Frontlines 2025 (Night 2) // God is Gracious

Introduction

Welcome back to night #2 of Frontlines. I hope your first full day was excellent.

I want to start with another exercise tonight. Last night I had to think of someone that you love to be around. Tonight, a little bit of a different question.

If you had $1000 to give away - you had to give it away. Who would you give it to?

Take a minute a think about it hard - this is a big decision.

You’ve got 10 $100 bills in your hand, and you get to give that money away to anyone that you want. Who would you give it to?

Got it?!

Okay, now I want you to think about WHY you made that decision. What is it about that person that made you want to give them that money?

Don’t tell me the person - just the reason why you want to give them the $1000 dollars.

[LISTEN TO REASONS]

Most of these reasons have something to do with us having positive feelings towards a person OR the fact that we feel badly for the person - they have a need.

I don’t know of many people who would choose to give that money to a person who hurt them recently. A person that they dislike or can’t stand.

But God is different!

Let’s look at our description of God again from Exodus 34

Exodus 34:6 NLT

6 The Lord passed in front of Moses, calling out, “Yahweh! The Lord! The God of compassion and mercy! I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.

Our aim for Frontlines this year is that you would get to know God a little bit better and that as you get to know him you’d want to spend more time with him.

Last night we learned that God is compassionate

It is his consistent reflex to move towards those who are hurting to offer protection.

Tonight, we’ll see that God is merciful (hanun)

God enjoys giving good things to people who don’t deserve them.

Let’s open back to Luke 15 and we’re going to focus on a specific portion of the story tonight.

Luke 15:11–22 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. 21 His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.’ 22 “But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve made some pretty bad mistakes in my day. And when I got home and had to talk to my parents, I would get a firm talk about how I had messed up and need to make better choices and then my punishment would come.

We don’t typically celebrate when people get into trouble.

We don’t usually celebrate getting an F on a test, or getting run-ruled in baseball.

The way that this story is told, we think we know where this is going - this kid is going to get into so much trouble!

But let’s see what happens.

Luke 15:22–24 NLT

22 “But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. 23 And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, 24 for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.

Before we dig into this section, we need to remember that this is not a real story. This is a parable. And what is a parable?

a parable is an earthly story that tells spiritual truths.

So, this this story is just that - a story. It’s not real. It’s intent is to teach a spiritual lesson, and the lesson is not that every time you do bad things someone is going to ignore what you’ve done and throw a party for you.

The point here is to catch us all by surprise - to show how incredible the response of the Father is.

Let’s look at some of the finer details of how this Father responds. The Father commands his servants to do a few things that the son did not deserve and each of them has a specific, important meaning.

He makes him a son, not a servant

When the son left - treating his father as if he were dead, the son would have normally never been allowed back. In fact, he should have faced Kezazah a Jewish ritual that means to cut off.

The entire community would gather and break a clay pot in front of the son to display that he was not cut off from the entire community and no longer welcome.

He would be publicly shamed and rejected.

The Father would treat the son as if he were dead - completely cutting him off in every way.

But the father doesn’t do any of these things. While the son says - I’ll be a servant, the Father sends one of his other servants to get sandals for him.

In the first century, servants went barefoot - only noblemen wore sandals.

With this gesture, the Father is telling the son, “no, you’re not going to be a hired hand, you’re my son. Though you treated me as if I were dead, I will not do the same to you. I will accept you back because I love you and so I want to give good things to you even though you don’t deserve it.

2. He gives him status, not shame

This was literally the nicest thing that the Father had to wear. Every nobleman had a robe like this and it was only brought out a few times - ever - for the most lavish ocassions. It would be like a tuxedo or dress that you might wear for the Grammy’s.

The Father could have yelled at him and said - you look disgusting and you smell pig crap - go clean yourself up before you make me throw up!!

But he doesn’t do that. He doesn’t make the son clean up or change. Instead he gives him his own robe - the most beautiful and extravagant thing he owns - to cover up his filthy, gross clothes.

