Home and Shalom
SUMMARY
In this concluding message of the Expectation Gap series, Karl Ihfe tackles the challenging topic of sin and punishment by examining Luke 15 and the famous parable of the prodigal son. He poses a crucial question: when we sin, who punishes us - God or sin? Through the story of the father and his two lost sons, Karl illustrates that the father's loving posture never changes toward either son, whether the one lost in rebellion or the one lost in self-righteousness. Both sons misjudged their father because sin distorts our vision of who God really is, making us see Him as a judge or accuser rather than a loving parent.
Karl explains that sin functions not merely as individual moral mistakes, but as a condition we live under - a state of enslavement that punishes us from the inside out. When we lie, lust, or harbor bitterness, sin itself becomes the punishment, robbing us of freedom, joy, and authentic relationships. God doesn't stand ready to "zap" us when we mess up; instead, like a loving parent warning a child not to touch a hot stove, He calls out warnings because He knows how devastating sin can be. The good news is that God is the restorer while sin is the destroyer, God is the liberator while sin is the slave master, and God's invitation to come home remains constant regardless of how lost we've become.
TRANSCRIPTION:
Well, it is good to be with you. This morning we're finishing up our series the Expectation Gap, where we've been thinking together about that gap between what we believe about God and what we experience in our daily lives. Throughout the series, we looked at three major gaps that we often find. The first one being, we believe that God loves us, but we don't feel loved. Or the second gap, we believe that God is with us, but we struggle with feel it.
Now the third one, we believe that God wants us to grow, but we're discouraged by our progress or lack thereof. And we spent some time thinking and reflecting on what are some of those challenges that keep us from experiencing God's love. And we talked about how that inner critic speaks of words of condemnation and try to remember Paul's words. There's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus or those those words of anxiety and stress and reactivity that blind us to seeing God's presence with us all the time. That he is right next to us, closer than our very breath.
But our anxiety often keeps us from seeing Him. The last couple of weeks we've reflected some about how it's not about what we do, but what God does in us that allows us to really learn how to grow into him. That it's the Holy Spirit's work, that it's the fruit of the Spirit in our lives, not our willpower. And so this week as we finish, I want to jump back in for just a minute and think together about the power of understanding these gaps and how God is the one at work in us to do so. I want to remind us of, I think there are two kinds of people in the world.
And no, I don't mean those who like Neil Diamond and those who don't. What I mean is those who can learn lessons from other people's mistakes and those who have to learn it for themselves. As a parent, I get a firsthand show watching this kind of play out as we talk with our kids. In fact, Kayla and I kind of made this little ongoing list of things we had to say to our kids that we never thought you'd have to say to a child. You know, like, no, you can't slide down the staircase head first.
No, no, no, no, you can't do that. Or maybe others that you talked about, you know, don't touch that, don't go in there, don't do that, right? And they say, right, uh huh. And they have to learn it for themselves. As a parent, you know, when your child learns a lesson, the Hard way, how do you respond?
Maybe you're not a parent, but you've been a child or you have a parent, when you learned a lesson the hard way, how did they respond? What did they say? You know, most parents, if they're on their game, they didn't respond by saying, I was secretly hoping you would do that. Because I love to say, I told you, I told you. Most parents don't do that.
Or they don't say, you know, the best part of parenting is punishing your kids when they mess up. That's by far the best. Right? Most parents do not enjoy that process. In fact, if you talk with most parents, they'll tell you it's really stressful, it's really challenging, it's really difficult.
Right? Often the lesson that's learned the hard way is the punishment, right? That burned finger or that skinned knee, maybe that wounded pride, that's the lesson we often learn when having to learn things the hard way. And so what does a loving parent do in that situation when they recognize that their child, or maybe you as a friend, you have a friend that's learned a lesson the hard way. How does a good parent respond to what do they do?
They empathize and they try to help you navigate forward. Now, where do we go from here? Okay, so what have we learned? All right, now let's apply that to our lives. That's what a good parent would do.
