Swing While You Wait | Luke 15:8-24, Lamentations 3:25

Sometimes it’s helpful to picture Jesus in a modern setting. Maybe it’s your favorite coffee shop where we’re gathered right now and it’s that comfy chair that you love to sit in the corner, and Jesus is a cross from you and there’s a crowd of people. It doesn’t have to be on a hillside off of the Sea of Galilee. Paint that picture in your mind as we open God’s Word together and Jesus teaches us today about waiting.

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Transcription:

In Canada, there are some bus stops where you won’t just find benches to sit and wait on. You’ll find swing sets so people can actually have fun and stretch out their legs and reach for the sky while they’re waiting on the bus. And to me, that’s a beautiful picture of how the Lord wants us to wait on him. Hi, it’s the Bible for Busy People. I’m Erica, your host, and it’s a delight to study God’s Word with you. Thank you for making time to hang out today. We are going to go into the presence of the Lord right now, and I just want to pray us in today because honestly, we’re going to be sitting down with Jesus and the people He’s teaching, his closest friends and the people gathered around, and we’re going to have a conversation about what it looks like to wait in faith. I just want to ask God in particular today to meet us in a special way.

Father, we just come to you in the mighty and powerful name of Jesus. Thank you that you are a faithful God and we can trust you, like a little child trusts their mom and dad to feed them every day, even three or four or five times a day if you include the snacks. Lord, help us to trust you like that. Open our eyes and our hearts to what you want us to see in your words today. It’s in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

As I was reading Luke 15 moments ago, before we gathered here, I thought to myself, sometimes it’s helpful to picture Jesus in a modern setting. Maybe it’s your favorite coffee shop where we’re gathered right now and it’s that comfy chair that you love to sit in the corner, and Jesus is a cross from you and there’s a crowd of people. It doesn’t have to be on a hillside off of the Sea of Galilee. Paint that picture in your mind as we open God’s Word together and Jesus teaches us today about waiting. Well, okay. Alright, Luke 15 beginning in verse eight.

“Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one.

This is Jesus speaking, by the way.

Won’t she light a lamp and sweep the entire house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she will call in her friends and neighbors and say, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost coin.’ 10 In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels when even one sinner repents.”

I’m including that for a couple of reasons, because it’s sort of attached to the next part of Jesus’s teaching, but also because it’s occurring to me that today, that God waits on us. He waits for you and I to come to him for salvation. To say, Lord, I know I’m a sinner and I know you died for my sins and I receive your free gift of salvation, peace on earth and eternal life in heaven, in a perfect place in your presence. And He waits on us to repent when we’ve messed up, even after we’re Christians and believers, because that happens. We’re still imperfect humans. He waits on us. So often to me that is so humbling, and so beautiful, that we have a God who waits on us. So, surely you and I can wait for him. We know he’s always working. We know he’s always making a way. Google the song Waymaker today. It’ll make you feel better. Okay, verse 11 Now in Luke 15.

To illustrate the point further, Jesus told them this story: “A man had two sons. 12 The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’

Oh, what a harsh thing to ask your dad.

So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons. 13 “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. 14 About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. 15 He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. 16 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. 17 “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! 18 I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, 19 and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’ 20 “So he returned home to his father.

And here’s where I want to pitch a tent with you today, because this is the person who knows how to wait well. This is the person who knows how to trust God, 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. 21 His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you,

And I’m sure there were tears streaming.

and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.[’22 “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. 23 And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, 24 for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.

What an incredible story. While the prodigal son, you’ve probably heard that term in culture, if you’ve never read this story in the Bible, was a long way off. The father was waiting. His father saw him coming. Perhaps he made a habit of going to the window and looking all the time, looking in faith. Here’s what we can learn from the father of the prodigal son: keep your eyes open. Keep your heart open. Know that God hears that prayer in your heart, maybe even the one you’ve never said out loud, or never confessed to anyone. He knows. The deep longing in your heart. Keep both eyes open. Keep your heart open. Look for the Lord. He is going to act on your behalf. He is good to those who wait upon him. We’re going to talk more about this next time. But in the meantime, remember, God waits on us. We can wait on him. He is trustworthy. Until next time, remember, you are truly loved.

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