Willingly

I had the text read earlier as i’m going to walk back through it progressively today… And i’ll start by summarizing the story and seeing how the son’s thoughts and actions are often paralleled in our own life.

He chose to to walk away from the Father

We sometimes choose to walk away from God

He left a place of joy and security to pursue things he thought would bring happiness

We have believed that what we pursue is better that what God has for us. “When we sin we are saying that we believe the that the sin we are continuing in are is greater than God’s plan for our life.”

When his plan did not work he lowered his standards.

We lower our standards, forgetting that God has great things for us.

He came to his senses.

We too can come to ours.

He returned to the father seeking forgiveness. The father ran to him in a way that only love can.

We can return to the father and experience the same love and forgiveness… notice the son didn’t even ask for forgiveness? All he had to do was come home.

He tried to diminish himself and remain in his shame and unworthiness. The father refused to let him stay where he was, and he refuses to leave us as we are. His extravagant love will overcome our every shortcoming.

Introduction

The world has a way of seducing us into thinking that our joy and satisfaction are not here….... But there. Somewhere in the future, when this happens or that happens, or when I achieve this or that, or when I own this or that. In worldly success you can never get enough. It will make your head spin, it will drive you crazy, it will draw you from the Father, and you’ll wake up one day to find yourself... Lost.

The son in our story today squanders his life, health, strength, and opportunity. He wastes it all. He wastes the chance to know the Father, know His peace, His home and eternal life. For the prodigal son to ask for his inheritance while his father still lived was the same as to wish him dead. The younger son was saying, essentially, that he wants his father’s things, but not his Father.

In today’s passage we find the satisfaction of sin only lasts for a season. The son wanted what He had coming to him, and he got exactly what he asked for. He wanted his inheritance in this life, but as Christians, we should be strangers and pilgrims in this life, not living for our best life now but living for the eternity that waits for us all. As the book of Hebrews says , “We look for a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” (Hebrews 11:10)

As Christians, as children of God.. Our inheritance comes later. Jesus tells us in this life that we should, “deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him.”

When any person-young or old- takes a journey without the guidance of the Heavenly Father, every day traveled is a day wasted, a day in the wrong direction, and the road traveled is without leadership or accountability from others and more importantly the Holy Spirit. This journey will always lead to the land of eternal waste. The son woke up in a pigpen!

Money will never buy what satisfies the soul… and In our story today the son found himself lost physically, mentally, and spiritually… Far from the Father’s House.

But we must know that God cannot do business with a proud person, only the humble. The lost must come to the place where they see themselves as lost and in need of a Savior, deserving nothing more than condemnation, but finding the love of the Father and forgiveness. The father is waiting for the son to come home.

And before you settle in this morning with a preconceived thought about everything you know about this message… know that as Christians we have to continually guard against moments and seasons of taking on the attitude of either the younger or the older son. In both of their situations they didn’t realize the value of being in the presence of the Father.

Let’s take a look this morning at 5 realities that take place...

When we are away from the presence of the father...

We will exhaust our own resources - And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. An issue with the inheritance that was given is that the father had originally endowed the resources to the son in order to expand the territory of the father. But instead, the son chose to see the resources as an opportunity to create his own way. In the same way our Heavenly Father has endowed us with sooo many privileges and resources to expand the kingdom of God. But very often we expend those resources on ideas that are outside His kingdom, and thus those resources continue to be diminished and exhausted. When we are away from the presence of the father…

We will encounter hardship - When he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want The stewardship of our spiritual and physical well-being is often able to be hidden during times of prosperity. But rest assured we will encounter hardship. Let’s just suppose for a minute that a global pandemic represents a hardship. I don’t know about you but I didn’t like everything I saw in my own life during the pandemic. It revealed some fears in me, it revealed some pride, it revealed some… spiritual instability. What did it reveal in you? In our story today we hear nothing of those in the father’s presence having any want during the same famine that left the lost son hungry and wanting.

Transition: When we are away from the presence of the father… We will exhaust our resources, we will encounter hardship, and

We will entrust ourselves to others - Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. mention unmarried couples living together for finances, homosexual relationships where they have adopted a child and one gets saved???? Ultimately jobs, relationships, luxuries, and comforts.

If you continue to receive resources that you did not earn, you will eventually become dependent on the person or thing who is giving you those resources. The drug addict or alcoholic becomes dependent on their drug of choice because it creates a synthetic sense of joy that did not have to be earned but instead was given. People struggle to leave abusive or sexually immoral relationships because they have often become dependent on that person for things like food, shelter, or any other provision. You can know that the powers and principalities of this world are consistently training us to become more dependent on them. That’s exactly why we are to recognize that God the father is the source of everything we receive so that our dependency stays fully in him.

Hopefully at this point in our story’s we recognize that…

We can choose to return to the father - “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! I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”

In the pig pen, the son sat and wondered why he left in the first place. He left the father’s house because he believed he was missing out on something. He sure did find it didn’t he? I wonder this morning what draws US away from the Father? Sometimes God allows us to have what we want, to show us the importance of what we need! Throughout our journey in this life we can find ourselves empty, abandoned, or feeling disconnected. So many times when this happens the Christian begins to question God as though HE was the one that left US. These are moments when we need to check our coordinates to see where WE truly are.

Biblical Scholars tell us that though the son was in a far-off city that the father could always see that city, and that the son could still see the father’s house. I tend to believe this as well. In the beginning of this series, God as our shepherd leaves the 99 to find the one, yet here we see God as the father waiting for the son. The son had not wandered off, but willingly left. When the innocent wander off in sin, they must be sought out, but those that willingly leave must willingly return. REPEAT When we leave the father’s presence we will exhaust our resources, we will encounter hardship, we will entrust ourselves to others, but we can choose to return to the father and when we do…

We will find the father waiting

BINOCULARS (JOKES ABOUT WHAT YOU CAN SEE IN PEOPLE’s lap, eating, asleep, outfits etc, have fun)... …Why do I use binocluars,

bring in to focus,

and put of of focus the target/other things, blinders…

Reduces distance,

sees them closer than they are,

wanted to be first one,

sees things others don’t, a lens for the sinner.

