“The Stories that Jesus Told”
Sermon # 1
“What To Do When We Mess up Bad”
or
The Parable of the Loving Father
Luke 15:11-32
It has always troubled
me that you as a congregation seem to remember my stories better than you do my sermons! I
have still not heard the end of the fact that I packed all my wife’s clothes at the
end of our cruise.
I console myself with
the knowledge that even Jesus had that problem, for people seemed to remember better the
stories that he told than the sermons that he preached. I believe there is a good reason
for that, and that is because a good story connects with us as listeners. Jesus, of
course, realized how powerful good stories are and he used them frequently in His teaching
ministry. Today we refer to “The stories that Jesus Told” as parables.
The story that I want us to examine
first in our study shows us “What to do when we mess up big time!” It is really a story about how to relate to our
heavenly father. Unfortunately how we relate to God as our heavenly father is based to
some extent on how we relate to our father in this life. If have a good father then we do
not have a problem, but if our father was absent or if our father was present but we did
not enjoy a good relationship then that carries over into our relationship with heavenly
God. Jesus wanted to present that our heavenly father is not a father who is just waiting
for us to mess up so he can thump us on the head, instead he is a loving father who is
ready to welcome us home. The story that Jesus told about God as the loving heavenly
father is found in Luke 15 where beginning in verse eleven it says, “Then He said: "A certain man
had two sons” and is often called the Parable of the Prodigal Son but in
reality it is a story about the love of God and his acceptance of those who have made bad
choices, and messed up big time. Jesus has some important things that he wants to teach us
about God the Father.
First, God Loves You So Much That He Allows You To
Make Your Own Choices!
“Then
He said: "A certain man had two sons. (12) And the younger of them said to his
father, "Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.'
One of the things that
disturbs us about God is that He refuses to step in and stop us or others from doing what
is wrong. God has given us the awesome gift of free will. We think that we would like for
God to be more controlling – at least in the lives of other people. We would like to
have Him force them to do the right things and stop them from doing the wrong things. But
God knows that the moment He forces us to do His will, it means nothing!
Verse twelve
continues with, “So he divided to them his livelihood.” The
father granted his wish and gave his son what he wanted. The Greek
text shows the anguish of the father, it literally says, “He divided to
then his life.” The father gave into his
son, not because he was a permissive parent – not because he did not care what
happened to his son – but because he was giving his son what he thought he wanted.
Some times the worst thing God can do for us is to allow us to have what we think we want.
God allows us to have what we thin
we want – in the hope that someday he would want something better!
The truth is that in
his pursuit of pleasure, pain would be this young man’s constant companion until the
images of this world’s allurement are replaced by the images of a home where he was
loved and valued.
This story shows us
Three Ways the Prodigal Son Offended His Father.
1. He Asked For
His Inheritance Early (v. 12)
"Father,
give me the portion of goods that falls to me.'
He asks for his
inheritance in a legal but highly unusual request. The boy was in effect saying, “Dad I do
not want to have to wait around for get what is mine, and since you haven’t died soon
enough to suit me, I want what is mine.”
I think that it is interesting that this young man’s fall began the
moment he started demanding his rights.
2. He Sold His
Inheritance! (v. 13a)
“And
not many days after, the younger son gathered all together…” In today’s terminology we would say, “He
liquidated his assets.” He not
only received His inheritance early he sold it! In
the culture of the day you did not sell the land that belonged to your family. Apparently
giving no thought to how his selfishness would affect the entire household, he took
one-third of the family resources and left home to live it up.
He
left home to live it up. He was not simply moving out to live on his own, I think we can
safely say he had no intention of ever returning.
3. He Squandered
His Inheritance.
“…
journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.”
The word translated
“prodigal” here means “loud” or “wild.” It suggests a life
of wild parties, loud music and bright lights. And the word translated “wasted”
means “to blow away” – the same word used to describe “separating
grain from the chaff.” So, quite literally it means “He took it and he
blew it on wild living.”
Some would seek to justify this young
man’s actions with old clichés like “Well boys will be boys. Everyone tends to sow
some wild oats!” The terrible part is that many forget to add, “We will
reap what we sow!” Galatians 6:7 says, “Be not deceived, God
is not mocked: for whatever a man sows that he will also reap!”
Yes
you can come back to God but we will come back worse than when we left, scarred by sin and
with the memory of wasted years.
We
can look at this young man and see the foolishness of his choices before he even begins.
His errors seem so clear to us, and we can see the results of his destructive lifestyle
before they even come about. But when your in the middle of such a situation, it is not so
easy to see. The ways of the world look so appealing and people seem so full of life and
having such a good time. And the bad things that happen to others will not happen to us.
After all we are smarter than they are.
But as always in life,
sooner or later, choices have consequences. The money eventually ran out and at the same
time a famine fell upon that part of the world bringing this young man into truly
desperate straits.
Verses fourteen through sixteen give
us the truth about sin, “But when he had spent all, there
arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. (15) Then he went and
joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed
swine. (16) And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate,
and no one gave him anything.”
Sin leads us away from the Father’s
house by promising us something we “think” will satisfy us. Sin promises us
freedom but brings only slavery… it promises success but brings only failure… it
promises life but “the wages of sin is death.” The problem becomes the longer
that we are in the “far country” – the longer we rebel against God –
the hungrier and emptier we will become.
Three Steps To Returning Home.
The first step
on the road home is to Wake Up To Our True Condition. (v. 17)
“But
when he came to himself, he said, "How many of my father's hired servants have bread
enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
When his money ran out
he no doubt told himself that this was just a temporary set back. But finally things got
bad enough to get his attention. The combination of being forced to hire himself out as a
slave and seeing that the pigs were better cared for than he was caused him to do clear
thinking about his situation. The first step
home is the realization of how far away we have roamed. Our road home begins when we
realize that we are headed in the wrong direction and head back to God. It says, “when he came to himself” – that means that when
he began to see things as they really are. All sin is really a form of insanity.
