John Gunter: We we're almost done with our series. We've been going through this series for a while. I think this is lesson seven. Tell me the story, life life lessons from scripture's greatest moments. And today, we're talking about a very familiar story, we're calling it the father's love.
Often, refer to this story as the prodigal son because we focus on the son who runs away. And so, this morning as we talk about this, let me encourage you not to just kind of go into your mind somewhere else as this is familiar, but to allow God's word to act and to work as we go into a very important story that Jesus told us, because Jesus tells this story for a reason. In Luke 15, we we call this a lost or I call this the lost chapter. It begins like this, now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to him, and the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled saying, this man receives sinners and eats with them. So he told them this parable.
Actually, what he did was he went on to talk about the lost sheep, the lost coin, and then thirdly, our story today talking about the lost son. This begins in in verse 11 of Luke chapter 15. 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. What the younger son is doing here, as Jesus sets this up, is basically telling his father, I wish you were dead. That's a serious thing.
I find humor in it myself because my dad said several years ago that as he's gotten older, it seems like when my brother's around, like the buzzards are flying over, like he's ready for them to be gone or something. Well, this will be mine and all of this stuff. It's not that serious, but it is kinda funny because of that story. But what Jesus is setting up here is a very serious thing. I wish you were dead.
It was a very shocking insult to say to your father, and of course, in a in a in a place where you're talking about honor and shame, though this is a parable, you would see this in the light of bringing shame upon your entire family. In verse 13, it says, not many days later, the younger son gathered all that he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property and 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 field to feed pigs. And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.
And so, as we look at this story, the descent that this son has is to lose kind of his identity in everything. He's lost his identity in his family, his ethnic and religious identity are gone because of the work he's having to do. Remember, they considered pigs unclean. And so, he's just trying to survive, and so this is the work he is now doing. He had lost everything.
And often, that's what happens with sin. Sin, on the surface, it looks like, promises us something very positive. Either I'm gonna have fun with this, or this is the way I really wanna go, I just feel like this is the way the Lord's leading me. We might even bless it like that. But sin is taking us to a place that we don't even realize is off the path.
It is taking us away from where we even need to be. And Romans six twenty three says this, for the wages of sin is death. And so when we go over, we give ourselves over into that, we give our life over to sin, the wages of that, what's actually gonna be paid to you, is death. But, the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. What kind of people are sitting here this morning?
Let me say it one more time, maybe you all are asleep, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. Good, gracious, alive. I'm gonna be like a teacher, that's the last I'm gonna tell you. Okay?
I'll take you outside. We've got a room full of Christians who won't say amen, get excited about the free gift of God. Do you need the grace of God this morning? Do you? Amen.
We need it. You can only interact with other people if you first understand the grace you need. You understand that? I can only love other people if I understand the grace that I need first. The wages of sin, though it looked promising, though it looked like something I wanted to do, but it looked like a lot of fun, what's gonna pay out is death.
But, the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Keep that in mind as we go through this story. Sin always takes you further than you wanted to go, and leaves you with less than you had in the beginning. And starting in verse 17 now, 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.
And I wanna pause there for just a second. Because what do you think the son's mindset would have been to be able to ask his dad, hey, give me everything, right, that's coming to me. I hope that you're dead. Right? You've got to think he's thinking, oh, I just hate it here, it's the worst, my my parents are overbearing, they make me do chores.
How many of you kids have said that this week? Right? It's terrible. It's terrible until you find out through life lessons that it wasn't bad. You had it pretty good.
Yeah? How many of you just couldn't wait to be an adult? And then you started paying bills. You know what? I had it pretty good.
When your kids finally realize how much money it takes to do those things, to buy that sports equipment, to go to that tournament, to do all of these things. Right? All of a sudden, it's not free anymore. Oh, I just thought mom and dad were mean. Maybe it was okay.
And that's what he said. He he he looks at the situation now from a different point of view. Life has a way of doing that, doesn't it? Now he looks at it in a different point of view, in a different light, fueled by his experiences and says, but how many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread? Now even the servants my father's father has are sitting pretty, and where am I?
He looks at the situation differently. I perish here with hunger. I will arise, go to my father, and I will say to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. He's already reciting. Alright.
