Review
We have been examining what it means to “be” the family of God. The past couple of weeks and this week we are looking at what it means to be a child of God.
I think that we are all a bit stumped when it comes to recognizing our identity as a child of God.
We are used to seeing ourselves as something far less.
And even though intellectually we know this is true, we still live and act like we are something far less than a child of God.
Do you ever wonder why?
I shared before that it is in the devil’s best interest that you be ignorant of your identity as a child of God and all that identity implies.
If the devil can convince you that your core identity is a sinner then you will live and act like it for the rest of your life.
He knows that your actions arise from your identity, so he will try to convince you that your identity arises from your actions.
If the devil can keep you from applying the benefits and promises of a child of God to your life, then he can rob you of the full and rich life that God has intended for you.
If the devil can get you to see God like your own earthly father, one who keeps raising the bar of performance that you have to achieve to win his approval, then he will rob from you a life that was meant to be filled with worship and gratitude.
Do you understand the implications of this sermon series? For many of us in this room, it can mean the difference between a joy filled life and a life filled with discouragement and despair.
Luke 15:11-32 (NIV) “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. 13 "Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
17 "When he came to his senses, he said, ’How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father. "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. 21 "The son said to him, ’Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. ’
22 "But the father said to his servants, ’Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate. 25 "Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ’Your brother has come,’ he replied, ’and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
28 "The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ’Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ 31 "’My son,’ the father said, ’you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’"
This story is my story, maybe your story as well.
Two sons, one of which decides he wants his inheritance in advance so he can go live the way he wants to. So he does. I suspect he is a teenager, around the age of 18 or 19. He desires to exercise his autonomy, he wants to try to live life on his own terms and he wants to be “free” of parental control. (not unlike many of our children).
The problem with this is that it was a radical rejection of the father.
In essence, he was wishing for his father to be dead – “I want what I am supposed to get when you die.” He could have said, “ I can’t wait for you to die.”
It was heartless, cruel and ungrateful.
Sin is more than breaking rules and laws. It is the breaking of a relationship.
This son doesn’t break the rules so much as he breaks his father’s heart. Perhaps you have had a son or daughter do this to you…or you have done it to your parents.
My sister left college abruptly at 18 and simply disappeared. No word, no letter, nothing. My parents found out when they called and her roommates in the dorm said she had packed up and left with some guy. For over a year they heard nothing from her. For all we knew, she was dead. It was heartbreaking. Finally, I got a letter from her saying she was alright and in California. It would be another year before she would actually correspond with us and ask to come home. Then like the father in the story, my dad (and I) flew out to Chino California to rent a car and drive her home. She never offered an explanation about it. But as far as my dad was concerned, she who was ‘dead’ was now alive. They never bothered to ask for details. They were simply happy to have her home.
In our passage, the youngest son gets his “share” of his father’s property and goes off to a far country. He literally “wastes” his inheritance in loose living.
The Greek says, He “scattered his wealth.”
He cast off all restraint and self-control, he intentionally chose to disregard all that he had been taught about how to live, and dove deep into the equivalent of a septic tank that was filled with self-indulgence.
Verse 14 tells us that at the very point at which he had wasted all he had to live on, a FAMINE strikes the country in which he is living. What a terrible coincidence.
Verse 15 says he hired himself out and He works at the lowest of all possible jobs, feeding pigs empty corn cobs. For any person this would be low, but for a Jew to whom pigs were unclean, it is an insult.
Verse 16 does tell us that he has some character. “he longed to fill himself with the pods…but no one gave him any.”
The pods refers to the pods of the carob tree or locust tree still common in Palestine and around the Mediterranean. The gelatinous substance inside has a sweetish taste and is used for feeding swine and even for food by the lower classes. The young man would not eat what was not his and his handlers would let him starve before they would even share with him the food for the pigs.
17 "When he came to his senses, he said, ’How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’
I would like you to notice that the father did not step in to save his son from reality in the far country.
God doesn’t protect us from our poor choices. Oftentimes, the best discipline for our own waywardness is the consequences of our own decisions.
I think that the young man’s father loved him enough that he allowed him to experience the shame and pain of the decisions he had made.
This is where he begins to come to his senses.
