The Pursuit of Grace

of you who are joining us online. We are continuing our series today called A Tale of Two Sons and in preparation for that I've asked my friend Gavin to pray for us. Gavin and his family attend our Casa Grande campus. Gavin is a senior in high school and actually Gavin and I are about the same heights but then he grew his hair out and then after that I look like a five year old standing next to him. Gavin serves our production team in Casa Grande. He also served our junior high students this past summer at camp and he's just a great young man of God and I've asked him to pray for us. So Gavin, will you lead us? Absolutely. If you want to turn your palms up in a posture of receiving, and let's pray, call my spirit. Lord, thank you so much for your day. Thank you for bringing everyone here. I pray that you would speak through Chad, give him the words and the wisdom to say what he used to say. I pray that you open up our hearts and our minds that we may be willing to receive this message and that we'd be able to walk differently in our faith with you than we did before. And you're going to be praying, amen. Amen. Thanks bro. Good job. Gavin and I were talking before service and I'm like, how tall are you? And he said, I'm 6'4". I go, you're about 6'10" with that fro, man. It keeps on going. Our kids and our teenagers, our students, are not just the church of the future, they're the church of today. And for all of you who serve either in our children's ministry or in our student ministry

as pastor, I just want to say thank you. Your investment into those junior high boys, into those young men and women in our children's student ministry, you have no idea what God's going to do with that over time. So I just wanted to say thanks for being a safe, strong, appropriate adult in the lives of our kids. Can we just thank all of those who volunteer in that way? Yeah, love you, just so grateful for you. We're continuing our series called A Tale of Two Sons. And we're looking at a parable in Luke chapter 15. Jesus tells three stories in that chapter. And remember, if you have been here the past few weeks, anytime we think about a parable that Jesus tells, a story that Jesus tells, you've got to ask yourself three questions. When you hear the story, when you read the story, who is God in the story? Who are you in the story? And what is it that you're supposed to learn? If you haven't been here over the past few weeks, I hope you'll go online and watch and listen and catch up with us. But there are three main characters in the story that we've been looking at. Usually people call this story that Jesus tells, the story of the prodigal son. And they call it that because if you've looked in a Bible recently, there's chapters and verses, the chapters are the big numbers, the verses are the little numbers. And there's little headings, like it's like broken up. And usually when you get to this part of Luke 15, the little heading is called the prodigal son. The only problem with that is the first line that Jesus says, as he tells the story is, there was a man who had two sons, which means the story is not about a prodigal son. The story is about a man who had two sons. Is everybody with me? That's the series, a tale of two sons. And the second brother, the older brother, is just as important to the story as the younger

brother is. And also just important to the story, catch this, is who the father is in the story. And today I want to talk to you about the father. Now, spoiler alert, if you're asking the question, you know, who is God in the story? Who am I in the story? And one I'm supposed to learn, you know, right? The father in the story represents God, obviously. But it reveals to us who God really is. And I ask this question on the regular here at Sun Valley. What do you believe about God? I am talking theologically, I mean, God is an infinite eternal spirit, okay, without any boundaries or limitations, who has an intellect, personality, feelings, and will. My question is this, what do you believe about God when it comes to his character? His intellect, personality, feelings, and will, what is it that you believe about him? And how do you think he feels about you? [BLANK_AUDIO] at the Father in the story, is that I'm not going to give you points today. The teaching here that Jesus is giving is not a .1, .2, here's the bottom line. The challenge that you and I are going to have is Jesus is painting a picture of the intellect, personality, feelings, and will of the Almighty God in such a way that we can understand Him. Again, His character and who He is. But Jesus also, as He paints a picture of the Father, He's painting a picture, catch this, of what real righteousness is, and of what true biblical Christianity actually is. If you were here last week, I said this. If you weren't here, I hope you'll again, that you'll go online and watch and catch up with us. But one of the things that Jesus is teaching here, and we're really going to lean into this today, is that Christianity is not a religion. It's not about saving yourself.

