The Rebel Son and the Loving Father
THE MESSAGE: Lk 15:11 “Then he said, ‘There was once a man who had two sons. 12 The younger said to his father, “Father, I want right now what’s coming to me.” 13 It wasn’t long before the younger son packed his bags and left for a distant country. There, undisciplined and dissipated, he wasted everything he had. 14 After he had gone through all his money, there was a bad famine all through that country and he began to hurt. 15 He signed on with a citizen there who assigned him to his fields to slop the pigs. 16 He was so hungry he would have eaten the corncobs in the pig slop, but no one would give him any. 17 That brought him to his senses. He said, “All those farmhands working for my father sit down to three meals a day, and here I am starving to death. 18 I’m going back to my father. I’ll say to him, ‘Father, I’ve sinned against God, I’ve sinned before you; 19 I don’t deserve to be called your son. Take me on as a hired hand.’ 20 He got right up and went home to his father. When he was still a long way off, his father saw him. His heart pounding, he ran out, embraced him, and kissed him.
21 The son started his speech: ‘Father, I’ve sinned against God, I’ve sinned before you; I don’t deserve to be called your son ever again.’ 22 But the father wasn’t listening. He was calling to the servants, ‘Quick. Bring a clean set of clothes and dress him. Put the family ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Then get a grain-fed heifer and roast it. We’re going to feast! We’re going to have a wonderful time! 24 My son is here - given up for dead and now alive! Given up for lost and now found!” And they began to have a wonderful time. 25 All this time his older son was out in the field. When the day’s work was done he came in. As he approached the house, he heard the music and dancing. 26 Calling over one of the houseboys, he asked what was going on. 27 He told him, ‘Your brother came home. Your father has ordered a feast - barbecued beef! - because he has him home safe and sound.’ 28 The older brother stalked off in an angry sulk and refused to join in. His father came out and tried to talk to him, but he wouldn’t listen. 29 The son said, ‘Look how many years I’ve stayed here serving you, never giving you one moment of grief, but have you ever thrown a party for me and my friends? 30 Then this son of yours who has thrown away your money on whores shows up and you go all out with a feast!’ 31 His father said, ‘Son, you don’t understand. You’re with me all the time and everything that is mine is yours - 32 but this is a wonderful time, and we had to celebrate. This brother of yours was dead, and he’s alive! He was lost, and he’s found!’ ”
Introduction
Have you ever lost anything? Of course you have! The more valuable the item you have lost, the more you grieve about it.
If you have suffered loss through the death of a loved one, then your grief is of the deepest kind.
Luke chap 15 contains three stories about valued things which are lost and then found.
First there is the lost sheep story, then the lost coin and finally the lost son.
The story about the son and his father has a lot of helpful spiritual meaning which we need to help us today.
I believe it is the most “modern” story that Jesus taught.
Its’ themes are so 21st century!
Now Jesus’ story is a parable; a story in a human life setting with a divine meaning and purpose.
Jesus’ meaning is that the son leaves his home in rebellion.
As a rebel against the father he becomes wasteful, lost, corrupted and eventually ruined.
The MESSAGE BIBLE says: “…undisciplined and dissipated, he wasted everything he had.” (13)
Jesus’ purpose is to teach us that we have become lost in sin through our own wilful actions and that God has loved us back to Himself.
Let us ask some questions of this story:
What was lost?
A person, a person with a body, soul and spirit who was made by God.
Who valued what was lost?
The father alone valued the person that was lost. If the son had any real respect for himself, and if his new friends had valued him, he would not have wasted himself on ruinous living.
Who lost out most?
Clearly the son had most to lose and lost most.
He lost his inheritance for he gave it way to others,
He wasted it on his excesses.
He also lost his way in life and his way of life
He lost his dignity as the son of an honourable father.
But most of all, he lost his relationship with his father, and incidentally, with his brother.
Loving relationships are the most valuable things we have. That is why it hurts so much when we lose them.
Who was found?
The son was found in a depraved state.
How was he found?
He was sought after by the father.
Why was he found?
The father loved him.
Now ask yourself:
Are you lost?
Have you been lost to God?
Are you now found by God?
Spiritually you will know.
You will know if you are lost or if you are found.
If you are what Jesus calls found, you will know in your heart just how much you have offended God and how much He has done to save you from the penalty of that offence.
