Grosey's Messages

The Parable of the Prodigal Son

 11 And he said, "There was a man who had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.' And he divided his property between them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. 14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to2  one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.

 17 "But when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19  I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants."' 20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'3  22 But the father said to his servants,4  'Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.' And they began to celebrate.

 25 "Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.' 28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, 29 but he answered his father, 'Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!' 31 And he said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.'"

Luke 15 The Seeking Father.

The parable in this passage focuses on the character and nature of the God of the Bible. It's usually called the parable of the Prodigal Son but I prefer to call it the parable of the Loving Father. Jesus uses this story to teach us about the character and nature of His Father It's no good to believe in God if you believe in the wrong kind of God. You can know what God is like by how He responds to a rebellious son in this parable.

What a great story! In just a few short words, Jesus shows us the selfishness and sinfulness of a rebellious son. Charles Dickens once wrote about this parable, "The Prodigal Son is the finest short story ever written."

In the story, the younger son demanded to receive his inheritance although his father is still alive. According to Jewish law, a father who had two sons was to leave 2/3 of his estate to his older son and 1/3 to his younger son. This younger son came to his dad and said, "I know you're gonna' drop dead someday, but I don't want to wait–give it to me now." The Father was wounded by this harsh demand, but he granted it. He probably had to take some time to sell some of his land or livestock or liquidate other assets, but he eventually comes up with 1/3 of his net worth and hands it to his younger son. Immediately the son takes the money and runs. He walks out of his father's life and heads for the "far country." Here is a perfect example of a rebellious, disrespectful child.

The Reality Of Sin's Pain 

Because of his foolish decisions, this boy found himself in a mess. He learned some valuable lessons!

1. Sin Brings Shame - Here is a Jewish boy who finds himself feeding the pigs! For a Jewish man to stoop to this level would mean that he had reached the very bottom of the barrel of life! He must have been filled with shame! Those who heard Jesus say this must have been shocked beyond belief! (Note: Those who allow sin to have its way in their lives always come to shame sooner or later. The shame of a wasted life! The shame of a wasted youth. The shame of wasted opportunities. But, worst of all, there is the shame of a wasted eternity! It is a disgrace to sacrifice your finances, your fitness and your family on the altar of sin and self-indulgence! What a shame to live that way and what a shame to die that way! It doesn't have to be! Sadly, many live like Hell and don't seem to be bothered by it at all! There will come a day, when they will be ashamed in His presence, 1 John 2:28! )

2. Sin Brings Suffering - Here he is, no home, no help and no hope. No one cares for him at all. He is starving and would have taken the pigs food if he could have. He is suffering because of the choices he has made! (Note: Sin has not changed! It always brings suffering, Pro. 13: 5 The righteous hates falsehood, but the wicked brings shame and disgrace. 6  Righteousness guards him whose way is blameless, but sin overthrows the wicked.
 13 Whoever despises the word brings destruction on himself, but he who reveres the commandment will be rewarded.   14 The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death.   15  Good sense wins favor, but the way of the treacherous is their ruin.  16  In everything the prudent acts with knowledge,  but a fool flaunts his folly.

Many suffer in this life because of the things they lose to sin, health, wealth, family, etc. But, those who allow sin to play itself out to its ultimate conclusion find that Hell is all they have to look forward to at the end of the way! Friend, don't let that happen to you!)

3. Sin Brings Sadness - No one cares whether he lives or dies! He is alone and lonely. He is hungry and broken. What a sad shape to be in, but for this young man, it was the first step in getting him home. (Note: Nothing is any more sad than a life broken by sin. Nothing hurts as badly as seeing a life that was once filled with potential, dashed to pieces on the cruel rocks of wicked living. It doesn't have to happen, but you might as well know today, you will not go into the far country and come back happy! No one ever wandered off into sin and came back glad they did. They all returned broken, defeated and humbled, Ill. David and Samson. If that is what it takes to get you started toward home, the praise the Lord!)

STEPS TO RETURN HOME TO GOD

If you have wandered away from God and allowed sin to take control of your life, it's not hopeless. The son took three specific steps to return to his father and these are the same three steps you need to take to return to your heavenly Father.

1. The first step is to realize!  In verse 17 Jesus said, He came to his senses." This is the turning point of the parable. Before you can return to God, you must first realize you are in a mess without Him.

2. The second step on the road back home is repent!

After he realized the shame of his situation, the next thing the prodigal son said was, "I have sinned." In verse 18, he admitted his rebellion was a sin against God. That's what the Bible calls confession. Confession and repentance are two sides of the same coin. Confession always precedes repentance. When you confess your sin you aren't notifying God of what you have done–He knows. Confession occurs when you agree with God your behavior is sin, and at the same time you display a measure of remorse and regret over your sin. That's what we hear in his statement, "I have sinned against heaven."

