Sermon - January 10, 2010
The Problem
with Prodigals: Surprise Party
Titus 3:3-7. Luke 15: 17-24
Last week we became reacquainted with
a Father and the youngest of his two sons.
The boy demanded his inheritance, and a short while later took off for a
distant country and life on easy street. He lived high on the hog until,
bankrupt, he was forced to live with the hogs desperate for what they
ate. In his sermon “The Scope of Grace,” Pastor Brian Bill retells the
story in the key of F:
“Feeling footloose and
frisky, a feather-brained fellow forced his father to fork over his
farthings. Fast he flew to foreign fields and frittered his family's
fortune. Fleeced by his fellows in folly, facing famane, and feeling
faintly fuzzy, he found himself a feeding flinger in a filthy foreign
farmyard. Feeling frail and fairly famished, he filled his frame with
foraged food from the fodder fragments.”
This
morning we find the lad still in the pen, broke, hungry, friendless,
homeless, heart broke, and homesick: Or as Brian Bill tells it: “Fooey,”
he figured, “my father's flunkies fare far fancier,” the frazzled
fugitive fumed feverishly, facing the facts. Finally, frustrated from
failure and filled with foreboding, he fled. Faraway, the father
focused on the fretful familiar form in the field and flew to him and
fondly flung his forearms around the fatigued fugitive. Falling at his
father's feet, the fugitive floundered forlornly, “Father I have
flunked and fruitlessly forfeited family favor.” Finally, the faithful
Father, forbidding and forestalling further flinching, frantically
flagged the flunkies to fetch forth the finest fatling and fix a feast.
This story makes an about face! It turns at the time the wayward son
comes to himself – or more accurately - comes to the end of himself. A
member of Alcoholics Anonymous would say, the boy had bottomed out. When
an alcoholic, or victim of any addiction bottoms out, he or she realizes
that life can't go on this way. It is too desperate, and either
something has to change or life – so intolerable – has to end. From the
pit of his stomach to the muck on his face and matted hair, the lad knew
he had to face the facts. He was a failure: a financial failure, a moral
failure, a failure as a son, and if he didn't do something soon, he
would die a failure.
Luke 15, vs. 17 says, When he came to his senses...
He realized he had made destructive choices. He was in
disastrous physical condition. He was hungry. He was thirsty. He was
flat broke. He was friendless. He was far away from home. He had no
future. For the first time in his life, he appreciated the blessings of
home. He realized the only one who could change his condition was his
father. When his pride had fallen as flat as his wallet, when his
longing for home was as deep as his hunger for food, he said to himself,
How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am
starving to death! The only thing left to swallow was his pride.
Then he made his resolve: vs. 18-20 I will set out and go
back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven
and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son: make me
like one of your hired men. So he got up and went to his father.
Look at what he resolved to
do: He would go back to his father. He would repent to his father and to
his Heavenly Father (I have sinned against heaven and against you)
forfeit his sonship, and work as a hired servant. Back then there were
no perks to servitude, no insurance benefits, no pension plan, no paid
holidays – just work, except on the Sabbath. The son's heart was
heaving, his spirit broken. That's true repentance.
True repentence is more than just saying “I'm sorry”.
Scriptures describe true repentance this way. Turn
from sin to the living God: turn from these worthless
things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and
everything in them. Acts 14:15. Notice it does not say “turn from
doing bad things to doing good things,” or turn from addictions to
healthy living. Luke in Acts is very specific, turn from worthless
things (disobedience, rebellion) to the living God. Live in
relationship with an intensely loving and ever present God. Turn
into a new creation 2 Corinthians 5:17 -18 Therefore if anyone
is I Christ he is a new creation; the old has gone and the new has come!
All this is from God. Today actors and politicians talk about
reinventing themselves. Nice try, but true transformation comes only
through the rebirth of one's spirit and renewal of one's heart. That,
God alone can do. We are saved through regeneration by the grace and
power of God. Titus 3:5 He saved us through the washing of rebirth,
and renewal by the Holy Spirit. Finally, true repentance means
turning from earthly to heavenly things Col. 3:1-2. Since, then, you
have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where
Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things
above, not on earthly things. Setting our hearts means placing
our affections, and our love first and foremost on the things of Christ.
And setting our minds means directing our intellects on matters of
eternal weight. The focus in the Christian's life no longer pivots on
what pleases me, but what delights God, not what brings me approval and
applause, but what gives God glory.
Luke 15:20: So he got up and went to the father.
With the turning of the son, the story also turns. And it is in
his return, we see the heart of this story. It's not about the son. The
true focus of the story is on the Father.
The word prodigal means “extravagant,”“excessive,” and although it
has been taken to mean the son's extravagant and excessive living once
he left the farm, it really describes the father's extravagant and
excessive love that received him when he returned.
Look at this: Luke 15: 21 While he was still a long way off, his
father saw him and was filled with compassion for him. Dad just
didn't happen to see son coming down the path. He had been sitting on
the front porch waiting, watching, day after day, hoping praying his son
would return. Had he not been watching, the son might have slipped into
the farmyard, lost courage, and slipped away again unnoticed. Dad did
not give up. He had worked hard to accumulate an estate for his sons. He
sought God's blessing for his sons. He protected his son from worldly
influences and temptations. He had prepared a prosperous future for the
boy. All of that was rejected, the father himself was rejected, when the
boy demanded his share and left home. That is the heartbreak of this
story: that after everything the father had done, the boy turned on his
heel and ran off. That is the tragedy of every soul who runs off from
God. After all that God has done, providing everything we need, to live
joyously in this life in fellowship with Him, and His perfect love is
rejected.
