Four Seasons of Life – Part 3
Spring and Summer
Scripture: Luke 15:11-24; Psalm 100:1-5; James 1:22-25
This is part three of my series the “Four Season of Life.” Last week I talked about our spiritual falls and this morning we will be examining our spiritual springs and summers. If you recall, the Holy Spirit told me that we experience spiritual seasons similar to the natural seasons we go through. When He was talking to me, He told me that “The further you are away from Christ the colder you are and the colder you become. Remember, love is warm.” To date I have shared with you how we experience spiritual winters represented by our feeling furthest away from God and how we experience spiritual falls or autumns – that season of transition when it’s not too late to return to spring or summer versus continuing into a winter season. This morning we are going to look at spring and summer together because they both deal with things coming back to life in the natural and in the spirit. And on next Sunday I will conclude the series with a look at what I will call equator living – a place of living that I mentioned last week where we do not go through seasonal changes like winter, fall, spring and summer, but simple variations of our hot season.
To set the stage this morning, I want us to read the parable Jesus told about the prodigal son. As we read it, I want you to think about the son representing each of us and the father representing God in our lives, which is the whole point of this parable. Turn with me to Luke chapter fifteen and we will begin reading at verse eleven. We will pause in places so I can point out the seasonal changes this son experienced. Luke 15:11 begins, “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 falls to me.’ And he divided unto them his living.’” Let’s consider the son’s request. Based on his request to his father, this son is in a fall season. The reason I am making this observation is that at the time of his request the son is in a relationship with his father and he is still “connected” to his father. However, the son wants something more. The son is thinking about himself and his desires. He is not thinking about staying in his father’s house any longer – he wants to be free to do his own thing. So he goes to his father and asks for his inheritance. Remember what I shared with you last week from the survey about American Christianity going through a post-Christian reformation. Instead of Christians changing the world, for many of them, the world is changing them. This son, at this particular time, was being drawn to the world’s way of thinking and shifting from his father’s way of thinking. He was in a fall season as he was being pulled away from his father by the ways of the world. New Light, the world cannot pull a person unless there is something inside that person that the world can latch on to and lure the person away from the things of God. That’s why it’s important for us to allow the Bible to be our standard for living. I’m reminded of what Jesus told the disciples in John 14:30 – “Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in Me.” Jesus said that Satan will come – and he will come New Light – and he will see if there is anything in us – any emotion he can inflame – that will cause us to choose the world’s way of thinking about things over God’s way of thinking about things. Let’s continue.
“13And not many days later the younger son gathered everything together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.” At the son’s request, the father gives the son what he asks. Do you know God does not restrict us from doing what we want to do? Sure He has made it clear what He desires from us – but our decision to obey Him is still our decision. This father gives his son his inheritance and immediately the son leaves his father’s presence. This is significant because the son leaves his father’s presence so that he could do the things that his father – now follow me closely – so he could do things that his father would not allow him to do while he was still living at home. Are you seeing what is happening here? The father had made provisions for the son to live comfortably for his lifetime but that was not enough. The son wanted what he considered was his! He did not work for it; it belonged to his father. However, because he was a beneficiary of his father’s wealth, he asked for what he would eventually get upon his father’s death so he could enjoy it immediately. Then the son takes his inheritance and wasted it partying in the world. When the son separates from his father, he is making a decision to walk into a winter season and doesn’t recognize it. He is no longer living under the safety and protection of his father’s house. He is in a deep winter season being totally separated from his father, unlike the winter seasons we mostly experience because a part of us still remains connected to the Father. This son was totally separated from his father. Spiritually, this would be represented by a backslidden state. Let’s continue.
“14And when he had spent everything, there arose a great famine in that land; and he began to be in want. 15And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 16And he would gladly have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. 17And when he came to himself…” To me this is one of the most important phrases in scripture because it portrays the son’s rebellion against God as a kind of madness. It presents a powerful image of repentance as being a return of a sound mind. When a person walks away from God, that person is not in their right mind and is walking in pride. The person who does this is making themselves the god of their lives.
“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! 18I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before you, 19and am no more worthy to be called your son: make me as one of your hired servants.’ 20And he arose, and came to his father……” Let’s pause here for a minute. At this point the son realizes that he is in a winter season. Image how difficult it was for him to admit that his father was right and he was wrong. As he reflects on his situation, he remembers his father’s house. He does not reflect on what he had or what he walked away from. No, he thought about what those beneath him – his father’s servants – what they had. He remembered that they had more than he had at that very moment. It was at this point that he decided to go home. It was at this point that spiritually he was deciding to at least get back to spring and hopefully back to summer. And even though the passage doesn’t say this specifically, you have to know that Satan was talking to him all the way home trying to get him to turn around. You see, just because we repent and turn our faces back to our Father does not mean Satan stops his attacks. So he makes the trip home. When he was approaching his father’s house and deciding how to address his father his father sees him. Let’s continue.
