The Story of Being Let Down | More or Less | Pastor Zach Weihrauch

As we continue our More or Less series, Pastor Zach explores the parable of the lost son in Luke 15, highlighting both the rebellion of the younger son and the quiet distance of the older son. He unpacks how it’s possible to be near God outwardly while emotionally disconnected inwardly, especially when faith becomes transactional. Through the image of a father who runs toward both sons, we see a God who pursues us not for what we can produce, but for relationship. The message invites us to step back into the joy of being with the Father rather than standing outside the party.

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And he said, there was a man who had two sons. 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. 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. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate. And no one gave him anything. 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. I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants. 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. 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. But the father said to his servants, bring quickly the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet, and bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found. And they, uh, began to celebrate. 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 these servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, um, 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. Yet you never gave me a young goat that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened Caphorin. And he said to him, son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad for this. Your brother was dead and is alive. And he was lost and is found. Well, good morning and welcome to the weekly gathering of Christ Community Chapel. My name is Zach. I'm one of the pastors here, and I'm so glad we get to be part of your weekend. You know, we are in week three now of a, uh, brief sermon series. We're in for the month of May. It's a little bit of an unusual one. That's because its primary source material is a story that Jesus tells. In Matthew chapter 13, that story is, uh, a metaphor. In it, Jesus compares God to a. A man who walks around with a bucket of seed, casting the seed everywhere he goes. Jesus is saying that God is communicative, that God is sharing the knowledge of who he is and what he's up to all over the world. The emphasis of the story is not on God scattering seed, but on what happens to the seed once it's thrown. Jesus talks about four kinds of soil that the seed falls on. The soils are meant to represent different responses to the information about who God is. And actually, three out of the four soils are negative responses, responses that, at least over the long haul, do not respond to God positively. They miss him. And really, we're taking a few weeks to explore those soils because we don't want to miss God. We. We don't want you to miss God either. And so we're looking at these responses to figure out what Jesus has to teach us about them. And that's why the reading this week is not from Matthew 13, uh, but instead from a different story in Luke 15. The reason is because we don't want to keep going back to the same parable every week. Instead, we're looking at one soil and then showing you a story in the Gospels that illustrate that response to Jesus. So our soil this week comes from Matthew 13, 5, 6. I'll read it to you. As Jesus describes one of the four responses to God, here's what it says. Other seeds fell on rocky ground where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. Jesus says one way of missing God looks like getting God in the beginning. Some people will hear the message of Jesus and respond, at least initially, with excitement and enthusiasm. But eventually something changes and they begin to wither. Uh, that's what we're talking about. But instead of just reading that verse, we're looking at a story from Luke 15 that illustrates it so well. Story that was Just read, uh, very well. By a young man who must have a very handsome father. So if you have a Bible, would you open it to Luke chapter 15? Uh, if you'd rather follow along on the screen. Anytime I reference it, it'll be on the screen behind me. Or if you want, there is a Bible in the back of the pew in front of you or in the back of east hall. Uh, you can grab one of those and the same one I use. So I can tell you that Luke 15 is on page 833. But however you get there, here are the three points I'm going to use as an outline to talk about this response to Jesus. Three points. They go like this. I want to show you the secret we keep, the story we tell, and the God who comes looking. The secret we keep, the story we tell, and the God who comes looking. All, uh, right, let's start with the first one, the secret we keep. Uh, this story in Luke 15 is one of the most famous stories in all of the Bible. It's often called the Prodigal Son. It's an amazing story. I mean, it opens with a younger brother, a youngest child, and if you're a youngest child, you know, pretty carefree guy, all right, pretty, pretty fun loving guy. And he eventually goes to his father and he says, look, dad, when you die, I'm gonna get a portion of your estate. And the only problem with that, dad, is you seem pretty healthy. So I'll tell you what, why don't you just cash me out now and then I'll move away. For me, it'll be like you're dead. And then we can just