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Fun While It Lasted from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo.

Do you believe in God enough that it affects your behavior? Do you hold back from doing some things simply because it would grieve the Holy Spirit? Or does your spiritual life have little to do with your daily life? And why does it matter?

(Luke 6:46–48 NKJV)  "But why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do the things which I say? Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock.

Notice the wording Jesus used there: 

1. Whoever comes to Him. 

2. Who listens to His sayings (learns His word). 

3. And does them.

He is like a man building a house with a deep foundation on an unshakable rock. When the storm comes in the future, and it will, what this man built will be fine. He will come through the storm. Jesus continues:

(Luke 6:49 NKJV)  But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great."

A second man came to Jesus, heard His word, but did nothing with it. It didn't change him. His superficial skin-deep spirituality didn't affect his behavior. Jesus said this man is like a house built on sand without a solid foundation, and when a storm comes, it immediately falls and is ruined. 

People can call Jesus "Lord, Lord" , yet their hearts can be far from Him. Let's look at some more parables of Jesus. 

(Luke 15:1–3 NKJV)  Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, "This Man receives sinners and eats with them." 

The tax collectors and sinners were coming to Jesus and hearing His word. They were drawn to Him, but the highly religious Pharisees and scribes who taught the Scriptures complained about this. They had paid their dues, and Jesus was treating these new guys as their equals! 

We can begin to view ourselves as good because we abstain from outward sins of passion but completely ignore sins of attitude, like lust, jealousy, envy, judgmentalism, and pride. We can develop the Pharisee, elder brother mentality. 

In response to them whining about Him eating with sinners, Jesus told them three parables: 1. The lost sheep. 2. The lost coin. 3. The lost son.

In the parable of the lost sheep, a man had one-hundred sheep and lost one. So he left the 99 and searched for it until he found the lost one. When he found it, he placed it on his shoulders, carried it home, and rejoiced with his friends and neighbors.

In the parable of the lost silver coin, a woman has ten coins but loses one of them. So she lights a lamp, sweeps the floor, and searches the dark house frantically until she finds it. Then she rejoices with her friends and neighbors over finding the lost coin. Jesus said, "there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." (Luke 15:10 NKJV).

To translate those simply, Jesus is the One searching, and people are/were what was lost. He rejoices when people turn away from sin and to God. Remember the short little tax collector, Zacchaeus?

(Luke 19:1–5 NKJV)  Then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature. So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was going to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, "Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house."

(Luke 19:6–10 NKJV)  So he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully. But when they saw it, they all complained, saying, "He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner." Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold." And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."

Zacchaeus thought he was seeking Jesus, but instead, Jesus was looking for him. The reason Zacchaeus climbed that tree in the first place was that Jesus was drawing near to him. It's the same with us. It was the same for the tax collectors and sinners back then. They were drawn to Him when He came near. 

(Isaiah 55:6–7 NKJV)  Seek the LORD while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the LORD, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.

After the parables of the lost sheep, and the lost coin, Jesus told a parable about a man and his two sons:

(Luke 15:11–13 NKJV)  Then He said: "A certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.' So he divided to them his livelihood. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.

The hubris of youth at its finest hour. The young son took his new inheritance and left home. He probably moved to a big city with a thriving nightlife and bought a new flashy wardrobe while humming, "I did it my way." He was the life of the party and had many new friends as long as he had money. It was fun while it lasted. 

(Luke 15:14–16 NKJV)  But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.

Above, we talked about when the storm comes.  The house built on sand was not prepared when the storm came. In this story, it was a famine. The young son had nothing to do with the famine, but sadly, he wasn't prepared for it, and storms always seem to come when you are unprepared.

The party was over. He was now broke and hungry, and the only work he could find was the lowliest job a Jewish man could do, feeding pigs for a gentile. He would have gladly eaten the pig food, but no one gave him anything.

Misery has a way of bringing clarity, and soon, the young son "came to his senses." While he was living it up, he wasn't being his true self. It was just a streak of rebellion, like a priest going on a crime spree. It wasn't normal.

(Luke 15:17–18 NKJV)  "But when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you"

So he pulled himself together and headed back home, singing, "I can see clearly now the rain is gone." His father had not pursued him or tried to convince him to stay. He understood young people sometimes only learn by making young people's mistakes. 

Yet, when the father saw his young son coming down the road, he ran out to meet him and kissed him repeatedly. He ignored the son's long speech and was busy dressing him in his best robe, putting a signet ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. He was apparently walking down the road barefooted and destitute. The father threw a feast and prepared a fatted calf kept for special occasions. 

Early that morning, the young son was barefoot, broke, and hungry. Justly so, for he had squandered everything he had in riotous living. Yet, that evening, he was dining at a feast held in his honor. He was wearing the best robe in the house, with his father's signet ring on his hand, surrounded by friends and family. 

How did he go from point A to point B? By simply changing his attitude and humbly returning to the father. Yet, not everyone was happy to see him. 

(Luke 15:25–28 NKJV)  "Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, 'Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.' "But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him.

(Luke 15:29–30 NKJV)  So he answered and said to his father, 'Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.'

The older brother may have lived with the father, but his heart was far from the father's. The younger son was plagued by outward sins of passion, but the older son was separated from the father by sins of attitude. Bitterness, jealousy, and resentment had eaten away their relationship. The older brother was farther away from their father than the younger one, and he hadn't even left the farm. 

Older brothers can be lethal. Cain killed Abel because he gave a better offering. Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery because of his dreams. Imagine what would have happened if the older brother here had met the returning one on the road that day instead of his father. It would have been ugly. 

"Some nerve you have showing your face around here after what you have put this family through. Now that you are out of money, you come running back to get some more out of dad. Go back to where you came from. No one wants to see you here." 

Let's be different. Rejoice with the Father when a new soul is added to the kingdom. We should welcome the lost to our churches. Jesus welcomed the tax collectors and sinners, and He ate with them. He rejoiced when they changed their ways. We should be more like Him.

You can pray this with me if you like: 

Prayer: Heavenly Father, please let me see the world through Your eyes and the big picture. Make what is important to You important to me, and help me get in tune with what You are doing on Earth today. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen!