Luke 15:11-32 The Heart of the Father: The Parable of the Prodigal Son

And start to look at our salvation with a foggy eye treating God’s love and grace like obligation of the gospel instead of a wonderful expression of his heart towards sinners.

Especially in the Reformed camp, we are not immune.

We can make salvation so technical talking about the nuances of predestination and regeneration that we lose sight of God’s amazing love for us.

But in the Parable of the Prodigal Son in , Jesus shows us that there is nothing familiar about the salvation God gives or the heart he has towards sinners.

In saving sinners, God is not going along with business as usual. Instead, when God saves someone, it is a joyous act of love that calls for a heavenly celebration as those who were once dead are made alive in Jesus Christ.

Context

This parable is the last of three parables Jesus tells one right after the other to a group of religious elites that constantly challenged him.

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” 3 So he told them this parable...

3 So he told them this parable...

The Pharisees and the scribes were religious leaders in Jesus’ day who presumed to be good pastors but actually laid heavy burdens on people and kept others out of God’s kingdom.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

Speaking about people like this, Jesus said For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.”

The reason the Gospels consistently look at the Scribes and the Pharisees as the bad guys is because they do not see with the eyes of faith.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

They are willfully and spiritually blind and in their blindness they lead others away from Jesus.

In fact, Jesus goes as far to say in they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”

they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”

And this is precisely what is going on in our passage because the reason the Pharisees and the Scribes are grumbling is because Jesus is actually befriending sinners and eating with them.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

Verse 1 is such a beautiful verse. Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him.

Ever since humanity first sinned against God in the Garden of Eden we have been running from him, trying to sew together fig leaves hide our shame.

But here, in verse 1 sinners approach Christ. They draw near to him to hear his gospel and be saved. To repent of their sins and worship God. To be forgiven of everything they’ve ever done in rebellion against God.

And it is at this that the religious leaders grumble.

So Luke says that Jesus told them three parables to show them how they were out of step with God’s kingdom.

Jesus uses each parable to say, “You don’t understand the Kingdom. You presume that you are God’s children and that you are heirs of his kingdom, but the contempt you have for the love I show to sinners actually proves that you are nothing like the Father and you do not know him.”

He wants to show the Scribes and Pharisees the heart of God towards sinners and it culminates in one of the most beloved passages in all of Scripture, the parable of the prodigal son.

Jesus uses each parable to make one simple point. God rejoices when a sinner repents of their sin.

He wants to show the Scribes and Pharisees the heart of God towards sinners and it culminates in one of the most beloved passages in all of Scripture, the parable of the prodigal son.

As Jesus tells the story, we are able to see one of the clearest pictures of who our Heavenly Father is and the amazing love he shows sinners who repent of their sins and put their faith in Jesus.

And Jesus begins his story by showing us that...

1. Sin Promises Life but Delivers Death

And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living.

11 And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. 14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. 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. 16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.

So Jesus describes a family and in his story there is a father and two boys.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

His youngest son comes to him one day and basically says, “Dad. I wish you were dead. I want you to give me my inheritance early so I can go off and get on with my life.” And his father obligers

His youngest son comes to him one day and basically says, “Dad. I wish you were dead. I want you to give me my inheritance early so I can go off and get on with my life.

And pretty soon, he takes everything he has and goes off to a far country. Far away from his family, friends, and home in order to squander his property in reckless living.

Other translations will say foolish or wild living.

Later on, the older brother complains that his younger brother spent all the inheritance the father gave him on prostitutes.

The gist of what Jesus is saying is that this son who had everything decided to leave it all behind in order to pursue his own sinful appetites far off from the father.

And so Jesus continues..

And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. 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. 16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.

So after all his wealth that he squandered is gone, there is a severe famine in the land. Food prices sky rocket and this son, who once had everything, now finds himself unable to put bread in his mouth. He is completely destitute.

So he goes out and finds a job working for a Gentile farmer.

Remember who Jesus is speaking to. He is talking to pious Jews. Jews despised gentiles because to them, they were pagan sinners.

It would have shocked the Pharisees and Scribes that thisJewish boy from a well-to-do and respected family would go and associate with a Gentile like this let alone work for a Gentile like this.

For them, this would have been just another piece of evidence that this boy was foolish and sinful, outside of the grace of God.