Perhaps you have a child, a son or a daughter. You raised them right, but they didn’t go right. They went another direction.
This story gives me encouragement because it tells me that God will bring them to their senses if you will give them to Him. It is hard to let go of your children, but when you give them to God, you can count on Him to take care of them. Amen?
This young man recognizes his folly, his despair and recognizes the cause of it.
He sees his father as right and just and himself as one who has sinned against him and against God. He understands that he is not “worthy” to be called his son, and is willing to be a servant in his father’s household.
This is a far cry from the attitude that he had before he left his father’s home.
20 So he got up and went to his father. "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. 21 "The son said to him, ’Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. ’
Verse 20 indicates that the Father was watching the horizon, hoping against hope that one day his son would return home. I wonder what went through his mind when he saw his son, dressed in rags, bare footed, matted hair, weak from hunger and broken in spirit stumbling down the road. I wonder how he even recognized him at that distance.
It is undignified for a father to run, much less to a prodigal son, but this is what the father did.
In the Jewish culture, men wore long robes. In order for a man to run, he had to lift the hem up and hold it high to keep from tripping over it. In doing so, he would bare his legs, which was considered highly undignified. Men of respect never ran; it would have been embarrassing.
But can’t you see this father grabbing handfuls of robe and running toward his son?
He didn’t wait for the son to reach him, he ran to meet the son.
He hugged and kissed his rebellious son repeatedly before the son said one word!
Remember the son had been working in the pigpen. He looked and smelled awful, not exactly the kind of person you want to hug and kiss!
The father could have said, “Oh, you’re back–good. Clean yourself up before you come into this house!” But instead, the father accepted him “just as he was.” Just like God accepts us.
Does this sound like an angry father?
He could have seen his son coming and said, “well, lets see what he has to say for himself.”
He could have locked the front door!
He could have rejected his son.
But instead, he runs, he embraces and he kisses his son. This is the act of a love-sick parent!
Most of our fathers and mothers may not have received us this way when we had gone our own way. But this father, representing Father God, does.
The son has his apology memorized. Who wouldn’t! He isn’t expecting the love and affection of his father, instead he expects the rebuke that he knows he deserves! The construction of the sentence indicates that the father interrupts his son’s speech.
22 "But the father said to his servants, ’Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
The best robe – the very best clothing in the house is given to his son. It is the robe of royalty that he is given. He is given a ring and sandals (slaves weren’t permitted to wear them). In other words, he is not only treated as a son, but a royal son!
Fatted calf – Not every steer was raised this way. The fatted calf was one that was fed grain or wheat to make it the best meat available for a special occasion. Now was the special occasion!
The son was dead but now is alive! The son that was lost is found! It is time to celebrate!
25 "Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ’Your brother has come,’ he replied, ’and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ 28 "The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him.
The older, dutiful, obedient son was in the fields. He hears the commotion and asks what is going on. In verse 28 the older brother became angry (ogre – wrathfully angry, he flew into a RAGE). In fact, he would not go into join the party he is so angry. The father comes out to plead and reason with his son. And it is here that we find out what is really in the other son’s heart:
. 29 But he answered his father, ’Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ 31 "’My son,’ the father said, ’you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’"
The oldest son, the seemingly good son reveals his own condition by his words.
He says, “All these years I’ve been slaving and never disobeyed your orders.”
Here is a son, the eldest son, the one who had received 2/3 of his father’s estate, who states that he has been living and working like a slave.
He is a son, yet he has lived his life living like a slave in his father’s household. (whose fault was that?)
He even complains that he never was “given” a young goat to party with his friends.
This oldest son looks a lot and acts a lot like a lot of us in this room.
He didn’t pay attention to the fact that when his younger brother left for the far off country, and demanded that he get his share of the estate, that their father “divided the estate between them.” (V12).
He had been given his inheritance. All that his father had was his already, yet he still was living as if he had to earn it. He was the richest man in the house and yet he lived like a slave because he never claimed his inheritance. He was too busy trying to win his father’s approval and didn’t realize that he already had it!
Verse 31 the father says to his eldest son that “everything I have is yours.”
In other words, the father had already given the oldest son his inheritance, but the son had not ever taken it. The oldest son had never claimed what was his by birthright!
