to come home and spend mine. Why rejoice about that?

    Good point! And don't forget the brother's reason for the trip home. Please remember that he was destitute and starving. What else could he do? There is little wonder that the older son was angry. I would have been so also.

    Why the party? he cries. Give him what he deserves. Let him work his fingers down to the bone and then maybe he should have a few scraps off the (spelled "my") table.

    That, my friends, is an excellent description of human justice. Give him what he deserves. And that's human logic. Give people what they deserve. But the Father's logic says give them what they need, give them what they don't deserve, give them grace.

    But that is one thing that this good churchgoing son never really understood. Just listen to his outburst: "I kept all your stinking commandments, yet you never gave me a party. Do you really think I like all that holy stuff? I went to church every Sabbath, but I hated every minute of it. But I did it anyway. That ought to count for something."

    And look where his heart really was. "And there is that so-called son of yours. He was out living it up with prostitutes while I was cleaning the sheep manure from under my fingernails after a hard day in the field. I really wanted to do what he did. But instead I slaved away on your stupid farm. I deserved a party and never got one."

    The tragedy of the story is that the good boy--the boy who never left the father's house or the church, the boy who had all of the privileges--never understood the father. What a terrible waste--to spend one's life in the Father's house with the heart and mind of a hired servant rather than those of a son or daughter.

May 28, 2021

5/28/2021

The Father's Way of Salvation

        And he arose and came to his father. But while he was yet at a distance, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, "Father, I have sinned...and...am no longer worthy to be called your son." But the father said to his servants, "Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet; and bring the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and make merry; for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found." And they began to make merry. Luke 15:20-24, RSV.

    The son may have understood his sin and his needs, but he totally miscalculated the father's love. He based his understanding on human logic: I will get what I deserve. The father's understanding reflected divine logic: I will give him what he needs. What he deserves is the grinding punishment of endless work with little reward. But what he needs is love, care, forgiveness, and restoration.

    In choosing to offer the rebel what he did not deserve the father fully illustrates the Father. Giving people what they don't deserve is what Paul will call grace. Jesus didn't use the word, but no one could have more graphically illustrated its meaning.

    The undeserving son is fully restored in a flash. "Quick," shouts the joyous father, "bring the best robe." Not any old robe. Only the top for my son. "And put a signet ring on his hand," one that has the family seal that he can stamp in the moist clay of financial and legal agreements--the family checkbooks and credit cards of his day. And put shoes on his feet, the symbol of a free person.

    But, best yet, "let's have a party second to none. Let's even kill the prime calf we have been saving for a special occasion and pull out all the stops. We should hold nothing back on this high day. My son has returned."

    Such is the prodigal God's grace to us. Timothy Keller points out that "prodigal" does not mean "wayward," as most suppose, but "recklessly spendthrift." Thus "the father's welcome to the repentant son was literally reckless, because he refused to 'reckon' or count his sin against him or demand payment." Just the best for my "son."

    Party time again, the third joyous party thus far in Luke 15. It gives us the impression that God loves parties and that the church ought to be the most cheerful place on earth.

    There may be degrees of holiness, but there are no degrees of forgiveness. At the moment that we respond to the urging of the Spirit to return to the Father we are fully and without conditions restored as children of God. That's grace. And grace deserves a party.

May 27, 2021

5/27/2021

The Human Way of Salvation

        I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. Luke 15:18, 19.

    At least part of the lost son's theology is correct. Truly unworthy to be called a son, he had lived in a state of rebellion, beginning with his command to his father to give him his share of the inheritance. "I want mine now, old man. I can't wait forever for you to die. I've got a life to live. And I want to do it while I'm young. So cough it up because you can't take it with you."

    Nice kid! Just the kind most of us never want. Disrespectful and selfish.

    And then he got his wish. And with the wish came dissipation in the form of substance abuse, sex on the go, and all the other pleasures of the world. And he really had no desire for the father as long as he had money to support his habit. He turns to the father only when he is desperate. Not much love there, only driving desperation. Yes, he is truly unworthy of being a son. But at last he is willing to admit it.

    And he's right on another point: "I have sinned against heaven, and before thee." Sin is not merely against other people. It is primarily against God, the Father of us all. David expressed that truth after his own "far country" experience of adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah to cover his tracks. In the end, in repentance he cried out to God, "Against thee, thee only have I sinned" (Ps. 51:4, RSV).

    Good theology so far. But then the younger son goes off the track. "Treat me as one of your hired servants" is his plea.

    To understand the implications of that request, we need to remember that there were three levels of young men in a prosperous household. At the top of the social heap were the sons. They had rights and privileges that no one else had. Beyond that, they were heirs. But the returning boy knew that he had forfeited that position.

