Lost 3: The Lost Son

Good morning, and welcome to Family Worship with Eastern Hills Baptist Church on this Labor Day weekend! Thanks for making time this holiday weekend to be here. I’m Bill Connors, senior pastor of this church family, and I’d like to take a moment to say thanks to our audio-visual ministry team members for keeping the sound, the lights, the display, and the stream running every week. Thanks for all you do, team!

If you’re a visiting guest this morning, we’d like to be able to thank you for being here a little more personally. But to do that, we have to know that you’re here. There’s two ways for you to communicate that: First, you could grab the Welcome card that’s in the back of the pew in front of you and fill that out during the service. Then, you can just put it in the offering boxes by the doors as you leave after the service. Or you can bring it down to me so I can say thanks in person and give you a small token of our gratitude for your visit today. The second option is our digital communication card. You can text the word WELCOME to 505-339-2004, and you’ll get a text back with a link that will take you there. Either way, I still invite you to come down and say hi when the service is over. If you’re joining us online, you can use that same number, but obviously you can’t come down for the gift.

Announcements

Each year during September and October, we take up our special offering to support the work of the Baptist Convention of New Mexico, called the NM State Missions Offering. This offering will be used to help church plants, collegiate ministries, hunger relief, our two state camps Inlow and Sivells, and to prepare for the Ministers & Family Retreat next fall. Our church goal this year is $11,500. You can designate your gift to this important offering by using the yellow envelopes in the slots in front of you, by writing State Missions on your check, or by selecting the Mission New Mexico fund in our online giving platform. Thanks for prayerfully considering how the Lord would have you give to support the work of the BCNM around the State this year.

Mark your calendars on Sunday, September 17, for a special Revival Sunday with guest Garrett Wagoner. Garrett is great friend and a gifted speaker with a passion for the Gospel, and he is planning to come and share a message of the hope that we have in Christ during Family Worship that morning. I’d like to designate that Sunday as “High Attendance Sunday,” and I call everyone to invite someone for that morning who you know needs to hear the truth of God’s Word and the love of Jesus. That night, Garrett will bring a challenge and encouragement to the church family on sharing the message of the Gospel at 5:30. Plan to be here if at all possible for this special day on September 17.

Because of the Revival Sunday needing to fall on the 17th, we need to move our September business meeting to 5:30 pm on September 24.

Quick construction update: stucco and air conditioners.

Opening

This morning, we will begin to look at what is perhaps the most well-known parable that Jesus ever taught. In fact, this parable is so well known that its title is a part of our social vernacular to refer to a child who is wayward or rebellious. What is known as the parable of the prodigal son is the third of the “trifecta” of parables about lost things that Luke records in chapter 15 of his Gospel. It is the longest and most detailed of the three. We looked first in this series about God’s heart for sinners at the parable of the lost sheep, seeing that all sheep are valuable, and we are all sheep. We saw that God is a seeking God, and that followers of Jesus should be seekers of the lost as well. Last week, we considered the parable of the lost coin, and its focus on celebration. Believers should share the Gospel with the anticipation of joining in with the celebration in heaven when one sinner repents. Let’s continue our four-week arc with our third message in the series: What could be called the parable of the lost son.

Let’s stand in honor of God’s Word as we read our focal passage together, from Luke 15, verses 11-24:

Luke 15:11–24 CSB

11 He also said, “A man had two sons. 12 The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate I have coming to me.’ So he distributed the assets to them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered together all he had and traveled to a distant country, where he squandered his estate in foolish living. 14 After he had spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he had nothing. 15 Then he went to work for one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to eat his fill from the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one would give him anything. 17 When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have more than enough food, and here I am dying of hunger! 18 I’ll get up, go to my father, and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. 19 I’m no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired workers.” ’ 20 So he got up and went to his father. But while the son was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him. 21 The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I’m no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 “But the father told his servants, ‘Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Then bring the fattened calf and slaughter it, and let’s celebrate with a feast, 24 because this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ So they began to celebrate.

PRAYER (X-Factor, Scott Downing… who’s the youth pastor but the only pastor on staff right now)

My own story of coming to faith is a bit of a “prodigal” tale. It’s actually kind of strange in a way to look back on my life as a lost person, and the ways in which I paralleled our focal passage this morning. Sometimes it’s almost like looking at another person’s life through my own mind’s eye—as if I have someone else’s memories and experiences stored in my head. I know that sounds kind of strange, but it’s true. And that’s part of the wonder of salvation in Christ.

Paul wrote to the church in Corinth:

2 Corinthians 5:17 CSB

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!