And I know not all of us had a good parent experience. Some of us have some wounds from we made some mistakes, we learned some lessons the hard way, and we didn't have that person come alongside us and say, I'm really sorry. See what we can do with this. Let's see where we can go from here. And maybe some of us, when we think about that, we're mindful of some of our own parenting missteps and how we didn't help our child or we didn't help our friend navigate a way forward after that hard lesson was learned.
Today, I want us to think some together about this very fun topic of sin and punishment and what that really looks like. In fact, if you've been reading along the book, the Expectation Gap that Steve Cus has written, I found it so helpful. Many of you have had several conversations that you're reading and thinking and reflecting on this. I've had some awesome conversations the last couple of weeks. But one of the questions that Steve asks us to reflect on when it comes to this idea of sin and punishment, he says, who punishes us when we sin?
Is it God or is it sin? That's an important question for us to wrestle with. To answer that question, I want us to look back at the Scripture, the passage fact that Brian read for us just a moment ago, this introductory to Luke 15, maybe one of the most famous or familiar passages in all of scripture. As we think about what Jesus says and how he interacts with those who are maybe asking this same question. What's the deal with sin?
The chapter begins with this introduction. Now, the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, this man welcomes sinners and eats with them. Doesn't he know who's gathering around him? Can't he see?
Doesn't he understand? I thought he was a rabbi. I thought he had more insight, more wisdom than this. So Jesus is going to address this issue of sin and righteousness. And so he begins with two stories and a story about a shepherd and a lost sheep and a woman and a lost coin.
And a sheep wanders off, right? This one sheep wanders off. And the shepherd leaves 99 sheep who stayed. He wanders off to find the one who's gone away. And then when he finds that sheep, he puts it on his shoulders, he brings it back in, and he gathers all his friends around saying, rejoice, celebrate with me.
Because that sheep that wandered off, I found it, I brought it back.
He tells the story of this woman who's got 10 coins. She can't find one. So she tears apart her house, looking, searching, sweeping up every nook and cranny to find that coin. And when she finds it, she calls her friends, you gotta come over. You gotta come over and see I found my lost coin.
It kinda ends with this question, who does that? Who responds like that? And I don't know about you, but I'm thinking, nobody, nobody does that. Nobody needs 99 sheep to go find one. I mean, the odds.
No, I don't do that. I've got nine other coins. Maybe I might sweep the house for a little while. But if I find it, I feel a little foolish that I lost it in the first place. And I certainly don't call my friends and say, come over and celebrate with me.
I just found that $10 bill that I was telling you I lost, and I just found it. Come celebrate. Who behaves this way? And the crowd, and certainly the Pharisees. This Pharisee was thinking, nobody, nobody responds that way.
And Jesus says, actually God does. God responds that way. He says, now Rather, he says, there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents. Or in verse 10, there's rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. Who responds this way?
God does. And then comes the piece de resistance. I visited France in November. I picked up a few phrases.
Jesus tells a story about two sons. One that runs away into this reckless living and one that stays home. But he grows bitter and self righteous.
Both sons are lost, we discover, one in rebellion and one in religion. Now here's what I want us to notice about this story. The father's posture toward his sons never changes. It's not different for either son. But each son's view of the Father does change.
And it changes a lot. You see, that's one of the challenges with sin. Sin changes our view of God, but sin does not change God's view of us. You see, the younger son, after wasting everything he had been given his inheritance, basically told the old man to drop dead. He finds himself ending up feeding pigs.
He's dropped to about the lowest level that he can go. He's starving. He's humiliated. And here's what we learn. When that younger son came to his senses, he said, how many of my father's hired servants have food to spare?
And here I am, starving to death. I will set out and go back to my father and say to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants. So he got up and he went to his father.
And then Jesus tells us how the Father responds.
But while that younger son was still a long way off, his father saw him. And he was filled with compassion for him. And he ran to his son. He threw his arms around him and he kissed him. The son said to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.
I am no longer worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his servants, quick, bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate.
For this son of mine was dead and is alive again. He was lost. He's been found. And so they began to celebrate.
As you read back through that story, you notice something. The father never stops loving his son. That never quits. So what's changed? What changed?
