Fresh Grace
Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
“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.’”
– Luke 15:1-2; 25-31, NIV
“The proud and the self-righteous always feel that they are not treated as well as they deserve.” – Leon Morris
“Scribes and pharisees are invited to find themselves represented in the parable as the elder son- responsible and obedient, it would seem but failing their solidarity with the redemptive purpose of God. Will they identify with God’s will and, having done so, join repentant sinners at the table? Putting aside their own concerns with status and recognition, will they accept as members of the family of God those whom God accepts? Or, refusing to embrace God’s gracious calculus, which works to include those who (re)turn to him, will they exclude themselves from the family of God? The parable is open-ended, and so is the invitation.” – Joel B. Green
Here's a challenge inherent to the gospel but often neglected- keeping grace fresh. And by that I don’t mean that grace goes bad- there’s no expiration date on it, thank God. No I mean, our experience of grace. In a way that is subtle and at times almost unknown to us, our experience of grace can draw us into a self-righteous pride. Personally, I hardly ever notice it in a head-on way and instead see its side-effects which alerts me to something gone horribly wrong. I notice, for instance, that I look down on lost precious ones that the Shepherd seeks to bring home. I notice, that my own sense of entitlement in the kindnesses of God grows. I notice, that I am a mutterer and not a joyful friend. I notice that grace has become stale in these ways. And, I am left with the option to either continue on that path, growing more ‘older brother’ everyday or to choose repentance from pride and self-righteousness. To choose the repentance path comes only in embracing humility and asking forgiveness for presuming on grace rather than experiencing it new each day. I suspect this subtle shift happens for more than just me and that it requires some intentionality to combat. And while I don’t know that there is a ‘one size fits all’ solution, I do think it is worth our while to sit and listen to the Holy Spirit and other believers as we strive to keep grace fresh. Here is the goal: that our experience of grace would be so deep and real each day that we would no longer find ourselves mutterers on the outside of the party but those leading the search and the celebration.
Questions for discussion/life application:
· What warning signs have you been able to identify which signal to you, that grace is going stale? Are any of those signs present in your life?
· What have been experiences or seasons in your life where grace is fresh? How might your experience help you enter into a fresher experience of grace right now?
· What have been ways God has set you on the search for the lost ones?
· What have been ways you have entered into the celebration when the lost are found? What is holding you back?
· How might you find new ways to seek lost ones and celebrate their rescue?
Blog bonus: a poem from JR Frey and a song to sing from Luke 15
