DON'T SELL THE FARM!
Luke 15:11-20
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
1. Harvey is an old widower living in a convalescent home. Attending social functions there, he met Martha, a widow, and slowly fell in love with her.
2. After a Bingo game, he finally got up the nerve to ask her to marry him. She said, “Yes, I’m very happy to.”
3. The next morning Harvey couldn’t remember if she’d said ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ So he finally went and asked her.
4. She said, “Why, of course I said ‘yes.’ But I’m glad you came and asked, because I remembered telling someone I would marry them, but I couldn’t remember who!”
B. TEXT
11 And he said, A certain man had two sons: 12 And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. 13 And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. 14 And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. 15 And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 16 And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. 17 And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, 19 And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. 20 And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. Luke 15:11-20:
C. THESIS
1. I’m so glad the way the story ends: the Prodigal Son coming home to the Father.
2. Many times I’ve read the story, and being a Father myself, I can imagine how the Father must have felt to see his rebellious son come back to the farm. Thank God!
3. Many prodigals who’ve come home, have come home with souvenirs from a far country like:
a. memories they’d like to forget;
b. some came back with an infant in tow;
c. others acquired hepatitis C from drugs;
d. most got a new understanding of forgiveness;
e. a new humility, having hit the bottom;
f. a whole new appreciation of sonship.
4. But thank God, there was the Farm to come back to.
5. Tonight, I want to change the story. We’re going to consider how it would be if the Farm wasn’t there to come back to.
6. The title of this message is “Don’t Sell the Farm!”
I. THE STORY ALTERED
A. SELLING THE FARM
1. There’ve been a lot of people who’ve fallen out of Churches. When they, like the prodigal, "left the farm," the church was a hot bed, a place of merriment, and praising the LORD.
2. But during the same interval the prodigal has been gone, the Church in America has cooled off.
a. People don’t pray like they used to.
b. Entertainment has become more important.
c. Numbers attending church have dropped.
d. Where there were revival services, now they just have Sunday morning services. Dry, formal affairs.
3. Since the prodigals have been gone, some fathers & brothers have sold the farm through compromise.
B. ARRIVAL OF THE PRODIGAL
1. What if the story had been like this: say the prodigal son came down the road from the hog pen wanting to go back to the farm.
2. There was no Father to meet him. Then in the last curve before he gets to the house, the prodigal looks and sees a new white fence, new shutters on the house, but does not hear any music or making merry.
3. He knocks on the front door and a man he has never seen before, says, "Can I help you?"
4. The Prodigal replies "Yes, I am looking for my Father."
The man says, "I am sorry, the farm has been sold."
C. MODERN TRAGEDY
1. In the last twenty years I know of a lot of churches that used to be hot beds for Revival that are now sold out.
2. Now they’re “Seeker Friendly,” which really means “They’ve removed anything in the Gospel that offends worldly, carnal Believers.”
3. Other churches have fallen for Once-Saved-Always-Saved Doctrine, which though intending to offer assurance of salvation, ultimately waters down obedience to Christ until Jesus is no longer Lord at all. One theologian said, “Christians will be raptured straight from brothels into heaven.” Nothing could be further from the truth!
4. RESULT? Now when the Prodigals get ready to come home, the farm’s been sold!
II. CHRISTIAN, IF YOU SELL THE FARM, (QUIT GOING AND SUPPORTING THE CHURCH),
A. WHERE ARE THE SINNERS GOING TO REPENT?
1. The Church is like an incubator. It must be kept:
a. Pure so no diseases affect the new infants;
b. Hot so the new, tender life is kept warm. A cold dead religion will chill any heart that comes into it! The disciples on the road to Emmaus who were around Jesus said, “Were not our hearts burning within us?” Where Jesus is, there will be fire.
c. Nourishing. The Church must be a place where there’s plenty of milk for the babes and “meat” for the mature.
d. Frequent cleansings. The Church must be a place where sinners can find cleansing from sin.
2. I know you can be saved anywhere, but only in the Church will you find all the elements to support spiritual life. You won’t find that at the Masonic Lodge or at the Elks Club.
B. THE FARM IS WHERE SHEEP ARE PROTECTED
1. Wolf packs always try to separate out one animal from the herd, because there’s strength in numbers. It’s easy to overwhelm a single person. Satan uses that same method.
2. “Two are better than one…If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the one who falls and has no one to help them up. Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves” Eccles. 4:9-10,12.
3. The church is like the farm; the enemy can’t isolate us as easily there. We get encouragement from others and they notice if we’re down or start to drop out. They come help lift us up. We need to belong!
C. THE FARM IS WHERE SERVANTS GET SENT OUT
1. The Church is the origin of the Five-Fold Ministry outlined in Eph. 4:11 was given “to equip His people for works of service, so that the Body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (4:12-13).
2. Pastor’s, Evangelists, prophets, teachers, etc., originate from the Church.
D. EVANGELISM HAPPENS THRU THE CHURCH
1. Jesus said, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Mt. 28:18-20.
2. Either you have to go, or you have to send someone in your place!
E. THE FARM IS WHERE EACH PERSON HAS A FUNCTION
1. Paul said that the Church is similar to the human body. Just as every part of the human body is necessary for the operation of the whole, so it is with the Body of Christ.
2. “But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be….there are many parts, but one body” 1 Cor. 12:18,20.
3. Until each member gets in his/her place and begins working, the Body will be at least partially disabled.
4. Also, you cannot function without the rest of the Body; you need us so that you can grow and mature and be more effective for God; growing in the fruit and gifts of the Holy Spirit.
5. Your contribution is necessary for the Church as a whole to grow to maturity.
III. HOW WE CAN KEEP THE FARM FROM BEING SOLD
A. ATTEND THE SERVICES
1. It’s hard to have church without folks!
2. Your attending a service is your vote that the church should continue meeting at that time.
B. SUPPORT IT WITH YOUR FINANCES
1. God understands that money is essential to spiritual enterprise.
2. The O.T. Priesthood was underwritten by the tithes & offering of the Israelites.
3. The N.T. church set up a parallel system of tithes and offerings – actually, they gave EVERYTHING as it was needed. No material possessions were held to be private possessions, but were sold as the need arose and donated to the church! (see Acts 4:32-35)
C. INVITE NEW PEOPLE TO COME
1. The growth of the church depends on the Body fulfilling the Great Commission of Christ, to “Go into all the world & preach the Gospel to every Creature.”
2. Our part in inviting those we encounter to church.
D. GET ON FIRE YOURSELF AND YOU’LL SET SOMEONE ELSE ON FIRE!
Paul said, “For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands” 2 Tim. 1:6.
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. Gypsy Smith was powerfully used of God preaching to millions as he crisscrossed the Atlantic Ocean forty-five times. 2. Everywhere he went, it seemed like revival was on his heels. Gypsy revealed his secret to a delegation of revival seekers that asked him how they could make a difference with their lives the way he had with his.
3. His answer was simple yet profound—as timely and timeless now as it was a hundred years ago.
4. “Go home. Lock yourself in your room. Kneel down in the middle of the floor, and with a piece of chalk, draw a circle around yourself. There, on your knees, pray fervently and brokenly that God would start a revival within that chalk circle.”
B. THE CALL
1. Let’s come to the altars and pray that God will send revival on our lives.
2. Prayer for the prodigals we know to come back to God.
3. Pray for churches that God will turn them back into places where the prodigals can come back to.
4. Prayer & dismissal.
[This is a rewrite of Johnny Campbell's message of the same title]
