Our Lostness and Love of our Father
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Intro
Intro
Thinking about the meaning behind this passage has been interpreted many different ways. Some say the focus is on the son who was lost, some would say with the audience that Jesus had in sharing this (the Pharisees) that the focus of the story is on the older brother, because that is exactly how they acted, and some would say that the focus is on the father, the one who represents Jesus in this story.
We all know that each of these main characters have their parts to play, I believe we truly see in the son the lostness that we were in before we came to the Father, some of us here today may be in that same place. We also see the love of our father, when we come to him, and that ultimately our rebellion against him leads to a life that is not full, but dead and empty. Notice that Jesus did not end this parable saying “go and do likewise.” or Luke didn’t end this chapter saying “imitate Jesus in this way.”
The first point is: look at him. Look at him. Consider Jesus. Know Jesus. Learn what kind of Person it is you say you trust and love and worship. Soak in the shadow of Jesus. Saturate your soul with the ways of Jesus. Watch him. Listen to him. Stand in awe of him. Let him overwhelm you with the way he is.
The first point is: look at him. Look at him. Consider Jesus. Know Jesus. Learn what kind of Person it is you say you trust and love and worship. Soak in the shadow of Jesus. Saturate your soul with the ways of Jesus. Watch him. Listen to him. Stand in awe of him. Let him overwhelm you with the way he is.
We see this Parable broken up into a few parts:
The Brokenness of the son.
The Brokenness of the son.
What we see is at first, when one runs from the Father, it seem freeing, like you have nothing holding you back now, but ultimately this feeling of freedom ends in complete brokenness.
Look at this in verse 13:
And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living.
The word “loose” means a “wild, abandoned, reckless” manner. This always feels free for a season — like sky-diving feels free — until you realize you don’t have a parachute. So at first when you run from God, it feels like it is free.
But then verse 14:
Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began to be in need.
As we have said before, God is in control of all things, not only had the son spent everything that he had, now a famine had hit, God’s working in this, this son had to hit absolute rock bottom, where there was no help, no self-sustaining, no where to turn. Then it just gets worse.
Vs. 15
So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs.
John Piper says it best, when you detach yourself from God you attach yourself to another, and the result of that is not sonship, but slavery.
You see when we detach ourselves from God, we will (without question attach ourselves somewhere else) and it could be addiction, a job, a spouse, a lake house, stuff that doesn’t seem bad on the surface, but ultimately when we attach ourselves to these things, it ends with us being in the troughs of the pigs.
And in verse 16, we see this.
And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.
We see the sons brokenness at the all time high in his life, this son who had a well to do father, took his inheritance, spent it, suffered during famine in the land, ended up being a slave, and now is eating the pigs food. If we are not filling ourselves at the father’s table, everything else is food of the swine.
This verse shows us the absolute hopelessness of the son, this is where we are at in our sin, completely hopeless. The son was longing to eat the pigs food because no one gave him anything. What we can apply here is that in our sin, no one else is going to save us, no one else other than Jesus can save us in this state…no one.
This may be where you are at in your life, you have ran from God, trying to be filled with the things of the world, and you are at your lowest point in your life, well listen carefully this next part is for you.
The Son Repents
The Son Repents
“But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger!
The son finally comes to himself, this means that he is seeing himself for who he truly is. But this is not about finding himself in this life journey, but him realizing that He is made for God. In his running, he didnt know himself, he didn’t see himself in the light that he should have. But the son coming to himself this is the start of his repenting, of turning back to God.
After all the bad, God is working in your life, sometimes it means things happening to you in a harsh way, but although you may not like how it happens, ultimately it is God’s grace at work.
The second part of repentance is humble brokenness and a deep sense of unworthiness before God. Verse 18:
I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Lostness is not something we can make excuses for. We are guilty. We are rebels (). We have known our Father’s will, and have rejected it. So repentance is a deep sense of how horribly offensive this is to God, and that we have no rights before him at all.
True repentance begins with an accurate assessment of who you are.