Repentance begins with seeing things straight.
The second step
on the road home is Confession. (vv. 18-19)
“I
will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against
heaven and before you, (19) and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like
one of your hired servants."'
He did not excuse his behavior as
understandable. Too often we start out confessing our sin and end up excusing it!
“A radio news series about
honesty in America talked about excuses. The commentator said that people use three types
of excuses when guilty of wrongdoing.
· The first is outright
denial—a rejection
· The second is the
“It’s not my fault
· A third form of excuse is the
“I did it,
Confession is not the
same as being sorry we were caught. It is being sorry we sinned. To confess means to own
up to the fact that one’s behavior was not just the result of bad parenting, poor
genetics, jealous siblings or a chemical imbalance caused by too many Twinkies.
In
Psalms 51:4 we read David’s great confession after his sin of adultery with
Bathsheba, “Against You, You only, have I
True confession
then is ….. no deals….no negotiations…no strings attached.
The third step
on the road home is Repentance (v. 20a) "And he arose
and came to his father….”
The sign that he had
truly repented was when he turned from his wrong choices and headed home. Recognition of
his sinful choices was good but it was not enough. Confession of how wrong he was, was
good but it was not enough. All of these things are no good unless he is willing to turn
around and return to the Father.
Proverbs
28:13 says it this way, “He that
God
Loves You So Much That He Allows You To Make Your Own Choices And….
Secondly, The Father Is Willing and Anxious To Accept Those
Who Return Home. (vv. 20-24)
“And
he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him
and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. (21) And the son said to
him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy
to be called your son.' (22) "But the father said to his servants, "Bring out
the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. (23)
And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; (24) for this my
son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' And they began to be
merry.”
When the son left, the
father did not chase after him. The father did not fall apart. He did not give up hope and
when he returned he did not retaliate by withholding his forgiveness.
Everything about the reception given this
son by his father is significant. A kiss in Palestinian culture is a sign for full
accept-ance and friendship. And the father didn't stop with a kiss and a hug. He called
for a robe, a ring, and sandals. That robe stands for honor; the ring stands for
authority-for if a man gave to another his signet ring it was the same as giving him the
power of attorney. The shoes stand for a son as opposed to a slave, for children of the
family had shoes and slaves did not.
Someone once asked
Abraham Lincoln toward the end of the American Civil War, “How are
you going to treat the rebellious Southerners when the War is Over?’ He
replied, “I
will treat them as though they had never been away.” That what this father
did, that is what God is willing to do!
Roy Angell once told a beautiful story about a widow during the first
World War who lost here only son and her husband. She was especially bitter because her
neighbor, who had five sons, lost none of them. One night while this woman’s grief
was so terribly severe, she had a dream. An angel stood before her and said, ‘You
might have you son back again for ten minutes. What ten minutes would you choose? Would
you have him back as a little baby, a dirty-faced little boy, a schoolboy just starting
school, a student just completing high school, or as the young man who marched so bravely
off to war?
The mother thought for
a few minutes and then, in her dream, told the angel she would choose none of those times.
‘Let me have him back,’ she said, ‘ when as a little boy, in a moment of
anger, he doubled up his fists and shook them at me and said ‘I hate you! I hate
you!’ Continuing to address the angel
she said, ‘In a little while his anger subsided and he came back to me, his dirty
little face stained with tears, and put his arms around me. ‘Momma, I’m sorry I
was so naughty. I promise never to be bad again and I love you with all my heart.’
‘Let me have him back then,’ the mother sobbed, ‘I never loved him more
than at that moment when he changed his attitude and came back to me.’ [Roy Angell. Shields of Brass.
(Nashville: Broadman Press, 1965) pp. 70-71]
Jesus says this is how
God feels about each of us.
The
Father Is Willing and Anxious To Accept Those Who Return Home And …..
Third, The Father Expects His Children To Rejoice Over the
Return of the Fallen. (vv. 25-32)
"Now
his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music
and dancing. (26) So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. (27)
And he said to him, "Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and
sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.' (28) "But he was angry and would not
go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. (29) So he answered and said to
his father, "Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your
commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young
goat,
that I might make merry with my friends. (30) But as soon as this son of yours came, who
has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.' (31)
"And he said to him, "Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours.
(32) It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is
alive again, and was lost and is found."'
The elder brother
really did not understand his father any better than his younger brother had. He
considered himself nothing more than an unappreciated servant to his father. He expressed
this when he said, “Look I have been slaving for you for years, and for
what.” He is angry and resentful
that the father has not catered to his wishes and rewarded him as he thinks he deserves.
The awful possibility
exists that we too can be in the Father’s fields as servants but not in his house as
sons and daughters. We may be moral and respectable but not really know the father who is
loving, accepting and forgiving.
Have you ever noticed that this story does
not haven an ending? We do not know how the elder brother eventually reacted to his
brother’s return. We can imagine possible endings to the story. Perhaps the older
brother finally gave in and forgave his brother. He shared the inheritance with him and
they both lived in the father’s house as brothers once again. Or in world it is easy
to imagine that the older brother became increasing bitter against the father and left his
house, never to be reconciled either with his brother or his father.
Some times we are like
the elder brother and we are not too please to see the father forgive someone other than
ourselves.
The Three Truths that Jesus wants us to
understand about the Father are:
1. God Loves You So Much That He Allows You
To Make Your Own Choices
2. God Loves You So Much That He is Willing and
Anxious To Accept Those Who Return Home
3.
The Father Expects His Children To Rejoice Over the Return of the Fallen.