"Finding Our Way Home"
Luke 15:11-20
While living in Kentucky a good friend of mine and I drove all the way to Detroit to see a baseball game. I had never been to the old Tiger’s stadium and they were playing my favorite team so we made the trek. I took my car and getting to Detroit was not a problem but inside the city I didn’t know my way around at all. It had been years since he had been there and he did not realize how much it had changed. Making our way to the stadium I realized that we had gotten into a bad area. He realized it and told me that we were in an area that was dangerous. That we needed to be careful and the best thing for us to do was to find a way out. People were staring at us….I felt like I was in a another country… we dared not stop and ask for directions….eventually we made our way through that area and got on the right path to get to the stadium.
We actually have three stories being told here. Three stories. One parable. One big truth and here it is.
Lost things matter to God. As a result,
God spends a great deal of time looking for his people.
To really understand this story you have to notice the first couple of verses. Verses 1-2. If you look closely, there is tension in these verses. There were many titles given to Jesus while he was here on earth. The door, the light of the world, the Alpha and Omega but in this passage we see him clearly as the one who is a friend of sinners. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law said this as an insult. Jesus probably saw it otherwise.
In the first story a farmer has 100 sheep and one gets lost. Jesus shows us how the Shepherd leaves the 99 and goes on a search and rescue mission for the one. In the second story a widow loses one of her coins and then turns the house upside down to find it. And when the lost son returns home, the father throws a big party. There are many things we could point out about these three stories but there’s really one common thread.
Whenever the lost are found, the father rejoices.
In verse six the farmer calls his friends together and he says “rejoice with me, I have found my lost lamb.” In verse nine the widow says “rejoice with me, I have found my lost coin. And when the lost son returns home the father throws a party and again they all rejoice.”
Verse 7. Let’s focus on the younger son. Look at verses 11-12. He wants his inheritance and he wants it while his father is still alive. In the day of Jesus, in the Middle East, this is the same as saying “dad, I’m eager for you to die.” Normally in this situation a father would kick his son out of the house for making such a request. But instead the father gives it to him. He takes the money, leaves home and goes to a place the Bible refers to as a distant country. And there he spends his money down to the last cent. A famine comes in so not having any cash, he finds work. And the only thing he can find is to feed/slop the hogs. Not a great job for a man who was Jewish.
So how did he get to this place? How do you move from a life of luxury to living in a pigpen? Well actually it’s not as difficult as it may sound. But I do see five wrong steps that he had taken.
(1) He was selfish. This fall actually began with one single act. He said I want my money I want it now. He had $ signs in his eyes. It was like... Show me the money and I am out of here.
(2) He acted too quickly. Scripture says that when he got his money took off for distant country. We hear that phrase we shouldn’t think of somewhere thousands of miles away. Because the far country is really just one step out of God’s will. One step and trouble happens. It’s not a matter of geography. It’s a relationship problem.
(3) He wanted everything. We’ve always translated the word prodigal as wayward word or lost. Many families have one individual they describe in this way... He/she is the prodigal-the one who has gone astray and has rebelled. We call them the lost child. But that’s not what it means. We use it as a noun to describe someone who is lost. A prodigal. But the dictionary defines prodigal as an adjective. Someone who is reckless. Extravagant. Spending everything they have. It doesn’t mean lost. It does mean extravagant.
(4) He separated himself from his friends. He destroyed all of his relationships. Left his father, his brother, all of this family and all of his friends. Life became all about one person-himself.
(5) He made a long string of bad decisions. This is the way sin seems to work. One bad decision leads to another. You tell a lie-and you have to tell another way to cover up the first one. And it just continues. Pretty soon you’re about 15 bad decisions down the road and then it’s just easier to keep traveling in the wrong direction.
Notice now what happens in verse 14. There was a famine in the distant country. That’s what happens when we lose our direction and we stray away. Everything looks good, plenty of opportunity; soon the money runs out, the road runs out and then you’ve lost everything. One who had it all now has lost it all. He has hit rock bottom. And now he realizes it. And fortunately he begins a new journey. He makes an effort to get on the right road.
Verse 17 says that he came to his senses. Here is what happened.
(1) He had an awakening. I look at this and can’t help but ask... What was it that brought him back to the senses? I would like to think he saw the depth of his sin but the truth is he was hungry. Hunger can get your attention. If you’ve ever been genuinely hungry all of your resources are gone-you know the desperate feeling that goes along with it. For the prodigal this was an awakening. If you have someone like this in your life, pray; pray that they will get hungry for something better.
(2) He repented. He said to himself in verse 18, “self, I’m going back to my father.” Repentance is what happens when you’ve been going in the wrong direction and get back on the right road.
(3) He was honest. Verse 18 says I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: father I have sinned against heaven and against you. This is how you can know if someone is serious about making change-they stop making excuses about their behavior. He could’ve made 1000 excuses but he simply said “I have sinned.”
(4) He was humble. While he is still in the pigpen, he mentally rehearses what he will say to his father. Verse 19. “I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.” That’s humility.
(5) He worked to repair the relationship. Verse 20. So he got up and went to his father. He didn’t wait. He just got up and headed home. We pause here to focus on the father for a moment-because it is a clear picture of our heavenly father. The young man had to be asking himself some serious questions at this point. Like... What will my father say? Will he take me back? His father had no doubt worked for his money for a long time and now the son has wasted it all. His father probably lost his reputation in the community. But the worst part was his son was gone... And he had no idea where he was or if he would ever come back.
Verse 20 says that “while he was still a long way off, his father saw him.” Night after night he must’ve watched and watched for his son. Then it happened. Later in the afternoon as he stood there he saw a figure in the distance walking toward him. Could it be? Could it be him? The father ran out to meet him, hugged him and kissed him. At that moment, every question the son had in his mind was immediately answered.
Philip Yancey tells the story of a prodigal daughter who grew up in a small town in Michigan. Fed up with her old-fashioned parents who didn’t like the music she listens to, the length of her skirts, she runs away. She ends up in Detroit where she meets a man who drives the biggest car she’s ever seen. She calls him boss. He recognizes that since she’s underage, men would pay a premium for her so she goes to work for him. For a while she thinks life is good. But she gets sick for a few days and it amazes her how quickly the boss turns on her. Before she knows that she’s out on the street without a penny to her name. She earns very little and all the money goes to support her drug habit. One night while sleeping outside, she began to feel less like a woman of the world and more like a little girl again. She begins to cry. God, “why did I leave?” My dog back home eats better than I do now. She knows that more than anything in the world she wants to go home. She calls home…three straight phone calls home and she is connected with the answering machine every time. Finally she leaves a message. Mom, dad, it’s me. I was wondering about maybe coming home. I’m catching a bus up your way and it’ll get there about midnight tomorrow. If you’re not there, I’ll understand.
It was a 7 hour bus ride so she has plenty of time to prepare her speech for her father. And when the bus comes to a stop in a small town where she was raised the driver announces the 15 minutes stop. 15 minutes to decide her life. She walks into the terminal not knowing what to expect. But not one of the thousands seems that have played out in her mind prepares her for what she sees. There in the bus terminal stands a group of 40 brothers and sisters and great aunts and uncles and cousins and a grandmother and great-grandmother to boot. They’re all wearing party hats and blowing noisemakers and taped across the entire wall of the terminal is a large banner that reads-welcome home!
The Bible says there is joy in heaven when one sinner repents. Imagine a party being thrown for one person. Millions of people already there but that one is that important!
