[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hey, thanks so much for listening to this message. My name is Jason and I'm one of the ministers here at the Madison Church of Christ. It's our hope and prayer that the teaching you hear today will bless your life and draw you closer to God. If you're ever in the Madison area, we'd love for you to stop by and study the Bible with us on Sundays at 5pm or Wednesdays at 7pm if you have questions about the Bible or want to know more about the Madison Church, you can find us
[email protected] be sure to subscribe to this podcast as well as our Sermons podcast, Madison Church of Christ Sermons. Thanks again for stopping by. I hope this study is a blessing to you.
[00:00:38] Speaker B: All right, so on Wednesdays we've been Talking about Exodus 34, 6, 7 where God introduced himself to Moses. And we talked about how that when we introduce ourselves, we often make sure that we tell something about ourselves, who we are, how long, maybe what job we do. But God described or introduced himself as compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin, and does not leave the guilty unpunished. So we've been looking at verses where in that situation these characteristics, some or if not all the characteristics are being shown. And so tonight we're going to talk about this idea of forgiveness. I'd like to share a couple things with you. So this happened a couple of years ago. I pulled it off the NBC News page.
The story. You may not know this story, but the story will be very familiar.
[00:01:43] Speaker C: The sister of a black Mississippi man killed in what authorities have labeled a.
[00:01:47] Speaker B: Hate crime is asking prosecutors not to pursue the death penalty against anyone accused.
[00:01:55] Speaker C: Authorities say that James Craig Anderson, 49.
[00:02:00] Speaker B: Was targeted because of his race and.
[00:02:02] Speaker C: Run over by a white teenager in.
[00:02:04] Speaker B: A pickup truck on June 26. His death, captured on hotel surveillance, stoked.
[00:02:12] Speaker C: Anger across the country.
[00:02:13] Speaker B: When the footage was made public, Anderson's sister, Barbara Anderson Young, wrote to the.
[00:02:20] Speaker C: Hinds County District Attorney Robert Smith, saying.
[00:02:24] Speaker B: Her family doesn't want anyone to face a death penalty. She cited the family's Christian beliefs in opposition to capital punishment.
Those responsible for James death not only.
[00:02:36] Speaker C: Ended the life of a talented and.
[00:02:39] Speaker B: Wonderful man, says her letter dated on this Tuesday. They also have caused our family unspeakable pain and grief. But our loss was will not be lessened by the state taking the life of another. We hear these stories over and over. Give you a couple examples. Darrell Green forgave his brother's killer and.
[00:03:00] Speaker C: Helped him secure his release from prison, co founding an organization called Deep Forgiveness.
[00:03:06] Speaker B: To promote reconciliation and mentorship.
[00:03:10] Speaker C: Mary Roy met with a man who.
[00:03:13] Speaker B: Murdered her son and shared a conversation.
[00:03:16] Speaker C: With him in prison where she forgave.
[00:03:18] Speaker B: Him, explaining she treated him as she would treat her son. Dr. Abu Jamud forgave and embraced the man who murdered his son, a pizza delivery driver, offering support and forgiveness in his sentencing.
[00:03:37] Speaker C: Marietta Jaeger forgave the man who abducted.
[00:03:41] Speaker B: Raped and killed her 7 year old daughter during a family camping trip. So we hear these stories over and over. There's probably stories that you're familiar with from the news, all about this idea of people who had forgiven someone who has caused them great pain. And so as we think about that.
[00:04:03] Speaker C: Tonight, and then we go to our.
[00:04:04] Speaker B: Story in Jonah, I guess I got a couple questions. When we read these situations or we read these stories like we just went over, what do you feel? How do you feel about those stories of people who've given forgiveness to those who have hurt them?
[00:04:24] Speaker C: How would you feel if that was.
[00:04:26] Speaker B: Your family member or friend? I mean, what do you think about when you hear stories like that?
Honestly, I felt pretty good until I.
[00:04:38] Speaker C: Read about the mother.
