“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.”
(Luke 15:20)
How can you doubt His mercy and compassion for you?
“No matter how low down you are; no matter what your disposition has been; you may be low in your thoughts, words, and actions; you may be selfish; your heart may be overflowing with corruption and wickedness; yet Jesus will have compassion upon you.”
“He will speak comforting words to you; not treat you coldly or spurn you, as perhaps those of earth would, but will speak tender words, and words of love and affection and kindness. Just come at once. He is a faithful friend – a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.”
-D.L. Moody
With love from your prodigal brother,
Bryan
Check out my new site, redletterstudy.wordpress.com
There is much good about the emphasis that the Church puts on discipleship. We pray, fast, and study the Bible better than any other generation. We have as our pastors and teachers men and women who have been equipped in seminaries and educated in counseling and church growth. And we are doing missions better than ever.
But I think there is something missing. I seriously believe we have misplaced intimacy. Our worship services seem mechanical. We are no longer in a wild love affair with the One who really matters. We no longer dwell on Him, crying out for His grace and mercy.
Could it be that the evangelical church in America has passed its expiration date?
Perhaps we have grown confused, and have struggled with an emptiness that is at the core of a legalistic and a works dominated life. We do not cry out with a passionate love for Him who desperately wants to hold us close. We miss out on so much.
The Old Testament book of the Song of Solomon is the love story between a shepherdess and her beloved. This love is a love that first envelops and then controls a person’s entire being. Her love is intense, as well as thirsty. She needs her shepherd. There is an element of being ‘lovesick’ and never settling for a second best relationship with her beloved.
Biblical discipleship must always be intimacy with Jesus.
In 2 Corinthians 11, Paul writes about his deep concern for that particular Church,
2 “For I am jealous for you with the jealousy of God himself. I promised you as a pure bride to one husband—Christ.3 But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent.”
There is jealousy involved here (which is suspect by us) and foolishness (which is embarrassing) and is emotional (not at all what we think.) This passage suggests a higher and purer following of Jesus that Satan wants to corrupt. Paul was concerned that these Corinthians would not be a pure bride. He got jealous over their vulnerability. He believed that they would miss the bridal love that they once knew.
I want to challenge you to keep the innocence of your relationship with Jesus. Guard it and refuse to be led away from its simple devotion. Love Jesus with a white-hot love. Eternity is a long time to spend with someone who you feel ambivalent about.
Learn the language of romance again and remember that your discipleship is not an end in itself. Biblical discipleship is nothing more than intimacy with Jesus. We must settle on this in our hearts. The true foundation of discipleship can only be a kind of ‘first love’.
“Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.”
Rev. 2:4
P.S. A fanatic is someone who loves Jesus more than you.
The boy had, in the far-away country, a vision of his old home. As he sat there and thought of his dishonor and his ruin, there flashed before him a picture which made him very home-sick. The vision brought back the old home in all its beauty and blessedness. There was plenty there, while here the once happy, favored son was now starving to death.
It was a blessed moment for the prodigal. It was God’s message to him, inviting him to return home. When a child is stolen away from a lovely and tender household, it may be kept among wandering gypsies or savage Indians even to old age, but there are always broken fragments of sweet memories that hang over the soul like trailing clouds in the sky — dim, shadowy memories of something very lovely, very pure, reminiscences of that long-lost, long-forgotten past, when the child lay on the mother’s arms, and was surrounded by beauty and tenderness.
So there is something in the heart of every one who has wandered from God that ever floats about him, even in sin’s revels — a fair, ethereal vision, dim and far away perhaps, but splendid as the drapery of the sunset. It is the memory of lost innocence, of the Father’s love, the vision of a heavenly beauty possible of restoration to the worst.
When the prodigal reached home he found his vision realized. His father was watching for him — had long been watching for him. It is a picture of the heavenly Father’s loving welcome of every lost child of His that comes back home. Thus He receives the worst who comes penitently. Our sweetest dreams of God’s love are a thousand times too poor and dim for the reality. A great way off God sees the returning prodigal, and runs to meet him. No matter how far we have wandered, there is a welcome waiting for us at home.
—JR Miller
I have had to edit Pastor Miller’s comments a bit, but absolutely nothing to its original content or integrity. Whatever he has written carries the content he was realizing. I posted this on BB because of his sincere message and burden.
“Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them!” (Luke 15:1)
“If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? ” (v. 4)
“Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one.” (v. 8)
“For this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.” (v. 24)
The lost sheep, the lost coin, and the ‘lost son’ tell us that this is a time for recovery. This is a unique period for the Church. It is a season of special grace that allows us to seek and find things that are valuable to us. It is a time of finding out things about ourselves as well.
What is precious to you? With the woman, it was a lost coin (probably a part of her dowry) and she made a substantial effort to get it back. With the shepherd, what was valuable was a lost sheep, and he would take a calculated risk to find it, and rejoin the flock. And the father lost his son, and he had to wait for him to return to his senses.
These three parables were directed to the different issues that effected the “notorious sinners.” But they also spoke to the pharisees who were present. Both groups understood and there were plenty of implications for everyone.
It’s a funny thing, Jesus never minced words. No one could be neutral around him. That is still the case today. I think God is seeking His lost children. This is what He is up to, this is His passion. Understanding this salient fact should enlighten us,
to His will,
to know His passion and love, (His pleasure in finding what was lost)
and the true purpose of His Church.
As the Parable of the Prodigal Son develops, we see the pharisees equated to the ‘grouchy’ older brother. He begrudges his newly returned brother, and he really can’t see what is happening all around him. The idea of grace eludes him. Perhaps that is far more common than we think. Whenever ‘religion’ exerts control over a person or group, duty is almost always elevated over joy.
The Church is only as relevant as when it’s seeking out the lost.
The Church is meant to extend to the lost ‘sons’ of Adam, and the ‘daughters’ of Eve. This is God’s passion, and we must find out what He wants us to do to share His heart. It’s almost as if He wants to give us a chance to taste His joy.
Broken Believers 