Last year, in our theme of Living Worthy, I brought out the connection between earth and heaven.  We talked about there being an overlap between the sphere of this world and the realm of God’s presence.  In Old Testament times the Temple in Jerusalem was that place of overlap.  In the Temple, God and man came together.  Today, under the New Covenant, we as temples of the Holy Spirit, are the connection.  We become the place where this earth connects to the place outside of time.  The point I want to bring back up this morning is there is a connection between earth and heaven.  Because of this connection there are things that happen in one sphere which cause reactions in the other.

Remember the line in the Lord’s Prayer, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven?”  Jesus teaches us to pray for the influence of the heavenly realm to have its way in this world.  But what I advocate this morning is that there is something we can do on this earth that will have influence in heaven.  It is the opposite of the Lord’s Prayer. There is something that happens here that causes heaven to react. 

In Luke 15 Jesus is criticized.  In answering his critics he assumes this connection between the spheres.  His answer only makes sense if what happens in heaven should also be happening on earth.  Let’s begin with the criticism and then work through the answer so we can see the connection between the spheres and how we can change heaven. 

Luke 15:1-3  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:

The rebuke from the Pharisees is, why does Jesus associate with “sinners?”  These Pharisees and the teachers of the law were concerned with holiness.  That is a good thing.  They did not want to become unclean.  I suppose that is a good thing as well.  They thought that contact with “unholy people” rubbed off on them.  That was not right.  They couldn’t understand why Jesus would risk contamination by even eating with sinners. “Surely you got cooties from these sinners if you ate with them.”   That was their condemnation; their muttering.  Jesus responses to their disapproval be telling three stories. 

This must be pretty important.  Jesus just doesn’t deal with the problem with a single metaphor or a metaphor and a saying, but three full blown metaphors! A whole chapter in Luke is dealing with their dilemma.  I have to ask why three?  Why the overkill?  Well, let’s find out; metaphor one the lost sheep. 

Luke 15:4-7   "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.”

Here is the connection between the realms.  When a sinner repents there is rejoicing in heaven.  Isn’t that an amazing concept?  When one lowly good-for-nothing sinner (from our perspective) turns his heart and actions around, there is a party in heaven.  The result of repentance is celebration.  What we do on this side; repent, has an effect on that side; rejoicing.  Humans can change heaven.  That is amazing. 

How does this answer the Pharisees’ criticism?  There is a party in heaven when one sinner repents.  Therefore, Jesus should work to create parties.  He has to associate with sinners to encourage them to repent so there will be a celebration in heaven.  Isn’t that an odd answer?  You would expect Jesus to say, “They need me.  I must help these sinners. They are lost.  Who else will teach them?”  I am not expecting, “There needs to be more parties in heaven.”   Jesus says I associate with sinners so the angels can party. 

But Jesus is not over.  He is not satisfied with a single story to answer their mutterings.  He changes the metaphor but not the point.  I’m still asking why another story just like the first?  Why does he take three metaphors to make his point?

Luke 15:8-10  "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."

A woman lost a coin.  It was the drachma.  On Wednesday night the middle size kids have been studying coins.  How much is a drachma?  A day’s wage.  We have been saying $50.  It is not like it is a talent or even a mina but certainly more than a lepta.  But she losses her coin and then sweeps her house and gets out her lamp until she finds it.  And then we have just about the same words as before, “there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Same conclusion.  Same connection between earth and heaven. Pretty much the same point.  Jesus says I have to hunt for the lost coins on this earth so the angles can rejoice.  Why answer their mutterings with these two similar metaphors?   Well, let’s read the 3rd story which is the most famous of them. 

Luke 15:11-12   Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons.  The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them. 

This is pretty bad.  It would be bad enough today.  If Tony came to me and asked for his inheritance now, I would be hurt but he doesn’t live here and I don’t have any money anyway.  It would be weird.  But then families stayed together.  Sons brought wives into the family there was no off to college and get a job in California.  It was a cohesive family unit. And that doesn’t even mention the honor and shame of it.  The youngest son is saying, “I can’t wait around for you to die. I want my money now.  I don’t care about the family or your honor.”  That was insulting and dishonoring as well as financially difficult.  It was pretty bad. 

