Sunday
Morning Bible Study
August
28, 2016
Introduction
Do people see Jesus? Is the gospel
preached? Does it address the person who is: Empty, lonely, guilty, or afraid
to die? Does it speak to the broken
hearted? Does it build up the church? Milk – Meat – Manna Preach for a decision
Is the church loved? Regular: 2900
words Communion: 2500 words Video=75wpm
Baptism – September 18 – If you have not been baptized since you have
become a believer, we invite you to be baptized.
We will do the baptism after 2nd service.
Our potluck/bbq will start at 12:30pm, and the baptism should start around
1:15pm
We will also be having a bounce house and giant waterslide for the kids.
Luke was a doctor and a traveling
companion of the apostle Paul.
He wrote this book while Paul was
in prison.
In writing this book about Jesus,
Luke made use of other older documents like the Gospel of Mark, as well as
extensive eyewitness accounts.
Jesus’ ministry is well under way, and the people have been amazed not just
at the things He’s been teaching, but the things He’s been doing.
Back in Luke 14, Jesus had been
invited to a dinner party by one of the chief Pharisees.
The Pharisees were the sect of Jews
that believed all the right things. They
believed the Old Testament Scriptures were the Word of God.
They believed in miracles, angels,
and the resurrection.
They were also very, very
legalistic.
At the dinner party, Jesus began to
confront the Pharisees about areas where they were falling short.
They were more concerned about keeping
their traditions than they were about helping others.
They were proud, living their lives
looking for recognition and the being seated at the best spots at dinners.
He encouraged them to invite the
poor and needy when they held their dinners.
As Jesus’ ministry has been progressing, He has been experiencing larger
and larger crowds following Him.
He challenged the crowds to think about what it really meant to follow Him.
If they wanted to be His disciples, they needed to make Him their first
priority, and they needed to be ready to endure pain, learning to “take up
their cross and follow Him.
As He says these difficult things to the crowd, the makeup of the crowd
begins to change.
15:1-2 Grumbling over sinners
:1 Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear
Him.
:1 tax collectors … sinners drew near to Him
drew near – eggizo
– to bring near, to join one thing to another; to draw or come near to, to
approach
tax collectors – telones
– a renter or farmer of taxes; a tax gatherer, collector of taxes or tolls,
one employed by a publican or farmer general in the collection of taxes.
The tax collectors were as a class,
detested not only by the Jews, but by other nations also, both on account of
their employment and of the harshness, greed, and deception, with which they
did their job.
sinners – hamartolos
– devoted to sin, a sinner; specifically of men stained with certain
definite vices or crimes; tax collectors, heathen
Tax collectors were Jewish men employed by the Romans to collect taxes from
their fellow Jews.
They were required by Rome to collect a certain amount from each person,
but they were not limited to collecting that set amount.
Instead, tax collectors took more than was required and kept the extra for
themselves.
They were considered traitors to the Jewish people.
The term “sinners” is more generic and might describe Jews who did not keep
the Law of Moses, but could also be used to describe Gentiles who were thought
to be unsaveable.
Keep in mind that Jesus has been talking about what it truly means to
follow Him, including
(Luke 14:27 NKJV) And whoever
does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.
As He lays out the truth, it’s this group that inches a little closer to
Him.
I think we make a mistake of sugar coating the gospel by only talking about
the positives without talking about the difficult things.
The people that are responding are those who have tried the world and found
out that it doesn’t satisfy.
I wonder if people wouldn’t respond if you simply tell them the truth.
People are looking for a cause to live for. Taking up your cross and following Jesus is
the cause you are looking for.
:2 And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, “This Man receives
sinners and eats with them.”
:2 receives sinners and eats with them
receives – prosdechomai
– to receive to one’s self, to admit, to give access to one’s self; to
admit one, receive one into intercourse and companionship
eats with – sunesthio
– to eat with, take food together with
One scholar writes,
In the East today, as in the past, a nobleman may feed any number of lesser
needy persons as a sign of his generosity, but he does not eat with them.
However, when guests are “received”
the one receiving the guests eats with them. The meal is a special sign of
acceptance.[1]
In the culture of that day, to “eat with” someone was an act of becoming
“one” with them.
You would typically sit at a table and have a common bowl in the middle
with something like soup in it. The host
would take a loaf of bread, break off a chunk, and pass it around the
table. As you ate the bread, you would
dip into the “soup” and then eat the bread.