This is how it's gonna go. I gotta prepare for this. You ever had a you just know you had to meet with somebody and kinda iron some things out, flesh some things out, and I gotta go over this, my voice might quiver a little bit, I might get a little upset, I better go over it. That's what we see here. Okay?
Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants. So what we see here, all of a sudden, is this kind of repentance. I understand what I have done and how how poorly I treated my father.
What I'll do is I won't even ask for the status I had, I just want to be treated as a servant. So then as he arose and came to his father, and as 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 and kissed him. I can only imagine a story like this, and maybe some of you have stories like this in your own family. Someone who leaves and you don't know when they're gonna return, I can only imagine how often the father would have looked up on the horizon to see, is he coming back? We live in an age where I can check the status, Katie checks to make sure I'm in the right place at the right time on my phone, you know, all of that stuff.
But here, you just don't know. They lived in a time where you have no idea. Once they're gone, they're gone. Are they ever coming back? Can you imagine parents thinking about your kids and going, I don't know when I'm going to see them again.
He left on bad terms. And the son comes back in a way that he is he is confessing. Right? He is repenting. He he wants to confess to his father.
It says, 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 what we're told by biblical scholars is that even this running would have been like you don't do that. Right? It's almost shameful to be running like this. You want to be very dignified.
So the father even throws that off, I'm not even worried about that, because the love of my son, the love for my son is way greater than that. He felt compassion for him, and he ran, and he knelt and kissed him. And so, the father cares that much. The son doesn't just work it out in his mind, he takes action. He comes home.
In first John one nine, it says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Yet, I would imagine some of us are sitting here this morning thinking, I've done too much, I did that thing too many times, there's no way that God is going to forgive me. And if you're thinking that this morning, you need to argue with John. Not this one, that one. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Amen. Because we need that, And God loves us in such a way that he will do it. He is faithful. Can you say that with me, church? He is faithful.
God loves us. Repentance is the first step out of the far country and into the father's arms. But you've got to decide, hey, I've done wrong, and I need to return to him. Oh, I think a lot of times what we get stuck with is, yeah, I need to change, but I'm stuck with the, oh, I don't know how it's gonna go, I don't know if I'll be accepted, I don't know and we stay there. You need to decide, and you need to return.
In verse 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, ran and embraced 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. You think that's true repentance? He knew what he had done. 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. The son comes back and he says, I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. And every single action the father made right there was saying, this is my son. Notice what did not happen here.
He did not give him a mandate, he didn't say, as long as you cross off all of these items, these action items I've prepared for you, as long as you'll do so many chores, He embraced him. This, my son, was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found. And they began to celebrate. And we should celebrate every time someone returns because we ourselves have to return from time to time, don't we?
We have to understand we haven't done things the way we wanted to do it, but God still loves us, he cares, and he is faithful. The father doesn't wait for even proof of repentance, or impose a probation period, He accepts him back, He restores him immediately. He gives him the best robe, the ring, the sandals, they're all they're all symbols of full restoration to sonship. Did the son do everything correctly? Absolutely not.
But the father brings him back. In Psalm oh, let me finish this really quick. Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to his 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. Now, Psalm one zero three verse eight through 12, the Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love towards those who fear him. As far as the East is from the West, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. Amen?
The unfortunate thing, and the thing we're getting into within this story is, though God may do it, though God may forgive us, though God may move our sins as far as the East is from the West, sometimes we don't. We don't allow people to be restored. When I was growing up, we had conversations about, well, what if somebody is on their deathbed and they want to be saved? Would God actually save somebody like that? And we said it in such a way that really what we're saying is they didn't work enough to get in like I were.
Now is that the attitude that you see in scripture with Jesus? No. Absolutely not. But we had to settle for ourselves, I don't think you've done enough. Okay?
Is that our position? Is that the position we should take? Absolutely not. We should hope, we should pray that every single heart turns to God, and when that heart turns to God, they are saved because He is faithful. Now, if you have a heart that I'm gonna do, I'm gonna live the life I wanna live, and right at the end, I'm gonna try and get in.
I don't think you're getting in anyway because your heart was wrong. But quit worrying about every little thing out there and start taking Jesus to people. That's what we need to see. It continues on, but he was angry, this older brother, and refused to go in. The news he just got was news that his brother had returned.