3. Return!

After he came to his senses, and admitted his sin, he was ready for the final step. He said in verse 18, "I will go back." Two of the most powerful words in the human language are, "I will." It was by an act of his will he decided to demand his inheritance to run away from home, and it was by an act of his will he decided to get out of pig sty and head back home.

Only the Lord can change our wills. And He does.

The Reality of the Father's Love

But God is A GOD WHO REGRETS YOUR REBELLION: HE RECEIVES REBELS

As this young man headed home, he did not know what he might find there. What he found was incredible! He found a father who had been longing, looking and living for his son's return. He found a father filled with love, compassion and grace who received him and loved him back into fellowship! The father wouldn't even allow the son to finish his little speech. He just loved him back into a right relationship.

The whole point of this parable is found in verse  1 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with them."   3 So he told them this parable:

God receives sinners!  The Lord Jesus receives Sinners! 

This is the amazing truth of the gospel. It is the difficult thing that people need to understand. I often have this conversation with young and old Christians. How can it be that God can receive me? What if I slip? What if I willingly run away into sin?

But God is A GOD WHO RUNS WHEN YOU RETURN

The wayward son didn't fare so well in the far country. He lived high on the hog for a while, but pretty soon he was low with the hogs! Jesus uses six words in verse 13 to describe what happened: He "squandered his wealth in wild living." Scholars have discovered a similar story to this existed among Jewish rabbis for many years before Jesus told it. In the earlier form, the younger son ran away and spent all his father's money and when he came crawling home, the father rejected him. So, as Jesus was telling this story, the Pharisees and tax collectors were thinking, "Yeah, I've heard this one before." His audience of Pharisees and tax collectors expected Him to say, "One day the father saw his son returning. He waited with his arms crossed. The broken-down son begged his father to take him back. But the father looked away from him and said, 'Forget it! You had your chance. You've chosen to love like a pig, now go back to your pigs. You've made your bed, now lie in it!'" In the original story the father turned his son away and told him he was getting exactly what he deserved.

Deuteronomy 21:18-21 says, "If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey…his father and mother shall bring him to the elders and say, 'This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a profligate and a drunkard.' Then all the men shall stone him to death."

Verse 20 says, "While he was still a long way off, his father saw him."

I guess the point of the parable is that the Father had been looking for him to return every day. He had looked out down that long road waiting and looking and longing for his son to return.

Then it says, "he was filled with compassion and he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him." The Greek verb there indicates he kept on kissing him. We would say he "smothered him with kisses."

He didn't wait for the son to reach him, he ran to meet the son. He hugged and kissed his rebellious son before the son said one word!

Remember the son had been working in the pigpen. He looked and smelled awful, not exactly the kind of person you want to hug and kiss! The father could have said, "Oh, you're back–good. Clean yourself up before you come into this house!" But instead, the father accepted him "just as he was."

And God the Father, the Creator of the Universe will welcome you the same way–just as you are. Now, this is a revolutionary portrayal of God. Jesus said God runs to meet us when we decided to return to Him. Some of you have drifted out of fellowship with God. You have walked away from the presence of your heavenly Father. You see, whenever you choose to sin and disobey God, you are leaving His holy presence. Right now, do you sense God is far away from you? Guess who moved.  But God is a loving heavenly Father who is longing for you to return. He is looking for you to return to Him.

Charles Spurgeon described this scene. He wrote: It was not with icy eyes that the father looked on his returning son. Love filled his heart as he beheld him. There was no anger in his heart toward his son. It was true that it was all his own fault, but that did not come before his father's mind. It was the state that he was in, his poverty, his degradation, that pale face of his so wan with hunger, that touched his father to the quick. We read that the father RAN! The compassion of God is followed by swift movements. He is slow to anger, but He is quick to bless. God comes flying in the greatness of His compassion to help every poor soul that returns to Him."

A GOD WHO RESTORES YOU WHEN YOU REPENT

When he finally came to his senses in the pigpen, the son rehearsed the speech he was going to give to his dad. He said three things in verse 21. Two of his statements were right and one of them was wrong. First he said, "I have sinned against heaven." That was right. Primarily, all sin is against God, so he had confessed his sin to God. Second, he confessed to his father, "and I have sinned against you." Right again. One of the hardest things for any of us to say is, "I was wrong. Will you forgive me?" That's what he was saying. But look at the third statement. He said, "I am no longer worthy to be called your son."

