SURROUNDED BY PIGS, BUT CAN’T EAT HAM
Pastor Jim May
Jesus gave us many parables during His earthly ministry. All of those parables teach some very important lessons that every one of us should learn and heed. This morning I want to speak to you about one of those parables. It’s the very familiar story of the Prodigal Son.
Luke 15:11-24, "And he said, A certain man had two sons: 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. 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. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. 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! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. 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. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry."
There is no doubt that many thousands of sermons have been preached on this parable. The different points of view that can be applied are greatly varied. So much can be read “between the lines” or mined from even the simplest scriptures in God’s Word, all because every word was inspired by the Omniscient God whose thoughts are far above our own. As I read this parable again, I felt that God would have me to speak to you from it once again.
One thing that I want to point out to you in this parable is that Jesus said these two boys were both sons. They weren’t servants or strangers; they were his own flesh and blood.
When you think of it in that fashion you will inevitably come to the same conclusion that I did: that this parable has much to do with our status as born again Christians who have been adopted into the very family of God. Are you saved this morning? Do you know Jesus as your Savior and Lord? If so, then you are a child of God. You are now part of the chosen few who are blessed beyond measure because you have obtained an inheritance from your Father in Heaven.
My father went home to be with the Lord just a few months ago and because I am his son I have an inheritance from all that he obtained in his lifetime. Should the Lord tarry in his coming for the church in the rapture, I will one day take possession of that inheritance. It’s already mine. It’s already determined in the courts of the land and my portion is already waiting until the day that Jesus has determined that it shall become more than just a promise on a piece of paper and a thought in my mind. I have faith to believe that at a specific point in time, I will receive that inheritance. Until that day comes, and I’m in no hurry for that to happen, that inheritance will be waiting.
Each of you, every child of God in this sanctuary, has an inheritance waiting as well. One day soon, when Jesus comes again, you will be taken into the presence of the Righteous Judge where your inheritance will be awarded in full. When the Lord speaks those words, “Well done”, into your heart at the judgment, what joy will fill your heart!
All of us have seen or witnessed those who have come to the point in life where it is time to receive their inheritance. Sometimes it happens peacefully but most of the time it doesn’t. There is nothing in the world that will split families, cause hard feelings, and destroy sibling relationships any quicker than trying to divide an inheritance and determine which child gets what things and what portion. Families that have been strong and had very close relationships can suddenly appear to be not much better than a pack of hungry wolves, biting, barking and tearing at one another, trying to get their “fair share”. It’s sad to see those things happen. That’s when we really find out what’s in the heart of the children. No matter how much they may have loved and respected the parents, they can really have a fight over the inheritance.
How true are the words of the Apostle Paul in 1Timothy 6:10 that say, "For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows."
Money is a corrupter. It’s not that the money is evil, but it is the desire for what it can get for you that makes it so bad. I’ve heard it said, and I have proven it time and again for myself to be true, that, “If you want to find out where the source of trouble is in this world, just follow the money trail. Wherever there is a profit to be made, that’s where the source will always be found.”
So in this parable of the Prodigal Son, we seen that the Father is grieved now because his youngest son has now come to him and said, “I want it all and I want it now and if you don’t give it to me, there will be trouble.”
I know that the scripture doesn’t say this but I can read between the lines and sense that the father of this young man wasn’t very happy with what his son had to say. I’m sure that it came to him as a “slap in the face”. His son wasn’t happy just being a son. He wasn’t happy just being a part of the family. The son saw a great big wonderful world out there and decided that he would rather invest his life enjoying what the world had to offer than to stay in the family and invest his life in the very thing that would only make his inheritance better in the end.
Instead of investing for the future, he wanted to spend it all right now! Does that sound like most of the people you know? Do you remember what I have said before: “that people will get what they want right now, at the expense of never having what they want most of all?”
Just to give you an example, most young people today may not even realize it, just as I didn’t at their age, that what they really want most of all is financial independence. That doesn’t always mean being rich. It simply means that you owe no one anything and that you can live within your means and still be happy with what you have.
While I’m thinking about it, let me remind you also of what President Abraham Lincoln once said about being happy. The statement he made goes like this, “I have learned that a man will be about as happy as he makes up his mind to be.”
Getting back to that young couple that are starting out on their journey through life together. What do most of them do as soon as they leave home? They will buy a house, buy a new car, fill it with all the latest gadgets, appliances and new furniture; all because it’s just so easy to get it on credit. That’s the way that most people live, not all, but most. It’s not a question of whether I need it or not, it’s only a question of whether I make enough to pay the monthly note, and sometimes I think that many people don’t even think of the monthly not until 3 months down the road when its two months behind and the creditors are calling constantly.
What they have given up is their financial independence, so that they can have in the beginning, what their parents have had to struggle for a lifetime to have.