It’s not that I have always felt this way about looking back at my life. I knew something had changed when I came to faith, but not like I do now. I wouldn’t even say that I “felt” completely new when I surrendered to Christ. I just felt…loved.

And this morning, I hope that as we look through the parable of the lost son, I will be able to communicate that clearly for anyone who hears or watches this message both right now and in the future.

The basic message of all three parables in Luke 15 is the same. However, Jesus doesn’t give the specific meaning of the parable of the lost son like He did with the lost sheep and the lost coin. We can easily presume most of the meaning through its connection to the context we find it in in the 15th chapter of Luke. Following on the heels of the parable of the lost coin, verse 11 says:

Luke 15:11 CSB

11 He also said, “A man had two sons.

Jesus sets the stage and tells us the players in this parable: a man and his two sons. This parable includes a comparison, but we won’t get to that part until next week. For today, we will focus only on the younger son.

1: Rejection

There is a major difference here between this parable and the two other parables that we’ve looked at in this series. In the parable of the lost sheep, the sheep wanders off. In the parable of the lost coin, the coin is misplaced. Neither is willful nor vindictive. They are “things” that become lost somehow, and really are just pictures used more for revealing the heart of God for sinners than to give us imagery of the sinners themselves. But this parable brings us to the nitty-gritty of what Jesus is getting at. He’s talking about people. And this younger son chooses to reject his father.

Luke 15:12–13a (CSB)

12 The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate I have coming to me.’ So he distributed the assets to them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered together all he had and traveled to a distant country,

This younger son requests something that wasn’t unheard of at the time, but the fact that he requests it was considered a disrespectful social faux pas, given that rabbinical teaching recommended against the father making such a distribution to his sons while still alive. However, the father does acquiesce to his request, giving him what would have been his portion of the estate at that moment. Since he was the younger brother, his older sibling would have been entitled to a double portion, so his take would have been 1/3 of his father’s estate.

The problem with this is the message that the younger son seems to send: it’s as if he is saying to his father, “You’re dead to me. I just want my inheritance.” Before you think that that might be too harsh of a take on this, look at what happens immediately afterwards: He does everything he can to get away from his family, including his father. He converts all that his father has given him, which would have included land, into essentially “cash,” and a few days later, he takes everything he has and travels to a “distant” land. He’s never planning on coming back. He’s gone. As far as he is concerned, that bridge is burned. That country is far physically, but it’s also far relationally, and it’s even farther spiritually as we will see. This is a total rejection.

We don’t know what happened. We have no clue why he left. We just know that he has rejected his father.

All of us are the younger son at some point. All of us reject the Father. We choose sin over our Creator. Don’t get me wrong: we’re plenty happy with the blessings that we’ve received from Him like life and intelligence and food and friends and jobs and whatever other blessing you want to put in there. The problem is that we think that we are god. That we are the center of the universe. That we should be able to run the show of our lives without any input, thank you very much.

That was who I was. I had heard about God all of my life. Not that my parents were believers, because they weren’t. My grandparents went to church. And whenever I was staying with them, I went to Mass. We prayed before meals to thank God for the food: “Bless us, O Lord, in these Thy gifts, which we are about to receive from Thy bounty through Christ our Lord. Amen.” I still remember it. They told me that God had blessed me with all that I had. The truth was: I didn’t really care. I rejected God’s grace in my life. Even as a child, I wanted to do things my way.

Paul writes about our rejection of God in Romans 1:

Romans 1:18–21 CSB

18 For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, 19 since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, that is, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made. As a result, people are without excuse. 21 For though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became worthless, and their senseless hearts were darkened.

In our unrighteousness we suppress the truth. We have no gratitude, no honor for the One who created us, who provides for us by His common grace. We do this because we are broken. We are flawed. We have been ruined by sin. And since we have been ruined by sin, we in turn ruin the blessings that God gives to us.

2: Ruin

I suppose that there are different kinds of ruin. When I use that term here in relation to the blessings of God, I mean that we misuse them. We waste them. We squander them. And this is exactly what the younger son did:

Luke 15:13–16 CSB

13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered together all he had and traveled to a distant country, where he squandered his estate in foolish living. 14 After he had spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he had nothing. 15 Then he went to work for one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to eat his fill from the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one would give him anything.