[00:04:39] Speaker B: I can't imagine giving that forgiveness to someone who did that to a child of mine. Right, but what do you think about these situations? Do you think it's fair?
[00:04:51] Speaker D: It's not about being fair, you know, having the love of Jesus and being able to forgive somebody. I would hope that I could do that at that time. Because that anger, that resentment, all that that you're feeling, that's only hurting you too. And being able to forgive as Christ would forgive us.
[00:05:11] Speaker B: Nicely said. And I want us to think about this whole idea of fairness as we talk about tonight.
Would you, when you read those, do any of those stories make you upset?
And who are you upset with?
The perpetrator or the person who provided forgiveness?
Right. Why do you think it's, first of all, do you think it's human nature to want justice?
Why do you think, why do you think we so many times growing up.
[00:05:49] Speaker C: Right, I've watched the news or I've.
[00:05:51] Speaker B: Seen something and I've always heard, you know, the family demands justice. So why do you think it's so important for us to have this whole idea of justice?
[00:06:04] Speaker E: We're made in God's image and God is described as just.
[00:06:09] Speaker B: So we're made in God's image. God is described as just. But do you think it's oftentimes justice we want or do you think sometimes it might be vengeance?
[00:06:22] Speaker F: I think we went closure. And it's to your point, right? To some degree, closure is vengeance.
[00:06:28] Speaker B: To some degree, it's forgiveness.
[00:06:30] Speaker G: And it's certainly a major mindset hurdle.
[00:06:33] Speaker B: One way or the other. Yeah, that's a great comment. For those on livestream, it's that often we want closure, and sometimes to us, that closure may mean vengeance or a.
[00:06:46] Speaker C: Closure may mean forgiveness.
[00:06:48] Speaker B: And so I think these are great things for us to think about. And tonight, you know, y'all had readings from Jonah. David ruined what the topic was going to be when he used Jonah as an example last week. But hopefully we're going to look at.
[00:07:06] Speaker C: The story of Jonah and maybe pull.
[00:07:08] Speaker B: Something out a little different, right? Everybody knows the story of Jonah.
[00:07:13] Speaker C: So before we get to the chapter.
[00:07:15] Speaker B: We'Re in, just a quick little review, right? God tells Jonah to go to Nineveh. What was Nineveh?
It was actually the capital of what is actually the capital of Assyria. Now, if you guys remember the Assyrians, not very nice people, right?
Not nice at all. Not nice to the people they conquered.
Just not nice people. And so what did Jonah do? He headed in the exact opposite direction. And then while they were at sea, a great storm and the sailors reluctantly threw Jonah overboard where he was swallowed by a big fish. Jonah was three days to reflect on his behavior and to pray, and the fish spit him out. And then God once again told him to go to Nineveh. And this time he went and he obeyed.
Then what happened? He gets there. He probably preaches one of the shortest sermons ever, right?
You know, repent, you're going to get destroyed at hand. And the Ninevites listen and they repent. And the Ninevite king actually says in Jonah 3, 9, who knows? God may turn and relentless and turn from his fierce anger, so they may not perish. There's that word again. If you were with us last week, we actually talked about how the Hebrew word could be translated to repent or to relent.
[00:08:55] Speaker C: And when that Hebrew word was used.
[00:08:57] Speaker B: Talking about us, about mankind, it was translated as repent that people repented. However, every time it's used with the. With God, it talks about relenting or being relent because God doesn't repent, right? He doesn't have anything to repent for.
[00:09:17] Speaker C: However, he could relent, he could turn his anger aside.
[00:09:22] Speaker B: And we talked about how that went along with the characteristic of God, of being a forgiving, gracious, merciful God, right? But we see that word relent again. So let's go to Jonah.
Let's go to Jonah 4, and we'll pick up with verse one.
So it's always funny, because I've gotten where I'm much more of a swiper than a page turner.
All right. Chapter four, verse one. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.
[00:10:01] Speaker C: And he prayed to the Lord and.
[00:10:03] Speaker B: Said, o Lord, is not this what.
