Celebrate and be Glad

Sermon on Luke 15:1–32
Fourth Sunday in Lent
Our Hope Lutheran Church & Kramer Chapel
March 27^th-28th, 2022

Text:  “[The Father] said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’ ”  

Intro: The Parable of the Prodigal Son is, ironically, not about the lost son. It is about the Father and another son – the older one. Nor is the other two lost parables about the lost sheep or the lost coin. Nor are they about the ninety-nine sheep, safely grazing in the pasture or the nine coins still in the woman’s purse. They are about the friends and neighbors and the angels of God. God looks everywhere for the lost and rejoices when he finds them. He throws a party and wants us to rejoice with him. For they were dead and now are alive again; they were lost and now are found.

1. Before He made the world, God loved us.
   1. He chose us to be his children, rigged things so that we would be adopted as his heirs.
   2. In Jesus, he became one of us, sought us, died for our sins and rose so that we might live with him forever.
   3. His Holy Spirit put faith in our heart, keeps us safe in his care and is a guarantee of our salvation. 
2. God loves sinners and wants us to love them, too.
   1. Yet we are not alone. God has countless lost children, who have wandered far from home.
   2. Jesus searches everywhere for them.
   3. When he finds them, he rejoices and brings them home.
   4.  He throws a party for them and wants us to celebrate and be happy with him.
3.  Yet sometimes we do not feel like celebrating.
   1. Most of us have lived our lives as faithful Christians.
   2. Yet we live in a world that at best ignores God’s will and worst defies it.
   3. When they finally come to their senses, are we really all that happy about it?
   4. What we forget is that we are sinners, too.
4. Jesus came from heaven and sought us.
   1. He was born and lived in every way we are, except he didn’t sin.
   2. He bore our sins and complaining to the cross, where he died in our place.
   3. He rose to break the power of sin and death.
   4. He brought us home, singing and rejoicing.
   5. In the end, we will share his joy in the party that lasts forever.