A Scandalous Extravagant Love (Sermon for East Boulder Baptist Church)

A SCANDALOUS AND EXTRAVAGANT LOVE

THE LOST ONE

It is such a joy and privilege to be with you this morning. Pastor Larry and Jonda have been such a consistent encouragement for Jess and I throughout this journey to Boulder. I don’t know if you’ve been to many other churches, but you have a wonderful church and a Godly pastor that loves you very much.

As many of you heard from last week, my wife and I recently moved to North Boulder to be missionaries and start a new church called Pinewood. This has been an incredible journey that started just over 2 years ago. And it is honestly a miracle that we are here. God has orchestrated all the details and now here we are.

We are quite the spectacle around town with four children under the age of 6. Especially when we all set out on our bicycle adventures through the town.

Story: Jess and the back bike rack

There is something unique and very special about this city. Yes, the mountains are amazing and the climate so far has been unbelievable, but I feel like God is doing something new in Boulder and the surrounding cities.

God is bringing people, lots of people, to Boulder with a burning desire to see people come to know Christ and experience the hope and love that can only be found in Jesus. I’m hearing stories of revival on CU’s campus, churches growing, believers that are starting bible studies in their homes. This is a wonderful time to be a follower of Jesus in Boulder! Amen!

At times this has been a difficult transition for our family. We’ve experienced very high highs and very low lows. This past week was one of those low points for our family. My wife grew up in Nashville Tennessee and all of her family lived within about 10 minutes of each other. All of our friends, community, and even life long best friends lived in close proximity to us.

When we left Nashville to move to Boulder we left everything. A loving and supportive church, friends, family, dream home that we spent a year renovating, and all the small comforts of familiarity. I’m not telling you this for any sort of sympathy or pat on the back. “Hey look how sacrificial we are!” “Aren’t we so obedient?” NO WAY!

I tell you this because the passage we’re going to look at today speaks very close to my heart because it’s helped me to have the right perspective on why we are here and how we are to live as missionaries in a city like Boulder.

The title of today’s message is “A Scandalous Extravagant Love”

Question: Do you have a scandalous extravagant kind of love?

Intro: I know what you might be thinking. Can you preach this type of message in a Baptist church?! Listen I was born and raised Baptist, I can promise you I’ve heard a lot crazier sermon titles in Baptist churches I’ve attended.

By scandalous I mean “causing general public outrage by a perceived offense against morality or law:” and by extravagant I mean “lacking restraint in spending money or using resources:” The title could have been A type of love that is perceived as offensive because it goes against the cultural norm and is totally reckless and lacks complete restraint.” I like the original title best. A scandalous extravagant love.

The type of love we’re going to look at today in Scripture does not make sense to many of us today. It will be hard for us to wrap our minds around the rationale behind it. It is an all or nothing type of love.

Big Idea: Jesus tells us three different stories, three different ways, to illustrate one main point… the love of Jesus is scandalous and extravagant! Jesus doesn’t do love, he doesn’t act out of a place of love, Jesus is LOVE. Love has a name, His name is Jesus.

If you have experienced the power of the resurrection on your life then you know that God loved you so much that He went to a cross, died, and rose again for you!

“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” – Romans 5:8

Why then do we think that it’s ok to live with a partial love, an arms reach kind of love, a comfortable love that doesn’t require any sacrifice. The next 20 minutes I would like us to look at the story of the Prodigal Son and see what implications this story can have on our lives.

Passage: Luke 15: 1-2 (Say it 3x)

“Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

Pray: (Pause 3-5 seconds)

Background: Jesus speaking to the tax collectors and sinners, and the Pharisees and scribes are listening and grumbling…

Jesus is always messing with religious people and their wrong way of thinking; He does this mostly through story telling. Otherwise known as parables. A parable is a simple story with a spiritual purpose. The Pharisees and scribes challenged Jesus by saying “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” It is unthinkable for a “man of the law” to be associating with wicked people! How dare he! This is a radical thing to do.