    Then there were the slaves. They had some security. After all, the family owned the slaves and thus they belonged to the household. At the bottom of the pile were the hired servants. Here today, gone tomorrow, depending on the need for workers. The most insecure position.

    In effect, the son is going to request that the father give him exactly what he deserves. Apparently he desired to work his way back into good favor. By taking the absolutely lowest spot, perhaps through years of hard work he could make himself "worthy" of sonship again.

    But in that "salvation by works" approach, he totally misunderstood the Father.

May 26, 2021

5/26/2021

Where My Rope Ends and God's Starts

        But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself, he said, "How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough to spare, and I perish with hunger. Luke 15:14-17, NKJV.

    I used to wonder why Jesus had this poor young man lusting after pig food. After all, he was Jewish.

    Much better, I thought, to have him feeding chickens. Quite a pleasant pastime. Or, better yet, sheep. I remember as a boy in northern California the sheep romping around on the green hills of spring. A fond memory.

    But Jesus has the young rebel feeding swine, the dirtiest of domesticated animals and unclean to a Jew. But it's worse than that. The kid is pictured drooling over hog food. I don't know if you have seen what pigs on a traditional farm eat. I can assure you, you wouldn't want to put it in your mouth.

    What Jesus is really telling us with the swine food story is that this young guy had come to the end of his rope. His money was gone. And with it went the friends--women first, I imagine, and then the males. No more good times with him.

    And then this young man actually had to work for a living. Spoiled all his life, the whole thing must have come as a shock. And the kind of work--detestable in the extreme. He was at the end of his rope.

    But the end of our rope for many of us is when the prodigal God can most easily reach us. The end of our rope is the beginning of His.

    The ever-searching Holy Spirit found the young fellow in a pigsty. The Bible tells us that when he hit bottom "he came to himself." That is, he saw what it is like to live without the Father. He saw at last where a life of rebellion had carried him.

    Having come to his existential moment, he realized as never before his need of the Father. And with that Spirit-guided insight he made a decision to turn his life around and head for home.

    Father, help me to realize how much I need You. Please never let me forget or neglect my dependence on you.

May 25, 2021

5/25/2021

The Flavors of Lostness

        And he said, "There was a man who had two sons; and the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of property that falls to me.' And he divided his living between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took his journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in loose living." Luke 15:11-13, RSV.

    Not the kind of kid I would have wanted. Couldn't even wait for the old boy to die, but demanded his share while his father still lived.

    While the older son as the firstborn would have received a double portion, the younger's portion was apparently quite a nest egg. And he knew exactly what he was going to do with it. For one thing there would be wine and dancing. There would be freedom to do what he wanted, whenever he wanted. He would never have to work with the kind of bankroll he had. And then there were the ladies. Don't forget them. Lots of them for his every need.

    Only one problem. He couldn't do the things he had in mind too close to home. No, he would have to go to a "far country." After all, he knew his father's principles.

    The interesting thing about this third parable of lostness in Luke 15 is that it presents no search. Why? is the question that faces us, especially since a son is more valuable than a sheep or a coin. And there were searches for them.

     The answer is in his type of lostness. A coin has no spiritual sense at all. Such people don't even know they are lost. Thus the search. A sheep has some spiritual sense, enough to know it is lost, even if it doesn't have the foggiest notion how to get home. Thus the search.

    But the son had a lot of spiritual sense. He knew he was lost and he knew how to get home. But the last thing he wanted was to go there. In a state of rebellion, he is glad to be lost and planned to live it up. A search would have been useless.

    In his wisdom the father knows that love cannot be forced. It was such in my own case. I still remember the day the Marine Corps recruiter phoned and my father discovered I was quitting college. It was quite a scene, but what can you do with a know-it-all 18-year-old.

    The father in the parable did the only thing he could do. In his love he let the boy go, realizing in his heart that his son would have to learn through the hard knocks of life.

    Meanwhile, God the prodigal Father is waiting for His chance. He never gives up on us, even as He watches us blow our inheritance.

    Never!

May 24, 2021

5/24/2021

Another Look at the Prodigal God

        Or again, if a woman has ten silver coins and loses one of them, does she not light the lamp, sweep out the house, and look in every corner till she finds it? And when he does, she calls her friends and neighbors together, and says, "Rejoice with me! I have found the coin that I lost." In the same way, I tell you, there is joy among the angels of God over one sinner who repents. Luke 15:8-10, REB.

    I still remember the day that my mother lost her wedding ring. I must have been about 7 or 8 years old. The search was stupendous. The whole family looked everywhere, at everything, under everything, behind everything, and in everything. And when that didn't come up with results we moved everything. And still not finding it, we did it again. I can assure you that great rejoicing filled the Knight household when the lost was found.

    Jesus, in telling us about the lost coin, once again reminds us that that is what God is like--one who searches and rejoices because He has been able to rescue one more sick sinner.

