Sermon for Fourth Sunday in Lent, March 14, 2010

Here's the sermon from yesterday's service. If you caught it 'live', you might notice some differences. I'll be honest in that I seemed to deviate from my printed text more than is typical. C'est la vie!

Lent 4
March 14, 2010
Luke 15:1-3, 11-32
On whose terms?

In the name of Jesus, amen. Reading the fine print is a chore. It takes time. It’s hard to read the print and it’s hard to understand the terms. I utilize iTunes on my computer to listen to the radio and download podcasts and things like that. Periodically there are updates that I need to install and part of the installation process is to agree to some terms. You have to click on agree, otherwise the installation will not take place. I never read what the terms are. There are a lot of terms and all I want to do is move on and listen to some music. There have been some economic reforms recently undertaken to try and rein in the credit card industry. How many people can really understand the terms on the back of those credit card applications? It often is the case that we are buried under terms and conditions that we just roll over and sign whatever is put in front of us.

That’s a dangerous thing to do. The terms I agree to on iTunes are harmless. The terms people agree to with credit cards are more serious. The terms that apply to our salvation, they matter a great deal! And so we thank God our Father that he forgives us on his terms, not ours.

Forgiveness on our terms does not work. Today’s Gospel lesson paints that picture for us. The prodigal aka the wasteful aka the younger son, he wanted life on his terms. He sinned before God and his father. By asking for his share of the inheritance, what was he asking of his father? He was asking his father to hurry up and die. This younger son wanted to run his own life without any restrictions, to be his own god. And he took his inheritance and drank it away, partied it away, squandered it recklessly. Then the young man tried to solve his problems himself, yet that only made the situation worse. All of that takes place in verses 12-16! A life is wrecked in four short verses.

And the young man recognizes the wreckage of his life. He came to himself, which is a nice way of saying that the boy realized the mess and the destruction.

That sounds good, especially when we see this story as a mirror that reflects our own life and situations. But the young man drew up the terms of the forgiveness he was seeking. He planned to confess his sin. That is good. I’ll never say that is a bad thing. And he felt that he was no longer worthy to be called a son. I think that is also correct. The young man had taken his sonship and elevated himself over his father. He treated his father as if the old man had nothing to offer but money. And then the prodigal decided that he would work as a servant. He would earn his keep so that he would have enough to eat. He wanted forgiveness, but only on his terms.

We want life and forgiveness on our terms too. We have sinned before God, against our friends and family, and have inflicted damage upon ourselves. We are the prodigals who view our heavenly Father merely as the giver of gifts. As Christians, we feel that we deserve God’s goodness simply because we are his children. God owes us because we are his.

We want to dictate the terms of our life. We want no restrictions on what we can do; consequently we break all his Commandments. We squander time. We waste our abilities and talents. It is a certainty that God has blessed us with many wonderful qualities but we frequently keep those qualities to ourselves, never daring to use them in a beneficial way.

Many times we make our bad situations worse by doing good only for the sake of earning God’s favor. We hope that if we do enough things that are right, that will cancel out all the things that are wrong. If I can simply do one more good thing than bad, I’ll have ended my day with a positive balance. But that hope is earthly, that hope is common, that hope is human-centered. Sadly, that hope is in vain.

And when we cannot fill our bellies on the pods that the pigs are eating, we come to ourselves. We wake up, yet we stumble in a daze as we draw up the terms of our forgiveness. We choose the time, the place, and the words. And when we do that, don’t our confessions take on the tone of ‘The devil made me do it’? My brother lured me into sin. I wanted to fit in with the cool kids at school, that’s why I did it. I was lured into gambling because it seemed like a sure bet, like easy money. I was lured into addiction because it seemed so harmless at first. Our confessions devolve into attempts at self-justification and we heap excuses upon all the people around us. I must confess- it’s not my fault!

Traveling that road leads us not to salvation but to despair. We decide on our own that we have forfeited our rights to be called a son or daughter of God. We believe that we no longer have an heir’s right to Christ’s inheritance. And we ask God to watch us work out our own salvation. We ask God to watch us prove how truly sorry we are for our sin.

Forgiveness on our own terms is a real problem throughout the religious world. Many Christians are deluded by this false hope. Followers of Islam are deceived by the notion that only the morally perfect will attain perfection. Buddhists and practitioners within the cult of Scientology share in that same misguided thinking- that a person can be perfect in this life if they only try really, really hard. It is very sad to watch this poison infect people.

As a Christian it is particularly depressing to notice how often the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is turned into a carrot on a stick. You know how that works. You try to entice people to do certain things, act a certain way, speak a certain way. You hold out something good in the hopes that someone will do something. Parents do it to children. Husbands do it to wives and wives do it to husbands. Christians do it to one another and Christians do it to God! Forgiveness on our terms does not work!

But there is a different way. God shows us a better way. Our Father, who art in heaven, with a name that is hallowed, He shows us a better way. For God forgives on His terms.

The father goes out to meet his son while the son was still a long way off. He doesn’t scold or punish but rather embraces and kisses him. With disarming forgiveness, the father shows his love and compassion by restoring this son to the family as a rightful heir. A banquet is authorized and gifts are given. This is a different way indeed, and a better way. It is the way of the Father’s forgiveness.

The father also goes out to the older son, whom we can probably relate to at times. The older son is still a rightful heir too. It is fitting to celebrate, because the family is whole again. This brother of yours was dead but is now alive. He was lost, but now is found.

Our heavenly Father takes the initiative to forgive us on his terms. Despite our sins, which are many and great, God continues to love us. God seeks us out, and God deals with us on his terms of love and mercy. After all, our sin was placed upon him who knew no sin, so that in the Christ the sin-bearer we might become the righteousness of God. The punishment that our sins deserved was paid in full upon Calvary’s cross.

It is sometimes difficult to believe the terms of God when we are so conditioned by the terms of this world, of this life, but God reassures us that we are heirs of God and our names are written in the Book of Life. There is an eternal banquet being prepared for us and for all the believers in God’s promises. In the reality of Dick and Sam’s memorial services, we celebrate the comforting knowledge that God has welcomed them into His presence through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus our Lord.

Our Father comes to us with assuring and comforting words. We know we need them. Our Father brings us to times of feasting and rejoicing, because we need those times. Our Father brings us time for prayer, for silence, for praise, again, the very things that make our life so full and rich. Our Father brings us times to come to ourself and then to return to the Lord in repentance, and our Father is there with open arms, loving and forgiving us on His terms. SDG