Lost and Found: The Easter Story

What is the significance of Easter? Most people associate Easter with Easter bunnies, chocolate eggs and Easter egg hunts. Like all of the significant events of life, the adversary will demean the true meaning of the Word of God. This is especially true of the significance of Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Jesus poured poured his life into his twelve disciples the last few weeks of his life before the crucifixion. They would not understand the significance of their Lord’s resurrection until they were filled with God’s Holy Spirit.

Jesus stopped in Bethany on his way to Jerusalem. Mary, the sister of Lazarus and Martha, met Jesus. She washed his feet with her tears and anointed his feet with costly perfumed ointment. This act symbolized preparing his body for burial prior to his death.

When Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray, he took with him Peter, James, and John. He said to them, “watch and pray..” He prayed to his Father, “If there be any other way let this cup (of wrath, sin separation and death) pass from me.” Gethsemane is the garden of the “olive press.” In the garden, Jesus’ will was pressed and crushed to conform to his Father’s will. “And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” His prayer concluded, “nevertheless, not my will but thine be done.”

When Jesus was led before Pilate, even though Pilate could find no fault in him, the people shouted, Crucify him, crucify him!” He gave them over to the people and committed Jesus to the Roman authorities to be executed by crucifixion.

In God’s economy, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission and forgiveness of sin. In the Old Testament, God told Moses to tell the children of Israel, “take a “Passover lamb” and put the blood on the doorpost and the angel of death will pass over you.” When Jesus was crucified, he became our Passover lamb that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

When he died on the cross, Jesus’ blood did not cover our sins, rather his blood cleansed us from all unrighteousness. At his death, he ended the ritual animal sacrifices of the Old Testament. What the animal sacrifices could not do, Jesus Christ accomplished by shedding his innocent blood in exchange for our guilty blood. Jesus Christ is the end of the law… He came not to abolish the law but to fulfill the law.

The gospels and the meaning of Easter are revealed in Jesus’ parables. In Matthew 15, Jesus told them three parables about “lost and found.” The parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15 has many layers of spiritual meaning. On one level it is an illustration of the true meaning of Easter. The true meaning of Easter is that “I was lost but now am found.”

This parable is in Luke 15:11-32: And he said, A certain man had two sons: 12. And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. 13. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.

14. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. 15. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 16. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.

17. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! 18. I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, 19. And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.
20And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
21. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no no more worthy to be called thy son.

22. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: 23. And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: 24. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.

25. Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing. 26. And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. 27. And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound.

28. And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him. 29. And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends: 30. But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.

31. And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. 32. It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.”

This detailed parable teaches many spiritual lessons. The older son represented the Pharisees. The Father represents God our Heavenly Father. The younger son represents believers who were lost but are now found. The main feature of this parable is God’s joy and rejoicing at the repentance of one sinner. The younger asked the father for his inheritance. The Father did not argue with his son but gave his son what he asked for.

The older son inherited twice as much as the younger sons. The inheritance was awarded at the death of the father. When the younger son demanded his inheritance his culture interpreted this request as, “Dad, I wish you were dead.” The lesson is to be careful what you ask for. You may be granted your request. The Father gave his younger son his inheritance. The younger son “went into a far country where he squandered his father’s fortune with loose living.” While he had money, he had many “friends” who were actually “hangers-on.” Then in verse 14, after he had spent everything there was a severe famine and he became destitute. He got a job working for a man who raised pigs. In their Jewish culture, a man who associates with pigs is counted among the pigs. He is no longer considered a man. When you’re in the world, you develop an appetite for the things of this world. He was so hungry while living like a pig, that he began to crave pig slop: “he fain did fill his belly with the husks which the swine did eat.”

Each Christian has a “turning point” a point of repentance. Verse 17 is the prodigal son’s point of repentance. He “came to himself.” To repent is to come to the point that “I have found the enemy and he is me.” He thought to himself, “my father’s hired hands have plenty to eat, but I’m here craving pig slop.” He said, “I will arise and go unto my father.” A broken and a contrite heart, God will not forsake.

In the Jewish law, when a son dishonors his Father, his punishment is death by stoning. The word “prodigal” means “lavish and extravagant.” The prodigal son squandered away his father’s fortune with lavish and extravagant “riotous” living. He had to get to the point that he “came to himself.” When he lost everything, he realized that he had sunk to the level of a pig and that there was nowhere else to go. With a humble and a contrite heart he needed to return to his father’s house.

The Father was waiting and watching for his son to come home. He was not waiting to judge and condemn his son. Jesus had said, “come unto me all ye who are weak and heavy laden and I will give you rest.” The father saw his son “from afar off” and ran to meet him. The son came to his father and started his rehearsed speech, “I have sinned before you and against God…” The father didn’t listen to his son’s speech. He instantly forgave him. The father embraced his son and rejoiced that his son had returned home.

