Preparing our hearts to receive the prodigals (Pt.3)

(Part 3)

“So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.[a]’ “But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’”-Luke 15:20-24

Watch carefully the father’s response to simply seeing his son from along way off. There is no indication of repentance from the young man at this point, no possible way of knowing what the young man could be returning home for, perhaps more money, yet it says:  

“Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.”

Here is a truth for you, regardless of whether or not you agree with their lifestyle or their decisions. Regardless of whether they have repented for the pain that they have caused you or have yet to get right with God, we must still show them the same love and compassion that Jesus showed us when we were still steeped in sin. Sometimes the greatest thing we can do for a prodigal is come off the porch to meet them. If they have to crawl their way back to you hand and foot to be reconciled to you, then you have created a distance that Jesus, Himself, came and died on the cross to overcome. 

More so, if we are continuing to carry so much unresolved hurt toward them that we won’t even come off the porch to meet them; how will we ever do the harder work of restoration. The son repented and immediately the father went to work restoring him:

“But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet.”-Luke 15:22

Each of those items have a profound meaning. The robe represents right standing, the ring represents the seal of authority and sonship, the sandals represent dignity.

How quickly should we begin the work of restoration in a prodigal’s life? For most of us there would be a mandatory time of proving themselves, before we would release anything back to them. Yet, the Father called for it immediately. 

That could only be possible if he had been preparing himself for his son’s return. Only possible if he had done the work of getting his own heart and attitudes right to receive him, prior to seeing him coming. I think that is what I love most about this story. The father had no idea when the son would return, so he prepared himself to be ready at any moment. Perhaps the prodigals are failing to returning home, not because they haven’t hit rock bottom yet, but rather we haven’t. We haven’t reached the point that we are willing to do the hard work of forgiveness and overcoming bitterness to make way for them to return. 

Why would God send a prodigal back home to people who are not ready to receive him? So often, we have prayer meetings crying out to God for the prodigals to come home, we pray that God would do whatever it takes, we pray that they would “come to their senses” and get out of the pig pen of sin and carnal living and come back to Christ.  Yet, when is the last time we prayed that God would prepare our hearts to receive them. To search us and make sure that we haven’t created an obstacle in our own attitude and hearts to their return. Most of us fancy ourselves to be like the Father, but our attitudes and actions seem more like the older brother. 

Should we pray for the prodigals to come home? Absolutely, and while we wait for their return, we need to be preparing ourselves to receive them. 

Scott Burr

Dayspring Community Church 

Preparing our hearts to receive the prodigals (Pt.2)

(Part 2)

“I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”-Luke 15:18-19

Luke 15:11-19 gives us a pretty good overview of what the prodigal’s life was like upon leaving the Father’s house and his attitude when he finally comes to the end of himself.  

Listening to the younger brother reaffirms what we discussed last week: How the father loved his son as he left, paved the way for his coming home. If the father had been harsh with him as he left, the son may have never even considered the possibility of returning home. Even though most of the passage is dedicated to the younger brother we also get a glimpse into the older brother’s life after the exodus of his younger sibling:

“Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 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.’ But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, 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.”- Luke 15:25-29

After the younger brother abandons him, the older brother simply went back to working the fields and serving his father faithfully. He, obviously, gave little thought to reconciling with his brother and had never forgiven him or done anything to deal with his own hurt; this we can gather from his response to his brother’s return and to his father’s response. 

However, nothing is really told to us about the father’s feelings. Our only indication about the father’s heart and attitude toward his son and what the father had spent his time doing during his son’s absence; we must glean from his response to his son’s return: 

“So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.’ “But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’”-Luke 15:20-24

It is obvious from the father’s response that he had prepared his heart for this moment. He had prepared himself for the prodigal’s return. We see no “I told you so’s”, no resentment in his voice, no guilt ridden speeches, no hoops to jump through. Whatever pain he may have felt at the son’s exit, he no longer carried. 

Scott Burr

Dayspring Community Church 

Preparing our hearts to receive the prodigals (Pt.1)

(Part 1)

“To illustrate the point further, Jesus told them this story: “A man had two sons. The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons. “A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living. About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything. “When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”-Luke 15:11-19 (ESV)

Probably most of us have either have been ourselves or are praying for a prodigal. Defining a prodigal can take on a variety of meanings. It can range from a person that behaves recklessly, one that squanders their life and livelihood in carnal living, or is simply a person who is pursuing their own self-interests apart from God. 

Often, when a prodigal leaves it is accompanied by some level of emotional aftermath. People are often left hurt, disillusioned and shocked by their exit. The lifestyle and choices that follow often cause tremendous angst and dismay. Parents, friends and family are left wondering what they may have done to push them away. 