[00:10:06] Speaker C: I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish.
[00:10:12] Speaker B: For I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger.
[00:10:18] Speaker C: And abounding in steadfast love and relenting from disaster.
Therefore now, O Lord, please take my.
[00:10:27] Speaker B: Life from me, for it is better.
[00:10:29] Speaker C: For me to die than to live.
[00:10:31] Speaker B: And the Lord said, do you do.
[00:10:34] Speaker C: Well to be angry? And Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the.
[00:10:40] Speaker B: City and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade.
[00:10:45] Speaker C: Till he should see what would become of the city. Now the Lord God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah that it might be a shade over his head to save him from his discomfort.
[00:10:57] Speaker B: So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant.
[00:11:01] Speaker C: But when dawn came up the next.
[00:11:03] Speaker B: Day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant so that it withered. And when the sun rose, God appointed.
[00:11:10] Speaker C: A scorching east wind. And the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, it is better for me to die than to live.
[00:11:22] Speaker B: But God said to Jonah, do you.
[00:11:25] Speaker C: Do well to be angry for the plant?
[00:11:28] Speaker B: And he said, yes, I do well to be angry.
[00:11:32] Speaker C: Angry enough to die.
[00:11:33] Speaker B: And the Lord said, you pity the.
[00:11:36] Speaker C: Plant for which you did not labor.
[00:11:38] Speaker B: Nor did you make it grow, which.
[00:11:40] Speaker C: Came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left.
[00:11:52] Speaker B: And also much cattle. So we see this is how that story ends, right? And just to kind of go through it, this whole idea of God's decision to forgive the Ninevites just really went against Jonah's instinct. We talked about how that, you know, we often want justice and we often want fairness. And of all the things the Ninevites had done, Jonah was expecting them to get destroyed. And then they repented.
Do you think we agree or disagree with Jonah as we look at? I want you to think about moments in our History where maybe a country attacked us, or we see these terrible things being done. Do you think we agree or do we at least understand where Jonah's coming from?
You know, I had an uncle who served in Italy in World War II, would never buy a Japanese car, right? We look at our history and we see things that happen. And you see people who hold that hold on to that, right? And so you kind of can understand Jonah in a way in that he has seen these terrible things the folks at Nineveh have done. And so he sits there, don't necessarily agree with his actions of sitting there, but notice what he says in verse two.
That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish, for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful.
[00:13:44] Speaker C: Slow to anger and abounding in steadfast.
[00:13:47] Speaker B: Love and relenting from disaster.
When we study the Bible, the things that are important are repeated often, right? If you want to know what exactly is important within the Bible, look how many times it's been repeated. We see these characteristics repeated from Exodus, actually before Exodus, but we see it started in Exodus with Moses and just continually go through where it's repeated over and over again those characteristics. And even though Exodus doesn't include this relenting from disaster, Noah speaks of it as if it is a characteristic that God shows, right? Time and time again.
Notice that Jonah admits that God is all these things, but he doesn't want God to be all these things, right?
When do we often want God to be those things?
When he's dealing with us, right? When he's dealing with us. We want him to be gracious and merciful and forgiving, but not all the time.
And then look what he says.
[00:15:03] Speaker C: I knew you'd forgive them if they repented because you're gracious and compassionate.
[00:15:08] Speaker B: Which is why I didn't want to preach and make them repent in the first place.
You know, it always amazes me about this, what we read about Jonah.
[00:15:20] Speaker C: And then this once again, this relenting from disaster.
[00:15:24] Speaker B: Even though it's not mentioned in Exodus, this is the second time we've seen this in the verses that we study.
[00:15:32] Speaker C: So it's obvious that this is also.
[00:15:34] Speaker B: Another known characteristic that God shows.
So let's look at Jonah's response.
First thing he wants to do is take my life.
I'd rather die than see you forgive the Ninevites.
What's the hypocrisy that we see in Jonah?
Where did Jonah just spend three days?
He spent three days in the belly of a Fish.