The older son represented the hypocritical Pharisees who thought they were better than everyone else for keeping the “letter of the Old Testament law.” They understood condemnation, but they didn’t understand unconditional love, grace, and mercy. The older son said, “I’ve been faithful to serve you. I’ve done everything you’ve said, but you never killed the fatted calf for me and gave me a party.” He had done all the right things but for the wrong reasons. He was bitter, angry, and vindictive.

The story of the prodigal son and the story of Easter is the story of “lost and found.” It is the story of the Father’s love, mercy, grace and forgiveness. The meaning of Easter is the resurrection, being raised from the death that we inherited from Adam unto a new life in Christ. The story of Easter is that In that while we were yet sinners Christ died for the ungodly. What amazing Grace!

The song by Phillips, Craig, and Dean, “When God Ran” is on point. The emphasis of the parable of the prodigal son is the Forgiving Father. You’ll be blessed when you listen to the lyrics of this song. Here is the link on You Tube: https://youtu.be/1Akv2V5fNdk

May we ever live to the praise of the glory of His grace!
Your brother in Christ,
Michael

Peter’s Example

Regardless of the current events on the world stage, God is still Sovereign overall. He orchestrates his will behind the scenes. In Ezekiel 38 there will be a war on the Golan Heights where Israel will fight alone against the rest of the world. What men meant for evil, God meant for good. The word of God is truth regardless of the affairs of men and the events unfolding within God’s timeline.

In the meantime, God exhorts us to look after the flocks that he’s called us to shepherd. According to the Apostle Peter, Feed the flock of God which is among you. Taking the oversight thereof, not of constraint, but willingly. Not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind. Peter himself had to learn the meaning of discipleship “in the dust of the rabbi,” his Lord Jesus Christ. Through perseverance in the trials of life, Peter learned to trust in the Lord with all his heart and lean not to his own understanding. God’s word teaches us by example that regardless of trials and tribulations, God is our sufficiency in all things.

John 1: 41 records Peter’s introduction to Jesus by his brother Andrew. Peter was a mid level fisherman from Galilee, an “everyman” who had no distinctive worldly credentials. However God uses earthen vessels like Peter and like us so that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. Peter learned to be a disciple by following in his master’s footsteps.

Jesus taught Peter by repeating important life lessons in groups of three. Peter denied Jesus three times and then Jesus asked Peter three times “Do you love me?” Peter eventually learned what it meant to love his Lord. Three is the number of completeness. God completed Peter as a man of God with trials of three so that Peter could come to understand that God alone is our sufficiency and that we are complete in Him.

Jesus asked Peter the most important question: “Who say ye that I am?” The answer to this question will reveal the heart of a true man of God. Peter answered, “thou art the Christ, the son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “blessed are you Peter son of Jona, flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my father which is in heaven.”

Before Jesus’ crucifixion, Peter said to Jesus, “Even if the whole world denies you, I’ll never deny you.” His heart was to serve his master but his confidence was in his own ability. Jesus reproved him, “before the cock crows twice, you shall deny me thrice”. God will break our hearts for what breaks his. After Peter had denied his Lord the third time, Jesus caught Peter’s eye. Peter turned away in shame and guilt, went away and wept bitterly. A broken and a contrite heart God will not forsake. He picks up the threads of our broken hearts and weaves them together again.

There were three “I love you’s” and three commissions that Jesus gave Peter after the resurrection. Peter had returned to his fishing business. Jesus met him and his crew on the shore. Jesus asked Peter, “do you love me with the (agape) love of God more than these?” He pointed to Peter’s fishing nets, his boats, and his crew and asked “do you love me more than these?” Peter said, “I love (phileo) you. I’m fond of you.” Jesus said, “feed my young lambs.” Jesus asked again, “Peter do you love (agape) me?” Again Peter answered, “I love you like a brother.” Jesus said, “feed my sheep.” The third time Jesus asked, “Peter do you phileo me?” Peter said, “Lord you know all things, you know that I love (phileo) you the only way I know how.” Jesus said, “feed my flock.” Jesus knew what was in the heart of a man. Peter had a heart to serve his master but he needed to learn that his calling was not to be a fisher of fish but a fisher of men. Jesus knew that even though Peter did not yet understand the spiritual agape love of God, he would eventually understand God’s unconditional love when he received God’s spirt, the “power from on high” at the day of Penticost.

The world considered Peter an unlearned and ignorant lowly Galilean. However, at the day of Pentecost he received the power of the Holy Spirit. Peter preached the first message of salvation to the church at the temple in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. The crowds were perplexed by his powerful and eloquent words because they recognized his accent as an uneducated Galilean. Then they took note that he had been with Jesus. Later Peter was moved by the Holy Spirit and wrote two epistles by revelation of his Lord Jesus Christ.