You all ate from the same bowl.
You all ate from the same bread.
You were all nourished with the same food. You were all becoming one.
For the good Jew, this was disastrous if you ate with a “sinner”. You were becoming one with a “sinner”.
Yet Jesus was astounding these men because He not only spent time with
“sinners”, He actually ate with them.
:2 the Pharisees and scribes complained
complained – diagogguzo
– to murmur; either of a whole crowd, or among one another; always used of
many indignantly complaining
Lesson
Time with sinners
When you first become a Christian, it’s not uncommon to start talking to
everyone you know about coming to Christ.
And most of those people are not Christians.
You realize what Jesus has done for you in forgiving you and giving you a
new life, and you want others to experience the same thing.
It’s also common once you’ve been a believer for a few years, that you
begin to have fewer and fewer friends that are unbelievers.
Some of that’s natural as some of your friends become Christians, and you
find that you have much more in common with folks at church than your
unbelieving friends.
The problem comes when you get so comfortable at church that you no longer
like being around people from the old life.
And you’ve become a Pharisee.
Illustration
His name is Bill. He has wild hair, wears a T-shirt with holes in it, jeans
and no shoes. This was literally his wardrobe for his entire four years of
college. He is brilliant. Kinda esoteric and very, very bright. He became a
Christian while attending college. Across the street from the campus is a
well-dressed, very conservative church. They want to develop a ministry to the
students, but are not sure how to go about it. One day Bill decides to go
there. He walks in with no shoes, jeans, his T-shirt, and wild hair. The
service has already started and so Bill starts down the aisle looking for a
seat. The church is completely packed and he can’t find a seat. By now people
are looking a bit uncomfortable, but no one says anything. Bill gets closer and
closer and closer to the pulpit and when he realizes there are no seats, he
just squats down right on the carpet. (Although perfectly acceptable behavior
at a college fellowship, trust me, this had never happened in this church
before!) By now the people are really uptight, and the tension in the air is
thick. About this time, the pastor realizes that from way at the back of the
church, a deacon is slowly making his way toward Bill. Now the deacon is in his
eighties, has silver-gray hair, and a pocket watch. A godly man, very elegant,
very dignified, very courtly. He walks with a cane and as he starts walking
toward this boy, everyone is saying to themselves, “You can’t blame him for
what he’s going to do. How can you expect a man of his age and of his
background to understand some college kid on the floor?” It takes a long time
for the man to reach the boy. The church is utterly silent except for the
clicking of the man’s cane. All eyes are focused on him. You can’t even hear
anyone breathing. The people are thinking, “The pastor can’t even preach the
sermon until the deacon does what he has to do.” And now they see this elderly
man drop his cane on the floor. With great difficulty he lowers himself and sits
down next to Bill and worships with him so he won’t be alone. Everyone chokes
up with emotion. When the pastor gains control he says, “What I’m about to
preach, you will never remember. What you have just seen, you will never
forget.”
Author unknown
I hope we will never be a church that complains about spending time with
“tax collectors and sinners”.
15:3-7 The Lost Sheep
:3 So He spoke this parable to them, saying:
:4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does
not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost
until he finds it?
:4 having a hundred sheep
loses – apollumi
– to destroy; render useless; to lose
leave – kataleipo
– to leave behind; to depart from, leave; to forsake, leave to one’s self a
person or thing by ceasing to care for it, to abandon, leave in the lurch
ninety-nine – ennenekontaennea
– ninety nine
the wilderness – eremos
– solitary, lonely, desolate, uninhabited; a desert, wilderness
lost – apollumi
– to destroy; render useless; to lose
finds – heurisko
– to come upon, hit upon, to meet with; after searching, to find a thing
sought
There are some middle eastern customs we need to talk about.
If someone was wealthy enough to own a hundred sheep, then they would
either hire a shepherd to take care of their sheep, or let some lower member of
the family do the actual shepherding.
The average family tended to have five to fifteen animals.
It’s more likely that several families have pooled their animals together
into a community flock, and though this particular shepherd might feel the
responsibility for the whole flock, he may only own perhaps forty animals.[2]
:4 leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness
Don’t think that the shepherd is leaving the ninety-nine sheep all by
themselves in the wilderness to fend for themselves.
One scholar writes (Kenneth Baily),
I have never seen in Syria, Palestine or Mesopotamia a flock attended by a
single person. Two, and even three, shepherds are commonly employed. When one
sheep is lost and the shepherd goes to seek it, the other shepherd takes the
flock home.[3]
:5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders,
rejoicing.