Dad bolts down the path to receive his returning son – a very
undignified thing for an elder Jew to do. But more than his feet, his
heart runs out to the boy – this son, filthy dirty from the pens, home
from a long joyless journey. Dad throws his arms around the lad, and
kissed him. The son begins to confess the hard words he had to rehearse
to utter, I imagine hot tears riveted his face “Father, I have sinned
against heaven and against you I am no longer worthy to be your son.
vs. 21 But before he can offers to work as a hired hand, Father calls
out to his servants, “Bring out the best robe, put it on him, Put a ring
on his finger, and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill
it. Let's have a feast. What a surprise party! The best robe would have
been his father's best robe. No servant wore sandals, and the ring
symbolized he was received as a son. The boy came home ashamed and was
received with honors. He returned in hope to be hired as a common
laborer, and was restored to the family as a son. The prodigal father
tells us the reason for his jubilant celebration: vs. 24 For this
son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.
The story Jesus tells of this father, is really about His own,
our prodigal God and Heavenly Father. Just like the father in the
parable, God waits and watches longingly for his wandering children to
come home. When we come to our senses and turn to Him, with grace and
mercy God runs out to receive, embrace us, and pour out His love on us,
as if we had never left. Jesus said, “There will be more rejoicing in
heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous
persons who do not need to repent. Luke 15:7 Every one needs to
repent. It is the hardened sinner and the spiritually arrogant who do
not feel the need to repent. True repentance turns us to God. Whatever
brings us closer to God is cause for celebration.
Anyone here long for a wayward
son or daughter, or family member or friend to know that joyous
outpouring of God's love? Now the story gets up close and personal. How
do we pray for those close to us, who do not know the Lord, who have not
been reborn in Christ? Lamentations 2:19 says, Arise, cry out in the
night, as the watches of the night begin: pour out your heart like water
in the presence of the Lord. Lift up your hands to Him for the lives of
your children. You may have a family member or friend suffering from
alcoholism, or substance abuse, gambling, or addiction to pornography.
That person is in the far country spending every resource on things that
bring death, not life. And your are grieved, worried, hurt by their
behavior. Whatever their need, know that your Lord and Savior already
knows all about it. And He hears your cry, and desires to heal your
heart. When you pour out your heart like water, you may feel empty,
drained, like there is nothing left – all that is left to you is Him
who hears, only the Lord who heals and saves. There are only two things
to do: Trust in the love of Christ. God is all-knowing, in control, and
has a plan and a purpose. Second. Keep on praying. Be persistent. Ask a
prayer warrior to partner with you. Keep pouring out your heart before
the Lord. He will strengthen you, bring you healing and give you
peace.
How do we pray for the lost? Come to your Heavenly Father with the
position of that wayward son. Bring before the Lord that the prodigal is
one of His own, and thank Him for being Father of the Lost. Ask the Lord
to rescue the person as a shepherd rescues a sheep strayed from the
flock. Pray for supernatural love. Remember that no one loves this
person as much as God their Creator. Ask God to grant His love for you
to shower upon the one who has strayed. Always pray from love, not from
judgment. Pray to let go of your prodigal just as the prodigal son's
father let him go, He didn't book a guilt trip for the boy, or bash him
with a Bible, or ranted about how ungrateful he was, or stupid, or
spiteful. Pray for grace to keep your mouth shut off from judgment and
heart open with compassion.
Pray for grace and endurance to continue to pray for the prodigals.
It may take years. A seventeen year old stated, “You know I think I
believe in no religion. There is absolutely no proof of any of them, and
from a philosophical standpoint Christianity is not even the best. All
religions are merely man's inventions.” But later in life, the young
man befriended JRR Tolkien, author of The Lord of The Rings,
and through that patient, long friendship found Christ and became one
of the greatest Christian writers of the 20th century. C.S.
Lewis. The beloved Chronicles of Narnia was written basically as the
Gospel I fairy tale form for Children. Pray persistently.
Pray for famine: such that in whatever they are placing trust, other
than Jesus, would dry up. Pray for their disillusionment in the things
that once drew them and holds them captive. Pray that what once brought
them pleasure, would be repulsive to them.
Pray for holy hunger and holy homesickness, such that they long for
the love and joy that is waiting for them in Christ.
Pray that your prodigal will come to his or her senses, to realize
something is dreadfully wrong, and only God can make it right.
Pray for the gift of repentance: “I will arise and go to my Father”:
that precious turning from sin and self, to God and His all embracing
love.
Pray that your prodigal will have the humility to receive the
Father's love and forgiveness.
Finally, pray that God will
do what God so loves to do, pour out His riches when the prodigal
returns. Ask the Lord to dump on him the best blessings, that God would
lavish His love, spiritually, emotionally, and financially.
If these are things you long for yourself, then humbly come to the
Father. He has been watching from a long ways off, waiting, hoping that
you would ask Him. Tell Him, tell Him the truth, for He will hear only
the truth, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against You. I am
not worthy to be Yours.” Let His mercy flow over and through you, fall
upon You with His embrace, reclothe You in His righteousness for the
sake of Jesus, and in the Name of Jesus, claim you as His own, an heir
with His Son our Savior.
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