According to 1 Peter 5:1-11: THE elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: 2. Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; 3. Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. 4. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye”“shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. 5. Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. 6. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: 7. Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. 8. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: 9. Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. 10. But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. 11. To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”

According to 2 Peter 1-21: “SIMON Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, 3. According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: 4. Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 5. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; 6. And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; 7. And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. 8. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. 10. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: 11. For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 12. Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth. 13. Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance; 14. Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me. 15. Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance. 16. For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17. For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. 18. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount. 19. We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: 20. Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. 21. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”

These profound words of Truth were written according to God’s holy spirt by revelation to his servant, Jesus’s disciple Peter. Even though he was a lowly fisherman without lofty credentials, God chooses the foolish things of this world to confound the wise.

Our responsibility like Peter’s, is our response to God’s ability… to yield to the Holy Spirit of Christ in us the hope of Glory. He has called us as able, and sufficient ministers of the New Testament of the good news of the gospel of grace. The good news of the gospel is God’s saving grace in John 3:16-17. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”

Jesus called Peter to do the impossible. However Jesus said, “with God all things are possible to him that believeth.” As the apostle Paul said, I am sufficient unto all things and I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me.

May we ever live to the praise of the glory of His grace!
Your brother in Christ,
Michael

Monkey See and Monkey Do

There’s a saying that says “monkey see and monkey do.” According to James 1:25 and following, “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.”“23. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: 24. For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. 25. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.”

Marina Chapman was kidnapped from her home in Columbia at the age of four. She remembers bits and pieces of her abduction. She remembers a man’s arm pulling her into the back of a truck. The next thing she remembered was the strange smell of a chemical on a rag held over her face as she passed out. When she woke up two days later, she realized that she was in the heart of the jungle all alone. For three days and nights she cried and screamed for her mother. On the third day, a troop of monkeys noticed her. Over the next few days the monkeys realized that she was not a danger to them. The monkeys started bringing her fruit and nuts that they were eating. She began to observe what they were doing and how they foraged for food. The monkeys eventually adopted her into their troop. From the age of four to ten she survived in the heart of the Columbia jungle by one strategy: Monkey see and monkey do. After several years, she saw something shiny on the ground hidden in the brush. She studied it from a distance and finally poked at it. When she looked closely she discovered that the shiny object had two eyes. Then she realized that it blinked when she blinked. She remembered a similar object from her childhood and that what she had found was a mirror. Three things came into focus: Who she really was, who she was not, and who she had become. She had caught a glimpse of the girl she really was and that she was different from the monkeys around her. She decided to find who she was meant to be. Some time later, she heard a rustle in the brush and saw that it was a hunting expedition. She followed the men from a safe distance but they discovered her hiding. They captured her and took her into the city. She was so wild that they did not know what to do with her. Eventually she was taken to a convent. Many years later at the age of sixty five Marina Chapman wrote her true story in the book, “The Girl with No Name.”

The world teaches us to imitate what we see others do. The rule of the jungle is “monkey see and monkey do.” The world indoctrinates us according to its norms and mores. Jesus said, “Ye are not of this world.” James 1:25 says, “Whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continue the therein, he not being a forgetful hearer but a doer of the word, he shall be blessed in his deed.” According to 2 Corinthians 3:18, “For we all beholding as in a glass the glory of the lord are changed into the same image from glory (of the flesh) to glory (of the Lord) even by the spirit of the Lord.”

How do we discover our true identity? God called Nathan to show David who he really was. David no longer walked in fellowship with God after he committed adultery with Bathsheba and then ordered the murder of her husband Uriah. David had lost track of his true identity. Nathan told David a story about a rich man in his kingdom who owned many flocks of sheep. His neighbor was a poor man whose only possession was a precious little ewe lamb whom he cherished like his own daughter. One day one of the rich man’s friends came over for dinner. Instead of taking a sheep from his own flocks, he stole his neighbor’s little ewe lamb, butchered her, and served her to his rich guest for dinner. Nathan said to David, “what shall we do about this injustice?” David said to Nathan, “The man who did this thing must die.” Then Nathan said to David, “you are the man.” David realized his sin. Psalm 51 is the record of David’s repentance. David confessed, “Against you only have I sinned. Create in me a new heart O Lord.” A broken and a contrite heart God will not forsake.

The word of God is the mirror and reflects what the world really produces. The world produces refugees who are starving because the world feeds them junk food. The influencer in the story of the Journey rescues the refugee from the deception of this world. When we look into the mirror of the Word of Truth, it reflects the truth of what God has made us in Christ. For he who was without sin became the perfect sacrifice for sin on our behalf that we may be made the righteousness of God in him.

According to Philippians, God is our sufficiency. He is our all in all. He completes us and he equips us to will and to do of his good pleasure. He has made us able and sufficient ministers of the New Testament. According to 2 Corinthians 3:2-3: “Ye are our epistle (God’s love letter) written in our hearts, known and read of all men: Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.”

What is God’s plan? We are God’s plan. He has called us to be disciples: disciplined followers of our Lord Jesus Christ to will and to do of His good pleasure…. Doers of the Word reflecting our true nature of Christ to bring others to the gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

May we ever live to the praise of the glory of His grace!
Your brother in Christ,
Michael