The cash that he acquired for his inheritance burns a hole in his pocket, and he aggressively starts spending. He squanders his cash by living recklessly. This is why he is called the “prodigal” son… not because he left home, but because the word prodigal used to mean this:

prodigal: adj. Given to extravagant expenditures; expending money or other things without necessity; profuse; lavish; wasteful; not frugal or economical (Webster’s 1828 Dictionary)

It’s his recklessness that makes him prodigal. He has no job in this distant land, and yet he spends all he has. He makes terrible choices. According to the book of Proverbs, this character is a fool:

Proverbs 13:16 CSB

16 Every sensible person acts knowledgeably, but a fool displays his stupidity.

His foolishness is then put on full display as things go from bad to worse for him. A famine strikes the land where he is staying, and not only is he in need, but those he had been partying with were likely financially strapped as well.

His choices made him fatherless and familyless, and now because of the famine he finds himself friendless, foodless, homeless, and penniless. He’s in a very difficult situation. The CSB says that “he had nothing,” but the literal translation for this is that he “began to be in want.” The story of the lost son is a riches-to-rags story, where he had everything before he left home, came to this far country with wealth, and soon found himself a beggar, with nothing and no one he could go to for help.

So he finds a job. But not just any job. He is hired by a resident of the country he went to, which must be a Gentile nation, because he is hired to do something that no Jewish person would ever volunteer to do: he becomes a pig herder. Pigs are unclean to Jewish people (still that way today). This goes all the way back to before their entry into the Promised Land:

Deuteronomy 14:8 CSB

8 and pigs, though they have hooves, they do not chew the cud— they are unclean for you. Do not eat their meat or touch their carcasses.

His employment isn’t enough to keep him fed, and as he feeds the pigs, he finds himself desiring the pods that he is feeding to them. So not only is he caring for pigs, but he is jealous of how well they are eating. They are likely being fed carob pods. Verse 16 could be taken to mean that: Either he is not allowed to eat the pig pods (the pigs are more important), or he just wished that he could have a full stomach like the pigs do (that he knows he physiologically cannot eat the pig food… apparently they are a natural… uh… laxative for people). But no one gave him anything… he has no one looking out for him. He’s completely and totally destitute because of the choices that he has made to ruin the blessings given to him by his father.

I once heard another pastor say that, “All sin is an abomination of a blessing of God.” For example, we take the blessing of food and ruin it by becoming gluttons. We take the blessing of sex and we use it outside of the appropriate context of marriage, or we engage in things like lust or pornography. We take the blessing of language and communication and use our words to tear others down.

See? We take the blessings that God has given us and we ruin them by wasting them. The blessings that we are given by God are given to us for His glory and we use them for ourselves...we use them for sin. I can tell you that before I came to faith in Christ, that was me: I was wasting the gifts that God had given me, because I was living for myself and myself alone. And for the most part, I was miserable even as I chased my own pleasure and happiness, thinking that if I just had this, I would be happy… if I only could do that, I would be fulfilled. And I never was.

Don’t get me wrong… there were moments of happiness and fun. There were laughs and good times in my life. But these things were fleeting and short-lived. And in some cases, guilt and self-loathing followed immediately on the heels of the choices that I made, because I hurt others along the way. I squandered the blessings of God. And I confess that sometimes, I still do because I play the part of the fool at times. How do you ruin the blessings of God through prodigal living?

What is the solution to our ruination of the blessings of God? What does the lost son do when he discovers his situation? He repents.

3: Repentance

It’s as if the prodigal had been entranced by the wealth that he suddenly found in his possession, by his perceived “freedom” from his father’s control, and by his new life in a far country. And once all of that was stripped away from him, he woke up. That’s kind of what the next part of the passage begins with:

Luke 15:17–20a (CSB)

17 When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have more than enough food, and here I am dying of hunger! 18 I’ll get up, go to my father, and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. 19 I’m no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired workers.” ’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.

He “comes to his senses.” He looks around at what his life has become, and discovers that he’s hit rock bottom. He’s a Jewish man whose job is slopping pigs for a Gentile in a foreign land, and he’s actually envious of the slop. Hitting the bottom gives him a new perspective. But he doesn’t just come to his senses mentally. He also comes to them morally.

He realizes that leaving his father the way he did was a mistake. He also realizes the kind of man his father is, and how well even his father’s lowest workers (day laborers were lowest level, because they did not have a fixed job) fared under his father’s hand. He decides that he will repent of his sin against both God (“heaven” is a respectful way to refer to God without referring to God directly) and his father, and understanding that he has completely forfeited his rights as a son, he decides he will throw himself on his father’s mercy and ask him for the lowest of jobs. It would still be better than slopping pigs for a Gentile.

What Jesus has this character plan to say to his father is a lesson in what repentance looks like. In his commentary on the parables of Jesus, Terry Johnson explained it well:

“He confesses without conditions and without qualifications. He makes no excuses. He offers no explanations. He had sinned. Period. The problem with most confessions is that they primarily express regret for the consequences of sin rather than regret for sin itself.”

