Nobody's Perfect: The Story Of The Prodigal Son

Everyone’s Welcome, Nobody’s Perfect, Anything’s Possible #2

Nobody’s Perfect

Dr. Marty Baker / Luke 15 / February 13, 2022

Good morning. Welcome you to Stevens Creek Church. I am so glad that you are here. I want to welcome those in our South Campus, our Dream Center Experience and in our new West Campus. Let’s give a special welcome to our church family in Grovetown.

Today is Super Bowl Sunday. The excitement for tonight’s game has been building throughout the week. I think that it is funny how people support their team. They paint their faces; they wear the jerseys and do all kinds of crazy things to show their loyalty to their team.

There’s something about football that captivates our attention. It creates community. It fosters fun. It’s filled with drama. Nothing is more dramatic that a close, down-to-the-wire championship game. This season has been the best one ever.

When you look at each team’s record, however, it’s interesting to me that the Rams lost 5 games this season and the Bengals lost 7 games. You don’t hear too much about that. Needless to say, neither team has been perfect, yet they are in the Super Bowl. It tells me that you can be a champion without being perfect.

When you think about it, none of us are perfect and that’s what I want to talk about today. We are continuing our series: Everyone’s Welcome, Nobody’s Perfect, Anything’s Possible.

We make mistakes. All of us have areas that we struggle in. We do things that we know we shouldn't. We lose our temper, do not keep our word, and at times compromise our convictions. It's easy to be defined by one mistake in life, by one moment, by divorce, by a business that didn't make it, by how we raised our children.

Here’s the big idea for today’s message:

One mistake does not define you. God is bigger than your mistakes.

Over the next few minutes, I am going to talk about a young man that made one colossal mistake that led him down a path that he never dreamed that he would be one. In Luke 15, we see the famous story of the prodigal son.

In this parable, the young man asked his father for his inheritance. Then, he moved away and spent all of his money partying, living wild, hanging out with the wrong people. He lost all of his money. What should have lasted years only lasted a matter of months.

Then, there was a great famine in the land. He had no money, no place to live, and nobody to blame.

The only job he could find was feeding hogs. Things got so bad that he had to eat hog food to survive. It was at this point that he made a decision to go home. That’s the backdrop. Now, let’s look at the details and see what we can learn.

Luke 15:11-12

11 Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons.

12 The younger one said to his father, `Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them.

When Jesus said these words, “Give me my share of the estate,” everyone leaned in and listened. In the Jewish culture of that day, a request such as that was tantamount to saying, "Father, I wish that you were dead." The sheer magnitude of a request like this would crush a Father's heart.

The younger son wanted the benefits of his Dad’s money, but did not want a relationship with his Father. The younger son wanted freedom ... the opportunity to do what he wanted to do.

This young man was thinking, "Oh, if I could just go where I want to go and do what I want to do then I would be happy. If I could get out of this place and not have any responsibility, then everything would be right.

When the Dad heard his son talk like this, he knew that even though he was geographically in the house, the son had already wandered away.

I believe that the father probably tried to reason with him, but the boy was determined to have his way.

So, at last, the father gives the younger son his share of the property. To do this, I would imagine that the father had to liquidate some of his assets. They did not have their money stored in banks, but in animals and property.

When you have to liquidate something quickly you typically don’t get market value. So, this father was willing to take a loss in order to satisfy his younger son.

Here’s how it turned out. The younger son received one-third of the family’s estate. The elder son received two-thirds and was responsible for the family’s well-being.