Doesn’t Jesus know that there are two categories of people in this day? You had the religious people, the Pharisees and Scribes, and then there were the sinners. There was a distinct separation between the two. C’mon Jesus. You should know better! The religious people were not merely confused they were outraged. If he is sitting with them then he must also be condoning their behavior right? Or else maybe He is one of them? They could not comprehend this kind of behavior.

Let’s look at the tax collectors and sinners for a minute. When we normally think of the “tax collector” we think of a person that occasionally pockets some money every once in a while. An aggressive IRS employee if you will. At this point in history Rome rules the world and they are a brutal people. And who collected the taxes for the occupying power? Yes, the tax collectors. They were not just your neighborly IRS employees. They were seen as traitors who worked for the occupying power and got rich by overcharging their own people.

Remember when Jesus came to Zacchaeus and ate at his house? Jesus was constantly shaking things up by hanging with sinners. Eating with them, reclining with them, spending time with them!

“Where the Word of God is faithfully proclaimed the most outcast of any culture will be drawn to the light of grace.” – Matt Chandler

The main theme of the two stories leading up to the prodigal son is a response to these first two verses. The question is “Why does Jesus hang out with bad people?”

First Two Stories:

Jesus was a master teacher. What comes next is a series of stories that speak to the sinners and the Pharisees. Jesus is going to respond in a very unique way to help us all see just what kind of love Jesus is offering and inviting us to partake of.

He starts off by telling the story of a man that has 100 sheep. If he lost 1 sheep wouldn’t he leave the 99 to go find the 1. And when he finds it, he brings it home and throws a huge party to celebrate.

Next He tells of a woman who had 10 coins but lost 1. These coins must have been valuable. Probably consisting of a day’s wage. Wouldn’t she stop everything she is doing to find the one coin? She’s flipping all the lights on, looking under couch cushions, in the dirty clothes pile, she looks frantically for this 1 coin. And when she finds it, she invites her neighbors over and throws a big party.

Both stories end by saying “Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” The person that found the 1 sheep and the 1 coin rejoiced greatly and threw a massive party to celebrate this thing that was once lost and very valuable is now found.

These two stories set the stage for what is to be the climax of the series of parables. It’s the story that speaks of a Father and His two sons. The first two stories dealt with livestock and money, this story is a person. The first was 100 sheep, the second 10 coins, now we look at the story of 2 sons. The stakes are higher in this final parable.

Passage: Luke 15:11-32 (Say it 3x)

The Parable of the Prodigal Son:

1. 11 And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’

   1. The son is very disrespectful of his Father and the tradition of the times. In that culture this was like saying, “I wish you were dead” (Kenneth Bailey). He risked being cut off by the whole village.
   2. “Give me my shares!” The Father could have said “No.”, but in his mercy he says yes and allows his son to run away with his inheritance. Knowing full well that this is not going to end well for his youngest son.

   3. And he divided his property between them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living.

   4. Aka, the prodigal son.

   5. The word prodigal actually means “spending money or resources freely and recklessly; wastefully extravagant:”
   6. I remember reading this story as a young man and thinking “What an idiot!” He had a good thing going, and then he blew it!
   7. This was always my mom’s favorite story and she would get emotional and start to cry when she talked about it and I never understood her compassion on the younger son. Why have compassion on this guy? He’s making terrible decisions.
   8. The problem was that I couldn’t relate. The weight of grace hadn’t impacted my life the way my mom understood it.
   9. It’s possible that many of you can relate. Maybe you’ve felt the same way about the prodigal son. But let’s continue in the story.

   10. 14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.

   11. Now here’s the twist in the story. The boy is finally getting what he deserves. He is reaping what he sowed.

   12. I could imagine at this point in the story the Pharisees and Scribes were nodding their heads thinking, “Get em Jesus.” Tell everyone what a sinner this younger son really is. But Jesus doesn’t do that.

