The Porch
Pt. 2 - Reporching for Duty
Charles Dickens and William Shakespeare have nodded their heads to the genius of the story. All of Rembrandt's skill couldn't seem to capture the depth of the account.
I view the story not thru the lens of Rembrandt but more through a Norman Rockwell filter.
Peering down the hillside you see the homestead. Surrounded by a strong split rail fence. The yard is expansive. The long winding drive cuts down the left side of the property. Cast off toys that have been long forgotten remind you that time has passed quickly. The house is two stories. Large but not overwhelming. Black shutters flank each window. Landscaping manicured and the yard trimmed. In the background, barns are well kept and activity can be seen as the investment of hard days in the fields must now be managed. Affluent but not flashy. Wealthy but not wasteful. There are prominent features . . . the windmill, the corrals, the tire swing under the aged tree that stands towering alone in the front yard. However, the one feature that stands out above all else is the large, inviting, wraparound porch lined with rocking chairs. A small round table holds the oft used checkers set. A sleeping dog stationed near the screen door. Muddy boots from the field are left on the first step. A gathering place at the end of long day. Ice tea and lemonade have been shared here. There is no better place for late night cups of hot chocolate in the cool of fall evenings. Dates end in the swing on the far end of the porch where long moments of silence are filled with spectacular views of the star filled sky. The porch has served as base during intense games of tag. It has served as a safe haven from sudden spring showers. Stories, jokes, and serious discussions have found an audience here. Laughs, tears and life have been shared on this porch.
Jesus' "Prodigal or Lost Son" Parable is told in Luke 15.
Luke 15:11-31
Then he said, “There was once a man who had two sons. The younger said to his father, ‘Father, I want right now what’s coming to me.’ “So the father divided the property between them. 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. After he had gone through all his money, there was a bad famine all through that country and he began to hurt. He signed on with a citizen there who assigned him to his fields to slop the pigs. He was so hungry he would have eaten the corncobs in the pig slop, but no one would give him any. “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. I’m going back to my father. I’ll say to him, Father, I’ve sinned against God, I’ve sinned before you; I don’t deserve to be called your son. Take me on as a hired hand.’ 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. 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.’ “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. Then get a grain-fed heifer and roast it. We’re going to feast! We’re going to have a wonderful time! 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. “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. Calling over one of the houseboys, he asked what was going on. He told him, ‘Your brother came home. Your father has ordered a feast—barbecued beef!—because he has him home safe and sound.’ “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. 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? Then this son of yours who has thrown away your money on whores shows up and you go all out with a feast!’ “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!’”
Today we move passed the exit of the son and examine the beginning stages of the return of the son. Self centered and presumably self sufficient he leaves home to make his own way. However, his story parallels our story. His attempts to do it his own way fail miserably. Our intended destination seldom if ever works out as we planned. He finds himself not only involved in but longing for something that he would have previously avoided and abhorred. Swanky restaurants have given way to Pig Slop. Breakfast in bed has been replaced with pig buffets! In this painful moment he comes to himself and realizes how far he has fallen. Off the porch has led him to an exit from his father's protection. So he begins to talk to himself about returning.
A. Rehearsal does not equal return!
He rehearses his return. As hard as we are on the son, and rightfully so, at least he didn't just rehearse a return. He actually gets up and starts the journey home.
Too many of us only rehearse making things right. Too many of us stop at good intentions and never actually follow through. We think about apologizing but never do. We think about living on a budget but never do. We think through what it would take to revitalize our marriage but fail to take action. We rehears the steps we need to take to become more sold out and submitted to God but never actually get up and do them. We rehearse a devotional life.
So he rehearses his speech and then he gets up and actually takes steps to start the journey home. It is time to take some steps today!
His father sees him a long ways off. His father runs to him. Embraces him. The son pushes him off and begins his speech! Father, I am here to reporch for duty! I have messed up. I will be your slave. I will be a farmhand. I will clean the corral. I will sleep in the barn. I will feed the animals. All I know is that I am no longer qualified or worthy of being your son.
B. We want to settle for servant/slave when the father desires sons.
What we discover and what we need to see is that we too approach our father and say that we want to serve but what we really mean is we want to slave because in our own mind our worthiness is determined by our own righteousness and since our righteousness is as filthy rags then we believe we can resolve our worthiness deficiency with work. This is what leads to folks who serve but do so in solitude. This leads to folks that are incredibly busy and active but are miserable. We end up in the house but no heart.
The young son shows us how we want to return. The older son shows us how we want to remain. Notice the enemy didn't have to get the older son to the pig pen to destroy him. He could leave him in the house as long as he could keep him from relationship and intimacy with the father. In fact, the only thing in the story that the younger and the old son have in common is they are both using
the father and neither of them is loving him. One has been serving, the younger one wants to serve and the entire time the father simply wants them to be sons.
Jesus comes on the scene to reveal this!
John 1:12 reminds us of this.
He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the slaves . . . no the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
His relationship with His disciples reveals this. In Mark 3:13-14 . . . And he goeth up into the mountain, and calleth unto him whom he himself would; and they went unto him. And he appointed twelve, that they might be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach.
See the order. Be with him first and then preach/serve. Not serve Him and not know Him, be with Him, become intimate with Him.
The devil isn't concerned with fighting something that you're doing; he fights who you are becoming. Our Father wants us to become sons!
Notice the young son in the story remembers his father not the house. It is relationship that draws him back but he tries to substitute service for sonship. We do the same only to discover that service never really feels the void in our lives. Now we are just busy. Most of us, when it comes to relationship with our father are (Slide 28) occupational orphans! We are fast paced and fatherless. We talk about service around here a lot because we are convinced that we are called to engage. However, we must also learn that we don't serve to be sons. We are sons first and we serve because we are sons! We want to reporch for duty and our father desires for us to reporch for relationship!
Here is the crux of today's word to you. Some of us are like the young son because we have walked off the porch into destruction and we need to do more than rehearse a return we need to actually make a move towards our father.
However, more of us have either returned home or we have been at home the entire time but we haven't experienced relationship. We are busy. We are involved. We serve. We volunteer. We sweat. We give. We sing. We pray. We clean. But there is no relationship! We literally go through the motions in hopes of staying protected, provided for, and peace filled on the porch.
I am asking you to take time this morning and reporch but not for duty rather reporch for daddy. Reporch for relationship. Get to know Him again. Love Him again. Lay down the excuses, rehearsed reasons, planned presentations and simply love on the Father that has longed to embrace you as a son. When is the last time you really stepped up on the porch and stopped and spent time with Him?
