Return: The Younger Child

Luke 15:11–20 NLT

11 To illustrate the point further, Jesus told them this story: “A man had two sons. 12 The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons. 13 “A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living. 14 About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. 15 He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. 16 The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything. 17 “When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! 18 I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, 19 and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.” ’ 20 “So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.

Introduction

The Parable of the Prodigal Son is a title given to the 3rd part of a parable Jesus taught to his audience. Tax collectors, sinners, teachers of the law, and Pharisees. The latter two groups murmured against Jesus, saying, He welcomes sinners and eats with them.

The 1st part involved the involuntary departure of a sheep

The 2nd part involves an inanimate object (not alive)

The 3rd part involves a family: The younger child, the older child, and the father

The noted difference in this parable is that the first two (the lost sheep and lost coin) became lost they did not choose to leave.

The 3rd part involved two children that chose to leave. In each case there was great joy at the return of that which was lost.

The Lord showed me that this parable involves Outward actions, Inward actions, and Unconditional love.

I am not sure which one of these you identify with; however, I believe that we should all identify (in some way with each of those 3).

Today, I am not assigning gender to the children because the Prodigal Son could easily be the Prodigal Daughter. The older son could easily be the older daughter. The father could easily be the mother.

The lessons found in the text is something we should all learn from.

In this 3 part preaching series, I will only focus on the 3rd part of the parable (the family).

Today, I will focus on the younger child. Return: The Younger Child.

We are all the younger child. Let’s get started.

1. Growing up vs growing old

We don’t remain children. Everything that is healthy will grow. We will grow out of our childhood (at least, that is the hope).

Paul reminds us of this process in

1 Corinthians 13:11 (NLT)

11When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things.

Growing up is not about getting older. Many people are older but have not grown up.

Turning 18 is not the goal of becoming an adult (growing up).

Growing up means that you are gaining a better understanding of the world you live in, your relationships, your goals and how to affect them.

Growing old means that things are happening to you

Growing up involves activating our senses or faculties

These are the 5 senses: Sense of Sight, Sense of hearing, Sense of smell, Sense of Taste, Sense of Touch.

These are 6 faculties: Reason, Intuition, Perception, Will, Memory, and Imagination.

An educated man is not, necessarily, one who has an abundance of general or specialized knowledge. An educated man is one who has so developed the faculties of his mind that he may acquire anything he wants, or its equivalent, without violating the rights of others. Napoleon Hill

A person is not an adult just because things happen to them. A person becomes an adult when they developed their faculties to learn from what has happened to them.

2. The younger child’s choices

A Life of Rebellion

 A. Observation   1. The younger sons request (v. 11-12)   2. The younger sons reckless behavior (v. 13-16)  B. Interpretation   1. The younger sons desire for independence and freedom

In so doing, he moved away from the father’s home and chose to dwell in a “distant country.”

I was that child: When I thought I knew what I was doing. I joined the Navy, returned in a worst state.

Sin will always take you further than you want to go and keep you longer than you want to stay.   2. The younger sons disrespect and dishonor towards his father  C. Application   1. How often do we desire to break free from Gods authority?   2. In what ways have we dishonored God through our actions and attitudes? A. The Rejection of His Fathers Love (v.12) - The son takes his fathers inheritance and leaves home - Shows a lack of appreciation and gratitude towards his fathers love and provision

B. The Wasteful Living (v.13) - The son squanders his inheritance on reckless living - Shows a disregard for responsibility and wisdom in his choices

Sin will always take you further than you want to go and keep you longer than you want to stay.

C. The Rock Bottom (v. 14-16) - The consequences of his choices lead him to a desperate state - He is left with nothing and has to resort to feeding pigs for a living

At my lowest point, when I felt that no one could love me, I was ready to kill myself. My choices took me further than I wanted to go. Rock bottom!

3. Come to your senses (faculties) to return

II. The Prodigal Sons Repentance A. The Realization of His Mistakes (v.17) - The son comes to his senses and remembers his fathers love and provision - He recognizes his own sin and wrongdoing

Our Faculties:

Reason: We have the incredible ability to THINK, and then we can decide if we like an idea, and accept it, or we can reject an idea

The younger child started to think

Intuition: here we learn how to read the energy we feel around us. We can all do this—pick up the “vibe” of another person

The younger child picked up the vibe that he was with pigs

Perception: Try seeing things from someone else’s point of view, and see if this changes your perception of a situation. The servants in his father’s home.

The younger child perceived things from his father’s perspective

Will: This one gives you the ability to concentrate. You can use the will to hold a thought, or choose thoughts of success, over thoughts of failure, block out distractions, and accomplish what you set out to do.

The Younger child thought, I WILL go back home

B. The Plan of Return (v.18-19) - The son makes a plan to return to his fathers house - He acknowledges his unworthiness but still hopes for his fathers forgiveness and mercy

Memory: Where we remember past events.

The younger child remembered how the servants were treated at his father’s house

God has good plans for you

Imagination: Albert Einstein said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”

The younger child imagined himself as a servant but in better condition than his current state.

C. The Return Home (v. 20) - The son humbly admits his sin and asks for forgiveness from his father - He takes the first step towards reconciliation and restoration

After being saved for almost a year. I found myself in a familiar place of frustration. I prayed and demanded that God use me.

In His loving way, God responded and revealed to me, why He was not using me as I thought I should be used. (I still needed to grow up)

He said, “How can I use you with all this junk in you?”

That question revealed that I had not yet learned the lesson of hitting rock bottom.

I had so much bitterness and unforgiveness.

Unforgiveness will produce bitterness.

Bitterness makes you sarcastic, condemning and nasty.

I needed to be Better not bitter

The difference is “I” and “E”

Individual and Everyone

Self-centered and Others-centered

When I was a child I behaved like a child

Tantrums

Outbursts of Anger

Unreasonable thinking (others should see it my way, others need to ask me for forgiveness, etc)

Time to come home

Come to your senses

Admit you were wrong

Repent

You have a home where you belong