But then things get worse. Not only is the son working for a Gentile pagan, but the job he gets is working out in the fields to feed pigs.

If working for a Gentile pagan was shocking, working with pigs was abhorrent to the pharisees and scribes.

Pigs were deemed by God’s law as ceremonially unclean and eating one or coming into contact with one would make a person unfit to worship God.

In fact, Jewish rabbis taught that there was no occupation more distasteful for a Jew. A rabbinic saying said, “Cursed be the man who would breed swine.”

Jesus wants the Pharisees to see that this son is as detestable and outside the grace of God as the tax collectors and sinners that the pharisees condemn Jesus for receiving.

And this son’s foolish life gained him nothing but want. His sinful life lost him everything and he was so destitute that he longed to be fed with the food he was hired to give the pigs. And what’s worse, he had no friends willing to help him.

Here is the point, Jesus is painting a picture for the pharisees that because of his sin, the son has made himself more detestable that the pigs themselves which were explicitly unclean. He represents the tax collectors and sinners.

You see, a sinful life is nothing more than a riches to rags story.

This son had everything in his father’s house. But because of his sinful appetites he wound up with nothing. He was:

Fatherless

Homeless

Penniless

Friendless

and Hungry

We may not see it, but sin does the exact same thing to us. Every single sinner is just like this son in Jesus’ story.

Remember how the son came to the father saying “I’d rather you be dead so that I could have my inheritance early.”

Do you remember how Satan first tempted Adam and Eve? Inviting them to sin he said 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.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

In essence, the first temptation was rooted in our desire to enjoy all of the goodness of God’s creation with him out of the picture.

In our sin, we convince ourselves that we can know what is best for us. We can be like God determining for ourselves what is good and right.

But what came as a result of sin? Just what God promised. Our death.

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.

This is not just physical death but spiritual death. Eternal separation from God under his wrath against our sin.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

Just like the son in Jesus’ story, we think that our sinful appetites will give us the life that they promise.

We foolishly believe that our life will be more fulfilled by gratifying our sinful desires instead of obeying God trusting that he knows and wants what is best for us.

But when we follow our sinful desires we end up just like the son wallowing in the mud of a pig sty wishing we could even have a taste of the slop they so freely enjoy.

Convincing ourselves we are free, we relish in our sinful appetites all the while we are actually sell ourselves off as slaves.

And we are happy to do it believing that we are going to receive the life we always wanted through our sin.

We assume that if we follow every passion no matter how evil, no matter what God says that our life will be given something that it was previously missing. That we will be happier with this sin than without it.

But hear what Paul says in ; Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?... For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.

Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

We completely fail and show our foolishness when we see sin simply as bad things we sometimes do instead of the works of death and false worship that they are.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

We see sin as bad things we do instead of...

But by God’s grace, we are not left without hope to face our sins and the slavery we subjugate ourselves to because...

2. God Rejoices At Our Repentance

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! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.” ’ 20 And he arose and came to his father.

The Insanity of Sin

Finally the son had had enough.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

It’s like one day he wakes up and looks around and says to himself. What in the world have I done?

I’m sitting here starving to death wanting to eat slop with the pigs when back home even my father’s servants have more than enough bread!

It is significant that Jesus says “when he came to himself”

The sense we get is a way of saying, “When he came to his senses” implying this son had been out of his mind in his rebellion and sin.

And in saying he came to himself, Jesus is likens sin to a kind of insanity.

And I believe most Christians have not given the nature of sin enough thought given how dangerous God says it is for us.

I think most Christians struggle with besetting sins that they genuinely want to be rid of in their life for years and years because they are caught in a cycle of survival.

Where they try their hardest not to give into their sin, start slipping and making small concessions towards that sin, ultimately succumbing to temptation, where they then feel horrible, tell God their sorry, resolve never to do it again, only to restart the cycle over again.

Because of this cycle, Christians never see their sin for what it is with spiritual eyes and this failure to see dampens any real attempt to see sin put to death in their life.

So my hope right now is to help you see sin for what it is and to see exactly what your sin is trying to do in and to you in hope that you would strive to put your sin to death by the Spirit’s power.