That’s exactly what this Prodigal Son was all about. He wanted it now – not later. He was impatient, brash, bold and uncaring. He was absolutely self-centered. And on top of that, I can sense a bit of a mean streak in him as well because he cared nothing at all for the pain and burden that he would cast upon the family when he left.
Now, before we begin pointing too many fingers at the Prodigal Son, let me tell you also that this parable is an analogy of the faithfulness of the child of God to our Heavenly Father. Think of it this way. We all have a great inheritance in God, and we have a reward that waits for us on the other side of the grave, but we sometimes forget that it’s really there. Because it’s so intangible and we have never really seen it with our own eyes, we lose faith in its reality. That’s when we are in danger of taking our eyes off of what we want most, and we sell out for what we see right now.
I wonder how many times each day that our Heavenly Father is grieved by sons and daughters who come to him with the same attitude as the Prodigal son? How many shake their fist in the face of God and tell him that they have had enough with His family and they want to chasing after the things of the world instead? Oh how it must sadden God to see His own children with their backs toward Him, going down the road that leads to destruction.
Like the father in the parable, God will not stop us if we are determined to go. In the parable, the father simply did what he had to do. He gave his son what he asked for and let him walk away. I’m sure he tried to talk him out of it. I’m sure that the father worried over his son’s decision, prayed for God to intervene and did everything in his power to stop what he knew was going to happen, but in the end, he had to take his hands off and let his son make his own choices – and all of life is about the choices we make, whether good or bad.
Those of you who have children know what I’m talking about don’t you? How many times have you had to bite your tongue or seal your lips to keep from screaming, “don’t do that” to your children? Time and again you watch them walk away from wisdom, walk away from what’s right, walk off into the setting sun, and watch as the clouds of darkness cover them. You can see what awaits them on that path in your mind’s eye just as clear as day. Nothing lies ahead of them but despair, pain, sickness, hunger for the things that only God can give, and eventually destruction. Your thoughts are, “How far will they go before they turn around? How long will they follow that path? How bad will life become before they turn around? Will they even turn around? And then you worry, cry and pray for God to keep them and bring them back. But then you know there is nothing you can do but wait – wait for a miracle that seems as though it will never come.
The Prodigal Son went a long ways down that path. In fact he was so far from home that he forgot about his father. He forgot about his brother. He forgot what it was like to wake up in the morning with someone who cared enough to cook him a meal, or to make sure that his clothes were clean. He forgot what it was like to be surrounded by real love. All he had known for a long time was the love that the world has. The world’s love is not real love, at least not like the love that God has for us.
God’s love knows no bounds. His love is perfect, pure, holy and righteous. God’s love reaches out, heals, touches, delivers, makes us feel wanted and lifts us out of our pits of despair, loneliness and heartache. God’s love never fails under any situations. It only grows stronger in adversity, and His love is unconditional. Even when we sometimes lose our way and we don’t show our love to Him, God still has the same love for us that he had when he formed us.
That’s not the world’s kind of love. The world’s love is based solely upon what you have to give. Worldly friends will only love until the bank account is empty. Worldly love will be there in the good times, but when the chips are down and it comes time to pay your dues, the world will forget you exist and leave you to find someone else to give it what it wants. The world will love you when you are successful, rich, powerful and happy – but when the success is gone, the money is gone, and you find yourself in life’s gutter, with nothing left to give – that’s when the world’s love will vanish before your eyes.
That’s where the Prodigal Son found himself one day. The prayers of his father had finally caught up with him. How long was he gone we do not know, but it was a very long time. He had lived a life of revelry, indulging in everything the world had to offer. No doubt he had lived in a drunken stupor for days on end. I wonder how many times he had tried to get all the gusto in life by bar hopping, buying new things, having his parties, running with the prostitutes and casting lots on the gambling tables? The world has a lot to offer doesn’t it? Never in the history of mankind has there been the temptations and the means to fulfill the desires of the flesh as there is today!
Look at where this young man was when he finally came to his senses. He didn’t know how far he had gone until this moment in time. Until now he had been blind to the life he was leading. He had not seen the decadence, filth and despair that surrounded him. But now it all came rushing in at once.
He woke up and realized that he was sleeping with the pigs and feeding them the garbage that they wanted more than anything in the world. All of his wealth, all of his joy, all of his life had been totally wasted, blown in the heat of passion as he chased the things of the world. His life was ruined. All that he thought was so good was gone. No one cared for his condition. No one came along to offer him a hand out of his troubles. How long had he been in this place he did not know? How did he get here? Somehow he just couldn’t remember. It was like waking up in the middle of your worst nightmare and discovering that it wasn’t a nightmare but reality. The pigs were everywhere and they were the only “friends” he had.