No doubt, the prodigal son’s brother was still carrying some unresolved hurt. You can hear it in his tone of voice in Luke 15:30:

“But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’”

And, although we don’t see it, it would be hard to believe that the father didn’t wrestle with some pain himself at his son’s exit. I was kind of surprised, as I read the passage again, that there was virtually no push back from the father regarding the younger son’s demands:

“The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons.”-Luke 15:12

That is not to say that there wasn’t more discussion than what we see recorded here, but I couldn’t help to think about this father and son’s relationship as the son was packing his bags to leave. Perhaps the father’s actions were intentional; knowing that how things ended in that moment could have a huge impact on their future relationship. Is it possible we are seeing a deeper truth here:

How you love a prodigal as they go, helps pave the road for their return. 

We don’t see the father demean, condemn, scold or mock the young man. The father did not create any unnecessary obstacles between he and his son. He didn’t shout… “You walk out that door, don’t bother ever coming back.” Mind you, he also didn’t chase the young man down and try to convince him otherwise or bail him out when things got tight. He did, however, keep the door for reconciliation open and he went about the work of preparing himself for his son’s return. 

Scott Burr

Dayspring Community Church 

Four months more (Pt.2)

(Part 2 of 2)

“Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!”-John 4:35 

Perhaps, it wasn’t a carnal need or a personal bias that caused the disciples to miss the harvest. What if instead they simply didn’t see the moment as being the right time share their new found faith. They had gone into town, mind you, to find lunch, not win souls. How often have we failed to share Christ with someone because we were waiting on the perfect conditions?

Do you not say, “There are still four months and “then” comes the harvest?” The reason we often fail to bring in the harvest is because we are waiting on the perfect conditions to reap. I wonder how much of the harvest is dying in the field, because we are waiting on the ideal conditions to reap? A lot can be lost in four months. According to the Kennedy Institute, 21,360,000 people will cross over into eternity during that time. Souls are passing into eternity in record numbers.

There is no lack of harvest. There is no lack of souls that need saved and lives that need transformed. The only lack is a lack of laborers to bring the harvest in. That’s the context of the passage. Can I tell you in farming that the guys who put the seed in the field are the ones who reap in the harvest at the end. When did we fall into this idea that some are solely responsible for planting, others are solely responsible for watering, and others solely responsible for reaping. If we have a generation of believers that see themselves as only planters or only waterers then we are going to have harvest dying in the fields because there is no one reaping.

“Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were  weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”-Matthew 9:35-38

For years the church has been praying for God to send a harvest of souls. The problem is, God already sent it. Here we are waiting for a harvest that is already, according to Jesus, ripened and ready to be reaped. It’s not a harvest problem. It’s a laborer problem. 

It’s a problem with no one wanting to do the hard work of reaping souls. Jesus looked at the multitudes and basically said, “I can’t reach all these people by myself. I need your help to bring in the harvest.” 

The next big event on our Christian calendar is Easter (Resurrection Sunday). Interestingly, enough, it is four months from now. A lot of churches will begin preparing themselves for it soon, as it is the most attended church service of the year.  The question is how many souls are going to be lost over the next four months as we wait for it. Everyday that goes by, people are passing into eternity. What are we going to do about it? 

Scott Burr

Dayspring Community Church 

Four months more (Pt.1)

(Part 1 of 2) 

 “34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! 36 And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. 37 For in this the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.”-John 4:34-38 (NKJV)

According to the Kennedy Institute of Ethics: 65 million people die each year around the world. That is 178,000 people each day, 7,425 each hour and 120 each minute. As I think about those numbers, within the context of John 4, I have a little different take on them. If those numbers are accurate, 65 million people cross over into either eternal life with God or eternal separation from God each year. That is 178,000 each day, 7,425 each hour and 120 each minute. 

In John 4, Jesus has a life-altering encounter with a Samaritan woman at a well near Sychar. She left the well transformed by her encounter with Christ and went back to town to tell everyone about Him:

 “The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” Then they went out of the city and came to Him.”-John 4:28-30

The disciples had gone to town to find food to eat, while Jesus was busy about His Father’s will winning souls to the Kingdom. When the disciples returned, they urged Him to eat, but rather than dive into the sack lunch they provided, He turns to them and says: “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me, and to finish His work.” Jesus was hungry, but it was a hunger to see souls saved and lives transformed. 

Are we hungry for the same things that Jesus is hungry for? 

The disciples had gone into town to meet a physical need in their own life. When they returned no one from the community came with them to meet Jesus. Any of them could have invited the people to come out to meet Him. Yet, their mission into the community was not to bring people to Christ; but to fill their own bellies. 

Jesus, on the other hand, spent His time ministering to one woman, in which during that short exchange her life was transformed and shortly she would return from town with a host of people to meet Him. 

The disciples had literally been wandering among the harvest field that Jesus would speak of and yet none of them could see the harvest. Therein lies the struggle within the church today. We are wandering in the harvest field everyday, yet we are failing to see the harvest. Jesus tells His disciples to lift up their eyes. Why? Because we are living with are heads in the sand when it comes to souls. How is it that we can be standing in the midst of a harvest field and fail to see the harvest?  Are we, like the disciples, more concerned about seeing our carnal needs met than they are about doing the will of the Father and finishing His work?