Sin Never Satisfies

Sin we said earlier is a rejection of God as God. It says that we want nothing to do with him and we believe that we are able to find the fullness of life, true happiness outside of him.

So we look to things he has created to satisfy the longings of our heart. This is why all sin is idolatry. It is false worship. Idols are not just statues or images, they are things we desire in our hearts as our highest end. As the things we will work to obtain no matter the cost.

And we use our sinful actions to satisfy those desires.

For example if you are tempted to lie to your boss about a project at work, you use that lie to worship your false idol of the Approval of man because you want your boss to like you. Or you use that lie to worship your idol of security because you don’t want to be fired.

Likewise if you struggle with yelling at your kids or spouse when they don’t do exactly as you expect, you sin in anger to worship your idol of Control where everyone will bow down to your will perfectly.

Our sins are not just bad things we do. They are actually false worship.

And what is so insane about looking to our idols and our sins to satisfy the longings of our hearts is that God says they will never satisfy us.

Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord, 13 for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.

Be appalled, O heavens, at this;

be shocked, be utterly desolate,

declares the Lord,

13 for my people have committed two evils:

they have forsaken me,

the fountain of living waters,

and hewed out cisterns for themselves,

broken cisterns that can hold no water.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

In our sin we are all dying of thirst going to broken cisterns that only hold drops of water all the while God is offering himself, the fountain of waters, the one whom if we drank his water we would never thirst again.

We keep tricking ourselves thinking that this time, this time this sin will finally give me what I hope, what I seek. I know that every other time it never delivered on its promise I was always left wanting but this time will be different.

Christians must come to their senses like the son in Jesus story and see that our sins have lied to us. They will never give us what they promise, but the beauty of the gospel is that Jesus always answers his promises.

He said The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

The thief is Satan who tempts us with sin seeking to force us to share in his eternal judgement, but Jesus promised to give us the life we so desperately seek.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

And he guarantees it by saying that he lays down his life for us.

Jesus is so committed to giving us forgiveness of sins, to free us from our insanity and and eternal life that he willingly became a man, lived a sinless life we could not and refused to live, died one the cross as our substitute under God’s wrath for our sin, and rose again three days later.

So that whoever puts their faith in him would be given eternal life, the abundant life Jesus promises.

They would be saved from their slavery to sin and death and walk in the newness of life that only comes in the Salvation of Christ.

Like Jesus said, For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Not only will sin never satisfy, but

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

Sin Works to Corrupt Us to the Uttermost

Sin never satisfies, but it is also never satisfied.

Sin is insatiable in its desire to destroy us. It is relentless in trying to work death in us through our sinful flesh.

Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.

34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.

We are absolute fools if we believe our sin is content to remain in our lives as minor indiscretions.

That this small sin we have made a compromise and allowed to continue in our life will be content to stay small a small part of our life.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

Its as if we assume that we are strong enough to keep sin just a small part of our lives when it is constantly working to enslave us and to completely bend us to its will.

Consider how God warned Cain before he murdered his brother Abel in The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”

The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”

Notice the imagery that God uses concerning sin. It is “crouching at the door.” It is like a wild animal ready to pounce and devour you.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

Do you see your sin as the roaring lion that it is our a tamed house cat you think is content to sit in your lap and purr until you die of old age?

Likewise, God says sin has a desire for Cain and it is contrary to him.

This desire that sin has is a craving and a longing for Cain.

That is what contrary to you means. That it is for him in the sense that it wants to own him and dominate every area of his life.

It is not for his good, but rather against him.

Our sinful flesh would have us believe that our sins really aren’t that bad. That we can keep them controlled or tamed.

But What God is clearly saying in this passage is that you and I have no hope at restraining the corruption of sin. In fact, sin’s desire being contrary to you shows that sins ultimate aim is to corrupt you to the uttermost it possibly can.

Practically what that means is the next time you are tempted to sin, instead of just naturally giving in, stop and consider, if this played out to its ultimate end, where would it go?

So if you are tempted to flirt with your coworker or look a little to long at that waitress, sin is working to eventually try to get you to cheat on your spouse.

Here is the scary thing about sin. It is perfectly content to play the long game to absolutely destroy your life.

No one falls into sin, they slide there.

Major life, altering sins don’t just happen all of a sudden. There was a progressive set of compromises that led that person to rationalizing their sin in a way that gives them permission to give into it.

