Luke 15

This is a post I put on a different sight a couple of months ago that I decided to go ahead and post here. Enjoy!

Jesus tells three parables:

The Parable of the Shepherd and the lost sheep

The Parable of a woman and her lost coin

The Parable of the lost son (The Prodigal Son)

Luke begins this chapter by setting the scene. We are told that both Pharisees (teachers of the law) and those whom the Pharisees consider “sinners” are gathered to hear Jesus teach. Luke tells us that the Pharisees muttered about Jesus’ tendency to hang around and show constant attention to such people. Hearing their talk, Jesus proceeds to tell 3 parables.

All three parables have a similar structure and theme: all are meant to show God’s amazing and unlimited grace. Furthermore these parables paint a picture of God that we might not have seen before, or at least not quite in this light.

All three parables share stories of someone finding someone or something whether sheep, coin, or son. All seek to convey joy at the finding. What we might not expect though is that these parables intend to show the joy of the finder and do not focus quite so clearly on the found.

Obviously one meaning of these parables is the obvious rejoicing that comes when a person is saved by coming to believe in Jesus as their Lord and Savior; that only through his death and resurrection can they inherit eternal life and that they must put their faith in him. The first two parables almost identically convey the rejoicing of all in heaven. The third parable is where the finding becomes much more personal and all the more amazing.

The Parable of the Prodigal Son casts the father as God and the prodigal son as each and every sinner who comes to Christ. Several striking things happen in this parable. First of all, the son demands his inheritance from his father, which as I recently learned, in Jesus’ culture was the equivalent of saying “I wish you were dead.” Next comes the familiar part where the son leaves and squanders that inheritance which he wasn’t supposed to have received yet in the first place. The love of the father is clearly present in the beginning or else he wouldn’t have ever granted the son his wish in the first place.

The new view of God that I have gained from this chapter comes after. The son, with all his wealth gone, realizes that in his current state even his father’s servants eat better than he does. So he decides to return and ask his father for forgiveness and to allow him to become like one of his servants.

Luke tells us that the father saw the son “while he was still a long way off” which clearly means that he was watching and waiting for his son to return. Hoping seemingly against all hope that he might catch the first glimpse of him and when he actually does see him he “[is] filled with compassion.”
Next we are told that he “ran to his son” which as I have recently learned would be highly unusual for a man in the obviously dignified position as that held by this father. In our world we might expect for a father whose son has just squandered his entire inheritance to punish or possibly even disown him. But this is God we’re talking about and he doesn’t abide by our rules or expectations, instead even while the son is pleading for forgiveness the father is busy ordering for a banquet to be prepared, “fattened calf” and all, and that his son be clothed in the best robe.

What these parables show me is a picture of a God who is heartsick, waiting on the edge of his toes to catch a glimpse of our return to him. This is the Grace of God: searching for his one lost sheep until he finds it, seeking for one rogue coin, gazing at the horizon until that one son reappears, never giving up. By this we know that know matter what we do we can always come back to that heartsick father with his arms open wide.

Grace means that there is nothing we can DO to make God love us more.
Grace means that there is nothing we can DO to make God love us less.

Because of this we as believers should always strive to imitate our loving father, showing his grace to all the world through everything we do.

Searching for a church home in college

The city in which I am attending college must certainly be one of kind. The number of churches in this city seems incalculable. During the days leading up to the start of classes, my university held a church fair, allowing a large number of the local churches to all set up in one location. Needless to say, this has left a strange memory in my mind of dozens of different church representatives all approaching me to "encourage" me to attend their church. I would never have expected to be pursued so furiously by, of all things, churches. Nevertheless, I do see benefit in this practice. It allows college students who might take weeks or even months to get a feel for where they might want to go to church the opportunity to make their search less broad and more focused thus decreasing the time needed to find a new church home. Also such a church fair might facilitate prospects for future evangelism by attracting people with to no prior church experience.