Or maybe rather, who changed? That's the son. The son changed. Theologian Herbert McCabe argues that sin changes God into a projection of. Of our guilt.
Now think about that for a minute. He says sin changes God into a projection of our guilt. Right? We stop seeing the real God. Instead, we see a judge, an accuser, a paymaster, a condemner.
Now think about that for a minute. Who does that sound like? Does that sound like God? Or does that sound like somebody else who's an accuser and a liar and a deceiver and a judge? See, the father in this story never changes.
He runs to his son. He embraces him. He restores him. He doesn't have to be convinced. Notice the son stops and says, oh, hold on, dad.
I've been practicing this speech all the way. Now let me give it to you. The father doesn't need to hear the speech. He says, quick, bring the robe. He restores him.
The younger son presumed punishment. There's no way I can go home in this state. There's no way. After all that I've done and all that I've said and everything that I. Everybody knows all that.
There's no way I can go back in a good conscience, even make eye contact with this guy. I gotta have. He's gonna want to punish me. So let me see if I can kind of beat him to the punch. Father, I know I can't be your son anymore.
I know. Just make me like a slave. Just make me one of your hired men.
The father throws a party.
The father doesn't respond the way the son thinks he's going to respond. He presumed judgment. He presumed punishment. And instead the father throws a party. Which throws the vibe at the farm off a little bit, doesn't it?
The older brother's out working, and he can hear this commotion going on back home. And so as he walks up, he asks the servant, what in the world is going on? It sounds like there's a party. And the servant tells him, your brother's come. He's come home, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.
And the older brother goes, whoopee.
Are you serious? He did what? The older brother is so upset, he's angry. I'm never going in there. I know what he did.
I know what he said. I know that you bringing him back takes more out of my pocket. Because he spent his inheritance. All that's left is mine.
Not happening. This is not cool. You tell my father I ain't going in to that party. Not interested.
All these years, Father. All these years I've been slaving for you, everything you've asked, I've done. Jump how high. Run how far? You say the word and I do it.
You've never even given me a goat. I'm in a worthless goat. To celebrate something with my friends when this son of yours who squandered everything we've worked so hard to build, he comes home, you kill the fattened calf and you throw a party.
Son, you're always with me. All of this, it's yours. It's always been yours. But we had to celebrate because this brother of yours, he was lost. Now he's found he was dead.
But he is alive again.
See, where the younger son assumed punishment, the older son assumed favoritism.
But the father offers punishment, reassurance. Same posture, son. You're welcome here.
Both sons misjudged the father. Because sin doesn't just distort behavior.
Sin distorts our vision. It distorts how we see. It pollutes our ability to see who God really is.
We begin to believe. God's disappointed in me, Man, I hope he didn't see that, man. I hope he didn't hear that.
And I hope he didn't read that.
God's keeping track. He knows everything I've ever done. He's got the scoreboard. He knows the ledger. This is not going to go well.
God's keeping track of that.
Listen carefully, Church. God doesn't change his mind about us.
He changes our mind about him.
Again and again and again. Paul uses this word, sin. Let me show you in another place. If you have your Bible, turn over to Romans, chapter 6. In Romans, Paul uses this word for sin, hamartia, about 48 times.
In chapter six alone, like 19, almost 20 times. But it's interesting with this word in Greek, it actually can be used a couple of different ways. It can be used first as a verb, right, to sin something that you have done. Or it can be used as something you're under. Like this condition, as a noun.
Well, if you read through Romans, what you find is, of those 48 times that word is used, 40 or two times, it's used as a verb to sin. 46 times. Paul uses it as a condition. We are slaves to sin. In other words, sin isn't simply something you do.
It's a condition we find ourselves in. For Paul, sin's not primarily a moral mistake. It is that. That's not the primary use of that word, he says. Rather, it's a condition that we are in.
It's a state. It's a reality. It's the water that we are swimming in. So when Paul writes to the Romans about sin, he writes to them about being enslaved to sin. That's their reality.