Ultimately, he was far poorer than his younger brother who was starving in the far off land.
His poverty was the result of misunderstanding his relationship with his father.
He had never unleashed his identity as son and heir.
He was still living and acting like a slave.
The younger brother knew he could find mercy at his father’s hand, but the elder was living life as if he had to earn his father’s love.
I wonder how many of us see ourselves in this story?
As a child of God have you grasped all that God has that is yours?
Intellectually, you know that you have peace, joy, patience, endurance, at His hand. You know that God will be there for you. But you don’t’ live every day as if it were true!
Do you spend most of your days living like a slave, trying to earn God’s approval rather than living like a son or daughter who already has it.
I wonder, have you claimed what is your birthright as a child of God?
Look at some of these promises. How can you apply them in your moment by moment life as a child of God.
At school…If God is for me, who can be against me?
At work…I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
In finances…God shall supply all your needs through His riches in Christ Jesus.
We don’t need to “beg” God to meet our needs. We come to Him as His children and ask for help. Who among us would deny our child when they ask us for something? If they asked us for a doll, would you give them a snake? Jesus spent countless words trying to communicate these truths to his disciples!
I urge you to see yourselves as children of God. God’s promises to you and me are written so that we can see ourselves as such. He desires that you live like children of God.
Summary: It is in this story that we need to see ourselves.
Some of us in this room have wandered from God and wonder if He will ever want us back. Jesus gives you the answer in this story.
God is watching, waiting anxiously for you to return home. He desires to wrap His arms around you and to give you all the rights and privileges that you threw so casually away. He desires that you come home.
There is so much awaiting you when you return home. Not only the lavish love of your Father but His lavish riches, His inheritance, His feeding and clothing, He withholds nothing from his returning son. There is joy, celebration in heaven! You might be overwhelmed by it. Don’t wait, come home!
We need to see the verse that preceded this story: v 10 "In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."
You could be the cause for great celebration in Heaven and in the heart of God!
Some of us have been dutiful slaves and never recognized our son-ship.
God, your Father, wants you to know that all He has is yours.
Your obedience and service is noteworthy.
But what your Father in heaven wants more than your slavish obedience is your delight in Him as a son.
What any father desires is their child to delight in their presence.
The oldest son never understood his sonship. Maybe that describes you.
God wants you to put aside all of the pretenses that come with religion.
Its about the relationship, not the religion.
I don’t care if you haven’t sinned in 40 years, if you never missed a church service or if you read your bible faithfully every day. If you aren’t delighting in your Daddy in Heaven, but are resenting His stinginess, then you’ve missed the point!
You have missed the joy of being a child of the King!
This story is often called the story of the “Prodigal son.” Prodigal means squanderer, one who wastefully spends his wealth:
The young man appears to be the one who is wasteful, throwing it all away. Yet if you look closer, the title of prodigal might fit the father as well.
He yielded to his son’s demand that he give him his share of the estate.
When his son returns, he gives up his best clothing, ring, sandals and fatted calf for his foolish son who doesn’t deserve anything but a slave’s place in the house.
The squanderer seems to be the father, who is representative of God. We are the young man, who demands stuff from Him, and when we are broken, we crawl back to Him and instead of giving us what we deserve (death, slavery, punishment), He lavishly pours out His love upon us.
Perhaps you have heard the story of the man who bought his ticket on a transatlantic cruise ship. He filled his suitcases with cans of food and crackers and bottled water for the two week journey. He was shown to his cabin and there he remained for the entire two weeks until just before the ship got to England. On the final day before they arrived, there was a knock on his cabin door. The Chief steward asked him why he hadn’t been showing up for his reserved table in the dining room. The man replied, I didn’t know meals were included in the ticket.
This is the plight of so many of us.
We don’t know all that is ours as children of God.
We have so much more than just a free trip to heaven, we have life abundantly here on earth, we have the rights and privileges of children of God!
Our Father will withhold nothing from us because He has already given us His most valuable possession…His Son.
I urge you to come forward for prayer this morning if you have been away from God or if you simply have been living far short of what God has promised you. He wants to embrace you. He wants you to come home.
You may need prayer for deliverance or healing. Won’t you come to God and let Him show His love for you today? Let’s pray