When I first heard about the church fair on campus I was excited and eagerly anticipated the event. Upon entering, after the initial shock toward the huge crowd of people and booth displays that is, I went around to several different booths, sometimes approached by representatives who preferred to take their booth on the go all around the gym, and collected information on the churches. I quickly noticed that one primary feature each church made sure to mention was the size and composition of its congregation: whether it was made up of mostly college students or mostly adults or a more even mixture of the two and how big said congregation was. Obviously some people like a megachurch sort of feel and others clearly enjoy a much smaller and more communal experience. Denomination also plays a much more subtle and arguably more important role in the decision of where to attend although the importance of the differences between denominations could certainly be debated. I grew up in a nondenominational church environment and have attended a baptist and methodist church before. The only really discernable difference in all of these was the style of worship which really does not come down to doctrine at all but more to the preference of the congregation.

Nearly three weeks have come and gone since this church fair and I have attended three churches since. Last week I attended Highland Baptist Church and I enjoyed most over the previous two. Although my search has certainly not come to a complete end, I am seriously considering jumping in where I currently stand at this point. I understand that choosing a church constitutes a very pivotal decision in the college experience and that caution must be exercised; however, when I look at Highland's philosophy and the way their preachers conduct a service and then contrast it with my own view, I see little to no difference at all. In addition, they put on many events that sound like fun and they also offer a compelling small group experience that appeals to me greatly. All in all I loved my experience at Highland Baptist Church. Despite all this I still feel as though it might behoove me to feel around a bit more before completely establishing roots. May God aid me in this endeavor.

My experiences in college thus far...

I became a college freshman officially as of three weeks ago today. I must say that these three weeks have gone by incredibly fast. I am almost done with my third week of classes! Wow! Time sure does fly. I am taking a 17 hour courseload along with weekly violin lessons. Unfortunately my course load leaves me little time to do much besides homework and the frequent run across the street to the dining hall to make sure I'm using all of my meals, which still seems impossible, so at this point I will probably have to drop the lessons and just stick to what I have. Ah for shame! I have played the violin since sixth grade and I feel that if I do stop with my lessons then I may stop playing all together. We'll see what happens.

I have wanted to be in college since I was a sophomore in high school. I had to wait for another two years before my wishes were granted. Don't get me wrong, I love college, but at the same time I think my expectations for it may have been a bit off. I guess that when I envisioned myself in college I thought for some reason that it would be all fun all the time. This is not so as I have quickly learned. Even so, I would not trade this experience for the world. College is truly a character shaping experience. It forces me out of the boxed in world that I have been in to this point, it forces me to learn self-discipline as I cope with managing basically my whole life without my parents, it forces me to confront previously undiscovered or downplayed flaws. In my own case I believe that God wants to use this new college experience as a way to help me develop in various ways that involve all areas of my life: academic, social, spiritual, emotional, etc.

Unlike many people who go off to college, God blessed me by allowing me to go to college with some of my closest friends whom I love dearly. However, this blessing can at times be a disadvantage. With close friends nearby I have constantly been tempted to be complacent and not put myself out there to make completely new friends. I find myself not wanting to do anything outside of my inner circle of friends, not wanting to be outside my comfort zone. I know that I need to overcome this psychological handicap, if you want to call it that. College is about expanding horizons: the world is so much bigger outside of home and family. If I do not embrace this fact then what have I gained? Nothing at all! In addition, when I am outside of my inner circle, I realize that I am an incredibly insecure person, that I constantly am in need of the approval of others. I am convinced that this is a part of being human and personally I think that it is something people do not like to talk about. Not confronting the problem directly only makes it worse. Pent up thoughts and feelings and anger only add to the stress, but if they can be let out constructively then I believe that the venting makes for a healthier disposition.
My purpose with this blog is to express such thoughts and feelings and sometimes angers about...well...I guess life in general.
Until next time :D