   13. 17 “But when he came to himself,

   14. He “came to his senses”. The son had the ah-ha moment!

   15. There seems to be a revelation in the lowest point of the younger son’s life. Sometimes these are the moments that hit us the hardest right?
   16. Also known as a wake up call or rock bottom. Have you ever had a wake up call? If you haven’t ever experienced this in your life then I can guarantee it’s coming.
   17. It may not be while feeding pigs, but it might be loneliness, addiction, adultery, tragedy, abuse, or anxiety.
   18. Illust: People in Boulder look like they have everything. Am I right? Wealth, health, education, hobbies, you name it! But behind the external facade there’s hurt, there’s pain. Maybe not even caused by the individual himself or herself, but someone is either causing hurt or they are about to experience hurt.

   19. he said, ‘How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’

   20. You know he began rehearsing this speech. I have to get it just right.

   21. I’m sure doubt began to even creep in. Questions of whether or not this is even going to work. “Will he even accept me?” “Does he still love me?” “Am I going to feel this guilt and shame for the rest of my life?”

   22. 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 him and kissed him.

   23. Who found who? Who was looking for who? Who ran to who? JESUS! It’s always Jesus. John 3:16 “for God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

   24. Men in this day didn’t run. It was shameful for a man to run, nevertheless, he lifts his gown to show his knees. He took the shame himself and RAN to His son!
   25. Illust: Cory getting lost at a party
   26. This Father wasn’t taken by surprise; he was looking for his son. And when he saw him, he ran!
   27. The song is “When God Ran” by Benny Hester and John Parenti.
   28. There’s a song that I love that says “Then he ran to me, he took me in his arms and held my head to his chest. Said my son’s come home again. He lifted my face, wiped the tears from my eyes, with forgiveness in his voice he said “Son, do you know I still love you.” He caught me by surprise, and he brought me to my knees, when God ran.”
   29. This was scandalous! This was extravagant! This type of love doesn’t make sense! Can you start to feel the weight of grace?
   30. What I couldn’t see as a young boy I see so clearly now. I’m the prodigal son! I’m the one who was lost and alone. But God ran to me.

   31. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’[c] 22 But the father said to his servants,

   32. The father didn’t even let him finish his speech.

   33. He had rehearsed this probably 50 times, but he was cut off when his Father called for the servants.
   34. We think we’re approaching God with a nice prayer, rehearsed speech, but God is looking on the inside!
   35. He’s not listening to your presentation; He already knows your posture.
   36. He’s not concerned with the exterior of your life, cause it’s what’s on the inside that counts.
   37. He didn’t say “Go clean yourself up, get a job, prove to me that you can make it on your own, then come back and try again!” NO!!!! He showed reckless, full abandon, extravagant, UNDESERVED LOVE!

   38. ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.

   39. He rejoiced over the lost one. His son was lost and now he is found. He was dead and now he is alive.

   40. If you’ve been found and made alive today can someone say “Hallelujah”?

Question: What if our hearts were that of the Father?

Walking Point:

1. You might look a little crazy, keep on loving!

   1. Remember, unconditional and relentless love doesn’t make sense. It forgives those that hurt you, it blesses those that persecute you, and it calls you to love with no strings attached.
   2. You might look a little crazy, but nobody should be out loving a Christian. NOBODY! We love not because we have the capacity to love; we love from the source of love itself.
   3. Will you commit to pray for one the next 2 weeks?
   4. We have bracelets at the altar that go on your wrists. In a minute I’m going to ask you to come down and write a name on these bracelets. It’s a name of the person you are thinking about right now that does not know Jesus.
   5. We are going to fight the battle together on our knees the next 2 weeks and pray for those that have yet to start a loving relationship with Jesus. This is where the battle starts and ends. And we’re going to do it together.
   6. When people ask about the name on your wrist you tell them “I’m praying for someone that needs the hope and love of Jesus.”

Let’s pray.