And God had the fish spit him out.
And now he says, I would rather die than see 120,000 people not die.
Notice the hypocrisy, right? And I think for us one of the messages is that we have to be so careful of how we conduct ourselves, of the things that we say. Because if we claim to be Christian, if we claim to be a follower, then our actions must match what we say. Do we ever have these moments?
All the time.
So when I was teaching my daughter.
[00:16:52] Speaker C: To drive, she wasn't quite.
[00:16:54] Speaker B: She may have just turned 16, but.
[00:16:57] Speaker C: Coming from our house to church there.
[00:16:59] Speaker B: Was a four way stop.
Now it's a roundabout but at the time it was just four way stop. And on the way to church one morning on Sunday I think maybe I had the prayer or scripture reading and I was thinking about that and I just blew right through the four way stop. Didn't even stop, you know. Well, suddenly there's just this big gasp because I'm teaching my daughter to drive and I'm telling her there's no, you don't roll to, you know, there's not a roll, you know, the California roll where you slow but you don't come.
[00:17:32] Speaker C: You come to a complete stop. So here I am teaching her that.
[00:17:35] Speaker B: She'S got to come to a complete stop. And I just roll right through a four way stop. Right.
There are times when we are maybe not quite as hypocritical as Jonah, but I think that there are times when we find ourselves where perhaps we're thinking about something but yet we've just been shown in an unmeasurable race. So I think we always have to be careful.
[00:17:59] Speaker H: Before you go on, can I say something?
[00:18:01] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:18:03] Speaker H: I agree with your point about that. But you know, the Israelites and people living in the Old Testament lived in a very different world than really any of us have ever lived in. The Ninevites were, they weren't just cruel people, they were, they were horrible people. I mean the things they did to people they conquered were, were gruesome and sickening and, and everybody knew it because they did it everywhere. And they did it in the city of Nineveh and they did it in the places they kept. I mean the intensity of how Jonah had to feel about these people, I would venture to say none of us have ever felt ever.
But that doesn't mean that there's not something we can learn from it. Right? As a matter of fact, frankly, the response I have to it is I feel petty when I'm angry about something like his anger cause him to go the other way. And God, I knew you'd forgive them and do all of that. But sometimes reading his story and other things in the Old Testament, I feel petty about things that I like bother because those things were just so intense.
[00:19:20] Speaker B: Ed.
[00:19:21] Speaker E: They were extremely cruel people.
And even if you surrender peacefully to them, they would still had a knack of coming through and killing a lot of the people just to put them in their place.
And it just really created a lot of anger and people that they defeated and either fear or anger and just rage at him. And so I can see very easily that Jonah was. Had probably experienced it, probably new people even had relatives that the Assyrians had killed or had captured and treated them really horribly and all that kind of stuff.
He was so angry at them that I could see that he would really like to see them die because they deserved it, I guess technically, yeah, they did. And so he just had a hard time coming over to God's side.
Even though God suffered through a lot of the same stuff too.
But God is showing his love and mercy for the people like he's trying to show to us now.
And God was trying to teach Jonah that. And turn around where Jonah wrote this book and it was trying to show that to the Israelites too, his mercy. Because the Israelites are maybe not as bad as the nevites, but they certainly disobeyed God and did things that God absolutely told them not to do. So I think God was saying, I can forgive them, I can forgive you. Just come back.
[00:21:07] Speaker B: Yep, great point. So this is kind of similar, but not fully similar. So my sister was born in 1960, I was born in 1964. So we grew up under this threat of the Soviet Union.
[00:21:23] Speaker C: And those of you who are my.
[00:21:25] Speaker B: Age probably remember, right, not only did we have tornado drills in schools, but we had duck cover and roll drills for when the Soviet Union attacked, right. And so all as a child, even my first job out of college, I.
[00:21:42] Speaker C: Worked with the Navy hunting Soviet submarines, right?
[00:21:46] Speaker B: So we did all the charts and the maps and the fronts and eddies.
