Live Free with Josh Howerton - The Greatest Dinner Party | Ep. 405 | Friday, August 23, 2024

Episode Date: August 23, 2024

Three separate stories in Luke 15 show God’s heart for the lost. God embraces, loves, and shares meals with the lost and wants us to do the same. Pull up an extra seat at the table; don’t let your heart grow smug or self-righteous towards the lost; rejoice with God at the greatest dinner party. For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. Church slash daily drive. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Well, it is Friday on the Daily Drive, and we've been talking about family, and specifically this week about drawing bigger family circles and getting intentional about time around tables. And I don't know how many tables Jesus built in his carpentry career, but he sure was around him a lot during his ministry. He just got super intentional about eating with people because in his day, who you chose to eat with was such a big deal.

We talked about this Monday how eating with someone was a statement that you wanted to be with them, eating with someone. someone was an affirmation of that person's value, their dignity, their worth. In fact, who you ate with indicated who you liked, who you loved, who you cared about, who you considered to be a part of your social class. And Jesus was intentionally around tables for that reason. There's a series of stories that Jesus tells in Luke chapter 15 that illustrate the heart of God. Some of you are familiar with those three stories about a lost sheep, a lost coin, and a couple of lost boys. the most famous one being, the one commonly known as the parable of the prodigal son.

But did you know why Jesus told those stories? I want you to see how Luke 15 starts. It says this. 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. So Jesus told them this story. So why did Jesus launch into these stories?

Because there was a callousness in the hearts of religious people toward those who were lost. And again, eating with someone in Jesus' day meant that you valued them. So Jesus was giving value to those who were seen as being far from God. He liked them. He loved them. He included them. He accepted them. While he didn't necessarily approve or accept their behavior,

he accepted them, affirmed their worth and dignity. He communicated to them, I want to be with you to show you the love of God. That was his heart. There's a far cry from the hearts of the religious leaders. In their hearts, they had separated people into us and them. We are the righteous and holy, and they are the ungodly rule breakers. We do all the right things. They do all the wrong things.

God approves of us. God despises them. So Jesus tells these stories to reveal just why it was he ate with. those despicable people and what the heart of God is really like. And again, you might be familiar with these stories about a shepherd with a hundred sheep, but he loses one so he leaves the 99 others and relentlessly searches for the one. Jesus says, that's the heart of God. Or like a woman who loses a valuable coin, she turns her house upside down looking for it,

that's the heart of God. And of course, the most famous story is about a son who disrespects his dad, takes his father's money, leaves home, blows it all in a while, lifestyle. He's busted and he's broken and he turns toward home and he finds his father waiting for him. The dad runs to him, embraces him in his filth, hugs him in his filth, kisses him in his filth, accepts him back into the family, throws a party to celebrate his return and Jesus was saying that's the heart of God. And even though this is commonly called the parable of the prodigal son, It could have been named the parable of the older brother

because he's the reason. Jesus even tells these stories in the first place. His heart represents the ones who were self-righteous, smug, and non-accepting of those kinds of people, the kind of people that Jesus ate with and embraced. The story tells how the prodigal son returns, and a party breaks out. And it says this in Luke chapter 15.

The older brother became angry, not sad, not confused, but angry, and he refused to go in. So his father went out again, the father goes out to another lost son, and he pleaded with him. But he answered his father, look, that always sets the tone for healthy dialogue, doesn't it? Look, all these years, I've been slaving for you,

and never, ever disobeyed your orders, yet you never gave me even a young goat so we could celebrate with my friends, but when this son of yours, he refuses to call him his brother, this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes. Now, how does he know that? They probably hadn't been texting each other, and he's not following his Instagram feed.

He's just throwing accusations around making stuff up. This son of yours who demanded of you, disrespected you, dishonored you, and shamed this family. He comes home, and you kill the fat and calf for him? My son, the father said, you're always with me. 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 he is found. That's the heart of God. That story is a story about two lost boys, with the second one actually being the main character. I never want to let my heart get smug and self-righteous to you. Or let me say it this way, I never want to let my heart get smug and self-righteous again. There was a time when I was younger where in my heart I has separated people into in and out and good people and bad people and those who are righteous, those who are ungodly, rulekeepers and rebels.

And the Holy Spirit used stories like this one to show me that I was the latter. I was out. I was bad. I was ungodly. I was a rebel. I was lost in my perceived goodness. And that I was in desperate need of the grace of God. It was a good day when I acknowledged all that and still do. And he threw a party.

And now we eat together all the time. amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. So let's draw our family circles bigger. And let's stop separating people into us versus them. We have never locked eyes with someone that Jesus did not die for. So let's drop any self-righteous judgment, any negative attitudes. Let's pull up a chair and let's be around tables like Jesus did. And I hope you have a great weekend doing that.

I'll see you back on Monday. tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays and Sundays. For more information about all the digital ministries of Lake Point, visit lakepoint.church slash daily drive. Also, if this podcast was helpful to you, would you be sure to rate, review, and share this podcast to help get the word out.