What does God look like

1. It’s nice to see all of you. And it’s also beautiful to praise the Lord together. So, thank you for worshipping with us. For a while we’ve been talking about really what God is like. Last week we heard about that ‘God is One, but He is Three’. I don’t know if anyone can explain it after listening last Sunday. But it is true, and it says something about who God is. And He is beyond anything we could ever imagine or understand. And I’m going to continue to speak about, ‘What does God look like’. There’s a lot to say about that. And I think it’s important because many of us have a wrong understanding. Even when we speak about the Trinity.
2. I think some of us carry the understanding that Jesus is loving, and He came here to give His life for us. But we are sometimes a little afraid of God the Father and some of us think that there is an angry God somewhere in heaven, that’s watching what we’re doing. But Jesus came to this earth to show what God is like and the love that we see in Jesus’ life, it’s a reflection of who God is. Whatever is true about Jesus that we can see and read about, is true about God the Father.
3. So, we’re going to read a fairly long story from the Gospel of Luke 15:11:32, we usually call it ‘The Prodigal Son’. And I’m going to talk a little about the fact that maybe it’s not a good name for the story. And before we read it, I just want to say that, ‘Who was Jesus talking to while He was telling this story, I think it’s quite important’. A little bit earlier it says that it was tax collectors and sinners. They were gathering to listen to Jesus, and tax collectors were the bad guys who co-operated with the Roman government and collected money from their families and friends and neighbors – bad people. And sinners, well I don’t need to explain that.
4. They liked to listen to Jesus. But there were also Pharisees and teachers of the Law that were around, and they complained. They said that this man, Jesus, welcomed sinners and eats with them, and also there were disciples there. And interestingly enough, disciples came from both those groups, from ‘bad’ people and ‘good’ people. So, this is the setting where Jesus tells this story. So, lets read it… Amen. It’s a long story, and you have probably read it and heard it many times before, and it’s tempting just to read the firs half, to make it a little bit shorter, so that the church service will be a little shorter. It’s a lot about the young son that takes off, and does all these terrible things, with his wealth and his inheritance. It’s a little like our testimonies, when we tell the testimonies of out lives. We tell, ‘I did this and this, and this… and then I came to Jesus’. But I think this is a wonderful story of someone who goes astray and then comes back home, but I think it has more to say. And as I said it’s usually called ’The Prodigal son, the son that got lost’.
5. Some people like to say ‘The prodigal sons,’ because both of them were lost in a sense, if we read carefully. So, that’s 2 of the characters in the story. But I think the most important character in this story is the father. We don’t see so much of him in the story, but what we see and what we understand about God through this is so important. It’s true, both were lost in a sense. One by leaving his house and being far away, searching for things he desired, but the other one, even though he was at home in the house, it’s obvious that there was a distance between him and the father.
6. If we go back to who was listening to this story, we have these two groups of people shall we say the ‘bad’ people and the ‘good’ people to make it simple, and probably they listened to the story in different ways. When some of them heard about the younger son that went away and did all the bad stuff, some probably felt, yes, that’s me, and I’m lost. Probably others heard, ‘Yeah, that’s them’, I hope Jesus understands who they are and sends them away. And this is often the case, we listen to a message on behalf of others, or we try to do that. But something very, maybe to us because we are so familiar with this story, but it’s something really strange that happens – very unexpected. I mean the young son had brought shame on the family, on the father. He had done all the things he was not supposed to do. He took all his inheritance and spent it all on bad things. I guess the crowd would expect the father to never want to see him again. Or maybe to come and be a servant. Keep him at a distance. Not really bring him back into the family. And those who identified as sinners, thought, yes, if that happens, that’s probably good, he can stay and work as a servant. And the ‘good’ people probably wanted the father to never allow him to come back.
7. But what happens, is really scandalous in a way. And Jesus’ stories often bring a twist to the events; the unexpected usually happens and that’s usually the point that He wants to make. So, the father does the unexpected. We hear the youngest son say, ‘that if I do like this, then maybe I can become a servant in my father’s house again.’ We don’t really know if he really changed his mind or if this was just an idea to have food on the table, and have a roof over his head. Maybe, that’s all he was aiming for. But what happens. While he was still a long way off, it says, his father saw him, so he must have been out looking for him, hoping that one day he would show up. And it says that he was filled with compassion for him. He ran to his son, threw his arms around him, and kissed him.
8. So, he was overwhelmed and received him in a very compassionate way. And from what we can see here, he didn’t ask any questions. He said, ‘bring the best robe and put it on him.’ It was a way of honoring him. Put a ring on his finger, and he was restored into authority as a son. He was restored with dignity, he had sandals on his feet, and they brought the fattened calf, and they had a feast and they celebrated. So, they were singing and dancing, and probably doing something like that, the people would question, ‘what is the father doing? Doesn’t he understand that this boy has shamed you? You need to show an example; that’s not what you do.’ But this father loved his son beyond anything of what he had done. And here we can see of course, the father as our Father God. And the message to the tax collectors and the sinners, was ‘Welcome home. Welcome home. We will forgive you and restore you, and clothe you’.
