20 “So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.[a]’
22 “But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. 23 And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, 24 for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began. (NLT)
Introduction
The book of Luke was written to give a reliable and precise record of the history of Jesus Christ’s life. Luke spelled out his purpose for writing in the first four verses of chapter one. Not only as an historian, but also as a medical doctor, Luke paid great attention to detail, including dates and events that happened throughout the life of Christ. A theme that is emphasized in the Gospel of Luke is the humanity of Jesus Christ and his perfection as a human. Jesus was the perfect man who gave the perfect sacrifice for sin, therefore, providing the perfect Savior for humankind.
In this sermon series we first dealt with the story of the Sinful Woman and the Pharisee, and then we dealt with the story of Zacchaeus the Tax Collector; now we want to explore for a moment the story of the Prodigal Son. Usually when a sermon preached concerning this wonderful of the Prodigal Son—the focus is placed on either the prodigal son or the elder brother. However, I would like to place emphasis on the father this morning.
Here in the text, we see the father’s love and desire to bless his son never changed even though the son had left. The father saw the boy returning while he was still afar off. This means the father was indeed looking for him. When he saw him he ran to him. It was a Jewish tradition that it was not proper for a Jew over 30 years old to run. However, the father overlooked the tradition of the elders this one time because was coming home. This is for sure the greatest moment for the son and his father, and allow me to add that it is equally a momentous event in the life of any sinner who has decided to come out of the darkness and into God’s marvelous Light.
1.) He Returned To His Father
The prodigal returned to God: he sought reconciliation with his Father. He no longer simply thought it over; he was now repenting and going to the Father. So many people can be found in any given worship service, at any given Church where Christ is preached, who has not fully surrendered their lives to God. There is no sure way to know who they are unless they say so themselves—and this is the very reason most Churches include an invitation directly after the sermon has been preached.
In fact, the invitation begins when a hand of welcome is extended at the door. When a member of the church reaches forth his or her hand, they are asking for a response. When the visitor extends his or her hand for a warm handshake, they are responding, and the invitation has begun! This is why it is so important for there to be a friendly, relaxed atmosphere in the early part of the service. When the invitation is accepted this is when the party should begin.
A party? Well, in our case a party is just a social gathering of like-minded people who love fellowship in the Lord with one another. I know that before we the found the Lord, a party meant something else entirely different that included strong drink and entertainment—I know. Most of the time a party denotes a celebration, like celebrating the birthday of a two year old or celebrating a milestone in someone’s life such as graduating from High School or College. Well, anyone who once lived a life full of sin and was headed for a life in hell but has now decided to turn and give his or her life to Jesus. They deserve a party, and so let the party begin!
Look at this text if you will, and notice that the Father accepted the son even before he confessed his sin. Now this is important, because repentance is a sign that we are sincere when we confess, and God knows we are sincere when He sees us actually turning away from our wicked ways. God is omniscient—which is the state of having total knowledge, the quality of knowing everything.” For God to be sovereign over His creation of all things, whether visible or invisible, He has to be all knowing. His omniscience is not restricted to any one person in the Godhead—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all by nature omniscient. If you have truly repented, God knows!
And we do repent, God forgives. Unlike man, God does not hold anything against you—you are welcomed back into the family with no questions asked. Romans 8: 1, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,” in fact when you decide to come back home the Father runs to meet you. The son had turned away from a far country, what does a “far country” mean to us metaphorically? It means living our life far from the truth or better yet it means living a very secular and heathenish life. The son came back home and look at the father’s response, his eyes were merciful; no matter what he had seen, he wanted to have mercy. His heart was merciful too; all he really wanted to do is just reach out to his sinful son. His feet were merciful, because he used them to run to his sinful son—his arms were merciful, because he wanted to embrace his child and his lips were merciful, because he used his lips to kiss his wayward son.
the father must have ran faster than Usane Bolt that day to embrace His pig smelling son. The son confessed His sin, but before he could even offer to become a hired servant and earn the blessings of the family, the father cut him off and commanded that the family robe, the family ring, and the family sandals be given to him freely. The son confessed and he really needed to confess—because his sin was terrible. Anytime a man or woman rebels, rejects, and sins against the Father—they have sinned against heaven. People today, often overlook just how horrible it is to sin in the sight of God without any remorse whatsoever. Look at the issues will are dealing with today in which we as a whole are deliberately leaving God out of—same sex marriage, abortion, no prayer in our schools, et cetera. America’s only hope today is to return to God, goodness, and moral sanity.
2.) He Was Restored By His Father
What I truly love about this great parable because in a world of broken relationships, it teaches us a lesson of deep love and hope. Earlier, the father must have remembered the day his son left the family. The young man wanted his portion of inheritance to go out on his own and make an independent life. It would create a hardship to divide off his portion earlier than planned. But the father did it, with regret, but knowing it was the only thing that could be done. His son would learn life’s hardest lesson no other way.
Afterwards, the prodigal son spent a lot of money on things he really didn’t need and being very wasteful with what he had. When he left he had absolutely no intentions of returning; as soon as he got the money in his hands he made a move to the far country. But not soon after to moving there he found himself in deep trouble. How many times have we done things on our own only to make matters worst? How many times have we felt that we have gone past the point of restoration? As mentioned, the prodigal returned to his father. Why? Because his father was the only One he knew he could turn to. However, he returned not expecting to ever be restored by his father. He returned simply because he had no where else to go.