The third part of repentance is that we cast ourselves on God’s free, merciful, bountiful provision of grace. Verse 17:
How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger! I will get up and go to my father.
Now notice something very carefully here. At this point many people make a terrible mistake in the way they try to come home to God. The lost son is willing to come home as a servant rather than a son. Does that mean he wants to relate to God as a hired hand who earns things from God and thus turns a generous father into a wage-paying employer? I don’t think so. Is that what God wants? What the son is saying is: look at how rich and generous my father is. Even the servants eat well. You might say: even the crumbs that fall from the father’s table would satisfy me more than what the world has to offer. The focus here is not on the service that he can supply to the father, which the father then would be obliged to compensate. The focus is on the incredible bounty and generosity that he has so foolishly traded for the fleeting pleasures of sin. Repentance is believing that God is so great and so good that the smallest enjoyments of his house are better than ten thousand worlds without him.
The Love of A Father
The Love of A Father
And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.
We see so many things in this verse to see the love of our Heavenly Father for us.
What did you find Christians when you turned to your heavenly Father?
Look at vs 20 with me, while the son was still a far ways away, the father saw him.
God is concerned with his alienated children, he cares for them and is not too busy to love those who have been far away from Him! How true this is for you today, God is not too busy for you, you would almost figure that if the Father had seen the Son from a far ways away that he was looking for him to come up that road, this shows the love and attentiveness of God for us.
The Father felt compassion and ran towards the Son, embraced him and kissed him.
What a wonderful moment between a father and a son, you see this willingness to forgive even though the son had done so much bad. Compassion only comes from a heart that loves, and God loves you, and has compassion for you.
You need to know that God is this way. God is pure and God is physical. He does not hold you at arms length. Jesus did not have to include these vivid, emotion-laden details. He wants you to feel something here about the way God welcomes you home.
You need to know that God is this way. God is pure and God is physical. He does not hold you at arms length. Jesus did not have to include these vivid, emotion-laden details. He wants you to feel something here about the way God welcomes you home.
This father who had it all together, who was a rich man, these people were proper, running was not something they would have done and seen as proper, but the father didnt care, He seen his son, and he was going for him! Nothing was going to stop him.
What can separate us from our Father’s love?
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We see that the son makes his confession to the father, the one who has every right to be upset and mad with his son. So as the son waits to hear what the father will answer we see verse 22.
But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet.
We see the welcoming of his son back home, he brings out the best rob, puts a ring on his hand and shoes of his feet, we see restoration happen, this is what we find too when we turn to the father, confess to Him and throw ourselves on his mercy and grace, we find restoration only made possible through the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ!
Notice the difference from earlier when he was working for the man who gave him work to do with pigs, the son no longer has the robe of slavery, but the robe of sonship with His Father, this is what God has for us, restoration, not to be a slave to this world, but to be His child.
For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.
and finally, there is celebration, isn’t it a joyful thing to see that God and Heaven celebrates when one of His children come to surrender themselves to Him? He says, for my son has been lost, but now he is found! I want to extend that to you this morning, maybe you have been running in disobedience, but this morning your Father in Heaven has restoration, sonship, for you, turn back to Him, give everything to the Father, you have life and life eternal waiting on you.
And finally, there is celebration, isn’t it a joyful thing to see that God and Heaven celebrates when one of His children come to surrender themselves to Him? He says, for my son has been lost, but now he is found! I want to extend that to you this morning, maybe you have been running in disobedience, but this morning your Father in Heaven has restoration, sonship, for you, turn back to Him, give everything to the Father, you have life and life eternal waiting on you.
and finally, there is celebration, isn’t it a joyful thing to see that God and Heaven celebrates when one of His children come to surrender themselves to Him? He says, for my son has been lost, but now he is found! I want to extend that to you this morning, maybe you have been running in disobedience, but this morning your Father in Heaven has restoration, sonship, for you, turn back to Him, give everything to the Father, you have life and life eternal waiting on you.