Real Life Faith: Pursuing Authentic Christiantiy. Week 2

The feelings of guilt and shame associated with our past shortcomings can hold us back from stepping into God’s best for our lives. Without living a life of repentance, we are unable to walk in victory.

This week, we are continuing our series called Real Life Faith: Pursuing Authentic Christianity. Last week we talked about fear-how fear can cripple us and keep us from walking in God’s best for our lives. This week we turn our focus to another subject that has the same or even a greater effect on our walk with the Lord. In fact, when speaking about living an overcoming life for Christ, this might be considered the most important aspect and unfortunately, this subject is not spoken of nearly as often as it should. For some reason, many (otherwise) decent pastors and churches that preach that Christ was crucified for the forgiveness of mankind,that it is by grace alone that we can be saved and that a person must confess and believe, in order to be a Christ follower…despite teaching these things (all of which are good) they fail to properly teach and preach this component of our walk with the Lord.

Today, we are going to quickly look at the parable of the prodigal son This story is found in Luke ch. 15. Let’s go ahead and pray

PRAY

The parable of the lost son is Jesus’s most famous parable. Most of us are familiar with the story of the lost son, we’ve heard it before…but it’s possible someone here hasn’t, also, this story is often misunderstood from what I believe to be the intended take away. I won’t take the time to read it straight through, instead, I’ll tell the story, inserting the important passages as we go…then to conclude, I’ll talk about why this story is important to you and I. When we read Jesus’s parables, we must pay careful attention to who He is talking to. Is Jesus addressing a regular crowd of people, is he speaking with his disciples in private or is he speaking with a group of pharisees and religious leaders? This matters, because depending on the crowd, Jesus will want to emphasize something important. If we ignore the context, we will miss what Jesus is trying to emphasize.

That said, here in Luke 15, Jesus is telling 3 separate stories. He is speaking with a group of Pharisees and other religious leaders. All 3 stories are about someone loosing something valuable to them, then finding it and then celebrating when the lost item is found. The first story is about the lost sheep. Jesus says that a shepherd will leave the sheep that are safe in order to go rescue the one sheep who is in danger. After finding the lost sheep, the shepherd rejoices. The second story is super short…so I’ll read it.

Luke 15: 8-10

“Or what woman, if she has ten silver coins and loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost!’ 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Similar to the first story about the sheep, once the lady finds the coin, she calls her friends together and celebrates her discovery. Jesus finishes the first and second stories in a similar way, saying that God is pleases when a person repents of their sin.

After finishing up the shorter stories of the lost sheep and the lost coin, Jesus then begins to tell a longer story about a father and his two sons.

Luke 15: 11-13

And He said, “A man had two sons. 12 The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me.’ So he divided his wealth between them. 13 And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living.

So, here we have a dad who has 2 sons, one of them wants to go out and live his own life, instead of being a part of the family business of farming or whatever the family did. So, the son takes off and starts living his own life by his own terms. No longer does he have someone to answer to, in addition, he has plenty of money and resources. Verse 13 describes the son as having “loose living.” The NIV says “wild living.” In other words, the son was partying up something fierce…until he ran out of money. All of a sudden, all of the people around him left and he was all alone, with no money, no food and no job. This son found himself in a miserable existence.

Luke 15: 15-16

15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

This son found himself in a terrible position and no one was willing to help him. We do not know how long this young man was in this condition, but it was long enough for him to do some serious evaluation about his station in life. Then we see something happen in vs. 17 that changes this guy’s situation:

Vs. 17:

“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!

For this young man, it took wallowing with pigs for him to “come to his senses.” This phrase is interesting and is used by Paul a couple of times in the book of Romans. In both cases, Paul is warning us to not consider ourselves wise, rather, to be humble and contrite. So, in other words, Jesus is saying that the son suddenly realized how arrogant and haughty he had been. This son “came to his senses,” and no longer considered himself as more important than other people…hoping that his father would take him back, not as an equal member of the family, but as a servant.

So, the son sets off to return to his father’s house. We do not know how long the journey was, perhaps a few days. We also do not know how long the son had been gone. Was it a few months, a few years? That’s not what is important. What we do know is that the father was hoping that the son would return. This is important. When the son left, the dad could have simply washed his hands and disowned the boy…but he didn’t.

Luke 15: 20 b.

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

It’s pretty obvious that the father was waiting for his son to return home. The dad was elated. He greeted his son with compassion, not with anger and bitterness. The dad’s reaction to his lost son coming home is similar to that of the two previous stories Jesus told. In all 3 stories, once the lost thing was found, the person called their friends to celebrate the returned thing…whether that was a lost sheep, a lost coin or a lost son. Remember, the son was hoping that the father would allow him to be a servant. When the father and son are reunited, the son repents of his deeds, acknowledging how he sinned and squandered the inheritance he had been given.

Luke 15: 21-24

21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

As I mentioned, the father wanted to throw a party, as his son was long, but now he is found. The father instructed the servants to kill the fattened calf-this is kind of lost on us, as our society no longer operates this way…but, the fattened calf was considered very special, only to be used when a very special guest was visiting the home. The closest thing we can imagine is how we go to the store and try to find the biggest and best turkey or ham for Thanksgiving or Christmas. The father wants to celebrate the return of his lost son. If the story of the lost son were similar to the other two stories, this is where it would end…except it doesn’t. You see, unlike the other two stories, this story isn’t really about 1 lost son, in reality, it’s about 2 lost sons.

Jesus now flips the story on its head and starts talking about the second son…but in order to hear this, you will have to be here next week, as I continue the story. Too often, when telling the story of the lost son, all of the emphasis is placed on the first part of the story and little relevance is given to the second part…the second son, but this part of the story is just as important. Next week we will cover the significance of son number two and talk about what Jesus was trying to convey by adding a second narrative, compared to the first two stories.

Real-life faith lives free from shame by confessing our sin, capturing our destructive thoughts, and changing our words and actions through repentance.

PRAY