I can not tell you how many times I have heard stories of runaways, young men and women who were tired of their parents strict rules and regulations (or so they thought). It’s estimated that between 1.5 and 2.8 million youth run away or are sent away from home yearly, 68% are between the ages of 15-17, and 35% had run away before. Every year approximately 5000 runaways and homeless youth die from assault, illness, and suicide. The number of runaways contacting federal outreach programs rose from 550,000 to 761,000 between 2002 and 2008. Behind the statistics lie stories waiting to be told of lives changed by the runaway experience.
Allow me to share this testimony of a 13 year old runaway: “When I was just a little girl I had the life of a princess. Then when I was 13, I met this boy at my school. His name was Jacob. He and I were a couple for about a year and a half. We felt like we were in love yet we didn’t "know what love was" so we couldn’t tell. We assumed so. Anyways, he and I decided to stay at the movies a little longer past our curfew. We ended up missing the bus home. We walked about six miles headed for home. He lived across the street. He walked me to my house full of upset parents. I’d never disobeyed them before so they automatically assumed that I had sex with him. They grounded me and each day I would come home from school begging to see Jacob. When they refused for about the 50th time I got so mad I ran to my room, packed my favorite outfits, shoes, make-up, and took off to his house. He already had a terrible home-life he had an alcoholic uncle who didn’t even notice us go in and out of the house.
We took life to the streets. He was a small boy and I was totally against fighting so instead of him getting jumped we did as men would say and sell their drugs, we got half of what the buyer would pay for it. Then we found out the police were on our trail searching for us so we walked further and further each day. I eventually became a prostitute in order to buy food to eat. The police heard about me and thought Jacob was my pimp. They locked him up and his last words to me were "Keep running. Don’t ever go back!"
I did as he said. One year passed by and I was pregnant. I met this guy and his girlfriend, Matt and Malina. We became a little group. She too was pregnant. Matt was great. He helped us. But he was a druggie. Eventually I got hooked on any drug. I took LSD which was a HUGE HUGE HUGE HUGE HUGE mistake. Killed my baby.
While I was in the hospital Malina and Matt left without me. I was all alone. A week passed by and I was still in the hospital. My parents showed up.
They took me home and eventually things were back to normal, although the first month or two was hard on all of us. It was akward. But that just goes to show, miracles do happen. I never thought my life would end up actually being worth living for!! Don’t run away, and if you do—always keep in touch with the ones you love. Also, don’t do drugs—it has been about 15 years since I took drugs and I only did it once. Every once in awhile I get paranoid-attacks—it won’t stop till I die. And also, there is no possible way to remove it from my system. May God be with you all.. Thanks for listening......”
This is a true story from a real prodigal daughter, notice that she said her parents “showed up” which indicates that she was accepted and eventually restored by into her family, when we find ourselves in trouble due to our own decisions and disobedience it is imperative that we return to God the Father and I assure you that He will “show up”. The prodigal was accepted and restored. He was given a ‘robe’ which restored him to a position of sonship and honor. He was given a ‘ring’ which restored him to a position of authority, he was given shoes which meant he was a free man. The Gospel of John puts it this way, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” the prodigal initially wanted his freedom and it was only after he returned and was restored did he receive the kind of freedom that he really needed. This parable does indeed point to Jesus notice that the Father sacrificed the fatted calf and not just a calf. Many wonder why God waited 33 years before He sent His Son to the cross and not earlier. God wanted to offer up Jesus as the fatted calf, not just a calf. Jesus died as the fatted calf. Jesus took our sins, but we got His perfect righteousness from His fulfillment of God’s law. It was freely given to us! This a reason for celebration.
3.) He Was Celebrated By His Father
What wonderful Words we are allowed to read which is included in this powerful text, "But, my son," the father said, "you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. We had to celebrate and be glad because this brother of yours was lost and now he is found." The father fed the son and celebrated his son’s return. Let’s look at this a little closer—all the son needed was fed to him. Which means, he was fully accepted and restored back into his family. As a result, all the food of heaven was laid out before him. In other words, it was time for him to be nourished and given all he needed. Ph. 4: 19, “But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus”.
There was a celebration, a party with great joy over his return. The whole household celebrated—because of what the father declared, “He was dead and is alive again—he was lost and now is found” The parable of the lost son is a parable for today. It offers hope for all who long for reconciliation. Whether it be with a child, a parent or a friend from the past, this story points to hope. The 13 year old runaway, ran away because she felt no hope. She went into the far country and actually found no hope. However, her experience caused her to discover that there actually is hope which was not found in far country, but the hope was found in the place she started out from--home with those who really loved her. It caused her to warn others not to do what she did, and made her willing to share her experience. Now if that is not hope I don’t know what is.
Conclusion
f you are a child of God, but you are in the pig pin right now suffering for your own actions, you need to come to your senses, acknowledge your sins, and come back home. Additonally, you can’t come back as a hired hand. You can’t merit the family blessings. You are the Father’s child and He loves you. He is looking for you. He has the family robe, ring, and sandals for you. The sacrifice of the fatted calf is the assurance of you enjoying the family blessings again. Come on home and celebrate and let the party began! Amen.
