This sermon series is entitled “Things That Keep Us Up At Night” and we’re looking at the question: “What do I leave my children when I die?” I’m getting to the age where I’ve got to consider writing a “Last Will and Testament.” I have to decide what kind of inheritance I’m going to leave my children.
Proverbs 13:22 tells us “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children...”
I’m told that it’s not a good thing to die “intestate” (without a will). One site I visited explained: “A last will and testament is a legal document that lets you decide what happens with your estate after you die. When you die without a will, you leave important decisions up to a local court and your state's laws. You won't have a say in who receives your property and other assets.”
That makes sense. When I die, I want to make sure my kids are taken care of.
But, that said, I am aware that inheritances can be… difficult. The wrong kind of inheritance can ruin a family.
One comedian stated: “You know what they say, where there's a will… there's a family fighting over it.” Matt Wohlfarth.
Researching the sermon, I read of numerous stories of siblings who fought over money, real estate and keepsakes of their parents after the parents had died. And when the dust settled - and the lawsuits ran their course - nobody in the family was talking to nobody about nothing.
ILLUS: My mom told me that when her parents passed away, her brothers took over the family farm and cut mom and her sister out of their share of the inheritance. (PAUSE) They didn’t talk to each other much after that.
The Bible has a number of stories that have roughly the same message: There’s Jacob, who cheated his brother Esau out of his inheritance. In the book of Judges we read about Jephthah, whose half-brothers ran him off rather than share their father’s inheritance with him. And then there was David’s son Absalom who decided to speed things up a little by killing his dad off and taking the throne and his inheritance by force.
So, its’ no surprise that - in today’s text - we read about a son that didn’t even want to wait until dad had died to demand his inheritance. Luke 15:12 The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And (the father) divided his property between them.
Stories like these tend to make you wonder about the value of an inheritance. Or, at least, the value of the WRONG kind of inheritance. If you’re going to leave your family an inheritance, you at least want it to be a legacy that’s going to benefit them rather than destroy them.
(PAUSE)
So, let’s consider this story Jesus told. We’ll start with the boy we call the Prodigal Son. Actually, he’s more of a PATHETIC son. He’s essentially told his dad --- that he wished he were dead. “I want my inheritance … now!!!!” He’s a selfish brat who wants out from under his Dad. He doesn’t even seem to love or care about his father. All he wants is money to do what HE wants to do with his life. And he ended up going to a distant country where he squandered his property in reckless living. Now he’s got nothing… he’s a loser!
Now, let’s look at the dad. The dad is a good guy. He loves his son, he takes good care of his servants. Even the boy recognizes that his “father’s hired servants have MORE THAN ENOUGH bread”
But you’d think, a good father, a righteous man, would have raised a righteous son. Many people would believe that a dad like this must have failed somehow. How could a father (who does everything right) have such a loser for a son?
In fact, when Christians work hard at raising their children - and the kids don’t turn out right - one of the first questions they consider is: WHERE DID I FAIL? What didn’t I do right? This last week, I talked to a lady whose daughter is all messed up. And she said “What did I do to deserve her being like this?”
And it’s a natural response that it must be my fault! And SOMETIMES it is our fault. But it doesn’t necessarily follow.
Ezekiel 18:5-13 tells us “If a man is righteous and does what is just and right — if he does not eat upon the mountains or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor’s wife … does not oppress anyone, but restores to the debtor his pledge, commits no robbery, gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with a garment, does not lend at interest or take any profit, withholds his hand from injustice, executes true justice between man and man, walks in my statutes, and keeps my rules by acting faithfully — He is righteous; he shall surely live, declares the Lord GOD. (BUT) “If he fathers a son who is violent, a shedder of blood, who does any of these things (though the father himself did none of these things), who even eats upon the mountains, defiles his neighbor’s wife, oppresses the poor and needy (etc. etc. etc) shall he then live? He shall not live. He has done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon himself.”
In other words, it’s possible for a Godly parent to have a godless child, and it’s not NECESSARILY their fault that the kid goes off the rails.
(PAUSE) We also need to remember that – when Jesus told this story of the Prodigal Son He was telling it so you’d know the FATHER in the story … was GOD! In other words: God is the one who’s child has run off and done evil things. You can’t get any more righteous … than GOD! But it wasn’t God’s fault that people run off and ruin their lives with sin.
So, it may not be your fault if your son/daughter has done things they shouldn’t have. But even if it’s NOT your fault you still feel kinda guilty/ and terribly sad. What could you possibly do to change things for that child’s life? What inheritance could you have given that will change their destiny?
Well… let’s go back to the story. What kind of father was this father in the story of the Prodigal Son?