part ways. And the dad decides to honor that request. He gives his son his inheritance. He then moves to the big city and does what you'd imagine he would do. He blows all of his money all on, uh, partying. He blows the money, goes down in flames in a public way. It's not just that he's wasting the money. He's bringing shame on his family. He is going hard in the world of partying. And he's doing it on Instagram. Everybody knows it. And everybody who sees the father at the grocery store is like, oh, bless your heart. I'm, um, praying for you. Which is the Christian way of saying, you must have been a pretty bad dad. That's what's going on. Until finally the son is out of money and he ends up living with pigs. And I don't mean he was living with other 20 year old guys. I mean he's Literally living with pigs in a pigsty, eating what they eat. And finally one day he goes, this is crazy. Look, my dad owns a business. He'll never take me back as a son, but he might give me like a low level job at the business and at least then I'd have a roof and be able to feed myself. So he begins the walk home, and the whole walk home, he's rehearsing a speech like, dad, you know, I'm not really worthy to be a son. I don't expect you to forgive me, but could I just get an entry level job? But in one of the most amazing moments of the story, the father has been looking for his son every day. As he scans the horizon, he sees him coming and he goes running towards him. And before the son can even get his speech out, the dad hugs him and, hey, I'm so glad you're home. I'm gonna throw a party. I've been following you on Instagram. You love parties. We're gonna throw a big one. It's going to be amazing. And it's such a beautiful story of redemption. It's often referred to as the prodigal son. Is a powerful story. It's also not the point. The younger brother is not the main character of this story. He's the background. It's a great story, awesome story, but it's just the background. You see, in Luke 15:1 we're told that Jesus is telling this story to religious people, moral people, people who would have had nothing in common with the younger brother except for together they would have judged him. He's not telling the story to younger children blowing the money on partying. He's talking to firstborn type a moral, religious driven people, the kind of people who will get up and come to the 9:15 service. He's telling the story for people like us. Because the younger brother is not the main character of the story. The older brother is the religious one, the moral one, the firstborn one. Look at how he responds to what happens in the story. You pick it up in verse 25. He, here's what it says. 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. The older brother is angry. You know why? Right? Right. He's done Everything, right? And they're throwing a party for the other brother. But I want you to notice something. When the younger brother decides to rebel, he does it in a blaze of glory. He takes the money, he probably says some awful things to the dad, goes and parties, he goes out in a blaze of glory. When the older brother decides he's had enough, he doesn't make a scene, he doesn't go on Instagram, he doesn't raise his voice. He just crosses his arms and refuses to go in to the party. Jesus is saying there are two ways to rebel against God. The first is the younger brother way, the obvious way. The other is the religious way. It's to still do the things, say the things, be at the things, but just arms crossed outside the party. A couple years ago, there was a phenomena that probably wasn't new, but it was labeled in the corporate world. It was called quiet quitting. Have you heard of this? Like, loud quitting would be walking into work and saying, this place is the worst and you are all the worst and my boss is the worst. And to put down a letter of resignation, say, peace, I'm out of here. Quiet quitting says, you know what? I hate this place. My heart isn't in this place, but I still need the paycheck. When you quiet quit, you still get up in the morning, you still shower, you still go in, you sit at your cubicle, you type on the keyboard. You do whatever you need to do to keep the job, but you don't do anymore. You're there, but you're not. You're doing the things, but your heart isn't in it. What Jesus is saying is that religious rebellion looks like quiet quitting on God. You still come on Sundays. You still stand when we ask you to stand. Sit when we ask you to sit. Nobody on the outside would know. You see the younger brother, everybody knows he's a mess. The older brother, nobody even realizes he's not in the party. You know how it is at a big party, like a wedding, you just assume he's somewhere in the room. Nobody knows he isn't there. He's just standing outside. Quiet. Quitting on God means coming to church every weekend. You're here, you, your lips are moving, but your heart isn't in it. I wonder if you've experienced that. I think that's the secret Jesus is talking about. We keep. I'm here, but I'm not. I'm here, but I'm not. I think all of us at some point in life will quiet quit on God, all of us. But I also think there's probably some of us here this weekend who. That's exactly where we are. Doing the right things, saying the right things, heart not in it. Let me ask you a question. If you're in a state of quiet quitting right now, if you can remember a time when you were excited and enthusiastic, just like the plant in Jesus parable, but that isn't you anymore. You've withered. Can you trace back when quiet quitting started? Are you able to go back and say, this, this moment, this is when my heart stopped looking to go into the party of God? Because in this story, you can. Actually, that's my second point. Not just the secret we keep that we've quiet quit on God, but the story we tell. Because with the older brother, you know the moment. You know the moment. In fact, you see it most powerfully in verse 28, when the Father comes out to speak to the son. Here's what it says. 