“The Stories that Jesus Told”
Sermon # 1
“What To Do When We Mess up Bad”
or
The Parable of the Loving Father
Luke 15:11-32
It has always troubled me that you as a congregation seem to remember my stories better than you do my sermons! I have still not heard the end of the fact that I packed all my wife’s clothes at the end of our cruise.
I console myself with the knowledge that even Jesus had that problem, for people seemed to remember better the stories that he told than the sermons that he preached. I believe there is a good reason for that, and that is because a good story connects with us as listeners. Jesus, of course, realized how powerful good stories are and he used them frequently in His teaching ministry. Today we refer to “The stories that Jesus Told” as parables.
The story that I want us to examine first in
our study shows us “What to do when we mess up big time!” It is really a story about how to relate to our heavenly father. Unfortunately how we relate to God as our heavenly father is based to some extent on how we relate to our father in this life. If have a good father then we do not have a problem, but if our father was absent or if our father was present but we did not enjoy a good relationship then that carries over into our relationship with heavenly God. Jesus wanted to present that our heavenly father is not a father who is just waiting for us to mess up so he can thump us on the head, instead he is a loving father who is ready to welcome us home. The story that Jesus told about God as the loving heavenly father is found in Luke 15 where beginning in verse eleven it says, “Then He said: "A certain man had two sons” and is often called the Parable of the Prodigal Son but in reality it is a story about the love of God and his acceptance of those who have made bad choices, and messed up big time. Jesus has some important things that he wants to teach us about God the Father.
First, God Loves You So Much That He Allows You To Make Your Own Choices!
“Then 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.’
One of the things that disturbs us about God is that He refuses to step in and stop us or others from doing what is wrong. God has given us the awesome gift of free will. We think that we would like for God to be more controlling – at least in the lives of other people. We would like to have Him force them to do the right things and stop them from doing the wrong things. But God knows that the moment He forces us to do His will, it means nothing!
Verse twelve continues with, “So he divided to them his livelihood.” The father granted his wish and gave his son what he wanted. The Greek text shows the anguish of the father, it literally says, “He divided to then his life.” The father gave into his son, not because he was a permissive parent – not because he did not care what happened to his son – but because he was giving his son what he thought he wanted. Some times the worst thing God can do for us is to allow us to have what we think we want. God allows us to have what we thin we want – in the hope that someday he would want something better!
The truth is that in his pursuit of pleasure, pain would be this young man’s constant companion until the images of this world’s allurement are replaced by the images of a home where he was loved and valued.
This story shows us Three Ways the Prodigal Son Offended His Father.
1. He Asked For His Inheritance Early (v. 12)
"Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’
He asks for his inheritance in a legal but highly unusual request. The boy was in effect saying, “Dad I do not want to have to wait around for get what is mine, and since you haven’t died soon enough to suit me, I want what is mine.” I think that it is interesting that this young man’s fall began the moment he started demanding his rights.
2. He Sold His Inheritance! (v. 13a)
“And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together…” In today’s terminology we would say, “He liquidated his assets.” He not only received His inheritance early he sold it! In the culture of the day you did not sell the land that belonged to your family. Apparently giving no thought to how his selfishness would affect the entire household, he took one-third of the family resources and left home to live it up.
He left home to live it up. He was not simply moving out to live on his own, I think we can safely say he had no intention of ever returning.
3. He Squandered His Inheritance.
“… journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.”
The word translated “prodigal” here means “loud” or “wild.” It suggests a life of wild parties, loud music and bright lights. And the word translated “wasted” means “to blow away” – the same word used to describe “separating grain from the chaff.” So, quite literally it means “He took it and he blew it on wild living.”
Some would seek to justify this young man’s actions with old clichés like “Well boys will be boys. Everyone tends to sow some wild oats!” The terrible part is that many forget to add, “We will reap what we sow!” Galatians 6:7 says, “Be not deceived, God is not mocked: for whatever a man sows that he will also reap!”
Yes you can come back to God but we will come back worse than when we left, scarred by sin and with the memory of wasted years.
We can look at this young man and see the foolishness of his choices before he even begins. His errors seem so clear to us, and we can see the results of his destructive lifestyle before they even come about. But when your in the middle of such a situation, it is not so easy to see. The ways of the world look so appealing and people seem so full of life and having such a good time. And the bad things that happen to others will not happen to us. After all we are smarter than they are.
But as always in life, sooner or later, choices have consequences. The money eventually ran out and at the same time a famine fell upon that part of the world bringing this young man into truly desperate straits.
Verses fourteen through sixteen give us the truth about sin, “But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. (15) Then 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 gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.”
Sin leads us away from the Father’s house by promising us something we “think” will satisfy us. Sin promises us freedom but brings only slavery… it promises success but brings only failure… it promises life but “the wages of sin is death.” The problem becomes the longer that we are in the “far country” – the longer we rebel against God – the hungrier and emptier we will become.
Three Steps To Returning Home.
The first step on the road home is to Wake Up To Our True Condition. (v. 17)
“But when he came to himself, he said, "How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
When his money ran out he no doubt told himself that this was just a temporary set back. But finally things got bad enough to get his attention. The combination of being forced to hire himself out as a slave and seeing that the pigs were better cared for than he was caused him to do clear thinking about his situation. The first step home is the realization of how far away we have roamed. Our road home begins when we realize that we are headed in the wrong direction and head back to God. It says, “when he came to himself” – that means that when he began to see things as they really are. All sin is really a form of insanity. Repentance begins with seeing things straight.
