“LIFE-CHANGING IMPACT” Luke 15:11-32
INTRO – Today, we are going to think about IMPACT again, but from another angle & perspective. Not necessarily going to consider how we can impact others for the K’dom of God & for the glory of God. We’re going to consider how our lives need to be impacted by the love & grace of God & what that means. There’s an awesome story of a son that Jesus told. May be one of the most well-known stories He told. Certainly has one of the most powerful messages of all the stories He told. It’s known as the story of the Prodigal Son. And it’s a story that will make a major impact on all of our lives in some way or another, & at some time or another…maybe today.
Let me start w/ this statement: It is possible to know God & yet be very far away from Him. Most Christ-followers know what that is all about. Most of us have been there; some of us may be there right now. Didn’t mean to be there. Down deep, we didn’t really want to go there. Didn’t intend to drift away from God. Didn’t plan to have our love for Him & our devotion to Him grow cold. Didn’t plan for the fire of our commitment to grow dim. But it did, & now we find ourselves distant from Him, NOT b/c He moved, but b/c WE moved. For whatever reason, we moved away from Him.
This can happen to any child of God, irrespective of position, pedigree, or prominence. It can happen to pastors, teachers, missionaries, church members or staff members; Christians who are new to the faith & Christians who have known God for years. You might be a deacon, a leader in children’s ministry or student ministry, a member of the choir, or a Christian who is in church every time the doors are open. Any & all of these things could be true of you, & you can still be far away from God. You can go on every mission trip we take, go to every youth camp we have, serve in every area of ministry, be at every activity we do, & still be far away from God. You can grow up in a Christian home & still one day reject your godly heritage. You may have been hurt by someone who claimed to be a Christian & that deep pain has kept you far away from God. You may have decided that it’s just too hard to try to live up to the expectations of a Christ-follower. Or maybe you keep getting knocked down by the same sin over & over again, so you’ve just given up, & the distance between you & God has grown larger & larger.
We’ve all made decisions that have placed us outside of God’s will for our lives. We’ve all made the choice to walk on a path that takes us away from God instead of toward Him. We’ve all compromised in some area of our lives. And those decisions, choices, & compromises have impacted our lives in a detrimental way, creating a chasm between us & God. We feel it – we see it – we know it – we & others are suffering b/c of it – & something needs to be done about it. But what? What can we do about it? What should we do about it? Love what Ray Pritchard said about this: “Somewhere along the way you walked through the wrong door. The only way back to God’s will is back through that same door. You decided to leave God’s will; you must now decide to return to God’s will. You left on purpose; you must return on purpose.” (http://www.keepbelieving.com/sermon/1993-11-14-Trapped-On-a-Dead-End-Street/)
Enter Jesus w/ the story of the Prodigal Son. Enter Jesus w/ a story that impacts all of us. Story of selfishness & just plain-old stupidity. Story of rebellion & rejection of good stuff. Story of impatience, immaturity, immorality, & impurity. Story that touches us all at some point in our lives b/c we’ve all had those seasons in our lives when we’ve been selfish, stupid, rebellious, rejecting the good stuff in our lives, impatient, immature, immoral, & impure. We’ve all been in a place that we didn’t want to be, needing the impact of the love of God in our lives.
When we find ourselves at that place, in that position, suffering that pain, we need to step up & step into some experiences that I’m calling IMPACT MOMENTS. Whereas the last couple of weeks have focused more on how we can make an impact for the K’dom through out lives, today I’m focusing on those times when WE are the ones needing the IMPACT of God in OUR lives. Maybe that’s where you are today. Maybe you’re ready to get things turned around in your life. Maybe you're tired of being so far away from God. Maybe you’re about to step into an IMPACT MOMENT today.