:6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and
neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which
was lost!’
:6 when he comes home
The shepherd doesn’t return to the place in the wilderness where the sheep
got lost, but returns home because that’s where his co-shepherd would have
taken the rest of the flock for the night.
home – oikos
– a house; an inhabited house, home
:6 he calls together his
friends and neighbors
calls together – sugkaleo
– to call together, assemble; to call together to one’s self
friends – philos
– friend, to be friendly to one, wish him well
neighbors – geiton
– a neighbor
rejoice with – sugchairo
– to rejoice with, take part in another’s joy; to rejoice together, to
congratulate
Even though the lost sheep belonged
to the shepherd, it’s likely that the friends and neighbors had part ownership
in some of the rest of the hundred sheep.
:5 he lays it on his shoulders
lays it on – epitithemi – to put or lay upon
shoulders – omos
– a shoulder
rejoicing – chairo
– to rejoice, be glad; to rejoice exceedingly
Sometimes when a sheep is lost, it will lie down helplessly and refuse to
budge.
If the shepherd is going to get the sheep home, it’s not uncommon that he
will have to carry the sheep home on his shoulders.
The shepherd isn’t upset that he has to carry the sheep, the shepherd is
rejoicing that his sheep was found.
My shepherd friends in upper
Galilee confirm Stuhlmueller’s insight, “A lost sheep will lie down helplessly
and refuse to budge. The shepherd is forced to carry it over a long distance.”
Surprisingly, this shepherd rejoices
in the burden of restoration still before him.[4]
Lesson
Carry Them
In this parable, the shepherd is Jesus.
He is spending time with sinners because He is looking to bring the lost
sheep home again.
I love that He is willing to take a lost sheep on His shoulders and carry
it home. He even rejoices as He does it.
When you find someone that’s lost, perhaps we too ought to be willing to
put them on our shoulder to carry them home.
Samwise couldn’t carry Frodo’s ring. You can’t do what it takes to make
them get saved, but you can carry them.
I appreciate that some of you love to pass out tracts to unbelievers, but
be willing to also carry them on your shoulders as well.
Carrying someone takes a commitment.
It takes time.
:7 I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one
sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.
joy – chara
– joy, gladness
just persons – dikaios
– righteous, observing divine laws; in a wide sense, upright, righteous,
virtuous, keeping the commands of God
repentance – metanoia
– a change of mind, as it appears to one who repents, of a purpose he has
formed or of something he has done
:7 over one sinner who repents
who repents – metanoeo – to change one’s mind, i.e. to
repent; to change one’s mind for better, heartily to amend with abhorrence of
one’s past sins
Lesson
Repentance
What is “repentance”?
Our English word, repent, means to “turn around”. It means that you were
driving in one direction, you stop, and turn around and go another direction.
It means that you stop running from God and you start running toward God.
Metanoeo isn’t just a change in
outward behavior though, it’s a change at the root of what causes the behavior.
It’s a change of mind. It’s change from the inside out.
Illustration:
A scorpion, being a very poor swimmer, asked a turtle to
carry him on its back across the river. “Are you mad?” exclaimed the turtle.
“You’ll sting me while I’m swimming and I’ll drown.” “My dear turtle,” laughed
the scorpion, “If I were to sting you, you would drown and I’d go down with
you. Now where is the logic in that?” “You’re right,” cried the turtle. “Hop
on.” The scorpion climbed aboard and halfway across the river gave the turtle a
mighty sting. As they both sank to the bottom, the turtle, resigned, said, “Do
you mind if I ask you something? You said there is no logic in your stinging
me. Why did you do it?” “It has nothing to do with logic,” the drowning
scorpion replied. “It’s just my nature.”
God’s kind of change (repentance) happens from the inside out.
If you want to truly repent, you’re going to need a new
nature, and that starts with a change of heart, a change of “mind”.
That’s something that only God can do. It happens when you open your heart to Jesus.
(2
Corinthians 5:17 NKJV) Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new
creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
When a person’s nature has changed, when their mind has
truly changed, then you will begin to see actual changes in the person’s life.
It doesn’t happen completely automatically. Some of the change requires hard work.
The Corinthian church is a model of repentance. In Paul’s first letter to the church, he had
to be kind of rough with them because they had allowed some bad things into
their lives. This harsh letter resulted
in pain and sorrow in the Corinthians.
