Sermon Tone Analysis

ATTN:

Ever hear the story of the Prodigal Pig?

It goes like this:

There was a man who had two son

And loved them for they were his own.

The younger said, “Dad, I want my estate,

I think that I’m now fully grown.”

The son left home, went far away,

And spent all he had living high.

A famine then hit and low and behold,

He found himself in a pigsty.

The young man soon came to himself.

He turned to a piggy and said,

“Let’s get out of here and go to my dad.

He’ll see that we’re warm and well-fed.”

The father saw them from afar.

He ran and received them with glee.

He kissed his son, gave the pig a big hug,

And washed them as clean as can be.

He tied a bow around pig’s neck,

And placed a gold ring in his nose.

The father put shoes upon his son’s feet

And gave him a new set of clothes.

Both son and pig sat down to eat.

The boy became full as a tick.

But each time the food was passed to the pig

He cried out, “I’m gonna be sick!

There’s no way I can eat this stuff.

The lack of mud’s drying my skin.

The ring in my nose is just killing me.

I’m going back home to my pen.”

A son may run from his father,

Waste all to try making it big.

He will not stay in the pigsty because

A son is a son, not a pig.

Take care how you judge another,

‘Cause they appear good or look bad.

The one clean may be pig on his way home,

The muddy one, running to dad.

I love that last line: The muddy one, running to dad.

That paints a real picture in my mind of a guy who’s so ready just to get home, no matter what pride he has to swallow or what retribution he has to face.

NEED

And I dare say that there are some of you here this morning that have been eating a little mud of your own.

In a way, you could say that you’ve been keeping hogs.

What I mean is, like this prodigal son, you’ve been running from God and from your responsibility.

You know it!

In fact you’ve known it for a long time, but you were having enough fun to silence the ache in your soul.

But now the famine has come.

The bill for the pleasure you bought on the credit card of delayed justice has come due, and you sit by the pigpen of life, craving pig food.

And you feel utterly alone and abandoned today.

Will you hear what Christ has to say today?

There is a way to go home.

You don’t have to keep the hogs anymore!

Today could start the journey of restoration in your life.

Others of you are not keeping hogs, you’re keeping appearances.

If you would be honest this morning, you know you’ve got a budding prodigal at home.

The evidence is there.

You didn’t mean to raise one, in fact, you don’t see how your child could be going down the road he is taking.

You tried to do your best and do everything right, but in spite of all that you’ve done, your kids are “going south.”

But you are stuffing your fingers in your ears and refusing to admit the truth.

I want you to listen.

I want to show you what some of the signs of raising or being a prodigal are.

And then there are those here who are keeping watch.

What I mean is that you have a prodigal and you know it.

You spend many hours with a heavy heart, weeping and praying for that son or daughter who, though they may not have a lot of money, is still spending everything.

They are spending their purity to seek sexual pleasure; they’re spending their health to seek a drug-induced euphoria; they’re spending their reputation to get what they want, and most of all, they’re spending their future for the gratification they seek today.

And meanwhile, you are keeping watch, hoping against hope that one day you’ll look up the road and see them coming back home.

You’re keeping watch.

BACKGROUND

Whatever you’re condition, this parable of the prodigal speaks to you.

This story of betrayal, love, and forgiveness lets us know that no matter how far your prodigal has fallen, there is hope.

You really can influence your prodigal towards Christ.

How can you do that?

Well, there are three questions you can answer if you want to influence your prodigal toward Christ.

The first question is this:

D1 - HOW DOES A PRODIGAL STRAY - 15:11-16

EXP

You can find the answer to that question in the attitudes this prodigal son exhibits.

For one thing, this profligate problem of a boy was selfish.

You can hear it in his voice in verse 11 of chapter 15: Then He said: “A certain man had two sons.

And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’

Notice the demand of this lad: “Hey Dad, Give me! Give portion of your estate that is coming to me.”

Now that was an incredibly selfish request primarily because of what it meant to make it.

When this young man asks for his inheritance, he was in essence telling his dad to drop dead.

He was saying, “Dad, I know you’re not dead yet, but I want to treat you like you’re dead; Give me what I’ve got coming.”

He was incredibly selfish.

And he was filled with selfishness and he was also filled with short-sightedness.

You’ll notice that the father complies with the demand.

The Bible says in v12, “So he divided to them his livelihood.

Literally, the word, “livelihood” is his life.

The son requests a portion of what his father’s life will leave him.

As one writer said, He doesn’t take into account the blood, sweat, and tears his father invested to get what he has.

That’s why he converts the property to cash.

He doesn’t even consider that, if he would just hold on to the property, it would be worth more later.

The Bible says “he gathers everything together” and takes off.

He has an attitude of selfishness and short-sightedness.

And then he pursues separation.

The Bible says he goes to a far country.

Perhaps he wants to get away where no one knows him and can call him on his sin.

Perhaps he wants to get to a place where he will not feel guilty with his father looking over his shoulder, but, whatever the reason, he separates from his family.