Good, Good Father: Part 1

Introduction: Have you ever had the thought “my life would be so much easier if I could just run away and leave everything behind”? We get so caught up in our problems that we make one bad decision after another and the next thing you know it’s worse than when we first began. What about this: Have you ever thought you were being held back from reaching your full potential?

Illustration:

ential?

One day a kite was flying high in the air and it began to talk to itself. The kite said, “if only I could get rid of this string. If the string wasn’t holding me back, then I could fly. I could fly above the clouds. I could fly as high as I wanted to. if I could get rid of this string, there would be nothing holding me back. I'm limited by this string.”

One day the kite got it’s wish. The string broke and the kite came crashing down. What the kite didn’t realize is that the same string that held him down, also kept him up. Cutting the string didn’t make it freer.

We will always head toward disaster when we cut the string of dependence of God in search of our own wants and desires.

These wants and desires lead us down a very steep staircase that leads only to one place…rock bottom.

Everyone in this house of worship today has the potential to head down the dangerous steps that lead to rock bottom.

There are 7 steps outlined in the text today that I want to bring to your attention. By being able to identify the hazard, you can avoid hitting rock bottom. The first step is...

I. Self-Will- stubborn or willful adherence to one’s own desires or ideas:

Vs 12- the son says “give me what is mine”

Notice he didn’t ask the father, he demanded from the father. He had his own agenda to follow.

Merriam-Webster, I. (2003). Merriam-Webster’s collegiate dictionary. (Eleventh ed.). Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, Inc.

He was stubborn to a fault, the complete opposite of his brother.

He wanted it his way and that was the only way he would see it. His way was the right way and no one could convince him otherwise.

This can’t happen in the life of a Christian can it?! Surely you don’t know anyone like this do you?

Sadly there are many Christians who say to God “I’m not going to do that because that’s not how I would do it”

We like to call others stubborn or hard-headed because they refuse to listen to the Gospel, or respond to our way of thinking.

We all know of or seen a child who throws a fit because he didn’t get what he wanted. We need less self-willed “Christian fit-throwers” and more God-following disciple growers!

Transition: Self-will is the first slippery step that lead to our next step downward. That step is...

II. Selfishness- Vs 13 gathered all together...

1: concerned excessively or exclusively with oneself: seeking or concentrating on one’s own advantage, pleasure, or well-being without regard for others

2: arising from concern with one’s own welfare or advantage in disregard of others 〈a selfish act〉

3: being an actively replicating repetitive sequence of nucleic acid that serves no known function. Isn’t that something to think about? A selfish person, just like selfish DNA serves no known function to anything else around them.

This son wasn’t concerned for his dad, his brother, his mother, his siblings, his friends, the servants, the family business.

He wasn’t concerned with anything but himself.

He hoarded everything to himself and never gave a second thought to the need of anyone else around him. He was the center of His universe and the sun was shining bright!

Selfishness serves one purpose- self!

If you call yourself a Christian today, then you should be living the example that Christ gave you! He was selfless all the way to the cross, where he gave all that he had so you could gain all that you have. Not just here on the earth but in heaven for eternity!

There are men and women who claim to be a Chrisitian, who claim to serve God and yet they hoard up the things that God has blessed them with and never once give back to the God who gave it to them.

Even worse they like to brag about how much they make knowing they are stealing from God when they don’t tithe like they should!

This is one of the slickest of the steps. It is the most dangerous. If you are on this step today you would be wise to recognize it and do somehting about it before you fall down to the next step.

Self-will and selfishness lead to our next step on the journey to rock bottom and that is...

Merriam-Webster, I. (2003). Merriam-Webster’s collegiate dictionary. (Eleventh ed.). Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, Inc.

III. Separation- Vs 13 journeyed to a far off country

His problem was that he thought he would have a better life if he were on his own, away from the father, away from the expectations of the others that were around him.

He was the son of the boss, he was expected to behave a certain way, do certain things,

people were watching him! what pressure!

Because of his stubborn and selfish attitude he didn’t want to do those things! He didn’t want to be told what to do, He didn’t what to be told what he couldn’t do, he didn’t want to be around those types of people that would hold him to a higher standard

So he left! He took the easy road!

Satan makes that road look so good and tempting with flashing road signs and fake scenery that it’s easy to leave behind the one who really is concerned about your welfare.

He left behind a father who loved him.

You may say, “well i’m here at church today aren’t I”. My question is this “Are You”!

You may be here today, but you may also be feeling some separation in your life today as well. Good news, you are beginning to recognize it before you hit rock bottom! You don’t have to stay separated from the father.

Transition: Self-will, selfishness, and separation lead us down deeper and darker to the bottom. The next stop is...

Step 4: Sensuality: Vs 13 and there wasted his possessions with prodigal/riotous living.

Nothing good comes to your life when you separate you fellowship with God

It’s interesting to note that the word prodigal in the Greek “asotos” means to waste. It’s root word, “sozo” where it comes from is derived from just the opposite, to save.

Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (Eleventh Edition) Sensual

deficient in moral, spiritual, or intellectual interests

The further we get away from God the more deficient in our morals we become and just like the poor soul in this parable we waste the good gifts that our father has given us in sinful living.

Transition: It is absolutely inconceivable to think we can separate ourselves from God during the week and live a life that is lacking in morals, come to church on Sunday and believe that everything will be OK. It takes more than just coming to church! You see when we separate ourselves from fellowship with God and live a sensual lifestyle then we fall down the next step and that is...

Step 5: Spiritual Poverty- Vs 14. And when he had spent all, there arose a famine in that land, and he began to be in want.

You can only live like that for so long before your spiritual tank is empty. Some are running on fumes right now!

He had friends galore when he was the life of the party. Now the party is over and he is broke and where are his friends now.

He has nothing. Zero! He is bankrupt!

That road that I spoke about earlier, the one Satan makes look nice and pretty, with all the attractive sites and scenery along the way is missing something: A gas station! There is nowhere to fuel up.

So with all the separation and the wasted opportunities that God has given you you are left empty and all alone by the so called friends that once where so plentiful.

You are now one step closer to being at rock bottom and you realize that something is missing!

Transition: The parable doesn’t end there. He hasn’t hit rock bottom yet. He still has 2 more steps to go. You see there is something that Satan loves and that is pride! Pride will make you do some downright silly things. The next step we see is...

Step 6: Self-abasement- Vs 15 he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country...

Self-abasement- to lower one’s self

A son of a wealthy man now has to feed the swine because he refused to go back and admit he was wrong

Pride caused him to feed the animals that were considered to him to be unclean

Transition: But he hadn’t hit complete rock bottom yet. He was still in the mud with the pigs. The last step into this descending pit is this...

Step 7: Starvation Vs 16 and he would have gladly filled his stomach with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him!

No he was at rock bottom!

He would have been happy just to eat what the pigs were eating because now he felt all alone and completely abandoned!

The sad fact is this: He is the one who left the comfort, the safety, the nourishment that his father freely gave him.

He wasn’t forced to leave, He wasn’t forced to stay.

He alone made the choice to leave his father’s house and live the way he wanted and look where he ended up. At rock bottom, will absolutely nothing.

Conclusion: Where are you at today on the steps into this descending pit. Do you see yourself with any of these attributes and attitudes today. Search you heart right now and be truthful with yourself and with God for once. You can’t lie to him, he already know. He waiting on you to come to your senses just like the son did in verse 17. If you want to get out of the pit, if you are at rock bottom today, if you are on any of these steps that we talked about today, then you have to do three things. Realize that you have done wrong, resolve in your heart to make it right, and repent!