“….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. 21And the son said unto him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight, and am no more worthy to be called your son.’ 22But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and sandals on his feet: 23and bring here the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: 24for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.”’ When the father saw his son approaching, he did not wait for his son to reach him, to come begging for forgiveness in shame. No. The father ran to meet his son. Remember what we read last week in James 4:8? It says, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you…..” The son was going back to his father and his father did not wait for him to get there. He went and met him just as God will do with us when we turn/tilt back toward him. I want to point out something here New Light that I want you to hold on to with all your might – the father was looking for his son! Every day he’d leave the house and look over the country side hoping that he would see his son coming home. When we walk away from God, now allow me some liberty, He leaves His throne every day to see if He sees us coming over the horizon. He doesn’t send an angel to do this. He does this Himself. That’s how much your Father loves you New Light. At this moment the son shifts from spring to summer when he started on his journey back expecting to be made a servant. But what he finds is a father running toward him with tears streaming down his face. He finds a father who embraces him and restores his standing as a son. What I want you to see here is the son. After he had left his father’s house, his father did not go looking for him to try and convince him to change his mind and come back home. No. The father allowed the son to make his own decision. The same is true for us. When we are in a fall season, we must decide whether or not we will continue on to winter or reverse course and go back to spring and summer.
We’re going to end this message with some Scriptures so that you know what it feels like to be in the spring, when spiritually you are reawakening your gifts, to when you are in the summer and your gifts are flowing.
First and foremost, as you are reawakening in your spring, you will make a joyful noise! Psalm 100:1-5 says, “Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all you lands. 2Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing. 3Know you that the LORD he is God: it is he that has made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. 4Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. 5For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endures to all generations.
As you enter into your summer period, you will be a doer of the word! James 1:22-25 says, “But be you doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 23For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a mirror. 24For he beholds himself, and goes his way, and immediately forgets what manner of man he was. 25But whoever looks into the perfect law of liberty, and continues in it, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
As you remain in your summer, God’s love will freely flow through you. First Corinthians 13:1-8 says, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am become as sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal. 2And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing. 3And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profits me nothing. 4Love suffers long, and is kind; love envies not; love vaunts not itself, is not puffed up, 5does not behave itself rudely, seeks not her own, is not easily provoked, keeps no record of evil; 6rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8Love never fails……”
In your summer season, people will know that you are God’s man, God’s woman, God’s child. Titus 2:7-8; 12-13says, “In all things showing yourself a pattern of good works: in doctrine showing incorruptness, gravity, sincerity, 8sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is an opponent may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you….12Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live sensibly, righteously, and godly, in this present world. 13Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ.
The thing that I love most about my relationship with my Father – He loves me without any strings attached. He loves me when I’m going through my Fall season. He loves me when I find myself navigating my way through my Winter season. And it’s during those times that I feel His loving arms around me, holding me close, comforting me, reassuring me, letting me know that He is there to help me get through the winters. What a loving Father we have. When He sees us going through our winters, He’s like the father in the parable of the prodigal son – He runs to us to hold us near to Him so that we can feel the warmth of His love.
I want to close this message with a few verses from John chapter fourteen and Psalm chapter twenty-seven. We read these verses in Bible Study on Thursday evening. Last week I told you that during our spiritual fall seasons, we begin to lose hope. If we regain our hope we shift back to spring or summer. However, if we continue to lose hope over a long period of time, then we become hopeless and enter a season of Winter. Each of us can experience these moments, but I want to share with you a recommendation found in both John chapter fourteen and Psalms twenty-seven.
In John chapter fourteen, after Jesus dismissed Judas and Judas left to betray Him, Jesus told His disciples what was coming. As He shared His fate, they became troubled. Jesus seeing that their hearts were troubled told them “Let not your heart be troubled: you believe in God, believe also in me.” John 14:1 Jesus told His disciples to believe in God and to believe in Him when their hearts were troubled. In other words, they were to believe the things they had been taught and know that what Jesus had said to them would come to pass. They were to trust in His Words. When we are entering a fall season, we must believe – believe in the promises of God so that we do not lose hope as so many have done. This is what David captured in Psalm chapter twenty-seven. At the conclusion of the chapter, David said, “I would have fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. 14Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.” (Psalm 27:13-14) New Light, David said he would have fainted, would have given up, if he did not believe that he would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. In other words, David said because he knew he would see God’s goodness, not only would he not give up, but he would wait on the Lord and be of good courage!
New Light, we will all experience seasons but which seasons we experience and how long we are in each is dependent upon what we believe. Next week I will close out this series with the final message on equator living.
Until next time, “The Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up His countenance on you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
(If you are ever in the Kansas City, KS area, please come and worship with us at New Light Christian Fellowship, 15 N. 14th Street, Kansas City, KS 66102. Our service Sunday worship starts at 9 a.m. and Thursday night Bible study at 7 p.m. Also, for use of our social media, you can find us at newlightchristianfellowship on FB. To get our live stream services, please make sure you “like” and turn on notifications for our page so you can be notified when we are live streaming. We also have a church website and New Light Christian Fellowship YouTube channel for more of our content. We are developing more social media streams so please stand by and we will notify you once those channels are up and running. We look forward to you worshipping with us. May God bless and keep you.)