[00:21:49] Speaker C: For, for finding anti sub stuff.
[00:21:52] Speaker B: So my whole life I grew up thinking the Soviets were the bad, the bad people, right? So in mid-1990 I actually came to work. I moved here in 91 and probably in 93, 94. Of course, Soviet Union fallen by then. And so I went to Russia for two weeks for work. And I get over there and you.
[00:22:19] Speaker C: Know, not a single elevator worked. None of the escalators worked.
[00:22:23] Speaker B: You would drive through and you'd see a farmer's tractor just in a field, rusting, and you say, what happened? Well, under communism, he would just get a whole new tractor. So nobody knew how to fix anything. And what I learned is that those people are actually nice people, right? All of them were.
[00:22:42] Speaker C: Most of the older ones were.
[00:22:44] Speaker B: I was so much taller than them because they grew up right after World.
[00:22:48] Speaker C: War II with very poor nutrition.
[00:22:50] Speaker B: So there was nobody who was very tall.
But I realized that those are people as well. And going to Ed's point, I think God's saying, that's 120,000 souls, and if I can forgive them, I can forgive you. And I think it's a great in depth lesson when we look at that whole idea of what is someone's soul worth, right?
But let's look at God's response. So we know that God gives Jonah this leaf.
[00:23:25] Speaker C: Let's jump.
[00:23:26] Speaker B: We'll kind of jump to the questions.
And then God sends. I'll jump down to where we got a couple discussion questions. So at this point, when God said to Jonah, do you do well to be angry for the plant? And he said, yes, I do well to be angry. Angry enough to die. What do you think about Jonah at this point of the story?
What is he at this point? What is he most concerned with? Himself. Himself, right. Himself and a plant.
We've never, in the 30 years Amy and I have been married, a plant never lasts more than a week in our house, right?
But here is Jonah concerned about or mad about this plant. And you kind of see this. And you see this attitude.
And so my question is, what circumstances?
You know, and in my head I hear tone, right? And the tone is, well, yes, I ought to be angry. Angry enough to die. What are the circumstances that make us angry?
Are they circumstances where maybe we should have anger, or are they circumstances where we get angry because what we think should happen doesn't happen?
So let's talk a little bit about plants and people.
So notice what you know. Don't you think God kind of puts it in perspective, right? Jonah, you're worried about a plant that sprang up and then died the next day. It was in the Baker household, right?
[00:25:14] Speaker C: I'm looking at a city with 120.
[00:25:19] Speaker B: You gotta love the Old Testament, too. 120,000 people and a lot of cows, right?
But 120,000 people. So he kind of puts it. He kind of puts it in context. This is the thing I noticed as I was rereading things this afternoon is he says 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left.
What does that mean? What do you think that, what does that mean to you?
What's your first impression? That what does that mean to you?
[00:25:54] Speaker E: I read that that was a way of saying those are children not old enough to know whether right hand or left handed. So when you start saying how many children are in a population and you build that on up to parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles and all that stuff, probably talking well over a half million to three quarters of a million people. And so I think God was saying, are you willing because of your anger wipe out 750,000 people?
[00:26:26] Speaker B: I think it's good. And for the live stream, what Ed said is oftentimes that that language, right.
[00:26:33] Speaker C: Hand from the left indicated children.
[00:26:35] Speaker B: So 120,000 children. And then if you add parents, grandparents, others, you could be talking about a half to three quarter million people.
Anybody else have maybe a thought about what that. I think that's a great explanation of the physical meaning. Does anybody have any thought that might not necessarily be physical?
[00:26:58] Speaker I: Well, that phrase strikes me as talking about they don't even know right from wrong. They don't, they don't. A lot of these people don't even know that what they're doing is not right. Or, or maybe they're, they're not even involved in all the bad stuff that you hear about.
And you know because, because he's talking about.
Yeah, he's talking about people who, who don't, who don't even understand, they haven't been taught.