The second step on the road home is Confession. (vv. 18-19)
“I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, (19) and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants."’
He did not excuse his behavior as understandable. Too often we start out confessing our sin and end up excusing it!
“A radio news series about honesty in America talked about excuses. The commentator said that people use three types of excuses when guilty of wrongdoing.
•The first is outright denial—a rejection
of any involvement. Sometimes this is done even though the person is obviously guilty.
•The second is the “It’s not my fault excuse.” The person looks around for someone he can blame. (Often it is a loved one - a husband or wife or parent. Sometimes it’s the boss.)
•A third form of excuse is the “I did it,But” approach. In this instance the person blames circumstances for his shortcoming. Either he’s been struggling with some illness or the assignment wasn’t clear or the car’s been giving him trouble.” [www.bible.org/illus/e/excuses]
Confession is not the same as being sorry we were caught. It is being sorry we sinned. To confess means to own up to the fact that one’s behavior was not just the result of bad parenting, poor genetics, jealous siblings or a chemical imbalance caused by too many Twinkies.
In Psalms 51:4 we read David’s great
confession after his sin of adultery with
Bathsheba, “Against You, You only, have I
sinned, And done this evil in Your sight—That
You may be found just when You speak, And
blameless when You judge.”
True confession then is ….. no deals….no negotiations…no strings attached.
The third step on the road home is Repentance (v. 20a) "And he arose and came to his father….”
The sign that he had truly repented was when he turned from his wrong choices and headed home. Recognition of his sinful choices was good but it was not enough. Confession of how wrong he was, was good but it was not enough. All of these things are no good unless he is willing to turn around and return to the Father.
Proverbs 28:13 says it this way, “He that
covers his sins shall not prosper: but who
ever confesses and forsakes them will have
mercy.”
God Loves You So Much That He Allows You To Make Your Own Choices And….
Secondly, The Father Is Willing and Anxious To Accept Those Who Return Home. (vv. 20-24)
“And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. (21) And the son said to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ (22) "But the father said to his servants, "Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. (23) And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; (24) for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.”
When the son left, the father did not chase after him. The father did not fall apart. He did not give up hope and when he returned he did not retaliate by withholding his forgiveness.
Everything about the reception given this son by his father is significant. A kiss in Palestinian culture is a sign for full accept-ance and friendship. And the father didn’t stop with a kiss and a hug. He called for a robe, a ring, and sandals. That robe stands for honor; the ring stands for authority-for if a man gave to another his signet ring it was the same as giving him the power of attorney. The shoes stand for a son as opposed to a slave, for children of the family had shoes and slaves did not.
Someone once asked Abraham Lincoln toward the end of the American Civil War, “How are you going to treat the rebellious Southerners when the War is Over?’ He replied, “I will treat them as though they had never been away.” That what this father did, that is what God is willing to do!
Roy Angell once told a beautiful story about a widow during the first World War who lost here only son and her husband. She was especially bitter because her neighbor, who had five sons, lost none of them. One night while this woman’s grief was so terribly severe, she had a dream. An angel stood before her and said, ‘You might have you son back again for ten minutes. What ten minutes would you choose? Would you have him back as a little baby, a dirty-faced little boy, a schoolboy just starting school, a student just completing high school, or as the young man who marched so bravely off to war?
The mother thought for a few minutes and then, in her dream, told the angel she would choose none of those times. ‘Let me have him back,’ she said, ‘ when as a little boy, in a moment of anger, he doubled up his fists and shook them at me and said ‘I hate you! I hate you!’ Continuing to address the angel she said, ‘In a little while his anger subsided and he came back to me, his dirty little face stained with tears, and put his arms around me. ‘Momma, I’m sorry I was so naughty. I promise never to be bad again and I love you with all my heart.’ ‘Let me have him back then,’ the mother sobbed, ‘I never loved him more than at that moment when he changed his attitude and came back to me.’ [Roy Angell. Shields of Brass. (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1965) pp. 70-71]
Jesus says this is how God feels about each of us.
The Father Is Willing and Anxious To Accept Those Who Return Home And …..
Third, The Father Expects His Children To Rejoice Over the Return of the Fallen. (vv. 25-32)
"Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. (26) So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. (27) And he said to him, "Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.’ (28) "But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. (29) So he answered and said to his father, "Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young
goat, that I might make merry with my friends. (30) But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’ (31) "And he said to him, "Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. (32) It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found."’
The elder brother really did not understand his father any better than his younger brother had. He considered himself nothing more than an unappreciated servant to his father. He expressed this when he said, “Look I have been slaving for you for years, and for what.” He is angry and resentful that the father has not catered to his wishes and rewarded him as he thinks he deserves.
The awful possibility exists that we too can be in the Father’s fields as servants but not in his house as sons and daughters. We may be moral and respectable but not really know the father who is loving, accepting and forgiving.
Have you ever noticed that this story does not haven an ending? We do not know how the elder brother eventually reacted to his brother’s return. We can imagine possible endings to the story. Perhaps the older brother finally gave in and forgave his brother. He shared the inheritance with him and they both lived in the father’s house as brothers once again. Or in world it is easy to imagine that the older brother became increasing bitter against the father and left his house, never to be reconciled either with his brother or his father.
Some times we are like the elder brother and we are not too please to see the father forgive someone other than ourselves.
The Three Truths that Jesus wants us to understand about the Father are:
1. God Loves You So Much That He Allows You To Make Your Own Choices
2. God Loves You So Much That He is Willing and Anxious To Accept Those Who Return Home
3. The Father Expects His Children To Rejoice Over the Return of the Fallen.