(2
Corinthians 7:8–11 NLT) —8 I am not sorry that I sent that severe letter to
you, though I was sorry at first, for I know it was painful to you for a little
while. 9 Now I am
glad I sent it, not because it hurt you, but because the pain caused you to
repent and change your ways. It was the kind of sorrow God wants his people to
have, so you were not harmed by us in any way. 10 For the kind of sorrow God wants us
to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no
regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance,
results in spiritual death.
The world has a definition of “repentance” that looks a
lot like crying buckets of tears. But
tears aren’t repentance.
Repentance means a “change”, a change in your life.
11
Just
see what this godly sorrow produced in you! Such earnestness, such concern to
clear yourselves, such indignation …
Here’s some of these characteristics of true repentance:
“Earnestness”
has to do with speed. Repentance doesn’t
drag it’s feet in making changes.
earnestness – spoude – haste, with haste; earnestness, diligence;
earnestness in accomplishing, promoting, or striving after anything
It’s not about waiting until next year to change, but
changing now.
“Indignation”
has to do with your attitude toward your sin.
indignation – aganaktesis – indignation, irritation, vexation; (from agan,
achomai; to grieve much)
Until you are totally sick of your sin, you are not going
to change.
… such alarm,
such longing to see me, such zeal, and such a readiness to punish wrong. You
showed that you have done everything necessary to make things right.
“Everything
necessary to make things right”
Twelve steppers call this making “amends”.
It’s not enough to just say you’re sorry, you must make
things right in your life. You must make
things right with the other person.
15:8-10 The Lost Coin
:8 “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not
light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?
:8 woman, having ten silver coins
woman – gune
– a woman of any age, whether a virgin, or married, or a widow
silver coins – drachme
– a drachma, a Greek silver coin about the same weight as a Roman denarius
The word for “coin” is drachma, a
Greek silver coin that was fairly valuable.
When a Jewish girl was married, she began to wear a headband of ten silver
coins to show that she was now a wife.
It was sort of like wearing your wedding ring.
Losing one of these coins might be like losing a diamond from your wedding
ring.
:8 light a lamp, sweep … search carefully
light – hapto
– to fasten to, adhere to; to fasten fire to a thing, kindle, set of fire
sweep – saroo
– to sweep, clean by sweeping
search – zeteo
– to seek in order to find
diligently – epimelos
– diligently, carefully – with care
Ancient houses were pretty dark without electric lights.
If the gal is going to find her coin, she’s going to need to bring some
light into the house to look for her coin.
:9 And when she has found it, she calls her friends and
neighbors together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which
I lost!’
:9 she calls … ‘Rejoice with me…’
she calls – sugkaleo – to
call together
Rejoice with – sugchairo –
to rejoice with
Both verbs have the prefix sun,
carrying the idea of doing it together with
someone else.
Finding lost things has a connection to a community.
The shepherd told his friends and neighbors.
The woman tells her friend and neighbors.
piece – drachme
– a drachma, a Greek silver coin about the same weight as a Roman denarius
:10 Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of
God over one sinner who repents.”
:10 joy in the presence of the angels of God
joy – chara
– joy, gladness
in the presence – enopion
– in the presence of, before
who repents – metanoeo
– to change one’s mind, i.e. to repent; to change one’s mind for better,
heartily to amend with abhorrence of one’s past sins
Lesson
Working with heaven
Reaching lost people is not something that is only important to people on
earth.
All of Heaven wants lost people to be found.
Christian, do you want to be closer to Jesus?
Then do the kinds of things that Jesus is involved in.
He loves to seek out lost people and bring them home.
Lesson
Are you lost?
Are you someone who is “lost”?
Have you wandered away from the things of God?
There is someone who is looking for you, and His name is Jesus.
As you noticed, not all lost sheep need to be carried by their shepherd,
but some will be willing to follow Him once they’re found…
While some people might want to look down their nose at you and point out
that you are a sinner (which we all are), Jesus compares you in these stories
to one of His flock and to a valuable coin.
Yes, you are indeed a sinner, just like we all are.
Jesus died to pay for your sins.
Yes, you need to repent of your sins – you need to let God help you change
from the inside out.
If you want to be “found”, then you need to open your heart to the God who
has been looking for you.
Jesus said,
(Revelation 3:20 NKJV)
Behold,
I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I
will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.