And because like if you look at what it has of Jonah's sermon, he just says you're all going to die in 40 days. And he walks out is basically the, the feeling that you get. And, and that gets them all thinking, well, what are we going to do? And, and the king, the king even seems like he doesn't know exactly what they've done wrong. But he's like, let's just repent of all of it. Just turn around and do the opposite of what we've been doing. And so here, you know, God is kind of reinforcing that. They don't even know their right hand from their left hand. They don't know. They don't know what they're doing.
[00:28:05] Speaker B: I think that's great. I think it's a great. To me, that was kind of what I thought as well, right Is we.
[00:28:11] Speaker C: Take what Ed talked about, about physically.
[00:28:13] Speaker B: It meant children, but in a way all of them, spiritually and mentally were probably like children. They didn't really understand their right from their left. Right. So I think that's an important thing.
But it did make me realize this. Do we pick and choose who we share the gospel with? Do we look and say, well, you know, I'm. I'm not. I'm not going into that neighborhood, so we'll go to this. Do we pick and choose?
Sometimes I think we got to be careful not to. Right. I think one of the major stories for us here, especially with Jonah, is you never know how people are going to respond to whatever you say to them. Right.
You may have it where you have good responses or no responses, but you can't limit who you share the gospel with.
[00:29:08] Speaker J: Jonah elevating himself above all these people. And we have to be really careful about we're better than you, we're not going to take it to you, you don't deserve it kind of attitude today.
[00:29:21] Speaker B: I think so.
[00:29:23] Speaker I: I think it also goes to show that the power of the word is not in who's saying it. That you don't have to be well spoken. I mean, like I. Like I said, Jonah, Jonah just said, you're all going to die in 40 days. And God used that to convict their hearts and to be the catalyst for change in the city and in the whole empire.
So you don't have to be well spoken in order to speak.
[00:29:55] Speaker B: That's a great point. Now, this last question, it's really more from me because I've never been.
[00:30:04] Speaker C: You ever go to a movie or.
[00:30:05] Speaker B: Read a book and then you're like, well, you know, I don't really like the way that ended. I want to know more information.
Are we satisfied? At least I. Is anybody else not satisfied with the end?
[00:30:19] Speaker C: Right.
[00:30:19] Speaker B: I want to see where Jonah's like, hey, God, you're right. You know, I want to see that ending where Jonah kind of admits that, but. But we don't get that. Right. We just end here. And part of me thinks that may have distracted from the story. Cause the story is not necessarily about one man, Jonah, but it's really about God's compassion and mercy.
[00:30:44] Speaker C: So let's look at a couple applications.
[00:30:45] Speaker B: Because I also want to go look at the Prodigal Son, which we talked about last week.
Think of someone that you really don't like. It may be someone who did you wrong. You know, maybe it was a partner in a business or did something to your family.
What qualities that we see in Exodus do you hope that person gets?
Do we really want that person we don't really like? Do we really Want them to get the grace and the mercy and the forgiveness and the love? Or do we want to have them get that, you know, punishes those. Right.
If that person you don't like is not a Christian, but then becomes a Christian, how does that make you feel?
Good. I'm glad. Because she says it feels good. Do we ever, like, oh, do we ever regret that? And that leads to the last question. Is it ever okay for us to hope that someone doesn't find God? I mean, isn't that what Jonah's doing? Jonah is hoping that these Ninevites don't find God. Is that ever okay for us to do?
No, I think that's one of the big lessons from Jonah. And then how do you feel when you see somebody get mercy that you think don't deserve it?
Is that a struggle?
Or are you happy that they got the mercy they didn't deserve? They repent or if there's a change, then I think it's a lot easier to swallow.
But if they doing evil or, I mean, I don't have a lot of enemies, but if I'm harmed, I guess.
[00:32:30] Speaker F: In a way it's a lot more.
[00:32:32] Speaker E: Difficult to take that.
[00:32:35] Speaker F: Right?
[00:32:36] Speaker B: Yeah. All right, so I want to jump real quick in time.
[00:32:39] Speaker C: We have left.