Here are the 4 IMPACT MOMENTS for us to experience life-change today:
The Impact Moment of Getting up – v. 17-20a – There has to come that moment when we finally get tired of being miserably distant from God. It’s the moment that the prodigal son experienced when “he came to his senses” (v. 17). Looked around at his surroundings, realized how stupid it was for him to do what he had done, & the light bulb came on. He had taken a path away from his father that landed him in a pigpen. He had been selfish, impatient, & wasteful. He had separated himself from every important person in his life. He had made a string of bad decisions, which is what ALWAYS happens when we sin & move away from God. Alexander McLaren: “Every sin is a mistake, as well as a wrong; & the epitaph for the sinner is, ‘Thou fool!’” The prodigal son had lived like a fool, just like we all have done, or maybe are doing right now.
But here’s the IMPACT MOMENT: He got up! V. 20a – “So he got up…” He made an intentional move out of & away from the pigpen. If he stayed there, nothing was going to change in his life. In fact, it was just going to keep getting worse. B/c of the decisions he had made, he was completely broke, completely empty, completely hungry, & completely desperate. So HE GOT UP…HE GOT UP!
The Impact Moment of Going – v. 20a – The word “prodigal” means “wasteful.” One of the consequences of sin is that we come to a harsh realization of how we’ve wasted our lives when we are far away from God. Sometimes the time we’ve wasted away from God is a short time – sometimes it’s a long season of time. No matter the length, any time spent far away from God is time that is wasted!
The “wasteful” son had reached rock-bottom, had gotten up, & made the most important, most wonderful, most life-filled, hope-filled decision he had made in a long time – It was the IMPACT MOMENT of going back to his father! It wasn’t enough to just get up; he had to get moving; he had to get going; he had to head back to his father.
The Impact Moment of Grace – v. 20b-24 – While he was still in the pigpen, he had rehearsed his speech that he would give to his dad when he got back home. How many of you did that when you were a teenager? Stayed out too late…probably somewhere you shouldn’t have been…probably doing something you shouldn’t have been doing…maybe hanging out w/ some folks you shouldn’t have been hanging out with…& before you headed home, you rehearsed your speech that you would give your folks when you got home.
This is what the wasteful son did. Had his humble confession speech ready for his dad. And he actually got to say it (v. 21). But I really don’t think his father heard it b/c another amazing IMPACT MOMENT was happening – the impact moment of GRACE! This wasteful son who had been so belligerent & bratty was the recipient of his father’s amazing grace! He deserved his father’s wrath, but received his rejoicing. He deserved his father’s despising, but received his delight. He deserved his father’s hand of anger, but received his hand of acceptance. This amazing grace saved a wretch like this boy. He was lost, but now was found. He had been blinded by his own selfishness & sin, but now he could see the love of his father poured out on him. The IMPACT MOMENT of grace is truly amazing, astounding, awesome, & absolutely beautiful! Charles Spurgeon: “Free grace can go into the gutter, & bring up a jewel!”
The Impact Moment of Goodness – v. 22-24 – It would have been enough & would have been a tremendously generous display of grace if all the father had done was to run to his son, hug & kiss him, & welcome him home. That would have been a great, God-honoring ending to this story.
But there’s one more IMPACT MOMENT here that we need to see – THE IMPACT MOMENT of Goodness! The goodness of the father continues to spill out of the joy of his son being home. We see his goodness displayed in the gifts he gives to the son, which are also tokens of grace b/c the son definitely had not done anything to deserve them!
- The gift of the kiss – a sign of forgiveness
- The gift of the robe – a sign of honor
- The gift of the ring – a sign of authority
- The gift of the sandals – a sign of freedom (slaves went barefoot)
- The gift of the feast – a sign of joyful welcome
(http://www.keepbelieving.com/sermon/1993-11-14-Trapped-On-a-Dead-End-Street/)
A.W. Pink: “The goodness of God is seen in that when man transgressed the law of His Creator, a dispensation of unmixed wrath did not at once commence.” The goodness of the father is seen in that when his rebellious, wasteful son came home, the son wasn’t met w/ an anger-filled, raging attack from his father. He was met w/ tears of joy, compassion, & unconditional love.
CONCLUSION – Today, every one of us needs a life-changing impact in our lives. It’s time to have the impact moment of getting up & going back to the Father. It’s time to experience the impact moment of His grace & His goodness.