That's a very different picture of this default image that some of us maybe grew up with, that God's kind of standing in the corner, keeping track, just waiting to zap ya. And I told you the story of my elementary and first and second grade PE Teacher. And when you got in trouble in class, you'd go zat, find a tree, and we'd have to leave class and go stand outside by a tree. Who does that?
Well, after the first few weeks, he wouldn't even say that. He would just go zat.
And you knew what that meant. Adios, muchacho. Right, you're gone. Some of us grew up with this sense that God's just waiting for that, like it brings him joy. Remember we said a parent who kind of sits idly by and goes, I'm so glad you messed up, because I love telling you I told you so.
That's not the picture that we get. Paul says, sin enslaves us. It dominates us. It becomes this condition that we live in that we feel trapped in, and it actually costs us something. It says, the wages of sin.
It's shame and isolation and fear and destruction. In fact, at the end of the chapter, Paul will say, the wages of sin is death. Living in that reality, it costs us everything, even our very life. See, sin punishes us from the inside out. Have you ever noticed that?
That sin punishes us from the inside out. When you lie, sin punishes you. It robs you of your freedom. Because now you're a slave to fear. What if somebody finds out?
So then I have to add another lie to cover up that first lie and another lie to cover up that lie. Sin punishing you when you nurture bitterness, that punishes you. You may not think so, but after a while you understand it's robbing you of your joy.
Sin punishes us. When you indulge lust, it punishes you. It robs you of the ability to actually see someone as a someone. Instead, we see them as an object to be used. Sin punishes us over and over again.
And God's not up in heaven going, ha, ha, Zach, he's yelling, don't touch the stove. It's hot. You're gonna burn yourself. Don't eat. Don't put that in your mouth.
Don't go head first down the stairs. No, don't. Do not. Because he's so angry with you or he's so frustrated at your level of incompetence. No, because he knows how damaging sin can be.
Don't do that.
So Paul's ringing the alarm. Wake up, Church. Not because God's unstable and we don't want to make Daddy mad. Instead, because sin is so devastating, it destroys families. Right?
Sin is the destroyer, but God is the restorer. Sin is the slave master. God is the liberator. Sin is the accuser. God is the advocate.
You see, there's this moment at the end of the prodigal son story where the Father says, this brother of yours was dead, but he's alive again. He was lost, but now he's found.
New Testament scholar Fred Craddock says this is the storytelling technique of end stress, emphasis, meaning. The last word carries the weight.
He's been found. He's alive.
You see, the redemptive gospel, the good news that we've been celebrating through this series, it's not that we'll finally learn how to behave well enough that it keeps dad from getting mad at us. No, no, no. It's that when we get lost, God finds us. He searches for us. It's like the father who's at home waiting, waiting and hoping his son will phone home.
And when he sees him at the distance, he doesn't go, oh, No. He runs out to meet him. He says, son, quick, get the robe. Put the ring on his finger. Not because his brokenness hasn't destroyed stuff Father recognized.
Yeah, sin's done its work on this young man. It has completely obliterated his life. Father says, may help put you back together again. Let me remind you, you're always welcome at home. You're always welcome home.
Remember, church, The Father's posture doesn't change.
Last time we said that the real danger in life is not that we don't get lost. Everybody gets lost. The danger is we get lost and we don't know it. We're never awoken to it. You see, we get lost in shame and in pride and distraction and coping mechanisms.
But God's posture never changes. He doesn't age into cynicism.
He doesn't get tired of welcoming you home.
Sin ages us and it wears us down. But God renews us. He restores us. And when we get to know that church, where it's not just a belief, but it becomes a reality, it changes us. It changes how we live.
We stop hiding. We stop running. We start returning. We stop believing God's our enemy and actually recognize, no, God is our rescuer. Sin's the one that brings destruction.
God is the one who brings restoration. This next week Marks the beginning of the Lenten season in the life of the church. And it's a chance for us to reassess and kind of reframe our hearts and our minds back in orientation, back to God. A couple of weeks ago, I got to spend some time in Nashville with a group of fellow preachers as we talked about this season, and got to listen to a writer and a theologian teach on this subject who's written volumes on this. And he shared, and I was excited to think about, well, we already kind of do this practice a little bit.