[00:32:40] Speaker B: Last week we talked about the prodigal son. And I asked you, why was the prodigal son wanting to eat the pods of the pigs? And you weren't here, and I wish you had been here. And our answer is usually, well, because he ran out of money. And I talked about how we need.
[00:32:58] Speaker C: To read scripture with fresh eyes.
[00:33:00] Speaker B: Because, for example, if you look at that verse, it says there was a famine. So if Barry is reading that verse or that parable with someone in Africa.
[00:33:11] Speaker C: Their answer of why he was in.
[00:33:13] Speaker B: There with the pigs probably wouldn't be that he's ran out of money. It probably would be there was a famine, because they've been through famines where there's not been a lot to eat. And then later in the verse, it says he was in there because no one gave him anything. Some cultures, that would be what they would pick up because their culture is.
[00:33:32] Speaker C: To help one another and to bond together.
[00:33:35] Speaker B: So I want to spend a little bit of time talking about the prodigal son because I think there's a really.
[00:33:39] Speaker C: Good parallel to Jonah.
[00:33:41] Speaker B: At least I hope there's a good parallel to Jonah. So first question is, what's a parable?
What is it? What's our church answer?
[00:33:51] Speaker C: Earthly story with a heavenly meaning, which.
[00:33:53] Speaker B: Is a Great answer, because that's what it is.
[00:33:55] Speaker C: So when we look at the parable.
[00:33:56] Speaker B: Of the prodigal son, what's the heavenly meaning?
It's never too late to come back to the Father. Anybody else?
All right, so let me ask you this question. What is the context of the parable?
[00:34:10] Speaker C: So when we read scripture, whether they're.
[00:34:12] Speaker B: Parables or they're text, we always have to find the context. To find the context requires you to probably read what happened before the parable or before those verses or after those verses.
[00:34:26] Speaker C: So why did Jesus.
[00:34:28] Speaker B: So the context is going to be.
[00:34:30] Speaker C: Why did Jesus tell the parable? So why did Jesus tell.
[00:34:34] Speaker B: If we go to. To Luke chapter 15, why did Jesus tell that particular parable?
[00:34:43] Speaker E: We all don't do that same exact thing.
[00:34:47] Speaker B: Okay, the scribes and the Pharisees were complaining about Jesus showing care and love towards the sinners and other individuals. So let's look at verse two. Right, so we look at verse one.
[00:35:02] Speaker C: Now, the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him.
[00:35:06] Speaker B: Okay?
[00:35:07] Speaker C: So the tax collectors and sinners were coming to hear to Jesus.
[00:35:11] Speaker B: Look at verse two.
[00:35:12] Speaker C: And the Pharisees and scribes grumbled, saying.
[00:35:15] Speaker B: This man receives sinners and eats with them.
Starting in Luke 15:3, Jesus tells three parables. The first parable is the parable of lost sheep. He followed that up with the parable.
[00:35:27] Speaker C: Of the lost coin.
[00:35:28] Speaker B: Then he followed that up with the prodigal son. So who was the audience that Jesus was telling these parables to?
Who were they directed to?
The Pharisees and the scribes.
Notice what we read in the. In the parable.
[00:35:51] Speaker C: Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command.
[00:35:55] Speaker B: Yet you never gave me a young goat that I might celebrate with my friends.
[00:35:59] Speaker C: But when this son of yours came.
[00:36:01] Speaker B: Who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him. Who's speaking in the parable?
[00:36:10] Speaker C: The older brother.
[00:36:11] Speaker B: Right.
[00:36:12] Speaker C: Jesus is telling the Pharisees and the.
[00:36:14] Speaker B: Scribes, you're the older brother. You have been a part of God's people for so long that you're getting angry when Jesus spending time with the people that you think are sinners.
How much is that? Like Jonah, Right. Jonah was angry because God wasn't taking care of those Ninevites.
The idea of the heavenly message is that we can always come back to God. Absolutely.
[00:36:47] Speaker C: But the other message for us in.
