Luke 15: A heart for the Lost. (Sunday 12th September 2010)

What does a "missional Church" look like and feel like? What exactly do I mean when I talk about "becoming and effective, outreaching fellowship"? What's in it's DNA? In Luke 15 Jesus gives three parables about lost things, about mission. They all teach that "The son of man came to seek and save the lost." Let's look at the story of the lost, so-called "prodigal" (which means "wasteful") son. The least of his faults was wastefulness. In fact the story involves three people, and we need to look at all three of them...

The Son. With nothing to look forward to but a lifetime of dull, boring routine as second-in-command of a farming business, he decided to ask for his share of the inheritance, to cut free from the boring old life, and to taste freedom. So he went to his Father and asked for his share of the inheritance. That was the equivalent of telling his dad to drop dead. It was an insult of the highest order. With the cheque in the bank, he went off to enjoy a new lifestyle, until the money ran out, just around the same time that a recession began... the boy ended up taking a job feeding pigs and was so hungry he was tempted to root in the pig food for something he could eat. Eventually he realised he could have a better life back home working for his Dad, who had a reputation as a kind employer...

Imagine yourself as the young man.. What are you feeling as the farmhouse comes into view?
Embarrassment at the way he had behaved? Fear of how he would be received? Resentment that things hadn't worked out? Or just a pit of hopeless depression?

The Father. As the son saw the farmhouse again, the father saw a ragged wee speck on the horizon, walking with a familiar gait, and recognised his younger son. Like the Shepherd and the Housewife he Father shows us some important things about the missional heart of God, important values for missional church...
1) Watchfulness. The Father was watching along the road where the lost son would come from. He wanted to see what was coming along that road. And the Missional Church will always be watchful of what is going on "down the road", in our culture. That shows us two things in the Father's heart:
2) Realistic Expectancy: Others may have said to him, "Why do you watch out for him every day?" And the Father would reply, "He's my son; this is home; he'll be back." Now I'm not saying we can expect people to flood through these doors one Sunday. Our world has changed. But we're not saying "The ball's up on the slates; game's over in terms of mission" There is an interest is spiritual things: it's expressed in different ways and we need to understand it and to be positive about the people around us.
3) Disinterested longing...He longs to have the lost boy home, not because he misses the boy but because home is where the boy is spiritually, physically, emotionally and morally safe. Away, he's in danger. He'd be better of at home.
4) Compassion. When the Father saw his son, He had compassion on him. He felt for him at that point as he saw how thin, how weary, how hesitant, how ragged the young man looked. He understood the Embarrassment, the fear, the guilt.
5) On the move. He immediately went out to meet him. We often think we are "welcoming" just by saying "welcome" but there are times when that welcome needs to be extended outwards. The truly missional heart of the Father goes out to the lost, still on the road, to welcome him home.

6) People take Priority over Propriety. And the Father ran to meet his son. Now we need to understand this. A middle-aged man - especially one with a bit of money, a few servants - didn't run. It was beneath him. He walked. It's not a matter of health or disability; it was a matter of dignity, honour and respect. If you wanted something fetching in a hurry, you sent someone else. . But the older man ran to meet his son. Dignity goes out the window, in a missional church. We are more interested in the needs of people than in keeping up appearances and begin respectable. It may look "undignified" but it's the father's heart. .
7) The Costly Language of Love. There are tears flowing, as the old man throws himself around the son's dirty stinking neck. The lad had been feeding pigs. Anyone who has had anything do to with pigs knows that the smell lingers, even if you have the opportunity to have a bath after work. But the son hadn't had a bath, and pigs were unclean. But the Father loved the Son: loving relationships - both within and beyond the Church - expressed in ways that people can understand - are at the core of a healthy, outreaching fellowship.
8) Accepting. The younger son began his little prearranged speech, all about being unfit to be a member of the family, but please could he have a job... and Dad cut him off, sending the servants (they are told to run) to dress the young man up in robe, ring and shoes, tokens of sonship, of belonging. That's how we need too be towards those who don't' yet know Jesus as they find their way "home"... We need to make the space for people to belong.
9) Generosity. Kill the fattened calf. The fattened calf was the best the family had; a turkey saved up for Christmas dinner; the vouchers you have for a special meal out. A missional church will be generous in the way we judge people; in the way we give to people; in the way we use our resources.
10) Celebration. Let us have a feast and celebrate. There was to be a party. Yes, following Jesus is challenging and costly; yes we are to mourn with those who mourn; yes a constant diet of jolly songs may be irritating. But there's meant to be a party going on. When I was a kid we would often go to Arbroath on holiday. One year we had to walk past a certain pub which had loud, probably live Scottish music each night on the way back to our digs; and each night my sister would say "there's something going on in there." I want this church to have a reputation, even for those who don't find their way inside, that "there's something going on in there!"

This is the father's heart for mission, the DNA of the missional Church. . These are the some of the things you will find in the heart, of a missional church. Watchfulness; Realistic Expectancy; Disinterested longing; Compassion. A Church that is On the move, where People take Priority; and that speaks The Costly Language of Love; a Church that is Accepting. Generous and full of Celebration

Big Brother. Little brother had taken his share and gone. Dad spent too much time gazing down the road. Big Brother had to get on with life, to manage the farm. So he missed out on the joyful reunion when the younger son came home. When he got home for his tea, and heard the sound of a party getting going, asks one of the servants, "What's going on here?" He hasn't been expecting the younger brother to come home, and certainly wasn't expecting Father to give him a welcome like he did. He went off to sulk. This is what he was thinking:
"All these years I slaved away for my Father and he never gave me as much as a goat to have a quiet dinner with my friends. Then his son comes home after spending all his money on prostitutes..." You know, I find it difficult to believe this guy had any friends. He wasn't really a relationship kind of person. He was a functional, legalistic kind of person. Sadly a lot of people in Churches can be like Big brother.
1. His relationship with Father was that of a servant not a son.
2. As a legalist the "felt entitled" - and resentful.
3. The worst possible interpretation of the younger man's lifestyle,.
But Father - the same Father who had welcomed the lost son home, went out to deal with his other, older lost son. All that he is thinking spills out and Father quickly responds to "this son of yours by saying, "He is your brother, and he's come home..."

Where do we get our DNA from? Our parents. And we get missional DNA from our Heavenly Father. I believe that Watchfulness; Realistic Expectancy; Disinterested longing; Compassion; being On the move, letting People take Priority; the Costly Language of Love; a Acceptance, Generosity and Celebration are already there inside us by the Holy Spirit. If the older son had spent a bit more time with his father, he would have felt the Father's heart and become like his father. But instead he too busy, keeping everything going.

© Gilmour Lilly September 2010