You will know you are found if you felt the separation for your loving Father God and been returned to Him.
The modern problem is that we tend to measure or value what we have in human terms. But this will not work. The lost son found that out, and faster than he imagined.
He has been called the Prodigal Son because he wasted his life.
It was at this time of poverty that he found out what it was to be separated from his father.
Looking at everything from a human standpoint brings you to a point of being prepared to eat pigswill.
“There is a way that seems right to a man but the end of it is death.” (Prov 14:12)
No one can live very long on pig swill.
Running away from God will eventually turn your stomach.
There is no good substance in that. Away from God you will always be empty and sad.
“Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee,” says Augustine.
Going any other way than God’s way will bring you to abject ruin.
God’s Attitude Revealed
But there is a wonderful ending to this story and it has four key words in it.
The key words are in the beautiful response of the father.
Illustration:
Before I tell you the four words, let me tell you a family story. There was a woman who was born outside marriage when that still mattered in general society. She grew up with her solo Mum and eventually did well by working with the gifts she had. I will not say he saved her from a bad life or that he does not have his flaws, as we all do, but a man came into her life who overlooked all the prejudice and possible rejection by society because he loved her.
He, as it turns out, has a fabulous job that affords them the freedom to travel, have children, and she does not have to work, so she is able to stay at home and be with her children.
This is not an unusual story.
I know that you may have many such examples from your own knowledge, it is not an unusual circumstance, but what is important is that the man’s love overlooked the background she came from.
This is like the love of God for His “love covers a multitude of sins.” (James 5:20; 1 Peter 4:8)
Now back to the four words of the waiting father:
In order, they are these words:
Saw, compassion, ran, and kissed. (v.20)
These four words are all words about the father’s attitude toward the son.
1. The father SAW. He saw his son! How delighted he was! Nothing that happens to you is unseen by the Father’s loving eyes. He sees your need.
2. The father had COMPASSION: When no one else cares a fig for you life, God the Father has compassion for you. Come to Him, you will never be turned away!
3. The father in the story RAN. Why?
Because God is a God of action.
Imagine; the Supreme Ruler of the Universe runs to find you!
The father in the story did something about it when he saw his boy was willing to return to him. So does our heavenly Father, He waits and then he comes running with open arms to every repentant son and daughter who returns to Him through faith.
4. The father in the story KISSED the boy.
In eastern custom this denotes acceptance and intimacy.
It does in our culture too.
But this father goes further.
He orders new clothes, shoes and a ring: all gifts.
Then he gets his servants to prepare the best of food for the celebration and the party begins. Nothing is to be spared in order to show His pleasure and excitement at the lost son being found again.
The son did not deserve all this as his brother is clear to point out. Humanly we would chastise such a waster and make him pay some penalty.
Not so this Father!
Jesus told this story to communicate the Father God’s attitude to you, even if you are lost and alone like this farm boy and no one is prepared to give you anything (16).
Indeed, without God, Jesus teaches that we are all lost...
God’s attitude to you can be summed up in the word love.
The OT word is ‘hesed,’ which means loving-kindness.
“Your loving-kindness is better than life…” says the Psalm writer… (Ps 63:3)
But it’s costly love, not romantic or floppy, soft love. Remember: it cost the Father God the life of His Suffering Servant, the Lord Jesus Christ, His beloved Son.
Think about that!
God, Your heavenly Father, gave His most beloved One, Jesus Christ, so that you could be His own son, His own daughter.
What cost that new relationship!
But what a relationship!
We are by His good grace, adopted sons and daughters of the Most High Power in the Universe!
I know you will agree with me that that is amazing!
We can celebrate this wonderful thing that God has done.
So let’s not be like the ungrateful older brother who stayed at home by the stuff.
“His father said, ‘Son, you don’t understand. You’re with me all the time, and everything that is mine is yours - but this is a wonderful time, and we had to celebrate. This brother of yours was dead, and he’s alive! He was lost, and he’s found!’ ” (31-32)
Let’s avoid being like this son unwilling to rejoice in the discovery of his brother brought back from the dead, for here, as the father said, is cause for rejoicing indeed:
“This brother of yours was dead, and he’s alive! He was lost, and he’s found!’ ”
Let us join in the celebration here, now!
Let us live out our gratefulness to God in the world.
May God help us together to do all to God’s glory! Amen.