It's not about earning your way to God. It's not even advice on how to live better. It's not a religion. But it's also not the absence of religious devotion. There are rules, and there are principles. But the rules and the principles aren't about earning, it's not a religion. Yet there are rules that are more about learning, it's not about earning, it's about learning. So it's not a religion, but it's also not the absence of religious devotion. The biblical Christianity is something different. It's relational. God in His essence is relational. He's not one, He's three, He's not three, He's one. His Father, Son, and Spirit, and yet one God, the very essence of who and what He is, is He's relational. And He created you. He created me to have a relationship with us. The reason why you were born, the reason why you're breathing in and out right now, is because God loves you and He wants you to have a relationship with Him. He wants you to experience His love. You're not an accident in Psalm 139, the Bible says you were knit together in your mother's womb. God knows exactly who you are. He created you to have a relationship with Him. If you're like, "Well, I'm adopted, there are no accidental children. There are accidental parents, but you were knit together. Your soul was crafted by the Almighty who loves you, cares for you, knows exactly who you are. You're not an accident." And the primary purpose of your life and the primary purpose of my life is to know God have relationship with Him and for you and I to trust in His love for us.

This past Tuesday night, I went to a concert and I'd do that. It wasn't a Christian concert. I know. I don't need an email. It's okay. It'll be all right. But I went and saw Stephen Wilson, Jr., how many of you know who that is? Two of you, amazing. He's actually brilliant and super quirky and nerdy and weird and writes some amazing songs. I went with a buddy of mine and he and I just loved it. It was great. I saw a bunch of you there. People are high-fiving me and reaching over. You're my pastor. They kind of touched my shoulder or whatever. In fact, I went to the bathroom and when I came out, there were a group of people waiting for me. They're all hugging me and I'm shaking hands and I'm like, "I do wash my hands just so you know." It was a great concert. My favorite song that Stephen Wilson, Jr. does is called "Father's Son." In fact, when he comes out in concert, he says, "My name is Stephen Wilson, Jr., and I am my father's son." In the song, I'm going to give you a little bit of background. He talks about how he really tried not to be like his father, but come to find out he's like his father and he used to hate that and then now he's honored by it and he loves it. story and I'm going to give you the words of But he said, "I was in a four-door sedan," and he said the highway that he was on,

and he said, "I pulled over to the shoulder." He said, "I was talking on the iPhone, "whatever number it was, iPhone 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, "how many I ever, I think we're at 16, 17, 18." Now, something like that. Like he said, "I was on an iPhone 10," or, I don't know. He said, "I was on my iPhone." And he said, "The last words I ever heard my dad say to me "were Stephen Roddessong for me. "I love you, I love you, I love you." He said, and then he was gone. And then he started picking his guitar, and he sang this song that is my favorite. Words of the chorus, "I've never known better "'cause every bone is tethered. "You want to change my name? "You got to drain my blood. "I am my father's son." If you listen to the song, if you look it up, there's cuss word in it, I don't need an email. (audience laughing) It's just a man who used to be a boy talking about his love for his dad. As Jesus paints this picture, and he uses this metaphor of father, and of course, this is through the New Testament. I mean, in the Lord's Prayer, we're taught to pray our father. He's letting us know who God is, but he's also letting us know that real righteousness

is when we reflect his heart. When you and I walk in the ways of the father, when you and I represent the father, when people see the father in us, they're seeing righteousness and holiness. That this Christian thing is so much bigger than the rules. In fact, it's relational. And the more that my heart, and the more that your heart is connected to the heart of the father, the more right we are. And that this righteousness and this purity and this holiness actually doesn't come from you and I trying to keep rules. Rules are important. But the real stuff, the powerful stuff, the life-changing stuff, doesn't come from you and I trying to keep the rules. It actually comes from you and I being in right relationship with him. And the more we're in right relationship with the father, the more the father in his heart, the more it spills over onto us and the more it works itself in us and out through us. And this is biblical, real, solid Christianity. It's not a religion, nor is it the absence of religious devotion. It's something different. Quick reminder, Jesus tells this story to a group of people. We get the context in Luke 15 verses one and two. If you brought your Bible, please turn there.

