Welcome to the Reformed University Fellowship at UNCW Podcast! Each week, we will post the messages from our RUF Large Group meetings at UNCW. This spring, we’re looking at the parables of Jesus from the New Testament book of Luke.

In the parables of Luke 15, Jesus shows us the values of the Kingdom of God and exposes our own disordered priorities. In these first two "lost and found" parables, we see the deep joy that should result from the rescue and return of God's beloved image bearers, and how that joy should shape our relationships with the people we see as different, despicable, or wrong.

Quotes:

“Why carry out such a diligent search? Why go to such lengths and take such risks to secure just one more sheep or coin? Is it not because God places such high value on the soul that belongs to him? These are sheep and coins with owners. This one wandering lamb belongs to a shepherd. This one missing coin belongs to a woman. They are owned so they are valued.

… God takes time to pursue every individual. When that individual repents, God takes time to celebrate, and he invites all heaven to celebrate with him. This speaks volumes about the value of every individual in God's sight. Heaven rejoices over every repentant sinner. Christians do too. Pharisees don’t.”— Thabiti Anyabwile

“We tend to think that when we approach Jesus for help in our need and mercy amid our sins, we somehow detract from him, lessen him, impoverish him ... Christ’s heart is not drained by our coming to him; his heart is filled up all the more by our coming to him. To put it the other way around: when we hold back, lurking in the shadows, fearful and failing, we miss out not only on our own increased comfort but on Christ’s increased comfort. He lives for this. This is what he loves to do. His joy and ours rise and fall together.” – Dane Ortland

“What Jesus offers in parabolic mode, therefore, is not cheap grace—the concern (we may surmise) of the Pharisees and scribes—but an altogether different economy of grace. The mood of this new economy is joy and welcome, not separation and self-justification. Furthermore, the repentance that it calls for is not cheap. It is not something narrowly bound to the preservation of the elect and the holy. Rather, it is something much more costly—not separation from "sinners," but being "found" by Jesus, God's Son and Servant, becoming part of his company and ... leaving everything behind for his sake.” - Stephen Barton