Well, he’s a righteous man. He takes good care of his servants and he makes sure they have enough to eat. AND He’s a man who is known for being merciful. The prodigal son actually believes that (though he’s not worthy to be called his dad’s son anymore) his dad will show mercy and hire him as a servant. In other words, the Father (in this story) gave his son a greater inheritance than money could have bought
What inheritance was that?
He lived a righteous life. He lived a life that honored God. And you can’t give your child anything more valuable than that. Because living a Godly life… isn’t just a matter of setting a good example. OH NO… there’s a far greater inheritance than just HOW you live. The true inheritance is about WHO you live for.
Way back in the 10 Commandments, God made His people a promise: “You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them. For I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, BUT showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. Exodus 20:5-6
Now, notice what God was saying here: WHO you live for will determine the inheritance your children will receive.
If you bow down to anything else but Me - if you show that you hate Me by who you serve - your kids are going to have a problem. Their inheritance will NOT be a pleasant one. God says “I’m going to visit the iniquity of the fathers on your children to the 3rd and the 4th generation of those who hate me.” THIS WILL BE THE INHERITANCE for kids whose fathers worshipped something other than the LORD God almighty. And that’s scary.
But wait… that’s not the whole story. God then says He would show “steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.” Exodus 20:6
So here’s what God’s saying: Yes, if your daddy lived like a pagan, you’ve got a lousy inheritance. But if you decide you’re not going to be like your daddy; IF you decide that you’re going love me and keep commandments then you’ll receive a DIFFERENT inheritance…and so will your kids. God’s saying – if you decide to live for Me (if you will love Me and obey Me) I’ll take care of your kids for 1000s of generations. And their inheritance will be a wondrous thing!!!
ILLUS: Just as an example of how this works you need look no farther than David’s offspring. Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived, but when it came to his wives … he was foolish! In I Kings 11:4-13 we read “As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been. He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the LORD; he did not follow the LORD completely, as David his father had done. On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods. The LORD became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the LORD’s command. So the LORD said to Solomon, "Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates. Nevertheless, FOR THE SAKE OF DAVID YOUR FATHER, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son. Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom from him, but will give him one tribe FOR THE SAKE OF DAVID MY SERVANT and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen."
What was God saying? He was saying that the righteousness of King David left an inheritance for Solomon and Rehoboam. For the sake of DAVID (a man after God’s own heart) God wouldn’t punish David’s son and grandson the way they deserved to be punished. It was WHO David worshipped that made the difference. David’s devotion to God created an UMBRELLA effect for his offspring.
THAT’S THE INHERITANCE YOU WANT TO LEAVE YOUR KIDS.
But, what about the child who has no father, or who doesn’t have a father who wants them? What inheritance could they have?
The people Jesus reached out to were losers that nobody wanted. Probably not even their earthly fathers wanted them. And that’s what the Pharisees and scribes were saying about the people Jesus spent time with. The Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”
In other words: Not even their daddies would want these guys! They’re all losers; They’re all sinners; They’re all despicable excuses for human existence. NOBODY’S going to want these folks.
And that’s when Jesus launched into His parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost SON. Jesus was declaring that even if nobody else wanted these people… God did.
In the story of the Prodigal Son – that father shouldn’t have wanted his son back… but he did. “While (the boy) was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’”
THAT’S WHAT GOD DOES FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NO FATHER. That’s what God wants to do for those who no one else wants. That’s what God does for those who turn to Him to be His children.
CLOSE: There’s a story Ben Hooper (twice elected Governor of Tennessee) tells about his childhood: “My mother wasn’t married [when I was born]. When I started to school my classmates had a name for me, and it wasn’t a very nice name. I used to go off by myself both at recess and during lunch time because the taunts of my playmates, which cut me deeply. What was worse was going downtown on Saturday afternoon and feeling every eye burning a hole through you. They were all wondering who my real father was.
“When I was about 12, a new preacher came to our church. I would always go in late and slip out early. But one day the preacher said the benediction so fast I got caught and had to walk out with the crowd. I could feel every eye in church on me. Just about the time I got to the door, I looked up and the preacher was looking right at me. “‘Who are you, son? Whose boy are you?’
“I felt the old weight come upon me. It was like a big, black cloud. Even the preacher was putting me down, I thought. “But as the preacher looked down at me, studying my face, he began a big smile of recognition. ‘Wait a minute,’ he said, ‘I know who you are. I see the family resemblance. You are a son of God!’
“With that, he slapped me across the back and said, ‘Boy, you’ve got a great inheritance. Go and claim it.’ “That,” Ben Hooper said, “was the most important single sentence anyone ever said to me.” With Christ’s help, Ben Hooper had overcome his sense of rejection and inadequacy and claimed his inheritance as a child of God.
Just like us – Ben Hooper was introduced to a heavenly Father who wanted to embrace him.
INVITATION