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. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him. Do you see what the son is saying? He's saying, listen, I did all the right things. Things. I showed up for work every day. I kept my head down, my mouth shut. I worked hard, Dad, I never dishonored you every turn, I obeyed you, I submitted to you. I celebrated your leadership. Hey, dad. When you were devastated about the younger brother, who consoled you, who was there, who was consistent. And here's what he's saying. You owe me. That's what he's saying. I've done all the right things. You owe me. See, Jesus is saying something really powerful here. The younger brother goes to the father and he says to him, um, listen, I wish you were dead. Just give me your stuff so I can go. The older brother says to the father, I've done all the right things so that I can have your stuff. It's the same. Just one looks like rebellion and one looks like religion. Uh, let me give you a metaphor, ladies. If you're married, you can visualize this is your husband. Fellas, if you're married, you can visualize this is your idiot friend. Okay? Uh, I want you to imagine a man who decides to plan the most romantic day ever for his wife. Like, he gets up early, turns off her alarm, so she sleeps in. Doesn't even realize it when she wakes up. He brings breakfast in bed. He says, hey, today we're gonna do all your favorite things, the things I never wanna do. And when they do them, he doesn't complain, which, as a husband, is a double whammy. Then when they get home, they get cleaned up and dressed up. He takes her to that restaurant she's been wanting to go to that everybody's talking about. They both look great. They sit down at the table. He says, order whatever you want. It's your day, it's your night. And. And she says to him, wow, I gotta tell you, I have never felt more seen and more loved and more appreciated right now. And he goes, oh, perfect. And it's a great time to ask, do you think I can get a boat now? Uh, listen, in that moment, he's invalidated the entire day, hasn't he? In that moment, she realizes it was never about her. It was never about loving her or appreciating her or celebrating her. It was never about that. You know what it was about? It was about getting a boat. In fact, not only has he invalidated that day, he's actually turned the day into a negative. Because she realizes, listen, we don't have a relationship. We have a contract. We're not loving each other. We're negotiating this transactional. You put the good in and a boat comes out. That's what the older brother is saying to the father. He's saying, all those days I showed up for work, I didn't do it because I loved the job. I didn't even do it because I loved you. I did it so that the goat would be mine. You owe me. He's saying, I have a transactional relationship. What Jesus is saying is one of the ways people miss God is they do the right things, they say the right things, but they're doing it to get the goat. And Jesus says, here's how you know when you don't get the goat. You respond in anger. Listen, how many of us can trace back our quiet quitting to the moment we realized we weren't going to get married, Our marriage wasn't going to make it. Our company wasn't going to take off. Our career was never going to go where we wanted it. We weren't going to be able to have children. And in those moments, those are devastating moments. And I want you to hear me. Disappointment is a human response. In fact, the absence of disappointment is almost a greater cause than for concern. The Bible's full of passages about disappointment. Disappointment is when you take your negative feelings and take them to God. Why God? Where are you, God? Can we talk about this, God? Disappointment is not a problem and it's not a sin. But what this guy responds is not disappointment. He responds with a self righteous anger. I did everything I did so that you would give me this. How many of us is, if we're honest, would say, you can trace back our quiet quitting moment to God not giving us the thing we felt we were deserved because of all we had done. And if that's your story, do you see? That's not faith and that's not even a relationship. All that is is wanting a boat. All that is is a transactional approach to God. And if that's where you find yourself, listen, please hear me. If that's where you find yourself. I don't say that to guilt you or to shame you. Not at all. Not at all. Instead, here's why I say it. I say it to get you ready for my third point. You gotta know that I'm saying that to get you ready for that. Because if that's where you are, that's where you are. The first point is the secret we keep of quiet quit. The second, the story we tell. God owes me. I've done all the right things. Here's the third point. The father, or the God who comes looking. One of the most powerful stories in this story of two brothers is when the younger brother returns. I told you, he's practicing his speech, right? He's been