    It is not difficult to imagine a coin in a first-century Palestinian peasant's house. For one thing, they were very dark, with one 18-inch window for lighting. But that is the good part of the story. The real difficulty was the floor: dirt with a layer of straw or dried reeds covering it. And, of course, a lot of other things had gotten mixed in with that covering, including old pieces of food that may have fallen into it. Altogether it would be a difficult place to find a small coin. But the coin was needed. It had an important monetary place in a subsistence economy, and it may have had emotional value.

    The picture is of a woman....No, the picture is of God come into a peasant's world, getting down on His knees in the rubble, holding an oil lamp in one hand and sifting through the "stuff" on the floor with the other.

    And when the proverbial search for the lost pin in the haystack has been successful, there is an outburst of joy. So, said Jesus, is there joy among the angels in heaven when one sinner is found and repents.

    God loves a party. He loves to rejoice. And Jesus does also, even as the complaining, murmuring Jewish leaders look on, shocked and offended by His picture of God.

    What they needed to know is that it was a major purpose of His life to help people gain a better understanding of what God is like. Some of us still need to catch the meaning of His demonstration and incorporate it into our own lives.

May 23, 2021

5/23/2021

A Revolutionary Picture of God

        Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, "Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost." Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over a sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. Luke 15:4-7, NRSV.

    I wish Jesus hadn't called us sheep. Sheep are about the stupidest animals on the face of the earth. They are so dense that they can practically get lost in their own backyard.

    Jesus' first parable in Luke 15 is about a sheep gone astray--not a rare occasion in Palestine. But it is more than about a lost sheep. More important, it is about a shepherd, really God, who cares enough to "go after" the lost one and rejoice when He finds it.

    Here is not a God the Jews in Christ's audience would have recognized. While they believed that He might accept a sinner coming back to Him on hands and knees doing penance, the concept of a Deity who risked Himself to seek out sinners was beyond their ideas.

    But here we have a crucial point. Salvation never starts with us. God makes the first move to help us in our lostness, as He did with Adam in the garden (Gen. 3:8-10). As Christ's Object Lessons puts it, "in the parable of the lost sheep, Christ teaches that salvation does not come through our seeking after God but through God's seeking after us....We do not repent in order that God may love us, but He reveals to us His love in order that we might repent" (p. 189).

    The central words in the parable are "joy" and "rejoicing," used three times in four verses. The climax comes in verse 7, in which Jesus reports that there is "joy in heaven over one sinner who repents" (RSV).

    Here is another point of the parable that flew in the face of the teachings of the scribes and the Pharisees. They had a saying that "there is joy in heaven over one sinner who is obliterated before God." We find the disciples sharing that mentality in Luke 9:54, 55, in which they thought Jesus might be delighted if a few ungrateful Samaritans got wiped off the face of the earth.

    Not so, said Jesus, as He pictures the God who risks Himself in searching for the lost and throwing a party when they are found.

May 22, 2021

5/22/2021

Introducing the Parable of the Prodigal God

        Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. Luke 15:1, 2.

    We have now arrived at what might be my favorite chapter in the Bible, Luke 15, with its graphic portrayal of lostness and foundness in several flavors. The lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son feature largely. But we miss the point of the chapter if we fail to see its central character: the great "Finder," whom Timothy Keller calls "the prodigal God," the God who risks Himself and lavishes grace on stupid sheep, senseless coins, and rebellious sons; the God who loves and gives of Himself beyond measure.

    The central person in Luke 15 is God, and the key word in unlocking its meaning is "murmured." Jesus introduces the three parables in the chapter with the scribes and Pharisees murmuring about Jesus receiving sinners and eating with them (verse 2), and its last scene features the older brother murmuring and complaining about the grace the father has shown to his younger, wayward sibling.

    Murmuring, by the way, is an important word in the gospel story. In Luke 5:30, for example, we find the Jewish leaders murmuring about the disciples and Jesus because they fellowshipped with people who needed to be saved. And in Luke 19:7 they murmured because Jesus was going to the house of Zacchaeus. Then, of course, there is that well-known passage in Revelation 12:10, which identifies the devil as the accuser, the father of all murmurers.

    While the idea of murmurings frames the stage in Luke 15, the central theme of the chapter is three parables that each feature rejoicing.

    In the end we find a chapter featuring three kinds of lostness, two kinds of searching, and two kinds of responding to God's grace. We will let the parables unlock the various lostnesses and findings. But here we need to look at the two types of responders. According to Jesus, church members fall into two basic kinds: the rejoicers and the murmurers. In the latter category are those who are always complaining about the other members, the sermons, the pastor, and about each other. They can't see God because they are focused on what's wrong. Then there are the rejoicers, who sing with enthusiasm and pray with exuberance. Why? Because they recognize the prodigal God of grace working in their midst. Perspective determines what we see.