[00:36:49] Speaker B: That parable is don't be like the elder brother who thinks the Gospel shouldn't go to certain people because of what they've done. Right. That is that how does that relate, as we think about our study of Galatians on Sunday, how does that relate to the study that we're doing that was going on in the church at.
[00:37:12] Speaker H: Galatia, thinking of others and not thinking.
[00:37:16] Speaker B: Of ourselves, Wasn't it Very much like the older brother in the way that you're really not saved unless you do these things as well. Right. Really wasn't that idea that they have been, they had been a part of God's. These Jews had been a part of God's people for so long that they couldn't accept that God would accept someone who hadn't had certain parts of their rules and their laws. Right. And so as we look at the prodigal son, I see a great parallel for us today with what we read in Jonah.
[00:37:59] Speaker C: Right.
[00:37:59] Speaker B: And we have to strive not to be the older brother because the Pharisees, in their minds, they didn't have to come back to God, but they were like the older brother in that they were upset that God's grace, God's mercy, God's abounding love, his steadfast love.
They were mad that all those things that God is, was going to be given to someone like this and eventually be given to the Gentiles. Right.
Any comments, Mike?
[00:38:34] Speaker G: I almost take it's parables that's directed at the sinners because he gives three stories about how valuable those that are lost are.
And it seems to me that he's almost encouraging them that I'm. I'm giving you my time. I'm giving you the only thing that I have and you're valuable to me.
[00:38:59] Speaker B: So don't listen to them.
[00:39:01] Speaker F: Don't listen to these guys.
[00:39:03] Speaker J: I was gonna say, I think that God is always seeking us. You know, he's always waiting for us. He's. He wants us to respond, but he wants us to also know that he is, he's ready, he's there.
[00:39:16] Speaker B: Absolutely. I just want to point out that when we study, right. If we just take one parable out of those three, I think you have to look at the context of everything that's taken place. God is telling the Pharisees as well as the scribes is that those that are lost, I'm going to leave the 1 to go find the 99. I'm going to search all day to find the lost. Right. I think we've got to make sure we read all those parables in context. All right, so last couple questions before going back to what we first said.
[00:39:54] Speaker C: At the beginning of the class, this.
[00:39:55] Speaker B: Whole idea of fairness. Why do you think, well, let's go to this one.
In what way is God fair?
Or in what way do you see.
In what ways do you see God being fair, giving everybody the chance to be able to redeem themselves? Everyone has equal opportunity because they're human. Oh, greatly said. The comment was, he's fair in that everyone, everyone has the chance and the ability to be redeemed. He offers redemption to all.
Anything else? We often talk about God being fair. What's the.
What do we always say about blessings? They flow on the just and the unjust. Right. Is there any ways, Are there any way that you think God is not fair?
[00:40:54] Speaker D: I don't think it would be in his nature not to be fair.
[00:40:59] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:41:00] Speaker F: I was going to say, like.
[00:41:04] Speaker B: What.
[00:41:04] Speaker F: Can make it challenging is like reading stories about what he did with Nineveh, but also knowing that eventually he's going to destroy Nineveh. At that time, they didn't get to repent or have, you know, that there's, like, stories where you just, you know, touch the earth, covenant, boom, you're dead. So there are instances where it would seem that God is not giving the same opportunity of redemption.
[00:41:31] Speaker B: And I think where I'm going with this question is God is always true to his character, and even when he relented, it's because the people repented. If the people hadn't repented, he would.
[00:41:43] Speaker C: Have destroyed the city.
[00:41:44] Speaker B: Right. All right, homework.
[00:41:47] Speaker C: So I'd like for you to read.
[00:41:49] Speaker B: These five verses about forgiveness and try to put them into practice this week. And then for next week, read Nahum 11 15. So that'll be your reading for the week. Be interesting. I'm not sure. I've already taught out of the Book of Nahum, so.
But that's our reading for next week. And then read those verses on forgiveness. All right, thanks. Sorry, we went a few minutes long, but great discussion. Thank you so much.
