The Rebel Son And The Loving Father

The Rebel Son and the Loving Father

THE MESSAGE: Lk 15:11 “Then he said, ‘There was once a man who had two sons. 12 The younger said to his father, “Father, I want right now what’s coming to me.” 13 It wasn’t long before the younger son packed his bags and left for a distant country. There, undisciplined and dissipated, he wasted everything he had. 14 After he had gone through all his money, there was a bad famine all through that country and he began to hurt. 15 He signed on with a citizen there who assigned him to his fields to slop the pigs. 16 He was so hungry he would have eaten the corncobs in the pig slop, but no one would give him any. 17 That brought him to his senses. He said, “All those farmhands working for my father sit down to three meals a day, and here I am starving to death. 18 I’m going back to my father. I’ll say to him, ‘Father, I’ve sinned against God, I’ve sinned before you; 19 I don’t deserve to be called your son. Take me on as a hired hand.’ 20 He got right up and went home to his father. When he was still a long way off, his father saw him. His heart pounding, he ran out, embraced him, and kissed him.

21 The son started his speech: ‘Father, I’ve sinned against God, I’ve sinned before you; I don’t deserve to be called your son ever again.’ 22 But the father wasn’t listening. He was calling to the servants, ‘Quick. Bring a clean set of clothes and dress him. Put the family ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Then get a grain-fed heifer and roast it. We’re going to feast! We’re going to have a wonderful time! 24 My son is here - given up for dead and now alive! Given up for lost and now found!” And they began to have a wonderful time. 25 All this time his older son was out in the field. When the day’s work was done he came in. As he approached the house, he heard the music and dancing. 26 Calling over one of the houseboys, he asked what was going on. 27 He told him, ‘Your brother came home. Your father has ordered a feast - barbecued beef! - because he has him home safe and sound.’ 28 The older brother stalked off in an angry sulk and refused to join in. His father came out and tried to talk to him, but he wouldn’t listen. 29 The son said, ‘Look how many years I’ve stayed here serving you, never giving you one moment of grief, but have you ever thrown a party for me and my friends? 30 Then this son of yours who has thrown away your money on whores shows up and you go all out with a feast!’ 31 His father said, ‘Son, you don’t understand. You’re with me all the time and everything that is mine is yours - 32 but this is a wonderful time, and we had to celebrate. This brother of yours was dead, and he’s alive! He was lost, and he’s found!’ ”

Introduction

Have you ever lost anything? Of course you have! The more valuable the item you have lost, the more you grieve about it.

If you have suffered loss through the death of a loved one, then your grief is of the deepest kind.

Luke chap 15 contains three stories about valued things which are lost and then found.

First there is the lost sheep story, then the lost coin and finally the lost son.

The story about the son and his father has a lot of helpful spiritual meaning which we need to help us today.

I believe it is the most “modern” story that Jesus taught.

Its’ themes are so 21st century!

Now Jesus’ story is a parable; a story in a human life setting with a divine meaning and purpose.

Jesus’ meaning is that the son leaves his home in rebellion.

As a rebel against the father he becomes wasteful, lost, corrupted and eventually ruined.

The MESSAGE BIBLE says: “…undisciplined and dissipated, he wasted everything he had.” (13)

Jesus’ purpose is to teach us that we have become lost in sin through our own wilful actions and that God has loved us back to Himself.

Let us ask some questions of this story:

What was lost?

A person, a person with a body, soul and spirit who was made by God.

Who valued what was lost?

The father alone valued the person that was lost. If the son had any real respect for himself, and if his new friends had valued him, he would not have wasted himself on ruinous living.