Want to see it first ben and cap city.

Church I’m afraid too often we don’t have the binoculars out, I’m actually afraid we have a magnifying glass out ready to expose and point out all the sins they’ve committed. I assure you that you can really know and show what’s in your heart by your response to the prodigal son.

While many refer to this story as the prodigal son, which is an appropriate title, they often think that prodigal means wayward or sinful. But a dictionary entry of the word prodigal offers up two definitions of the adjective prodigal. 1. Recklessly extravagant and 2. Having spent everything. So the prodigal son is a fair title to the story in that the son who wandered off spent everything he had with reckless extravagance. But catch this, this morning, the only thing more prodigal than the sin of the son was the love of the father.REPEAT We could call the father a prodigal in that he spent all the love that he had with reckless extravagance to receive his son back into his home.

Though the son returned empty handed he brought his father the gift of a broken and contrite spirit. Notice how the father didn’t even respond to his confession of sin but instead just began the party. The Father is saying, “I’m not going to wait until you’ve paid off your debt; I’m not going to wait until you’ve shamelessly groveled. You are not going to earn your way back into the family. I am simply going to take you back. I will cover your nakedness, and your rags with my own robes of honor and distinction. Church, too often when people sin against us we have barriers they have to cross to be restored BUT GOD’s RESPONSE to our confession is ALWAYS celebration. REPEAT, and ours should be the same. If you relate more to the lost son returning today you may think that God has nothing for you, but you can know that we serve a God that loves to make beauty out of the ashes. Even after the son had wasted the inheritance, the father still had more to give, and he always has more to give. The prodigal God is ready to spend everything that he has and recklessly pour extravagant love out on you. You see, We OVERestimate what the world has to offer, but the greater mistake is that we always UNDERESTIMATE God’s forgiveness and His goodness. REPEAT? We will find the father waiting, and we as the church should always portray the father’s sense of love in waiting for others.

RESPONSE – (2 way, 3 way?)… have you willing wandered off, are you watching for the wanderer REPEAT

There is something about someone running to us that energizes us, I believe the son began to run as well, if we want to see others run to the father we need to begin to run to them.

Each day make a homecoming and return to your God. This turning may begin with a confession of sin and repentance

. It may be that we have wandered so far we are not sure where to turn. Know that as soon as you turn your Father comes to meet you. God welcomes you with open heart and open arms. Say to yourself, allowing each word to have impact: I will arise and go to my Father and say I have sinned before heaven and before you and am not worthy... Then let God accept you into his Presence and surround you in his love. Rest in the peace, in the power and in the presence of God who is Almighty. Let God renew, refresh, and restore you. When you have no power in yourself, know that all power belongs to God.

Do we run to the lost?

Not tolerate, not accept, not encourage, but whole heartedly run to and embrace… Jesus didn’t have time for the pride of the religious instead he longed for the return of the wayward sinner. If we don’t show the love of the father, the lost son will run somewhere else, it’s not even that they will, they already ARE running somewhere else. The other brother was put off by the fact that the Father accepted the son back into the house, but we don’t get to decide who is part of the father’s house, only the father does. We are often jealous or hold contempt towards the new Christian, or the one with the spotted background. We don’t like when someone infringes upon our ministry or position. There will never be room in this church for people that are more concerned about their position or success, than they are about others.

INVITE TEAM

Maybe you aren’t lost today but you know there is still some mud on your clothes from your pigpen experience. You want to do something for God but you are worried how others in the church will view you, the older brother if you will, forget about em. The older brother doesn’t call the shots, dad does. If you are here today and you know that you are lost and you really are wondering if God’s plan for your life is best, you can know this... that God’s worst is better than Satan’s best, or we could say the world’s best. REPEAT Take a step this morning and you will find the father running.

Church as we see them returning home let’s not forget what we just heard. Confession should always be met not with condemnation but celebration.REPEAT

STAND/PRAY

SING AGAIN THE FATHER IS WELCOMING… TODAY CAN BE YOUR HOMECOMING

Lot to pray about today lets be obedient with our next steps during this time of prayer and worship.

Extra Response/Post Response

Couple thoughts as we leave today. JONATHAN BE CAREFUL NOT TO CAST PEARLS BEFORE SWINE IF WE’RE DONE.

OR DON’T RAISE HANDS, BUT JUST HAVE THEM ANSWER AND THEN PRAY TO REBUKE IT… But if so… heads bowed. Sometimes I struggle with the being the older brother, worried about my position, my success, instead of celebrating what God is doing through others. The only thing worse this morning then being in that place would be being in that place and not being able to confess it.

PRAYER CARDS

(The Other Brother) We don’t get to choose who the Father accepts… The Father does!

Church there is no greater attitude that we must guard against than that of the older brother. It will creep in again and again if not monitored with great attention. The older brother mentality is one that Christians always have to fight against, because we are already in the house we can become entitled or make comments about paying our dues or deserving something. The older brother had access to all the goodness of God, but allowed himself to become bitter over not receiving honor in just one area. Nothing will limit your ability to serve like entitlement or a belief that you deserve more than you’ve been given. Celebrate today above all things that we get to be in the father’s house together. Leave today committed to living fully in the presence of the father, always ready to run to the one who desires to return.

GOODBYE TO ONLINE THEN JACOB

Related Media

Related Sermons

Earn an accredited degree from Redemption Seminary with Logos.