In the New Testament, it's Matthew, Mark, and then the book of Luke. And then again, the big numbers of the chapters. So you go to 15 and then we're looking at the first two sentences, the first two verses, the small numbers of the verses. So here's who Jesus is talking to. He says, now the tax collectors and sinners, we're all gathering around to hear Jesus. And these are people who were obvious sinners. It would have been prostitutes, a trunks and the like. Tax collectors were Benedict Arnold's turncoats in that day, everybody hated them. So Jesus was around people who were outcasts. Verse two, but the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, this man welcomes sinners and eats with them. Jesus went out of his way to hang out with social outcasts. And he went out of his way to befriend obvious sinners and the religious elite did not like it. They did not know what to do with Jesus. And over time, they grew hatred towards him to the extent that they would work behind the scenes to crucify him. For all of us who are church people, that's something we really need to remember. That the people that had the hardest time with Jesus were the church people. The people that had the hardest time with Jesus and what he taught and the people that had the hardest time

but the story we're about to look at were the people that were the most religious. Let me just camp out on that as pastor for a second. The Pharisees and the religious leaders were of the mind that God, and they thought they had the corner market on who God is. And yet God made flesh. God incarnate Jesus was standing before them. He could do miracles. They saw it. They knew there was something very special about him, and they still work behind the scenes to get him crucified. What's your point, Pastor Chad? There's things about love in Jesus. And if God always thinks like you, talks like you, acts like you, votes like you, if God always agrees with you, look at me. You don't worship the real God. You worship an expression of yourself because God will rock your world on the regular. I've been doing this thing for a long time. I've read a few books. I've studied a little bit. My faith is stronger than it's ever been, and I've got more questions than I've ever had. The more that you know God, the more humble you will be. For everybody, if you're like, how do I know whether or not somebody's a mature Christian? They're humble. The chief virtue of the Christian life is humility. God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble, which means all of God's virtues, all of God's work flow through the heart of humility. God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Humility is the chief virtue of the Christian life. And the more somebody knows God, the more humility will show up in their life. Humility is not timidity. It's just reality. The more they'll live in the truth, walk in the truth, and you won't see arrogance in them. So Jesus, because they're muttering about him hanging out with these obvious sinners, decides to tell three stories. And he tells a story about a sheep that lost a shepherd and a woman that lost a coin. And then he tells the story about a man who had two sons. I'm not going to read the entire story today. We're just going to look at parts of it. And with that, we're going to see the heart of the Father, and I want to paint this picture for you and kind of break down what biblical Christianity actually is and end that how it works. So Luke 15, verse 11, let me show you this, and then we'll go from there. He's painting a picture of who the Father is. He says, Jesus continued. This is when he tells this third story. There was a man who had two sons. And again, he doesn't say there once was a prodigal son. He said there was a man

who had two sons. And the younger one said to his father, Father, give me my share of the estate. Now look at this line because most people miss this. So he, that's the Father, so the Father divided his property between what's the next word? Them. Okay, listen. So the younger brother comes to the Father and says, I wish you were dead, I really just want all your stuff. Can I have my inheritance now? The Father gives that not just to him, but to them because this is the story about a man who had what? Two sons. So that means the Father in this moment turns over his entire net worth to the younger brother and to the older brother. Now in this day and time, if you're the older brother, you get twice as much because you're the older brother. And as an older brother, in my life biologically, I'm for that, right? So the older brother gets two thirds and the younger brother would get one third. Okay, what does this tell us about the Father? Some of us are like, I don't know, crazy. First observation, this is not parenting advice. So if you're here this weekend and you're a young adult and your parents are wealthy, don't go home and show them this passage and go thus say at the Lord, right? That's not what this is. What Jesus is doing is he's painting a picture of the heart of the Father. The Father obviously loves his boys more than his stuff. How many of you see that there? To the extent that his boys acquiring wisdom and being prepared for life is more important to him than him protecting his own stuff in this moment. Apparently what's important to the Father is not the wealth but the relationships. Do you all see that here? You need to grow up or get out," right? But the Father doesn't do that. He's like, "You know what? I don't care about my stuff. I care about my boys." Older brother, two-thirds, younger brother, and one-third. Know what he all going to do. It's interesting because the Father operates in this thing called trust. Yeah, I'll trust you with that. Here you go. Then, of course, if you keep reading the story, the younger brother goes off, and what does he do? Squanders it. He parties it away. There's famine in the land. He can't find any work. He comes to his senses, and he decides to go home. And he thinks to himself, "There's no way I can ever be part of the family again, but maybe I can be a hired servant," because even my father's servants are doing better than I'm doing right now. And he knows he doesn't deserve anything, and he's humble. He's come to his senses. Now, this is not a parenting lesson, but I do think there's a parenting thought here, so let me just chase a rabbit for a second. The Father, apparently at this point, is not pressing his authority down on the boys.