The father refused to entertain the idea his son would be a servant. He wanted the son back in a relationship and back in a fellowship. If you have never trusted the Lord Jesus to be your Saviour, He wants you to come to Him and become a child of God. "To as many as received Jesus to them He gave the right to become children of God."  The fellowship was broken. Immediately the father commanded his servants to bring the best robe. He took that beautiful robe and lovingly placed it around his son, covering all the filth and dirt of his mistakes. That's a lovely picture of how God covers our sin with a robe of righteousness.

Sons often wore family rings that had the family seal engraved upon it. Stamping the ring in wax was like a signature.

It was the seal of his sonship. God gives His Holy Spirit to indwell every believer as the seal that they will always be His child.  The Holy Spirit is the family seal for the child of God.

The father put a new ring on his finger symbolizing his full status in the family. Slaves didn't wear shoes, but sons did. So the father had sandals put on his son's feet. The Father restored everything the son had lost! And here's the bonus! The father commanded the fattened calf to be killed. It is a great day when anyone comes back to the Lord!

Have you wandered away from God? Are you willing to say, "Father I have sinned against heaven and against you?" Are you willing to return to Him? If you are, He has a message for you. He is saying, "I'll treat you as if you never left!"

My friend, if you need forgiveness today, Jesus offers it. Glance again at verse one in this chapter to see the audience to whom Jesus was speaking. Some were Pharisees who thought they were sinless–they didn't need forgiveness. But there were tax collectors and other sinners there as well. Jesus was trying to tell them God is like a father who will welcome you and lovingly forgive you when you come to Him and repent of your sin.

Next week: the Pouting Son.  The only one who should have been unhappy at the prodigal's return was the fattened calf.

1 Corinthians 11 Doing All Things Decently And In Order

1 Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

2 Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you. 3 But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. 4 Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head, 5 but every wife  who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven. 6 For if a wife will not cover her head, then she should cut her hair short. But since it is disgraceful for a wife to cut off her hair or shave her head, let her cover her head. 7 For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man. 8 For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. 9 Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. 10 That is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.  11 Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman; 12 for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God. 13 Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a wife to pray to God with her head uncovered? 14 Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair it is a disgrace for him, 15 but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering. 16 If anyone is inclined to be contentious, we have no such practice, nor do the churches of God.

In 1998 the Southern Baptist Convention drew tremendous fire from the amendment it added to the "Baptist Faith and Message Statement of 1963." The statement defined marriage exclusively in heterosexual terms and says that husbands and wives, while equal before God, have different roles. The amendment reads, "A wife is to submit graciously to the servant leadership of her husband, even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ."

The apostle Paul is tackling something more than just womens roles. This is about worship. In fact it is about the bigger topic of order in the church and in the Worship service. Worship is the glue that holds the church of Jesus Christ together. In the New Testament, the church publicly assembled to praise the Lord God. Indeed the Greek word for church is "ecclesia" which means "assembly" or "called out ones." David spoke of God's presence as a thing of beauty. He wrote, "Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness" (Ps. 27:2; cp. Also 27:4; 90:17; 96:6, 9). How is worship beautiful? What makes for beautiful worship?

Chapter 11 gives Christians an idea about the ingredients required to make worship beautiful. No congregation on record experienced more division, difficulty, and doctrinal deviance in Paul's day than the Corinthians. We observe first-hand in the second half of chapter 11 the sad example of bad worship, rather than beautiful worship when the apostle deals with abuses around the Lord's Table.

Paul is speaking about order and he plunges us in the deep end. He deals with "subordination within the Trinity!"

Paul speaks about the Trinity here. And the context is about relationships and the principle of authority in the local church.  There are differences between the Persons of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit—the eternal Godhead, the Holy Trinity. However, the differences do not affect their eternal equality of person. The Persons of the Trinity may possess differing functions but the Persons of the Trinity are nonetheless one Being.

Paul begins with an illustration of the concept of order from the Trinity itself.

3 But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.

Chapter 2 of WCF Section 3.) In the unity of the Godhead there be three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity; God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost.(1) The Father is of none, neither begotten, nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father;(2) the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son.

The Belgic Confession

"In keeping with this truth and Word of God we believe in one God, who is one single essence, in whom there are three persons, really, truly, and eternally distinct according to their incommunicable properties— namely, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Father is the cause, origin, and source of all things, visible as well as invisible. The Son is the Word, the Wisdom, and the image of the Father. The Holy Spirit is the eternal power and might, proceeding from the Father and the Son."