Luke 15:13-16   "Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living.  After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need.  So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.” 

The boy had his good time and then it was over.  Predictably, he wasted the money and ended up just about as bad off as a Jewish boy could get; feeding pigs and starving.  He got to the end of his road. 

Luke 15:17-20   "When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!  I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.  I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.'  So he got up and went to his father. “

He came to his senses.  It’s funny how starving can make home look a whole lot more attractive.  He repents or at least comes up with a great repentance speech and heads off back to his father. 

Luke 15:20-24   "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.  "The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'  "But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.  Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate.  For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate.”

It is the same bottom line as the lost sheep and the lost coin.  There is rejoicing.  They begin to celebrate!  God, the father, celebrates the sinner who comes home.  Once again we have the conclusion to why Jesus dealt with sinners; because it is reason to celebrate.  Coming back home, death to life, lost to found is reason to feast. 

But Jesus doesn’t leave the mutterings of the Pharisees with these three parables.  He calls them on the carpet for their muttering.  And here is the interesting part; there are actually four parables in this chapter – lost sheep, lost coin, lost son, now angry brother.  

Luke 15:25-32   "Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on.  'Your brother has come,' he replied, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.'   "The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him.  But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.  But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!'  "'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.  But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.'"

Jesus says their muttering about his association with sinners was wrong.  They should instead join the party.  The older brother should be a part of the celebration. There is a connection between heaven and earth.  If there is a celebration in heaven over the returning brother there should be rejoicing on earth as well.  The remarkable thing is Jesus is inviting the Pharisees to join the celebration.  The Father loves the older son just as much!  “Come join the party.  All I have is yours.  Rejoice with the angels went the lost comes home!”  Wow!  There is enough celebration to go around! 

Now, back to my question, “Why are there three or four parables which all make the same point?”  Four times Jesus says there is a party in heaven when a sinner repents. Why does he reiterate the same lesson? 

As we struggled with this in class last week we noticed there are different reasons why each of the four was lost.  This may be why Luke records all of these stories. 

The Sheep was lost inadvertently. The sheep didn’t know any better. I am not a shepherd, but from what I know sheep they are kind of dumb. The one probably just wondered off.  I don’t get the impression that it was a hateful sheep; or an angry sheep, or even a rebellious sheep. I would guess the sheep was doing the best it knew how.  It was just lost and did not know how to get back to the shepherd. If that is where you are, if you just don’t know where God is that’s okay.  God is searching for you.  When he finds you, when he touches you, we are ready to help, to be there for you to party with you.  God is ready to party when he finds you. 

The drachma was lost because of another.  It was lost because of another’s carelessness. This certainly is another category of people who are lost.  The coin was lost because the woman was careless.  Somehow she lost her coin.  This too is powerful.  There is a group of people who have been wronged by others; “My parents forced it on me!” “The church is full of hypocrites.” “Fundamentalist are bunch of bigots.” “The people at church don’t care about me.”  “There were Christians who were hateful to me.”  People have been driven from God by the carelessness of others. If this describes you then we apologize for the hurt we have caused.  We repent and offer to celebrate with you when God finds you.  We want to celebrate with you. 

The Son was lost because of sin.  There are people who are just plain old locked up in sin; addicted to it, consumed by it, revealing in it, full of sin. Most of them even know better.  Some were raised by godly parents and gave it all up.  Sin has a big time hold on many people and they may not come to their senses until they get to the end of their road.  If you are near the end of your road, we want to be there when God throws a party when you return home.  We want to help. 

The older brother was wrong because of indignation.  There are those who are lost because they are full of themselves.  Their intolerant attitudes keep them from joining the celebration.  They are unwilling to party with God.  That might just keep them from the big banquet in the sky because the ticket to the banquet is… humility.  Condescending attitudes toward the lost is a serious problem.  I want to repent of my arrogance, my pride, my looking down on others.  Let’s celebrate together when we can get over our attitudes toward “sinners.” 

This point is important because Jesus makes it four times.  He answers the muttering by saying we must eat with sinners because of the connection of the spheres.  We must celebrate because God does.  Here is the bottom line; every person is a potential party.  The challenge I have for us is to see the party in people?