Gospels (38) - Luke 15:1-32

Teacher: Rusty Kennedy
​Series: Gospels

Rusty's Notes

Luke 15
THE PARABLE OF THE LOST SHEEP
1 All the tax collectors and sinners were approaching to listen to him. 2 And the Pharisees and scribes were complaining, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

• Sinners - These are “the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame” from Luke 14:21.[1]
• Tax Collectors:

These were some of the most hated people in Israel, due to the nature of their work and their association with the Roman government.

• Tax collectors generally obtained their posts from Roman authorities through a bidding system.
• They often made sizeable profits by levying higher taxes than Rome required.
• Consequently, Jews regarded Jewish tax collectors as traitors and as members of the lowest level of society.
• The mention of tax collectors alongside non-Jewish people (v. 1) reflects not only their poor reputation, but also the scope of Jesus’ ministry to redeem all of humanity, including the outcasts of society.
• Matthew, one of Jesus’ disciples, was a tax collector, and Jews viewed his inclusion among Jesus’ disciples as scandalous (Matthew 9:9–13).[2]

• The Mishnah – Tohoroth 7:6 – Tax Collectors unclean
• This would be as scandalous as inviting one of today’s publicly recognized sexual predators over for dinner and posting Instagram pictures with them.

3 So he told them this parable: 4 “What man among you, who has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open field and go after the lost one until he finds it?
- Shepherd doesn’t want to be irresponsible.
- The whole purpose of the shepherd is to watch the flock and keep from losing them.
- If the shepherd loses a sheep, he is financially responsible for that lost sheep.
5 When he has found it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders, 6 and coming home, he calls his friends and neighbors together, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my lost sheep!’ 7 I tell you, in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who don’t need repentance.

• We must not make “every part” of the parable mean something, otherwise we will turn it into an allegory and distort the message.[3]
• There is only one allegory for the parable.
• It is in the last line…
• “The sinner who repented as compared to the “righteous” who don’t need repentance.
• This is a self-entitled righteousness.
• Mike Schnese?
  
  

THE PARABLE OF THE LOST COIN
8 “Or what woman who has ten silver coins,

• When a Jewish girl married, she began to wear a headband of ten silver coins to signify that she was now a wife.
• It was the Jewish version of our modern wedding ring, and it would be considered a calamity for her to lose one of those coins.[4]
• Her husband could potentially divorce her.

if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? 9 When she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found the silver coin I lost!’ 10 I tell you, in the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who repents.”

• Once again, the point of the story is rejoicing over one who repents.
• One who can’t do this life on their own strength.

 
THE PARABLE OF THE LOST SON
11 He also said: “A man had two sons. 12 The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate I have coming to me.’
 - In other words… “I wish you were dead.”
So he distributed the assets to them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered together all he had and traveled to a distant country, where he squandered his estate in foolish living. 14 After he had spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he had nothing. 15 Then he went to work for one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs.

• Swine – Jesus cast demons into the swine
• Antiochus Epiphanes sacrificed a pig on the Temple altar and it had to be cleansed.

16 He longed to eat his fill from the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one would give him anything. 17 When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have more than enough food, and here I am dying of hunger! 18 I’ll get up, go to my father, and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. 19 I’m no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired workers.”’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.

• As compared to the lost sheep and the lost coin that were searched for by the shepherd and the woman.
• The son returned to the Father by his own choice because he remembered his Father’s goodness.
• True repentance involves the will (the mind and the emotions)—“I will arise … I will go … I will say …”
• If repentance is truly the work of God (Acts 11:18 - 18 When they heard this they became silent. And they glorified God, saying, “So then, God has given repentance resulting in life even to the Gentiles.”[5]), then the sinner will obey God and put saving faith in Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21).[6]
• Accepting the repentance causes us to get up and go.

But while the son was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him.

• Deuteronomy 21:18-21 - 18 “If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father or mother and doesn’t listen to them even after they discipline him, 19 his father and mother are to take hold of him and bring him to the elders of his city, to the gate of his hometown. 20 They will say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he doesn’t obey us. He’s a glutton and a drunkard.’ 21 Then all the men of his city will stone him to death. You must purge the evil from you, and all Israel will hear and be afraid. [7]
• The people would not stone his son as long as he was embracing him.

21 The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I’m no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22 “But the father told his servants, ‘Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Then bring the fattened calf and slaughter it, and let’s celebrate with a feast, 24 because this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ So they began to celebrate.

• At this point in the parable, the scribes and Pharisees felt confident that they had escaped our Lord’s judgment, for He had centered His attention on the publicans and sinners, pictured by the prodigal son.
• But Jesus continued the story and introduced the elder brother, who is a clear illustration of the scribes and Pharisees.[8]

25 “Now his older son was in the field; as he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he summoned one of the servants, questioning what these things meant. 27 ‘Your brother is here,’ he told him, ‘and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
28 “Then he became angry and didn’t want to go in. So his father came out and pleaded with him. 29 But he replied to his father, ‘Look, I have been slaving many years for you, and I have never disobeyed your orders, yet you never gave me a goat so that I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your assets with prostitutes, you slaughtered the fattened calf for him.’

• Warren Wiersbe says, “In my years of preaching and pastoral ministry, I have met elder brothers (and sisters!) who have preferred nursing their anger to enjoying the fellowship of God and God’s people.
• Because they will not forgive, they have alienated themselves from the church and even from their family; they are sure that everyone else is wrong and they alone are right. They can talk loudly about the sins of others, but they are blind to their own sins.”
• “I never forgive!” General Oglethorpe said to John Wesley, to which Wesley replied, “Then, sir, I hope you never sin.”[9]

 
31 “‘Son,’ he said to him, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’” [10]

• You don’t have to be wealthy to enter into the kingdom of God.
• Pharisees believed that salvation was based upon works and wealth accumulated.
• Jesus was saying that it salvation is based upon the Father’s mercy alone.
• We could have killed that fatted calf any time… you just had to ask.
• The same man who told this story came here on earth as baby.
• The Son of God took on earthly flesh that Christmas morning.
• He verbally, physically and miraculously gathered his sheep.
• He was crucified, buried and rose again.
• Ephesians 2:1-10 -  1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins 2 in which you previously lived according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient. 3 We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, 5 made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace! 6 He also raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might display the immeasurable riches of his grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift--9 not from works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do. [11]
  
  

[1] Stein, R. H. (1992). Luke (Vol. 24, p. 402). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[2] Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., … Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (Mt 5:46). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[3] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 234). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[4] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 234). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[5] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (Ac 11:18). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[6] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 235). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[7] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (Dt 21:18–21). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[8] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 236). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[9] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 238). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[10] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (Lk 15:1–32). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[11] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (Eph 2:1–10). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.