That the Bible teaches some kind of subordination of the Son to the Father is not doubted. All agree that the NT emphasizes that in the divine activities of creation, revelation, redemption and judgment the Son always functions in subordination to the Father. Representative passages include (1) with respect to creation, 1 Cor 8:6: "There is one God, the Father, from whom are all things . . . , and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we exist" (cf. John 1:3; Col 1:16; Heb 1:2); (2) with respect to revelation, John 8:28: "I. . . speak... as the Father taught me" (cf. 8:38; 12:49; 14:10); (3) with respect to redemption, 1 John 4:14: "The Father has sent the Son as the Savior of the world" (cf. John 3:16; Rom 8:3, 32; Gal 4:4); (4) with respect to judgment, John 5:22, 30: "The Father . . . has given all judgment to the Son. . . . As I hear I judge" (cf. Acts 17:31). Many other passages teach some kind of subordination. Of special interest are (1) the numerous passages—some forty-two in the fourth gospel— that state in one way or another that the Father sent the Son; (2) passages in which the authority and activity of the Son are attributed to endowment from the Father (cf. Matt 11:27; 28:18; John 5:19-30); (3) the repeated phrase "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" or some variant of it (cf. Rom 15:6; 2 Cor 1:3; 11:31; Eph 1:3; Col 1:3; 1 Pet 1:3; Rev 1:6; cf. Mark 15:34 [Matt 27:46]; John 20:17; Heb 1:3, 9; 2:17; 5:1; 10:7, 9); (4) John 14:28: "My Father is greater than I."

1 Cor 15:24, 28. The locus classicus for the doctrine of the essential subordination of the Son is 1 Cor 15:24, 28: "Then comes the end, when he (Christ) delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. . . . When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will be subjected to him who put all things under him, that God may be everything to everyone." These verses imply that the last of the eschatological events prior to the eternal state will be the subjection of the Son to the Father and that this will be the condition forever thereafter. And surely his final relationship to the Father will not be inferior to the relationship he had with the Father in his préexistent state (cf. John 17:5; Phil 2:6-11)

The Son eternally submits to the Father (Bruce Ware, Wayne Grudem, Denny Burk, Mark Thompson,  Mike Ovey).

As the Athanasian Creed (sadly not written by Athanasius) puts it, 'In this Trinity none is afore, nor after another; none is greater or lesser than another'. This is a confession disciplined by God's self-revelation in Scripture: 'I and the Father are one' (Jn 10.30); he 'did not count equality with God something to be grasped' — note the antecedent to 'he' in this text is 'Christ Jesus' (Phil. 2.5–6). It is the confession of the Nicene Creed: 'very God of very God ... being of one substance with the Father'. It is a confession no less urgent and vital to Christian faith in the twenty-first century as it was in the fourth century.

The issue Paul is addressing in what is happening in the Corinthian Church. Paul is referring contextually to church authority (cp. 1 Tim. 2:12). No woman is to usurp authority in business or pastoral leadership. When this principle of authority is violated, chaos and confusion become the result in God's church.

Conversely, when the principle of order and submission is honored, peace, order, and beauty reign. The Corinthian women were liberated by the Gospel Paul preached. But they took their new-found freedom in Christ to extremes. They wrongly assumed since Christ died for their sins and they were pronounced righteous before God, they could live as they desired. In effect, Paul retorts, "Oh, no! You are still under Divinely- appointed authority."

Most of life is about relationships. If relationships are good, almost all of life is good and happy. If a relationship turns sour that can contaminate just about everything else in life. If you are walking through a park and see someone seated on a bench sobbing, your first thought is not that this person is in pain or that this person has just lost a lot of money from a bad investment. Probably your first thought is that some relationship has gone wrong, perhaps through a divorce or through death. Relationships touch our lives in special and wonderful and difficult ways. As Christians we want to get those relationships right. We want to do relationships the way God wants them done. That's why the Bible says so much about relationships, especially the most important relationships of life. The Bible includes examples of how people have done it right and how people have messed it up.  The relationship the apostle Paul is considering is the one between wives and husbands.

It has a bit to do with what was happening in the church at Corinth.

Some of the ladies were appointing themselves as prophetesses to direct the church.

One aspect of the relationship between man and woman is expressed in submission (v. 10). Paul insists a woman should possess a symbol of authority on her head. In those days it was a veil. In our day, the symbol of authority is no longer a veil. Nevertheless, a woman's apparel should reveal a submissive spirit. And, it should not go unnoticed that Paul places his instructions in the category of the moral (v. 7 "ought"). Hence, this is not an option to which Paul refers. Obligation is involved.

The implication of this is found in Ephesians 5:21- 33 the apostle gives the larger principle: "Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Saviour. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless."

