Wayward Son Luke 15:11-24

-God Rescues and Restores His Rebellious Children

750 Engaging Illustrations for Preachers, Teachers and Writers 248: God the Father

On Saturday, September 18, 1982, the U.S. government released the results of a sad investigation. The government determined that an army soldier stationed in Korea had been a defector to the Communists. According to the investigation, on August 28, 1982, this twenty-year-old private willingly crossed the Korean Demilitarized Zone into North Korea “for motives that are not known.” His fellow American soldiers pleaded with him to turn back, but he did not respond.

The day after the findings were released, the parents of the young man held a press conference on the lawn of their St. Louis home. Wiping tears from his eyes, the father said that they had accepted the fact that their son was indeed a defector. “He has lost his credibility in this country, even with me,” said the man. But then he showed the heart of a father. “I still love my son,” he said, “and want him back.”

God is like this father. You may have turned away from him, but if you will come back, the door is open, and the light is on. Come home, says the Father. Please come home.

I. The Prodigal Disconnects from the Father vv. 11-16

Last week, we saw Jesus begin a series of parables designed to demonstrate the heart of God towards people who are separated from Him by sin, people who are lost!

This week, He uses a story of a father and his two sons to illustrate the point]

We begin with a look at his relationship with the younger son

The younger son lives disconnected from His father

Relationally- at the heart of all of this is a disconnect between father and son. The son only cares about his inheritance, not his father; He loves the provision and not the provider. He effectively lets his father know that he means nothing to him!

Physically- the son begins the process of removing himself from his father’s influence and authority by fleeing his presence, his home, and even his country and people

Morally- the father was a man of wise character who had amassed wealth through his work and diligence; the son squanders his portion in short order! As a result of his foolishness, he is ruined when a famine comes

Positionally- the son becomes a slave. By rights, he is the proud son of a successful father. Now, he has become the shameful slave of a pagan pig farmer.

This kind of disconnect is a tragedy:

It is painful- there are physical consequences

It is shameful- there is a high degree of disgrace at how he’s fallen

It is foolish- it is based in an unreality that believes:

This kind of living is a good way to live

Our Father in Heaven has an unrighteous character and does not desire good for His people

Genesis 3:4–5

[4] But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. [5] For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (ESV)

It is reported that in the late 1860s, President Ulysses S. Grant gave a cigar to Horace Norton, philanthropist and founder of Norton College. Because of his respect for the President, Norton chose to keep the cigar rather than smoke it. Upon Norton's death, the cigar passed to his son, and later it was bequeathed to his grandson. It was Norton's grandson who in 1932 chose to light the cigar ceremoniously during an oration at Norton College's 70th anniversary celebration. Waxing eloquent, Norton lit the famous cigar and proceeded to extol the many virtues of Grant until...Boom! The renowned cigar exploded! That's right- over sixty years earlier Grant had passed a loaded cigar along to a good friend, and at long last it had made a fool of his friend's grandson!

II. The Prodigal Desires Slavery vv. 17-20a

Next, we see the scene shift and there’s good news: the prodigal comes to his senses!

Interestingly, this begins with a right understanding of his father’s character; Slaves in his father’s house do not endure the kind of suffering that he is facing

It continues with a personal reflection: his circumstances are his own fault. He has sinned against his father and against heaven

He is not satisfied to just be sorry. He rises from his place and he goes to his father hoping to be received

This is a pattern that is worth noting: Right recognition, right reflection, and right reaction. All of these are a part of a biblical repentance

However, there is some significant bad news

He completely misunderstands his father’s heart towards him

He wants to return to his father as a slave. After all, that’s all that he understands!

He rebelled, because he viewed himself as a mistreated slave in his father’s house

He repents, because he has been living as a mistreated slave in another man’s employ

He returns, hoping to become the slave of a better master

Unfortunately, that is the attitude that many of us have and it may well be what is keeping you from repentance:

If all you understand is slavery, do you really believe that what the Lord has to offer is better?

What if He has something for you that is much greater than you could have ever imagined?

When Gabriel Hurles turned six a couple of years ago (January 2009), he was so focused on eating his birthday cake, that he hardly noticed the giant package in the corner of the room. When another child pointed out the large gift, Gabriel ran over and began to tear off the wrapping. It wasn’t a bicycle or any of the other items a six-year-old would want. It was his dad, Army Specialist Casey Hurles, home on leave from the war in Iraq. Gabriel and his father had been apart for seven months, so when Casey learned his leave would coincide with his son’s birthday, he hatched a plan to offer one whale of a surprise.

John 1:12–13

[12] But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, [13] who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (ESV)

III. The Father Desires a Son vv. 20b-24

The son returns and the Father is ready

We must not believe that any of this is accidental or even based primarily on the son’s initiative

He knew the kind of man that his father was and believed that he would show mercy

However, we will find that the father was not only willing to show mercy, he had made preparation to show mercy!

When the son first appears a long way away, the Father springs into action:

He runs: leaving any sense of dignity or justice behind, he humbles himself and condescends to meet his son where he is

He restores: he places all of the signs of sonship on his boy, including a ring, a robe, and shoes onto him; when the son offers words of repentance, the father cuts off the last part. He will not have a slave; he desires his son!

He revels: the time has come for celebration. He must kill the fattened calf and celebrate. His son has returned to him from death

I can’t imagine what the scene must have been like on the day the prodigal returned. This is the day that the boy learned that his father was not who he thought he was at all.

Some of us believe that our father is a tyrant who only wants to rule over us and deny us the freedom of the life we would choose

Some of us believe that He is only good for provision and He is not worthy of a relationship

Some of us believe that He is reckless in His judgments. We cannot turn to Him because we believe that His justice is without mercy

Some of us believe that He doesn’t care. He leaves us to deal with the consequences of sin on our own

It turns out that our Father is anything but careless, reckless, ungracious, or unkind

He has a plan for rescuing and restoring rebels.

Galatians 4:4–7

[4] But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, [5] to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. [6] And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” [7] So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. (ESV)

Ernest Hemingway wrote a short story called “The Capital of the World.”  In this story, Hemingway told the story of a father and his teenage son.  The son had sinned against his father and in his shame he ran away from home.  The father searched all over Spain for him, but still he could not find the boy.  Finally, in the city of Madrid, in a last desperate attempt to find his son, the father placed an ad in the daily newspaper.  The ad read:

“PACO MEET AT HOTEL MONTANA NOON TUESDAY ALL IS FORGIVEN. – PAPA.”

The father prayed that maybe the boy would see the ad and maybe,  just maybe, he would come to the Hotel Montana.

On Tuesday, the father in Ernest Hemingway’s story arrived at the Hotel Montana and he could not believe his eyes.  A squadron of police officers had been called out to keep order among the eight hundred young boys named “Paco” who had come to meet their father in front of the Hotel Montana.  Eight hundred boys named Paco read the ad in the newspaper and hoped it was for them.  Eight hundred “Pacos” came to receive the forgiveness they so desperately needed.