And so here's the parenting thought. All of us are your parents. We have to realize that seasons of parenting change. Give me a give them to you. First, you're a caregiver that kid winds and offers you nothing, except a lack of sleep, right? And you get up in the night and you go take care of it. You're a caregiver, and then you're a cop, and then the kids keep growing. You're a caregiver, you're a cop, and then in the teenage years, you're a coach, and then the young adult and adult years, you're a consultant. Okay, this is really, really important. If you have a young adult kid, and by young adult, I'm talking late teenage on, by the way, your parenting is not done. Some of your greatest challenges are in that season. Can I get a witness? Okay, that's real. Parenting is challenging through your whole life, and there's going to be moments when you don't know what to do, and I'll just tell you all of us are stumbling through it. But I do know this. If you don't realize the season has changed, you will push your kid away quickly. And when it's time to be a coach or a consultant and you're still acting like a cop, you're telling them not to trust you. If they tell you the truth and you freak out, you are teaching them to lie to you next time. All these things are really important. So when they tell you the truth, your first response is, thank you for trusting me with the truth. That's the kind of relationship I want with you. You know, and then there's consequences or whatever, depending on the situation. But you want to guard the relationship. Here's what I'm saying, and here's what this father gets, and this is brilliant parenting, and this is good advice. Relationship is more powerful than the rules. If you are taking notes, that's a point. Relationship is more powerful than the rules. Play the long game. Rules without relationship will equal rebellion every time. Let me say that again. Rules without relationship will equal rebellion. Rules with relationship over time will foster righteousness. But you got to play the long game. This father doesn't freak out. We're seeing the heart of God here. This father loves his boys more than the rules, what would be standard and normal in the day he loves his boys more than his wealth. And we're seeing the heart of God here. The younger brother goes off, squanders it. I talked about that a moment ago, comes to his senses and begins to return home. He's entering onto the estate, and here's what happens, verse 20. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him. And he ran to his son, and he threw his arm around him, and he kissed him. Let's stop right there. What's that telling us about God? He has compassion for his children,

Ew. There is more grace in the Father than there is sin in the Son. To the extent all the Son has to do is show His face and take one step and the Father runs with all the steps. If you're here this weekend and you are royally messing up your life and you got some deep, dark, ugly sin, I just want to tell you the Father has compassion for you. And He doesn't want to shame you. He wants to take the shame off you. But for that to happen, you've got to come home. You've got to come into the light. You've got to deal with it. I mean, to heal from it, you got to deal with it. But the Father always welcomes you. Just turn in His direction and begin to move and He will move towards you. He's full of compassion. Jesus is revealing the heart of the Father in this story. The Father runs to Him, throws His arms around Him and kisses Him. By the way, I have a 17-year-old and I have a 23-year-old and I still kiss them both. Not on the mouth 'cause that's weird. But I do kiss them on the head and on the cheek and they seem to still like it. I'm just throwing that out there. Dad's, let's be affectionate. Don't be weird about it.

Be a strong man who is appropriately affectionate to your sons and daughters. It's important. Verse 21, "Son said to Him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you and I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' How many of you would say that's true? No longer worthy to be called the son. Can I see a show of hands? Okay, everybody should be raising your hand, okay? How many of you can see that that's true? He was no longer worthy to be called the son. Yeah, okay. Look at me. Here's the point. Here's Jesus' point. Worthiness doesn't have anything to do with it. Are you catching what Jesus is throwing here? Worthiness doesn't have anything to do with it. Which means, when God asks you to do something and you're like, "Oh, I just don't feel worthy." Yeah, go with that. It's completely irrelevant. I'm your pastor. I do this. You know, I get up and talk about, I'm not worthy of any of this. Don't have anything to do with that. Now, I try to live above approach. I try to follow Jesus, right?