9. Something else happens as well. The older brother, the ‘good’ one, he became angry and refused to come in. And his father came out and tried to convince him to come in. But the son said ‘Father look, I have slaved for you all these years and I have never disobeyed you.’ Probably, exactly what the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law were thinking. They had served God; they had never disobeyed God. But he said, ‘You never allowed me to celebrate with my friends. But when this lost son of yours,’ he doesn’t even say his brother, ‘but this lost son of yours comes back, you kill this calf for him.’ But then the father says, and this is important and is easy to miss, ‘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.’ He was there, but clearly distant in his heart. And the work he did, he talked about it as a slave. But the truth was that he was always with the father, and everything belonged to him. But he didn’t see it that way.
10. So, in this crowd that Jesus spoke to, we can clearly see two different crowds, ‘good’ and ‘bad.’ So, the question is, how do we hear this story. It’s a good question. I think sometimes, I hope, we hear it as the ‘bad’ people, that the Father is longing for us to come to Him. But the truth and the reality were, that He was longing for the ‘good’ son to come to Him; to be close to Him. And I think, that probably for all of us, we are both sons. Maybe there is someone that is only ‘good’ all the time. We know that we have gone away and left the Father’s house. But even when we , at least on the surface’ are not going away from the Father’s house, we can still be faraway in our hearts. Maybe we’re doing all the right things, saying all the right things, but we are far away in our hearts. And sometimes it disturbs us when we see others coming to Jesus, that are not as ‘good’ as we are. Maybe we doing exactly put it in those words, but I think this is so important – both these groups were far from the Father’s heart. And we see that Jesus came for both; He came for the sinners and He came for the religious. His love breaks through every barrier; covers every separation, every valley is filled with His love.
11. The younger brother repented, at least we think he did and went back, and the father didn’t wait to embrace him until he had checked whether ‘Have you really repented and have you really changed your mind? Have you understood you brought shame on our family?’ No! He embraced him. Love covers a multitude of sins. And the father was there not to accuse, but to receive him.
12. We don’t know how the story ended for the older son. If he stayed out there being angry, and upset and refusing to enter the house? Or if he just understood, yeah, it’s true, I’m always with you father, all you have is mine, and my brother was dead and he’s alive, and we need to rejoice together. I hope he did. But it was just a story that Jesus told us, to show us something, to teach us something.
13. So, no matter who we are, if we are the younger one or the older one, God’s purpose is for us to be with Him in His house, to live to the full in the Father’s house. And no matter if we are the younger or the older or both, this is what God is like. He wants to bring all of us into His presence, into intimacy with Him. So, probably, the ones that listened to this story, they were probably a bit scandalized, put off by what the young son did. But I think the big surprise for them was what the father did, that he received the young son, and he also cared for the older one. That must have surprised the two different groups that listened.
14. How could God, or this father, love those people. And that’s the same message for us today. He wants us to be with Him, no matter what’s happened in the past. There is forgiveness and restoration. God wants us to experience forgiveness and acceptance and know that we are welcome into His house. So, I want to say to all of us who are here today, whoever you identify with, dare to come back, dare to return, if you have wandered away from the Father’s house. The Father is waiting. He’s even gone out to the streets and is looking for you.
15. If you feel that you are distant; if you feel that you are slaving; and you’re not close to God, know that you’re always with Him; all belongs to you. It’s easy to get used to how things are, and we can forget what we have. But He’s waiting for us to also reach out to Him, to say yes to Him. And let us not stay outside of the house, angry at who Jesus welcomes in.
16. We’re going to take communion today, and it’s a beautiful picture of what Jesus did for us of course, but I think it goes well with this story of the father. Taking communion, is an invitation to come to Jesus Christ. If you are the lost one, or the one stays outside and is angry, the Father is inviting us to the table, and He’s waiting with open arms, and He invites us today, to share a meal of celebration. We’re going to do it a little bit different today. Christina and Stavros, when it’s time, not quite yet, we are all welcome to come up, and take of the cup and the bread, and when we do it, let’s do it in a way to say yes, I want to come close to the Father, His house and to the table. So, when the time comes, please come up and take the bread and the wine and take Holy Communion there, and then go back to your seat. So, today let’s take it with the sense of the Father inviting us into the house. Whether it’s from a far away country, in poverty, or it’s from the back yard being angry, The Father invites you, to receive and be at His table.
17. Let us just remind ourselves of what Jesus did for us on the last evening. It says He took bread, He gave thanks, and broke it, and gave it to them saying, ‘This is My Body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.’ In the same way, after the cup, He took the cup saying, ‘This cup is the New Covenant in my blood which is poured out for you’. Stavros, would you please pray.