3. He gives authority, not animosity.

The way that this son acted would and should have completely embarassed his father in front of everyone in the entire community. Maybe you can picture a father who is red-faced, angry, and screaming - “do you have any idea how stupid you made me look! Asking for the inheritance as if I’m dead and then showing up back here looking like this asking for a job!! You should be ashamed of yourself you fool! Get out of my face and never come back!

But that’s not what the Father does. He not only gives sandals and his best robe, but he has his signet ring brought. This was the ring that had the family seal and was used to press into wax to show the full authority of the Father.

4. He gives celebration, not consequence

Let’s be real. Most of us would expect some consequences here.

We’d expect the father to let the son come back quietly and maybe sleep in the barn for a few weeks to earn trust again.

But that’s not what happens.

Instead, the father says, “Kill the fattened calf!” This was a rare, extravagant act—like throwing the biggest party of the year. The kind of feast you’d prepare for a wedding or a holiday with hundreds of people.

He didn’t say, “Let’s ease back into things.” He said, “Let’s celebrate right now.”

Why?

Because the father saw what we so often miss:

This wasn’t about bad behavior getting excused—this was about a lost son coming home.

And the father delighted to celebrate it.

He says, “This son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.”

This is not a reluctant second chance. This is joyful restoration.

God is the Father Who Delights to Give YOU Good Things

You see, this parable isn’t just about a random father and a messed-up son. It’s about God, and it’s about you and me.

We are the son who ran.

We’ve all wanted life on our own terms.

We’ve all spent parts of our lives far from God.

And we’ve all, at some point, hit that moment where we realized, “ugh - this is a mess. I can’t fix this on my own.”

But instead of waiting to hammer us, God responds with mercy - hanun

God enjoys giving good things to people who don’t deserve them.

But here is the thing - that mercy isn’t free. It costs something.

Someone did have to face the shame…

Someone did have to carry the weight…

Someone did have to go through the Kezazah ceremony…

Remember that ancient Jewish ritual—Kezazah—where the whole community would break a clay pot in front of the person who had brought disgrace? It was a public declaration that they were cut off… that they were no longer welcome… that they were, in essence, dead.

The son in this story deserved that.

But so do we.

And here’s where the gospel shines:

Jesus took the Kezazah for us.

He was cut off so we could be brought in.

He was rejected so we could be embraced.

He was broken so we could be made whole.

On the cross, Jesus experienced the full shame and judgment that we deserve—so that we, like the son in the story, could come home and be met with a Father who runs toward us with mercy in His eyes.

Jesus Delights to Show Mercy

And here’s something I don’t want you to miss: Jesus doesn’t do this with a bad attitude. He’s not dragging His feet. He’s not grumbling.

He loves to show mercy.

Jesus delights in it.

So if you’re here tonight thinking, “God might let me back, but He probably rolls His eyes when He sees me coming…”

You’ve missed the heart of the Father. Jesus isn’t annoyed. - He’s overjoyed.

When you come home, He celebrates.

Closing

So here’s the real question:

Are you still waiting to come back to Jesus

Are you still wondering if you’re welcome?

Still trying to clean yourself up before you come back?

Still thinking you have to earn your way in?

You don’t.

The sandals are waiting - God invites you to be a part of his family, not a servant on the outside.

The robe is ready - You don’t have to fix yourself up first. Jesus’s perfect life and perfect death cover up all that sin and all that brokenness with his perfection.

The ring is in His hand - you don’t have to go through a test or a trial run first. Jesus is ready to accept you.

The part has already started - You just have to come home.

Let me pray for you tonight.

Group Questions:

If someone threw a surprise party just for you, what would you want it to be like? What kind of food, music, people, or theme would make it feel really special?

Where in your life do you feel like you’ve messed up too badly for God to really want you back—and what do you think it would look like to receive His mercy there instead?