There are some things I could do that would disqualify me from doing this. So I'm just keeping it real with you. But know this, it's not about my worthiness. It's never has been. It's about the grace of God in my life. It's about the grace of God in your life. If you're like, "I'll live for God once I clean my life up." You're never gonna clean your life up. You're just gonna stay dirty. 'Cause you need His help to do that. It is not about worthiness. Does everybody see that there? I'm not worthy to be called your son. Yeah, no kidding. It's not about that. The father just moves, not because who the son is, but because of who the father is. The father doesn't move 'cause the son is awesome. The father moves because he's awesome. And God, the father's love for you. It's not because you're great. It's because he's great. It's not because you're worthy. It's because his love is worthy and big enough and great enough to cover you and change you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Verse 22, "But the father said to his servants, quick, no hesitation, no, well let me make sure you've got it all together now."

The father doesn't, the father does not vet the situation. The father just responds with inappropriate, abundant grace. Quick, bring the best robe. That would have been the father's robe and put it on him. Give him my best. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet, which means he's probably barefooted. Poor, broken, destitute. The ring would have had the family insignia on it. The robe would have represented full acceptance. The shoes would have been a new way of life, a new walk. The son is saying, I'm not worthy to be called your son and the father is saying, you are my son, come home. You're fully part of the family. and celebrate." Which, by the way, means God the Father is for good steak. Those of you who are vegetarians, God bless you. But just know God the Father has a little steak here in there. Verse 24, "For the Son of Mine was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found, so they began to celebrate." All right. Right here is how functionally the real Christian life works. Talking about the real thing, like what Jesus taught, what the Apostle Paul wrote about, through the rest of the New Testament. Talking about what the Bible says. Here's what I need you to notice. "The Father doesn't deal with the Son's actions until He deals with the Son's identity." What is the first thing the Father does? He runs to him, hugs him, then roe brings sandals. He doesn't vet it. He doesn't say, "Now, have you come to your senses?" Like, "Can I really?" He doesn't do any of that. He doesn't deal with actions first. He deals with what first? Identity. You are my son. You are my child. Welcome home. Let's have some good steak called the DJ. Invite the friends over. We're going to celebrate this. There's no earning. There's no worthiness. There's just full embrace. Undeserved, unmerited love. There's a word for that. You know what the word is? It's grace. Grace means unmerited favor. Grace is getting what you don't deserve. Now, here's my question.

How did that son feel about the Father from that moment on? If the son had any health in him at all, do you think it changed him? Do you think the son most likely from now on has a deep heart desire to honor the Father? Knowing that he didn't deserve anything, knowing that he was completely unworthy to be called son, and then watching the Father pour out amazing grace over his life. Do you think it changed the kid's life? Do you think the next day when the Father said, "Okay, there's a few things we need to talk about. Here's what I would like you to do." How do you think that kid responded? Absolutely, Dad. Whatever you say. This is how the Christian life really works. We don't obey to get love. We obey because we are loved. Do you see the difference? We don't obey to earn anything. We've received amazing grace. We understand his love, so we obey to learn some things. The best obedience doesn't come out of guilt or conviction, although if that works, go with it. The best obedience comes out of love for the Father. Quickly, do you want to know why we receive communion? To remind us of what Jesus is talking about right now, that God gave his life on a cross to pay for all of our sin for all time. We remember that love, and out of that we repent and double down on our commitment to him. Love is the fuel. Love is the fuel. Love is the fuel. Have you ever heard this at Sun Valley? Maybe this sounds familiar. Your problem is not that you don't love God enough. Your problem is you do not realize how much he loves you. Does that sound familiar to anybody? Good, because I try to say it a thousand times every year. Because the more that you understand the love of the Father, the more that you understand that he gave you the robe, he gave you the ring, he gave you the sandals, and you didn't deserve any of it, the more that you get that, the more you will want to do what he says. That is the life-changing factor of the Christian life. If you are sitting around waiting to deserve or to be worthy, you will never get it. But if you and humility realize that you deserve no changes. Notice that the Son doesn't go after the grace. The grace of the Father goes after the Son. Do you see that in the story? That's the gospel. That's God. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. That's Romans 5, 8. When we were rebellious against God, God came after us because He loves us and cares for us. And the more that you understand that love and the more you understand the heart, the more you will obey. The more it will fuel you. If you and I could see everything that God sees, we would always do everything