So I kind of felt like, yeah, I know what to do. We've been talking about this. We know what's up. And I thought, well, this week, you know, it'll be a good week, but it'll be one where I can. I'll be like, the student has become the teacher.
Right. For my fellow colleagues who have not yet discovered this. Yes, that look on your face, exactly. That's what happened, because God ambushed me there.
At one point, our teacher said, you know, with Lent, it's this interesting thing. It's much easier to give something up than it is to pray about it. I was like, hmm, you know, every year I give up, like, Diet Coke or sugar or something really, you know, that you would be very proud of knowing that I do.
And so Will said, well, does it bring you closer to God? Does it help God inspect your heart and reshape and reform it? Or at the end of those 40 days, do you go, whoo hoo? That was tough. I'm glad I'm getting me a big old cherry diet coat.
Has it changed how I see other people?
Has it changed how I respond to others?
And maybe the call for us today is in our coming home is to repent. I know that's a churchy word. That's right up there. That's about as churchy a word as it means. It simply means turn around to go in a different direction.
There's this not too terribly theological series of movies. I'm not recommending them to you. I'm just telling you. Called Austin Powers, and he has a father. And in one of these shows, the father shows up and says, you know, son, there are two things I hate in the world.
People who are intolerant of other people's cultures and the Dutch.
Some of you hear that word repent, and it scares you. So let me go first. There are two things I can't stand in this world. People who are intolerant of other people's cultures and Christians who aren't kind.
Christians who say one thing and do another.
Christians who make my life harder as a preacher.
And God goes, we probably need to work on that, Carl. And I go, I know I don't really want to.
I think I'd rather just give up the Diet Coke and call it a day, man.
Because I like rehearsing my self righteousness. I like being right. Okay. And I like feeling justified that you're wrong. And God goes, yeah, I know you want to come home.
I don't know.
I don't know.
That older brother, he and I are standing outside going, I don't know. It's going to cost me something. I don't know.
See, what I didn't realize was there was this gap that has formed. I know God loves.
I know God is with.
I know God wants me to grow. But.
See, God's invitation is we can always come home.
See, the most important lesson that we hear, church is not that we don't get lost. We get lost.
Do we know it?
Well? Two weeks ago, sitting in that chair in that class, God reminded me once again, I'm lost. Oh, God, I'm lost. Maybe there's a few more of us out today. The good news is you can come home.
You can come home. I know, but Carl, if you. You can come home. But I'm not worthy to be called his. Come home.
We got a robe, we got a ring. We'll sort it out. We'll figure out a way forward. I know, but I've done some. I know sin has been brutal and punishing us and separating us and creating these camps of us versus them.
And those people over there who believe that and who do that, it's a lie. It's not true. Come home. Come home.
You see, we serve a good, good father. That's who he is.
And he loves you. Not a future version of you. Not the cleaned up version of you. He likes the stinky, sitting there with the pigs, feeding their slop, wishing you could eat it version of you. He loves you and he wants to help you become who he created you to be.
Church. There's never been a better day than to come home than right here, right now. God, I pray that you would. You'd call us home again.
That you would remind us of your incredible love for us. That your posture toward us never changes. Just like the father of the story. Whether our lostness has been found and just outright rebellion to you or staying home and becoming more bitter and resentful that, God, your posture toward us never changes. You love us.
God, would you open our eyes this morning to see how sin is what punishes us and destroys us and defeats us and beats us down? God, you are the restorer. You are the one who liberates us. You are the one who sets us free, who helps us to become who you created us to be. Oh, God, we want that.
Would you help us find our way home back to you, Holy Spirit, would you prompt in us this morning, May we not leave here this not leave here today. God, would you meet us this week in our quiet time with you, just like you met me in Nashville? Remind us, God, that you love us, that you want us to be your ambassadors, your hands and feet in this world. And to do that, God, we've got to be convinced down deep into our souls that you love us. And so, God, remind us of your amazing love once again.
Father, thank you for that love that changes and transforms, that becomes a new identity for us. Would you help us to walk in that freedom this week? We pray in Jesus name.