Your sinful flesh knows its not going to be able to get you to abuse your kids tomorrow, but what if it could chip away at you day by day. Just a little bit of anger to get them under control. Just a little bit of bitterness and impatience. Just a little bit too hard on the spanking because they really deserve it. And eventually after years of provoking your children to anger, the completely resent you and sin has broken your family.

Likewise if you are tempted to flirt with your coworker or look a little to long at that waitress, sin is working to eventually try to get you to cheat on your spouse through daily compromise.

You might think that could never happen to me! But that’s the point! Sin wants to float under the radar.

If you saw sin’s master plan on the front end you would never start on the path in the first place.

It knows that if it gets you a little more comfortable with a little more sin, it can keep pushing the boundary to get you to compromise just a little bit more until you are completely enslaved.

Sin is always a progression. Look at what James says But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

What sin are you allowing to grow up in your life? What sin are you nurturing and taking care of while day by day it grows a little bit bigger, a little bit nastier, a little bit more deadly.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

Hear the exhortation of the author of Hebrews to not allow yourself to be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin ().

Repent and experience the freedom that God died and rose again to give you. We as Christians must stop seeing repentance as giving up what we actually want and begin recognizing it as the gift that it actually is.

The Gift of Repentance

8 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! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.” ’ 20 And he arose and came to his father.

Sin is utter lunacy and the only proper response to sin, must be repentance.

Change in mind that leads to a change in life. It is saying, this sin is death it is not life, and God is better than this sin. I will try to satisfy my heart with this idol instead I will find my joy in worship of God.

The son in Jesus’ story looks at his life and sees what his sin has earned him and resolves to return to his father.

He determines to go back and confess to his father that he has sinned against God and him in hope that his Father will forgive him enough to hire him on as a servant.

He confesses without conditions or qualifications. He doesn’t make excuses or try to explain it all away. This is a picture of true repentance.

The Bible makes a clear distinction between true repentances and worldly grief.

For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.

10 For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.

True repentance is born of confession that regrets the sin itself. Not just the consequences of sin.

This is why it leads to salvation without regret. Because when we repent truly, we aren’t regretting all the sin we left behind.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

Many Christians continue to struggle with their pet sins because they don’t actually hate them.

They don’t actually see them as they works of death that they are and therefore feel no real urgency to put them to death in their life.

They just want to have their sins without any of the consequences.

And this is what worldly grief is. It is feeling really bad about the consequences of sin, saying your sorry, all while be content to continue to allow this sin to fester in your life.

But this son repents of his sin, and determines to return to his father.

Notice the way in which the son goes back to his father.

He leaves everything behind, leaves the far country and goes home.

So many Christians try to have their cake and eat it too. They think they can come to God all they while harboring their secret sins thinking, surely he will forgive me anyway.

However, if we are not committed to complete obedience to God, in every area of our life, we will never see even one sin put to death in our life.

True repentance and following Christ is not just giving up the sins you are ok with losing. It is dying to yourself completely. To give up your whole life, all your desires, to follow him and him alone.

This is why the call to follow Christ is a call to be relentless in putting our sin to death wherever it may be found in our life so that we might worship God with our whole life.

And look at the joy and celebration of the Father when one of his children repents of sin to worship him.

But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 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. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.

What an amazing picture of God’s grace. Jesus says that while the son was still a long way off the father was overcome when he saw him and felt compassion.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

His boy whom he loved had finally come home. It didn’t matter how he had wasted his inheritance, how he had squandered his life in sin he was finally back!

He is so overcome with joy about the return of his son that he literally hikes up his robes and runs out to meet him.

This again points to the joy the father experienced. In that culture, a man like this running anywhere was completely undignified. Men this wealthy and this important didn’t run to others. Others came to them. But this father cares nothing about cultural norms, he just wants hug his son.

This shows Gods love and joy and eagerness to receive down and out sinners like us.

And the son begins his plea hoping that the father will take him back as a servant but the father cuts him off.

He says bring quickly the best robe and put the ring on his hand and give him shoes for his feet.

All of these represent how the father receives his son as his son. He was not coming back as a servant. He was coming back as a bonafide son of the father.

The son was hoping to be taken in as a hired hand, but the father is taking him as his own all over again.