—Terry Johnson, Parables

This prodigal confesses that his choices had been sinful, not that he regretted how things had turned out. He also acknowledged that the first and chief party offended by our sin is the Lord Himself, as David wrote in Psalm 51:

Psalm 51:4 CSB

4 Against you—you alone—I have sinned and done this evil in your sight. So you are right when you pass sentence; you are blameless when you judge.

But repentance isn’t just feeling badly about our choices, and it’s not just coming up with a pretty way to say we’re sorry. It’s about going the other direction in order to make the situation right (as much as possible). So this is what the lost son does. He takes action, getting up and heading for home.

Jesus said that He had come not to gather all the righteous people together, but to call those who were sinners to repentance in Luke 5:

Luke 5:32 CSB

32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

So repentance is a part of salvation, but we must remember that our salvation and conversion are not the same kind of scenario as the lost son. In our sin, we go our own direction, thinking that we know best for ourselves, that we are in control of ourselves, that we can decide what is right and wrong for ourselves. This is in reality only a lie that we tell ourselves. Repentance as a part of conversion is in realizing that our way is altogether wrong, and that God’s way in Christ is altogether right, and then surrendering our rights to ourselves by trusting Him with our forevers.

In fact, the blessings that God gives us before we are ever saved are given to showcase His goodness and kindness, in order to lead us to repentance according to Romans 2:

Romans 2:4 CSB

4 Or do you despise the riches of his kindness, restraint, and patience, not recognizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?

When I came to faith in Jesus, my initial repentance was a process that I walked through, mostly prompted by questions that flowed one out of the other:

“What is more rational for me to believe: that the universe was intentionally created, or the result of an incredible series of cosmic anomalies and accidents?”

“Since it is more rational to believe that the universe was intentionally created, then is it rational to believe that I am also intentionally created?”

“Since it is rational to believe that I am intentionally created, then is it rational to believe that the God of the Bible is that Creator, and that He intended that I live in accordance with His purposes?”

“Since it is rational to believe that God intended that I live in accordance with His purposes, have I done so?”

I had to answer that last one “no.” From this flowed one last question:

“Since I have not lived according to God’s purposes, what can be done to correct that failure?”

The truth is that, like the lost son, in my sin I was unworthy to be called a child of God, and as such, I could not do anything to restore the broken relationship between me and God. And that is why Jesus came. He came to call sinners like me to salvation through faith in His death, burial, and resurrection—to surrender ourselves to His work to save me, and His Lordship to direct me.

And it was in that surrender that I found what I had always been looking for:

4: Redemption

The most beautiful part of Jesus’ parable here in Luke 15 is the actual interaction between the lost (and returning, so no longer lost) son and his father:

Luke 15:20–24 CSB

20 So he got up and went to his father. But while the son was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him. 21 The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I’m no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 “But the father told his servants, ‘Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Then bring the fattened calf and slaughter it, and let’s celebrate with a feast, 24 because this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ So they began to celebrate.

Notice that he doesn’t head “home.” He goes “to his father.” And while he is still a “long way off”, the father sees his wayward son, who certainly bore all the hallmarks of a starving beggar. His father could only have seen him if he had been watching for him, waiting for him. And when he sees this missing son, he does the unthinkable for a respectable adult male Jewish member of the community at the time: he runs. Timothy Keller put it this way:

“Children might run; women might run; young men might run. But not the paterfamilias, the dignified pillar of the community, the owner of the great estate. He would not pick up his robes and bare his legs like some boy. But this father does. He runs to his son and, showing his emotions openly, falls upon him and kisses him.”

— Timothy Keller, The Prodigal God

The no-longer-lost son begins his prepared repentance speech, but for some reason, he never gets to the request to be a hired worker: either because the father interrupts him, or because he has already experienced the redeeming love of his father and so he understands either that he has been welcomed back, or that any request to be hired as a day worker would have been offensive in the glow of his father’s love.

And his father does what must have been completely unthinkable for this disgraced son: He sends his servants into action to redeem his son from the disgrace of being a penniless pig slopper for Gentiles. He calls for “the best robe,” (which likely was his own robe) to cover his son’s nakedness. He calls for a ring to put on his finger as evidence of his membership in the family fold again. He calls for sandals for his son’s feet because servants went barefoot in affluent Jewish households, not sons. And he calls for a feast of the fattened calf, which would have been specially cared for in anticipation of a special occasion, because eating meat was a rarity in Jewish diets at the time.

The father is calling the younger son back into that intimate table fellowship with the family, because his son “was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!”