His boss, the man who hired him to feed the pigs, surely didn’t care what happened to him. All he wanted for the Prodigal Son to feed the pigs and keep them happy and fat for the kill. He didn’t care about the son’s despair and need. He wasn’t even willing to give him a morsel of bread from the kitchen table. He turned away and refused to help him.
Isn’t that just like the devil? He is a hard taskmaster; a hard boss to work for. He hates you. He despises you. He looks upon your despair, your need, and simply shakes his head in disgust because he has no love for you at all. He only wants what you can give and he is unwilling to give anything in return because you are not his son, you are his enemy.
Where was this son of Israel? Where did this Jewish son, who once knew the true God of Heaven? He was in the pigpen with the mud, slop and filth of the pigs all around him. This was absolutely the lowest place in life he could reach and still be alive. He was in the most hated, most degrading place on earth. Pigs were unclean animals, much like those in this world who don’t know Jesus. Only the blood of Christ, applied to our hearts, can make us clean. Otherwise we are nothing but filthy, sinful pigs in the sight of God.
The parable says that he would “fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.” He was starving to death, on the verge of going down for the last time and not one man cared. No one could help him. Perhaps there were some that tried, we don’t know. Some probably called to him from the other side of the pen to come out and clean up, but he never heard them. The pigs were too loud and the shouts of his boss overpowered the shouts of those who would try to help.
He had come to the end of his rope and the knot was gone. There was nothing left to hold on to now. The things that the pigs ate were looking mighty tasty. He would have put his face right into the slop trough with them if he could, but now he couldn’t. His boss didn’t think that he was worth even giving him some hog slop. How low could he go? Only one more step down and he would face eternity. Everywhere he looked there was ham on the hoof, but he couldn’t have any. He would have eaten the filthiest thing on earth, not just the unclean pigs, but the absolutely filthy things that those pigs ate, but he couldn’t have even that! Can you sense his despair?
No one had the power to set him free. No man could make his decisions for him. The Prodigal Son had to decide for himself. Only he could make the choice to get out of the pigpen.
Suddenly, the Spirit of God reached out to him. It had to be God that brought him to his senses. Nothing else, and no one else, could have broken through that dark veil that had clouded his mind and heart from the truth. All of the prayers of his father, who represented all of his family’s love and concern, were being answered. When the Prodigal Son woke up and realized where he was – that was the first step toward his recovery and his return to his father’s house.
He struggled with all his might. He fought back the powers of hell with a decision to turn around and go back home. He wrestled with thoughts of friends who had turned their backs upon him, and whom he would never see again. He thought of all of the “good times” he had enjoyed while he was in the world. Oh how his mind could play tricks. The further he walked from the pigpen, the less he thought of those things though.
Now his thoughts turned to home and what he would find there. Would his father still care? Would he be accepted after having been so far away and such a disappointment to his family? He thought that even if he could never be counted as a son again, even a servant would be good. Anything at his father’s house would be better than the pigpen and life that he had known for so long. His only hope was going home. His only hope was in the Father’s House. The closer he got, the more he remembered what he had done and how much he had lost and it grieved him so much to remember. How could this happen. This wasn’t what I wanted. I only wanted to have a good time and enjoy life to the fullest and what I ended up with was a life of emptiness. As he walked along he struggled with what his father would do, or even if he should go there, but he kept walking because he knew there was nowhere else to go but home.
The Parable says that, “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.
Can you see the Love of God here? God’s love never lets go. His love never dies. His love never gives up hoping and trying to reach out to his children. What that father saw that wayward son way off in the distance, he recognized who he was. His heart filled with joy. Compassion overwhelmed him and he didn’t just walk out to meet that boy. He ran with all his might. He ran and fell on that boy with all the love in his heart and showed him affection in spite of where his son had been and what he had done. That’s Agape Love – love beyond measure – love in spite of it all – love that is pure!
The Prodigal Son’s self-esteem was gone. He didn’t think of himself as worthy of anything. That’s one reason he was in that pigpen in the first place. He could only see himself as a failure in life. Even though he had some good time and bad times, all he could see in the pigpen were the bad times. It’s only after he got out of the pigpen, went back home, and started living with people who cared that he found his value again. He was still a son and he was home again.
Not everyone would rejoice with him. Some, like the prodigal’s brother, won’t like you when you come home. Who cares? Let them stew if they want to. You will be home. You will be free. You will be filled with good things, and life will be worth living once more and eventually, the pain will go away if you stay at Father’s house as one of his children.
Have you been walking that long road toward the pigpen? Have you forsaken your home and your father in Heaven to go out and seek the enjoyment and things of this life? How far must you go before you turn around? Will you wake up in the pigpen like the Prodigal Son? You can turn around at any time and come back to Jesus. Even if you have never known Him as your Father, you can be an adopted son, just by coming to him and confessing your sin just like the prodigal son. Jesus is waiting. Your Father is waiting, for you to turn around and walk back home.