Perhaps their lack of interest wasn’t from being distracted by their own carnal needs at all, but rather they were distracted by their own built in biases. Jews and Samaritans did not get along well. The Jews would often go out of their way to avoid Samaria. The disciples, perhaps, didn’t even see this group of people as being worthy to spend time with Jesus. They didn’t see the harvest because they didn’t see the people they were standing among as being harvest material. 

Scott Burr

Dayspring Community Church 

The Cross, the Blood, and You! (Pt.6)

(Pt.6)

10 “And if any native Israelite or foreigner living among you eats or drinks blood in any form, I will turn against that person and cut him off from the community of your people, 11 for the life of the body is in its blood. I have given you the blood on the altar to purify you, making you right with the Lord. It is the blood, given in exchange for a life, that makes purification possible. 12 That is why I have said to the people of Israel, ‘You must never eat or drink blood—neither you nor the foreigners living among you.’-Leviticus 17:10-12 

In these last days, God is not looking for an embalmed church, He is coming back for a blood-bought, blood washed church that has embraced the crimson stained cross of Christ. The blood has been a central theme to our salvation since creation when God sacrificed an animal to provide coverings for Adam and Eve’s nakedness. 

God would later declare through Moses the significance of the blood when he recorded in vs. 11 that the life of the body is in the blood. Every covenant God made with mankind He did using blood. The covenant with Abraham (Genesis 15) required a blood sacrifice. He required the blood of a Passover lamb when He established a covenant with Israel. Later, Jesus would inform His disciples at a Passover celebration that His blood would initiate a new, better, lasting covenant with His people: 

“After supper he took another cup of wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you.”-Luke 22:20 

Blood has long been at the center of God’s salvation message. You can sanitize the aesthetics of your church from the blood, you can sanitize your worship set of the blood, and you can even sanitize your sermon from it; but you cannot sanitize the gospel of it. The gospel of Jesus Christ is clear that we are blood washed and blood bought:

18 For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. 19 It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.”- 1 Peter 1:18-19

“You were bought with a price [you were actually purchased with the precious blood of Jesus and made His own]. So then, honor and glorify God with your body.”-1 Corinthians 6:20 (AMP) 

He purchased our redemption with His blood, because only His blood could wipe out the debt you and I owed. Only His blood could wash us clean!

“Then one of the twenty-four elders asked me, “Who are these who are clothed in white? Where did they come from?” 14 And I said to him, “Sir, you are the one who knows.” Then he said to me, “These are the ones who died in the great tribulation. They have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb and made them white.”-Revelation 7:13-14

“Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds  so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins.”-Hebrews 9:14 

Truth is, some of us need to revisit Golgatha again and to stop looking at Calvary as a tourist destination, but be reminded that it was a crime scene. The cross that stood high on that hill bore your sins and the blood that pooled around the foot of the cross was shed for your redemption. You were blood bought and blood washed! Never forget.

Scott Burr

Dayspring Community Church 

The Cross, the Blood, and You! (Pt.5)

(Pt.5)

“Write this letter to the angel of the church in Sardis. This is the message from the one who has the sevenfold Spirit of God and the seven stars: “I know all the things you do, and that you have a reputation for being alive—but you are dead.”-Revelation 3:1 

I have often thought that if I had not been a pastor I may have been a funeral home director. Caring for the deceased and their families is a noble profession. One aspect of the job, however, that is not very glamorous is preparing the body for burial. A body goes through the process of embalming. 

A very simplified explanation of the embalming process is that the blood is removed from the body and chemicals are injected to slow decomposition. In essence, we are trying to make something dead look as alive as possible. This process allows for family and friends to pay their respects and properly grieve the loss of their loved one. 

This caused me to think about a dilemma facing many churches today. Jesus recognized that there are churches that have a reputation of being alive, but are dead. How does a church look alive, but be dead inside. They embalm themselves. I found in my studies that there are three reasons for embalming:

Sanitation 

Presentation 

Preservation 

An embalmed church has determined to sanitize its message. They do this by removing virtually every semblance of the blood and brutality of the cross and replace it with programs, activities and acts of compassion. Their goal is to be more presentable to the community, to become a place where people never feel uncomfortable, where they can come and experience the love of Christ without any conviction. A place where they are not subjected to seeing the bloody price that was paid because of their own sinful choices. It is an attempt to make the church more palatable for generations to come by preserving their way of life and their place in the culture. 

You ask, can a church survive very long like that? The answer to that question should be obvious. However, in my research I found that a person who is embalmed correctly will still be recognizable 50, 60, to 70 years later. They are simply a shell, but they are recognizable. Jesus said that Sardis looked alive, but was really dead inside. An embalmed church that is emptied of the blood can be dead inside, but still resemble a church for many years. 

However, in these last days, God is not looking for an embalmed church. He is coming back for a blood-bought, blood washed church that has embraced the blood stained cross of Christ.

Scott Burr

Dayspring Community Church