homeless, living with pigs. He's disgusting, right? He's walking back and he's going, dad, Dad, I know you can't forgive me, dad, I'll never be a son. Can I just. Can I, Dad? He's practicing and the father sees him and goes running after him. And when he gets there, despite the fact that he smells awful, gives him a big bear hug. And the son's trying to, dad, Dad, I can't be forgiven, but can I? And the father says, would you just shut up? We're gonna throw a party. I've been following you on Instagram. You love parties. The father had been looking for him. But you know what's really cool is the older brother is outside the party. You ever been to a really big party? It's impossible to know if somebody you're looking for is there. It would have been so easy to just assume the older brother is there somewhere. Everybody else did, but not the father. He had been scanning the room he had been looking for the older brother, and when he isn't there, he goes looking. Verse 38 says his father came out and entreated him. Friends, do you know what that means? It means the father left the party to go find his transactional, religious, self righteous son. Because the father said, I don't want the party if you aren't there. Hear me on this. The the older brother is standing outside the party, arms crossed, lip out, pouting, saying, I want a goat. So many of you have been pastoring you long enough to know that a huge part of your story is a father wound. You know, the absence of the relationship you were meant to have and you long to have with your dad. And if that's you, you know what I'm gonna say before I even say it. But this guy's standing outside the party and he wants a goat. When what he has is a father who loves him so much he notices he isn't in the party and he goes looking for him. Him. And I read this story and I think, you want a goat. I want that dad. You know what I mean? You want that dad who looks around and sees that you aren't in the room, who comes out and throws his arm around you and says, son, would you come into the party? Son, would you understand? I love you, I miss you, I want you here. It's not a party if you aren't there. He wants a goat. He's given up because he didn't get a goat, when what he has is a father who loves him, who comes looking for him. Don't you see, friends? That's what you have in Jesus. Jesus who leaves the party of heaven to come looking for you, who will live sinlessly in your place, go to the cross, taking on your sin, coming up under the anger and judgment of God until it's exhausted, dying under the weight of it, then resurrecting three days later and saying to you, see, See, it's not a party if you're not there. Friends, I don't mean to say that the wound you're carrying, the marriage you won't have, the children you won't have, the career you won't. I don't mean to say those aren't devastating things. They are. But do you see that in the span of eternity, whatever it is that we think God owes us is just a, uh, goat, it pales in comparison to a father who leaves the party to throw his arm around us. I love what the father says. A little bit later, in verse 31, he says. And he said to him, son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. See, The Father says, everything that I have belongs to you. The entire inheritance now is yours. Here's what the Father is saying. He's saying, you want a goat, son, don't you understand all the goats are yours. Don't you know today when I got up this morning and worked really hard to grow the family business, it was for you. Here's what the father is saying. He. He's saying, I've come looking for you. And with my arm around you, I want you to know you might not have gotten this goat, but I'm building you a kingdom. Is that not also what we have in Jesus? I know there are things in this life that you will not have, that you mourn. And I want you to remember I said, disappointment is human. It's not a sin. You take your disappointment to God. In fact, the dividing line between disappointment and transactional is one sends you towards God and the other has you stand outside the party. But don't you see Jesus is saying, don't you know every day I'm building a kingdom? And don't you know that kingdom is yours? And don't you know you'll be there with me forever? And I'll blow your mind with all the goats I have for you. Friends, listen to me. Listen to me. I know you think you were owed. I think you know you did all the right things. But God has left the party, thrown his arm around you in Jesus, reminded you of the kingdom. And he is saying to you even now, won't you just come in? Won't you come into the party? Won't you let your heart gets soft again? Have you quiet quit on God? If you have, he has come looking for you. Maybe today is the day you come back inside the party. Let me pray for you, Father. God, thank you so much for this story. I love that there are two brothers, you know, if you had just had the younger brother, it would be an incredible story. It'd be one of our favorite stories. We would sing it, turn it into a movie, write a book about it. We would talk about such a great story. But the problem is half of us wouldn't have felt seen. So the father has two sons so that no matter who we are, no matter what our rebellion looks like, we would know you come looking for us. My prayer is now, through the power of your Holy Spirit, you might throw your arm around each and every one of us, especially those of us that have quiet quit and tell us to come back inside. In Jesus name we pray.