Welcome Home
Notes
Transcript
Today we are finishing up our come home series. This is also Mother’s Day. I don’t know of too many mothers that don’t want to see their children come home. My guess is that most of you if not all of you would love for your children that have runaway, you would love for them to come home.
I want to ask a question to everyone this morning. Have you ever felt like you didn’t belong?
I am sure that each of us have felt this way at some time or another.
If it is a constant problem, psychologists say you have Imposter Syndrome. This is a lie that tells you, you don’t measure up.
The religious leaders of Jesus day were good at rejecting people that didn’t follow there rules. Jesus came to rewrite the narrative of rejection with a story of welcome and grace.
The Pharisees didn’t like the fact that Jesus hung out with sinners. They would often criticize Him for spending time with sinners. They would disqualify people from God’s love. However, Jesus always included the outcasts. God wants to connect with His people. It is important that we connect with other people and show them the love of God.
Jesus included the outcasts in His day to day interactions. Jesus told the three stories in Luke 15 so that we could see how much God wants the sinners to be a part of God’s family. Look at the last verse of each of the first two stories.
7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
He emphasized the importance of finding a lost person. Then, Jesus told our story, the story of the Prodigal son. Remember that Jesus was telling these stories to church people who were critical, judgmental, and angry that Jesus spent time with sinners.
Can we read it from the beginning again.
11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons.
12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living.
14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need.
15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs.
16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!
The son gets his inheritance, he spends it all on wild living, ends up broke and working at the worst possible job for a Jewish man, with pigs, and so he comes to his senses and decides to come back home and be one of his fathers servants. Look at verse 18 and 19
18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.
19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’
It was a long walk home, the young son is worried about what the father will say. But he figured out real quick how the father would respond.
20 So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.
23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate.
24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
This is such a beautiful picture of our Heavenly Father. When you make the decision to come back to God it kicks off a celebration. God wants you home!
So, the younger son comes home and dad throws a party. It felt like the end of the story, but it wasn’t.
25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing.
26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on.
27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
We want to believe that the older son would accept his younger brother the way the father did, welcome home, let’s have a party, but instead the story took an unexpected turn.
28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him.
29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.
30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
The older brother responds with anger and resentment. He refuses to celebrate. He takes the focus of the joyous occasion and makes it about himself. He feels overlooked and unrewarded for his faithfulness.
We get these images of “it’s not fair.” “I’ve done everything right.” “He doesn’t deserve a party.”
This older brother is representing the Pharisees and many times us. Maybe some of us have thought these thoughts.
We spend way too much time at our church trying to reach the lost—after all, I need to be fed. Hey—belly up to the table, grab a fork and feed yourself.
Reaching the lost may be important, but church is supposed to be for me. After all, I am a “tithe-paying member.”
You spend way too much time with sinners. Shouldn’t we get your attention instead of them? You care more about lost people than us.
I can understand welcoming people back—but they need to pay a price. They shouldn’t walk in the door and expect everything to go right back the way it used to be.
The people that are away from church hear this attitude. Over and over again, we hear people who are outside the church that have walked away say, “I’m just worried—will the church people accept me? Will they forgive me? How are they going to act if I walk in? What are they going to say? Everyone will be talking about me.”
How about this one? I know I need God, I’m just not sure I’m ready for church people.
That statement should make each of us hurt. It should be that way. Most peoples concern is not “will God forgive me? but its being judged for the mistakes they have made even as they are asking for and seeking forgiveness.
It is time for each of us to do a reality check. Are we acting like the Father or the older brother?
God isn’t the problem, but the older brother attitude is the problem.
It is important that we look at the Father’s response and compare it to the Older Brother’s response.
The Father, which is a representative of God, responds with forgiveness, grace, and celebration.
The Older Brother, which often times represents us, responds with hurt, skepticism, and judgment.
Each of us must learn to re-align our heart with the heart of the Father. We think like the father and respond like the father.
How do we choose the Father’s Attitude?
How do we choose the Father’s Attitude?
1. Acknowledge Your Tendency Toward the Old Brother.
1. Acknowledge Your Tendency Toward the Old Brother.
Part of maturing in our faith is being able to honestly assess ourself and see that this is not right. This is a difficult step because none of us like to admit that we are possibly acting like the Pharisees.
We must evaluate ourself and ask God to remove this ugliness from our heart.
Repentance is crucial.
God let me see people like you see people. God let me treat people like you would treat people.
2. Focus on Forgiveness, not Punishment.
2. Focus on Forgiveness, not Punishment.
We need to let go of the desire to make people “pay” for what they did.
The Prodigal coming home has already suffered enough. Their consequences have been sufficient punishment. When they come home, instead of punishing them for the pain they caused or piling on to the consequences they have experienced, act like the Father and quickly forgive..
I understand that it hurts, but you can’t allow your hurt to act as an excuse not to forgive. You need to decide to release that hurt.
3. Respond with Love, not Lectures.
3. Respond with Love, not Lectures.
Love doesn’t wait for proof of change—it leads with grace.
Many times your lectures disqualify your love. Don’t act like the older brother. Instead, open arms wide with love. Love says “welcome home.”
We need to celebrate restoration; don’t relive rejection. We lecture and want to punish because we are reliving the rejection—the pain we felt when they rejected us and left.
The question for each of us to ask is how will you respond when prodigals come home?
Look at the last two verses of this story.
31 “ ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.
32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ ”
Notice how Jesus just ends this story. It was like there was this dramatic ending and Jesus left it up for interpretation on how everything ended. We don’t know if the brother changed his mind or if the father said anything else. The story just ended and Jesus left it up to us for interpretation
Jesus has laid out each character and He is giving you an opportunity to make a decision for yourself. Will you treat Prodigals like the older brother did or will you respond the way the father did? Will you gripe and complain when they come and make them feel like they need to do more than repent or will you love and embrace them and celebrate when they come home.
We are called Connect Church for a reason. We want to connect with the prodigals that may come our way and we want to help them connect with God.
Our church is connect church and we must welcome home the lost with open arms.
Be the image of the Father, not the shadow of the older brother
Prayer
Let’s pray for those who have not come home because of people that have been jerks to them.
Let’s pray that we won’t be like the older brother.