that God says. And so the more that you're relationally connected with the Father, the more that you're filled up with His love, mercy, and grace, the more that you get it, the more it will get you. And when grace gets you, it changes you from the inside out. You actually become much more sensitive to sin. You become much more in tune with what God is doing around you. It's relationally driven. It's not a religion, nor is it the absence of religious devotion. It's something different. Last thing. The older brother, he's out working in the field. He realizes there's a party. He gets upset. He doesn't want to go and do the party because he's been slaving all these years. And he's self-deceived and self-righteous. And I talked about that last weekend. Here's what the Father says to him, verse 31, "My son, the Father said, 'You are always with me, and everything I have is yours.'" No kidding. He already gave him the two-thirds. Okay, everybody look at me. The problem with self-righteous and self-righteousness and bitterness is it's never well fed. It always stays hungry. Your bitterness will never be satisfied. All you can do is let it go. Nobody will be able to pay you back enough. Nobody will be able to make it right. Either let it go or you stay bitter. Either forgive and trust God or you stay broken. It hurts. It's terrible. It's not fair. But to forgive, to move forward, to trust God is to agree with heaven. And then everything begins to change. Everything I have is yours. That's the truth. But for the older brother, it wasn't enough. 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. And so the older brother, right? Totally perplexed by this. I kept the rules and he didn't. He doesn't deserve any of that. But, but, but, but. And Jesus tells that story and then drops the mic and walks off. You want to know the point? There's a righteousness that's greater than the rules. There's a righteousness that's greater than the law. The way of God is bigger than the law of God. Every time I say this, people get really upset about it. I don't care. It's the truth. God should shake you a little bit. You don't know everything about him. And in modern time, we're all sitting around to decide whether or not we agree or disagree and nobody's trying to learn anything. There is a righteousness that is greater than the law. And this is what Jesus is painting a picture of here. I'm going to give you the lamest example possible because I can't think of another one. And I said this in a podcast the other day, so it's making this sermon right now. Let's say that you have a pretend sister

who is out of shape very large. She's got a date one night. She's super excited about it. And she comes in to you. And she says as she's put on her new dress, do I look big in this? Well, what's the truth? Yeah. But is that what you say in that moment? Do I look fat in this? Do I look big in this? Well, the law would say don't lie. Thou shalt not lie. So you just drop a truth bomb right there? Yeah, you could lose 20 or 30. That probably helped. Is that what you say? No, no, no, no. What do you say? Do I look big in this? Here's what you say. You know what? I think you look beautiful. You look amazing to me. And whoever this dude is, I don't know who he is. He doesn't deserve you because as you're my sister. and you hug her. What, I just ignore the truth? No, you lived a greater truth in front of her and with her, and you invited her into it. Do you see the deference? Do you understand what biblical Christianity is? We're all sitting around thinking, "It's this rule, it's that rule, and don't do this, and don't do that." There is something greater, and the greater thing is amazing grace. And the greater thing is the heart of the Father. And the greater thing is that the Father, in Jesus' name, speaks beauty over you, regardless of how ugly your life is, if you will just return home and trust Him. This is the gospel. This is the good news of great joy for all people, and it's right here in the story of a man who had two sons. Would you guys pray with me? Let's pray together. Holy Spirit. I can't teach this, you have to do it. I don't even know what to pray, other than just say, "Would you cause grace to get us?" There's a greater righteousness, there's a greater love, there's greater power, there's

a greater thing than even the rules, and it's knowing and understanding your heart. May we chew on this, may we meditate on this, and make grace get us, so that we might be changed. Jesus, may it be for your glory and our good, in your name we pray, in Jesus' name, amen. [BLANK_AUDIO]