Now if you're a husband and what you just heard is that your wife is supposed to submit and respect you a whole lot better than she does, or if you are a wife and what you just heard is that your husband is supposed to do a much better job at loving you . . . you weren't listening! We're not supposed to be so much eavesdropping on the instructions to someone else as we are supposed to be listening to the instructions that God has given to us. Unfortunately, this wonderful counsel from God is being ignored by a lot of people because our modern human defenses tend to rise over this "submitting" stuff. Within one generation Christians have gone from reading these words routinely in weddings and including these concepts in marriage vows to the virtual exclusion of this concept from almost all marriage vows. The issue is that we're not going to vow to submit to or obey someone else. That raises some serious issues on what advice from God means and whether it is for all cultures and times or whether we can accept and reject on a personal basis what God has to say. So here are some points that I think can help us understand this. Understand that the clear teaching of the Bible is that husbands and wives are both supposed to love each other, but husbands need to give extra-special attention to the way they love their wives. The Bible also clearly teaches that wives and husbands are both supposed to submit to each other, but wives need to give extra attention to the way they submit to their husbands. The point here is never that husbands are supposed to demand submission and respect or that wives are supposed to demand that their husbands be better lovers.

Order is expressed in submission. Order is expressed in the submission within the Trinity. Order is expressed in submission between husband and wife.  Order is expressed in submission within the church.  We don't have the right to run our own show, whether man or woman, old or young. Order is expressed by submission within the church.

Order is expressed elsewhere in submission to government authorities, that submission of citizens to government. Romans 13:1-7 says: "Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment, but also because of conscience. This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor." These words were written to people in the first century Roman Empire who were under a government where women had no rights, where infanticide was legal, where every day babies were routinely left outside to die, especially female babies.

So ordered submissive church Relationships are expressed in cooperation. Men and women are mutually dependent in God's work. Each plays a vital role. Paul is clear, "Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord. For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God." (1 Cor. 11:11-12).

So ordered submissive church Relationships are expressed in application. Paul writes, "Judge in yourselves: is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered? Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him? But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering. But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God." (1 Cor. 11:13-16).

One of the biggest problems in the Corinthian church was disorder in the public meetings. Some of the women were assuming more freedom than they should have; there was disorder at the Lord's Supper; and there was confusion in the use of the spiritual gifts. The church had been greatly enriched with spiritual gifts, but they were sadly lacking in spiritual graces.

Paul could have tried to solve these problems by issuing apostolic edicts, but instead he patiently explained the spiritual principle of ordered submission.

Women Praying and Prophesying (11:3–16)

The Christian faith brought freedom and hope to women, children, and slaves. It taught that all people, regardless of race or sex, were equal before their Creator, and that all believers were one in Jesus Christ (Gal. 3:28). As we have noted before, the local church was perhaps the only fellowship in the Roman Empire that welcomed all people, regardless of nationality, social status, sex, or economic position. It was to be expected that there would be some who would carry this newfound freedom to excess. A new movement always suffers more from its disciples than from its enemies, and this was true in Corinth. Some of the women flaunted their "freedom" in the public meetings by refusing to cover their heads when they participated. Paul did not forbid the women to pray or to prophesy. (Prophesying is not quite the same as our "preaching" or "expounding the Word." A person with the gift of prophecy proclaimed God's message as it was given to him immediately by the Spirit. The modern preacher studies the Word and prepares his message.) The prophet supplied what was lacking  in the written letters that were to make up the New Testament when the writings were all compiled. The church at Corinth didn't have 2 Corinthians yet, so what was there that was necessary for a church to mature was supplied by the prophets.

While the New Testament does not seem to permit women elders (1 Tim. 3:2), women in the early church who had the gift of prophecy were allowed to exercise it. They were also permitted to pray in the public meetings. However, they were not permitted to usurp authority over the men (1 Tim. 2:11–15) or to judge the messages of the other prophets (1 Cor. 14:27–35).

If they had any questions, they were to ask their husbands (or other men) outside of the church meeting. Eastern society at that time was very jealous over its women. Except for the temple prostitutes, the women wore long hair and, in public, wore a covering over their heads. (Paul did not use the word veil, i.e., a covering over the face. The woman put the regular shawl over her head, and this covering symbolized her submission and purity.) For the Christian women in the church to appear in public without the covering, let alone to pray and share the Word, was both daring and blasphemous.

Paul sought to restore order by reminding the Corinthians that God had made a difference between men and women, that each had a proper place to God's economy. There were also appropriate customs that symbolized these relationships and reminded both men and women of their correct places in the divine scheme. Paul did not say, or even hint, that difference meant inequality or inferiority. If there is to be peace in the church (1 Cor. 15:33), then there must be some kind of order.

God's order to the church is based on three fundamentals that Paul considered to be self-evident.

God's  Order Is Illustrated In Redemption (vv. 3–7).