You notice the difference, the father is waiting, sees him a long way off, runs to him. The brother, he was angry and refused to go in after getting the news that his brother had returned. His father came out, and you see the father still loves this other son too. It says he entreated him. He says, but he answered his father, look, these many years I have served you.
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 notice that? Y'all notice that. Not my brother, your son. Sometimes Katie and I kid each other, and one of the kids do something like, that one's yours.
Most of time, she'll say, well, that one looks like you, so This son of yours I'm distancing myself from that person. Right? This son of yours who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him. So the attitude of the father is, I'm going to forgive. Now, who was the slight against in the first place?
The father. Right? So who is it that should be forgiving? Right? The father.
What does the brother have to do with this? Yes, you left him, but you didn't shame him in the same way that you shamed the father. Why are you so upset? It's all selfishness. I was here, I worked, and that's the same attitude like I'm talking about.
Like, end of life, well, do they get in the same way? Because I've been working the whole time. And guess what? If you've got that kind of attitude, I don't know that you're getting in either. God does not just let prodigals come home, he also restores them as sons and daughters, and that goes for this person as well that is struggling to forgive his own brother.
And so then he said to them, 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 you see him trying to restore. This your brother was dead and is alive, he was lost and is found. Now, what I like about this parable, this other son, this other brother has made it all about himself, and Jesus doesn't let him get the last word in in the parable. It ends with this comment, it was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead and is alive, he was lost and is found.
That's the attitude we should have as a church. Because what this what this brother is doing is really explaining a lot of the way we, as church people, react with our brothers and sisters who return. You've got to earn your place, you've got to do all of this, And for the the son here, obedience was transactional. Do you hear that? I work for you.
It wasn't relational, but I trust you, I put my faith in you, I'm It is, I work, I need. I give you this, you give me that. You see the transaction in that? That's what he's doing. He said, he serves for reward, not out of love, and so you see the heart in that.
So his heart shows you that you can be near the father's house, but far from the father's heart. That makes sense? You can be near the father's house and far from the father's heart, And that's talking about us. You can come and we can meet here, and we can be some of the worst people you ever came in contact with. But if we have the father's heart, that will change.
In Matthew twenty fifteen, am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me, or do you begrudge my generosity? Oh. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me, or do you begrudge my generosity? Are you angry with God about restoring someone because you have been here all along? I sure hope not.
But the father's invitation is for both the rebellious and the self righteous. The one who left and the one who stayed. The one who repented and changed their heart, the one who has had a difficult time forgiving the person who left. In Isaiah 55, seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near, let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord that he may have compassion on him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
Allow that to happen. John one twelve, but to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. Every single one. I think Jesus, as he told this parable thought of a proverb this week as I was thinking about this. I don't know that it made any difference what the father said to the second son.
The proverb I tried it out in class, and they were all just amazed, they hoisted me on their shoulders. Was amazing, you should have been there. But the proverb I came up with was this, the perfect explanation means nothing to the one who isn't listening. And often, when we maybe talk about heart or ears, we have already decided, we've already shut down, and nothing else matters, we're like the the second son, we just want to be mad. We just want to be upset, I want to get revenge, or I want things to be different, just like the second son was.
You remember how this started. The people were mad at Jesus because he hung out with sinners. And so Jesus responds by telling three parables about how the father responds to things that are lost. And every time, it ends in rejoicing. It ends in celebration.
And so, I'm just gonna encourage you this morning, if someone returning to God does not call celebration in yourself, you let that go and you give that to God because that is not of God. Repentance is not needed not only repentance is needed not only for the runaway prodigal, but also for the self righteous who refuse to celebrate grace. If you don't understand what grace is, you may side with the second son. But if you understand that we are all, every single one of us, sinners in need of God's grace, in need of a savior, if you understand that, then you understand what Jesus was saying. And so, you're lost this morning, may you be found.
May these words of God not fall on deaf ears. May you hear those words and turn to him. If you've not put on Christ in baptism, we'd love to see that happen today. And you've got a room full of people who are saying, we are walking with God, we wanna walk with you. And so we'll wrap our arms around you.
We've got a song of invitation right now. Would you come as we stand and as we sing?