How many Christian’s make this same mistake. Seeing how far we have fallen in our sin, we come back to God assuming that even though salvation is available, we must pay it off.

We are so grateful to be welcomed by the Lord that we assume he only wants us back as a servant rather than receiving us as a beloved son or daughter whose debt of sin was fully paid for in Jesus Christ.

Then the father in his joy slaughters a fattened calf and holds a feast for his wayward son.

That father is overwhelmed with joy and love because his son who was dead and lost was brought back alive and found.

This is exactly how God celebrates us when we repent and believe the gospel.

The Bible says we were dead in our sins

and Jesus said that the purpose he came was to seek and save the lost.

Jesus said that the purpose he came was to seek and save the lost.

When you put your faith in Jesus as your substitute for the forgiveness of your sins, you are born again. Instead of spiritual death you are given eternal life and welcomed into God’s kingdom and God himself rejoices over your salvation because he has freed you to worship him.

But not everybody was celebrating the salvation of the son that day. Continuing the parable, we see that...

3. Self-Righteousness Despises Grace

Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ 28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him,

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

25 “Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ 28 But he was angry and refused to go in.

Instead of feeling the same kind of joy the father felt for his younger brother, this son grew angry and refused to celebrate with everyone else.

So the Father comes out. and pleads with him. But listen how the older son responds.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’

29 but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’

The older son complains to the father saying that he had worked hard for him for years, never doing anything wrong and yet he never received anything for his faithfulness.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

Then he recounts the sins of his younger brother pointing out that the father should not have been so willing to take him back.

You can almost hear this man saying with the pharisees and scribes Jesus is talking to “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

“This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

This son sees himself as the model, the standard for what being a son but when he said, Look these many years I have served you,” he gives himself away.

Literally in the greek he is saying, look how I have slaved for you. He didn’t really understand what it meant to be a son. He was not laboring for the father out of love for him, but out of obligation to him.

He had no concept of the blessings and grace of his father

And here is how his Father responds.

And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’ ”

31 And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’ ”

The father points out that the blessings he now gives to celebrate the salvation of the younger brother are the same blessings the father has given the older brother.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

Everything that is mine is yours. I do not withhold my blessing from you.

And he even goes on saying it was fitting to celebrate.

Literally in the Greek it was necessary to celebrate because God every time God saves a sinner it is an absolute miracle of his love and grace.

Jesus’ uses the older brother in this story to poke at the Pharisees and Scribes to ask, “Who exactly is lost here?”

In our self-righteousness we tend to believe that self-help is how we made it. That why we are who we are today is because we had the discipline and ability to repent of our sin and mature in Christ in ourselves.

And this leads us to believe that those broken by their sin ought to be able to mend themselves and their ways enough to become deserving of God’s grace just like we did.

Jesus point is that those that have been saved by the father will have the same heart of the father towards sinners. They will welcome them and celebrate their salvation from sin knowing that it was not their self-righteousness that gave them life, but a miracle of God’s grace.

Jesus uses this parable to show us that whether we fall into the hedonism of the younger brother, the legalism of the older brother, or a little bit of both we all need the grace of God to save us from our sins.

And when we repent of our sins, God celebrates the salvation he gives in the gospel.

Conclusion

God rejoices at the repentance of sinners. Its not as if he stands at the house waiting to say, alright. You come back and let me tell you all the ways syou screwed up.

The heart of the Father is not one of judgement or condemnation for sinners no matter how bad they’ve messed up.

No one is too broken, too unclean, or too unlovable to be loved by the Father.

Jesus’ parable shows us that God is looking for his people ready to run out to meet them. And when they beg to be his servants he says bring the best robe bring the ring bring the shoes, this is my son or my daughter and they’ve returned home.

Because of Jesus we no longer have to hide from God in our shame and sin, but we can put our faith in him and his death and resurrection and be welcomed with open arms into his kingdom.

God’s heart is not one that taps his foot while we come up the road to the house and says, “You really messed up. Now let me tell you all the ways you screwed up and find out how you are going to pay me back. How your are going to prove to me you are sorry?”

No God’s heart is one of joy at every sinner that repents because at the moment when someone repents of their sin and believes in the gospel, the dead is made alive and the lost is found.