There is a definite order of "headship" to the church: the Father is the Head over Christ, Christ is the Head of the man, and the man is the head of the woman. Some interpret head to mean "origin," but this would mean that the Father originated Christ—something we cannot accept. In His redemptive ministry, the Son was subject to the Father even though He is equal to the Father (John 10:30; 14:28). Likewise, the woman is subject to the man even though to Christ she is equal to the man (1 Cor. 3:21–23; Gal. 3:28; Eph. 5:21–33).

Keep in mind that Paul was writing about the relationship within the local assembly, not in the world at large. It is God's plan that in the home and in the local church, the men should exercise headship under the authority of Jesus Christ.

The important fact is this: both women and men must honor the Lord by respecting the symbols of this headship—hair and the head-covering. Whenever a woman prays or prophesies in the assembly, she must have long hair and must wear a covering. The man should have short hair and not wear any covering.

This would be a change for Paul, for devout Jewish men always wore a cap when they prayed.) The man honors his Head (Christ) by being uncovered, while the woman honors her head (the man) by being covered. She is showing her submission both to God and to the man.

The Corinthian women who appeared in the assembly without the head-covering were actually putting themselves on the low level of the temple prostitutes. The prostitutes wore their hair very short, and they did not wear a head-covering in public. Their hairstyle and manner announced to others just what they were and what they were offering. "If you are going to abandon the covering," wrote Paul, "then why not go all the way and cut your hair?"

In Jewish law, a woman proved guilty of adultery had her hair cut off (Num. 5:11–31). Paul used two different words in 1 Corinthians 11:5–6: shaved means exactly that, all the hair shaved off; shorn means "cut short." Either one would be a disgrace to a woman. Both man and woman are made in the image of God and for the glory of God; but since the woman was made from the man (Gen. 2:18–25), she is also the "glory of the man." She glorifies God and brings glory to the man by submitting to God's order and keeping her head covered in public worship. Thus, Paul tied together both local custom and biblical truth, the one pointing to the other.

God's Order Is Embedded In Creation (vv. 8–12).

God's order is based on the fact that man was created first (1 Tim. 2:13), and that the woman was created for the man. Again, priority does not imply inferiority; for Paul made it clear in 1 Corinthians 11:11–12 that there is partnership as well as headship in God's creation. The man and the woman are spiritually one in the Lord (Gal. 3:28), and one cannot do without the other. Furthermore, the woman may have come from the man at the beginning, but today, it is the man who is born of the woman. Man and woman belong to each other and need each other.

Why did Paul bring up the angels in 1 Corinthians 11:10? He was arguing from the facts of creation, and the angels were a part of that creation. The angels also know their place and show respect when they worship God, for they cover their faces (Isa. 6:2).

Finally, in some special way, the angels share in the public worship of the church and learn from the church (Eph. 3:10; 1 Peter 1:12). Public worship is a serious thing, for the angels are present; and we ought to conduct ourselves as if we were in heaven.

God's Order Is Apparent In Nature (vv. 13–16).

In a general way, it is true that nature gives women longer hair and men shorter hair. The Romans, Greeks, and Jews (except for the Nazarites) pretty much followed this custom. Nowhere does the Bible tell us how long our hair should be. It simply states that there ought to be a noticeable difference between the length of the men's hair and the women's hair so that there be no confusion of the sexes.

It is a shame for the man to look like a woman or the woman to look like a man.

The woman's long hair is her glory, and it is given to her "instead of a covering" (literal translation). In other words, if local custom does not dictate a headcovering, her long hair can be that covering. I do not think that Paul meant for all women in every culture to wear a shawl for a head-covering; but he did expect them to use their long hair as a covering and as a symbol of their submission to God's order. This is something that every woman can do.

In my ministry in different parts of the world, I have noticed that the basic principle of headship applies in every culture; but the means of demonstrating it differs from place to place. The important thing is the submission of the heart to the Lord and the public manifestation of obedience to God's order.

For now we can make the following affirmations:

1. Men and women are radically equal in the eyes of God, and yet we have distinctly different and complementary roles to play in life, in the home, and in the church.

 We are given suggestive clues in the way that men and women are to relate to one another in the way that Christ relates to the church and in the way that the persons of the Godhead relate to each other in the Trinity.

 Women are no more inferior to men than Christ is inferior to God or the Holy Spirit is inferior to God and Jesus, because he proceeds from them. Yet men and women are no more the same than the Father is the same as the Son.

 This difference is rooted in the creation order and is to be celebrated as God's good gift to us, rather than rejected or ignored.

 2. As Christian we ought to guard the visible, cultural cues that remind us of the differences between men and women. This means that men ought to dress and act like men and women ought to dress and act like men. We should avoid legalism in this, acknowledging that the letter kills but the Spirit gives life. I cannot say exactly how this will always work, but women ought to enjoy being feminine, and men ought to enjoy being masculine.