This is where the father is also “prodigal.” Given the situation, he is excessive in his love, his care, and his provision for his son. He pours it out generously, extravagantly, profusely, lavishly. The son would have expected to remain disconnected from the family because of his dishonor of his father, and to have to eke out a living as a daily wage earner, but his story becomes one of riches-to-rags-to-riches because of his father’s prodigal love.

This goes right back to what the issue was at the beginning, and why Jesus was telling these parables. Remember the context from the first week:

Luke 15:1–2 CSB

1 All the tax collectors and sinners were approaching to listen to him. 2 And the Pharisees and scribes were complaining, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

They felt that Jesus was being prodigal as He welcomed the lost to intimate fellowship. And this is where our heavenly Father’s prodigality is evident as well. He pours out His love on us lavishly as He calls us to be His children, by pouring out His wrath on His Son Jesus, so that we can be forgiven of our sin,

1 John 3:1–2 CSB

1 See what great love the Father has given us that we should be called God’s children—and we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it didn’t know him. 2 Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when he appears, we will be like him because we will see him as he is.

Because of our sin, we are dead. Because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, we can be made alive. Because of our rebellion, we are lost. Because of Jesus’ submission, we can be found. Because of our pride, we are God’s enemies. Because of Jesus’ humiliation, we can be God’s friends.

Will you believe the Gospel today? Will you trust in what Jesus has done to save you? Will you surrender to Him as Savior and Lord, and start that new life that is promised in 2 Corinthians 5:17? This is what this parable is meant to show: God’s heart for sinners. He loves you and wants to redeem you, just like the father did with the lost son. Turn to Him in repentant faith and surrender even right now in the pew where you are, and plan to come and share that with us in a few minutes as we have our invitation.

I want to make one quick point of application to the believers in the room before we close.

5: Remember

This isn’t a part of the parable, but it will connect with next week’s message in a way, so I wanted to share it here. The reason that I wove my own testimony into the sermon today is that going back and rehearsing the work that God did in our lives to save us is a wonderful way of worshiping Him through praise and thanksgiving and of reminding ourselves of how much God has done for us so we can have compassion on those who have not yet believed, and so be prompted to share the hope of the Gospel with them.

Paul even speaks about this “remembering” in Ephesians 2:

Ephesians 2:11–13 CSB

11 So, then, remember that at one time you were Gentiles in the flesh—called “the uncircumcised” by those called “the circumcised,” which is done in the flesh by human hands. 12 At that time you were without Christ, excluded from the citizenship of Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus, you who were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

We used to be hopeless and without God, but now we have been brought near by Jesus’ blood. Your conversion story doesn’t have to be fancy or flashy to be meaningful. It doesn’t have to be dramatic and severe to be effective. It just has to be real. The fact that any of us are saved is a miracle of love, because God owes us nothing! Look around in your life and see those who are lost. Share God’s heart for sinners, and tell them what God has done for you in Christ, and lovingly express God’s desire to do that in their lives as well.

Remember what God has done for you, and tell others of His prodigal love!

Closing

My prayer is that today, there are those here in the congregation or listening online who have never trusted Jesus, and that today you’ve heard about the incredible love of God and about His desire to be in relationship with you, and that you are ready to believe in Jesus and surrender your life to Him. One way you can express that believing surrender is through prayer. You might pray something like, “God, I admit that I have rejected You and ruined the blessings You’ve given me. I repent of my sin and turn to You in faith, surrendering my life to You because I believe that You love me, that You gave Your Son Jesus Christ to die in my place so I could be forgiven, and that He rose from the grave so that I can be redeemed to an intimate relationship with You. I trust You with my forever, Jesus. Amen.”

In a moment, the band will play, and Rich, Trevor, and Kerry will join me here at the front. If you are believing in Jesus today, please come and tell us. And if you’re online and believing in Jesus this morning, send me an email so we can connect and talk about next steps.

If you’re a believer and think that Eastern Hills is a church family that you can plug into and be a part of so you can serve and grow in your faith, and you’d like to chat about formal membership, please let us know so we can set a time to answer any questions you have about the church.

You can also come and ask for prayer during this time of invitation, as well as give your tithes and offerings using the app or website. If you want to give physically today, you can put your offerings in the boxes by the doors.

PRAYER

Closing Remarks

I know that we didn’t read the entire parable today. Remember to be here next week for the last message of this series!

Bible reading (Deut 32; Judges begins on Weds)

No Pastor’s Study tonight

Prayer Meeting Weds at 5:45

Instructions for guests

Benediction

2 Timothy 1:9–10 CSB

9 He has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began. 10 This has now been made evident through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who has abolished death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.