 3. We affirm the full participation of men and women in the life of the church. Paul assumes in this passage that both men and women will pray and prophesy in the worship of the church (cf. v. 5 where Paul denounces not the fact that a woman prays or prophesies but only that she does so without the proper head covering). Women are not silent partners in the worship services of the church. In the Reformation spirit of "scripture interpreting scripture" we should use 1 Cor 11 to interpret passages like 1 Timothy 2:11-12: "A woman should learn in quietness and in full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent." Indeed there is no contradiction in these passages.

4. In the church and home, however, we ought also to guard the visible cues of gender distinction in the assigning of leadership roles that remind us of the goodness of the created order. Men are not to shrink back from taking a role of servant leadership in the home and church and women are not to shrink from back from offering intelligent and glad submission to their headship (thus welcoming the "sign of authority" on their heads).

1 Corinthians 11 tells us of how women are to participate fully in worship, in praying and prophesying. But 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 tell us that the overseer or elder is to be "the husband of one wife." There is no contradiction here.

 Can we affirm the ministry of both men and women and yet also affirm that there are gender specific roles for each? Can this be a powerful witness to this culture that lives in such confusion as to who we are? Though it may be out of touch with our culture, are we willing to stand with scripture and say that God has made us different and this is a good thing to be celebrated, and enjoyed, and honored?

Luke 15 The Seeking Saviour

1 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with them."

 3 So he told them this parable: 4  "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.' 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

8 "Or what woman, having ten silver coins,  if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? 9 And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.' 10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

1662 Prayer Book of Anglican Church:

"Almighty God, who calledst Luke the Physician, whose praise is in the Gospel, to be an Evangelist, and Physician of the soul: May it please thee that, by the wholesome medicines of the doctrine delivered by him, all the diseases of our souls may be healed, through the merits of thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord."

What are the greatest chapters in the Bible? If I compiled a top five list, I think Psalm 23 would be near the top, along with Romans 8, and the third chapter of John. I would also add Luke 15 to the short list of the greatest chapters in the entire Bible. It contains three parables about things that were lost and then found. The first parable is about a lost sheep and the shepherd who goes out to rescue it. The second parable is about a lost coin and the woman who searched frantically for it. The third story is called the Prodigal Son and is the most familiar of the three. It's about a son who becomes lost to his father. The theme connecting these three parables is when that which is lost is found, there is great rejoicing.

The Lostness of the Individual

What is it that makes heaven happy? In all three of these parables, Jesus reports there is great rejoicing in heaven when one person turns from their sins and puts their faith in Jesus Christ.

In Isaiah 53:6, the Bible says, "We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him [Jesus] the iniquity of us all." I shared with you a couple of months ago there are three words starting with "D" that describe sheep: They are dumb, defenseless, and directionless.

You won't see any trained sheep acts at the circus–they are too dumb. Almost all animals have either claws, sharp teeth, quills, a hard shell, or speed to escape predators–but not a lamb–they  have no defenses. Sheep get lost easily, too. There are homing pigeons, and cats and dogs can often find their way back home, but sheep are clueless about how to find their own way back home. In many respects, we are the same way in our ability to rescue ourselves from our lost condition. We are dumb, defenseless, and directionless. Like sheep, we all have a tendency to stray away from God. The hymn says, "Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love."

The sheep was lost, the drachma was lost, the son was lost. But in each case the reason for the loss was different.

The sheep did not intend to go anywhere, either to keep with or to leave the shepherd. It simply knew that grass was sweet, and that there, ahead of it, was another tuft, and it went after that. So it nibbled itself away out of the path, out of the shepherd's care, out of the flock's companionship. It was heedless; and therefore it was lost.

They do not intend any mischief, they have no purpose of rebellion or transgression, but they live what we call animal lives. The sheep knows only where the grass is abundant and fresh; and it goes there. An animal has no foresight, and is the happier; it can't look ahead and doesn't think about where it has been. It lives by its inclinations. Many live that way, living by their appetites, living like "a material girl." So they wander further and further from the right road, and find themselves in trouble.

Jesus uses the word "lost" to speak of the spiritual condition of being eternally lost. The word L-O-S-T is one of the scariest four lettered words in the human language. A lost soul is the most tragic condition in life. You can lose your mind, and it's not as tragic as a lost soul. You can lose your character, and it's not as bad as a losing your soul.

Now turn to the second parable. The coin was heavy, so it fell; it was round, so it rolled; it was dead, so it lay. And there are people who are things rather than persons, so entirely have they given up their wills, and so absolutely do they let themselves be determined by circumstances. It was not the drachma that lost itself, but it was the law of gravitation that lost it, and it had no power of resistance. There are masses of people who have no more power to resist the pressure of circumstances and temptations than the piece of silver had when it dropped from the woman's open palm and trundled away into some dark corner.

Some people live by circumstances. The wind blows them one way or another..but in the end they too are lost.

In the third parable the foolish boy had no love to his father to keep him from going to the foreign country. He wanted to be his own master, and to get away into a place where he thought he could sow his wild oats and no news of it ever reach the father's house. He was willfully lost.

But the other two parables still speak of the deeper reason why the sheep and the coin were lost. It wasn't just gravity, the circumstances, that drove the coin or the sheep to be lost. It wasn't just the desires and inclinations that pulled them away from God and let them be lost.

Yes! and down below the ignorance, and inadvertence, and error, and heredity, and domination of externals, there lies the individual choice in each case.

All three parables are to be taken together. The lostness of each individual is not just to be laid at the doorstep of mere unaccountable circumstances nor to inbuilt inclinations, but rather to the whole person being sinful, from the will to the actions. All the way through this lostness affects every aspect of our individual humanity. We know the falleness of humanity in the mass and in the individual.

The coin undoubtedly had an inscription. Its worth was given by its inscription. You were inscribed with your worth as a creation of God created in His image.

That word 'the lost' has a tragic significance in Scripture. The lost are lost to themselves and to blessedness. The word implies destruction; but it also carries with it this, that God prizes us, is glad to have us, and, wants us to be restored to Himself.

 The Searcher Who Saves Us

The shepherd had 100 sheep. Just before he was ready to bed them down, he began to count them, "...95, 96, 97, 98, 99...Whoa, I'm missing one! Hey, where's Snowflake? I haven't seen her all afternoon." Then the Shepherd does something surprising, he leaves the other 99 sheep and sets off to find the single lost lamb. Remember, that's what God is like. Luke 19:10 Jesus said, "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."

The parable does not so much speak of a hired shepherd, but of a shepherd proprietor. "What man of you having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them." The sheep are Christ's, first, because He chose them from before the foundations of the world--"Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you." His, next, because the Father gave them to Him. How He dwells upon that fact in His great prayer in John 7:1-26.: "Thine they were, and Thou gavest them Me"; "Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am." We are the Lord's own flock, furthermore, by His purchase of us; He says, "I lay down My life for the sheep." This thought, therefore, presses upon Him, "One of My sheep is lost."

His great compassion for His lost sheep. The wandering of a soul causes Jesus deep sorrow; He cannot bear the thought of its perishing. Such is the love and tenderness of His heart that He cannot bear that one of His own should be in jeopardy.

Look at the intensity of the search

V. 4 – "go after… until he finds it" V. 8 – "seek diligently until she finds it"

An Intensely Definite Search. The shepherd goes after the sheep, and after nothing else; and he has the one particular sheep in his mind's eye.

An Intensely All-absorbing Search. Romans 9:1-3

An Intensely Active Search.

An Intensely Persevering Search.

In His incarnation He came after the lost sheep; in His life He continued to seek it; in His death He laid it upon His shoulders; in His resurrection He bore it on its way, and in His ascension He brought it home rejoicing.

But now, see, the shepherd finds the sheep, and he lays it on his shoulders.

It is an uplifting action, raising the fallen one from the earth whereon he hath strayed. It is as though he took the sheep just as it was, without a word of rebuke, without delay or hesitancy, and lifted it out of the slough or the briars into a place of safely.

This laying on the shoulders, it was an appropriating act. He seemed to say, "You are my sheep, and therefore I lay you on my shoulders."

It was a serving act to the sheep. The weight of the sheep is upon the shepherd. The sheep rides, the shepherd is the burden-bearer. The sheep rests, the shepherd labours. "I am among you as he that serves".

It was a necessary act. The sheep couldn't get back on its own, and like many had run out of steam. Weary and worn and tired.  What a rest it is to you and to me to know that we are borne along by the eternal power and Godhead of the Lord Jesus Christ.

In all three of these parables, the single theme that emerges is

The Repentance That Indicates Salvation         "one sinner who repents"

Luke 10:20  rejoice that your names are written in heaven."

REPENTANCE - Luke 24: 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance and³  forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem

Acts 2: 37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" 38 And Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself."

Acts 3: 18 But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. 19 Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, 20 that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, 21 whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.

Acts 11: 18 When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, "Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life."

Acts17:30 30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead."

Acts 20:21 how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house, 21 testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Acts 26:19-20  19 "Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, 20 but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance.

2 Pet. 3:  9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you,  not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

"one sinner who repents" Verses 7, 10, 24, 32

Have you repented? Have you come to yourself and turned to the Saviour?

Luke 13: 5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish."

The Joy of Salvation