When Daddy Loves

Dr. Burns Jenkins was a popular preacher and writer of a generation ago. When his son went to college, Jenkins admonished him not to join a certain fraternity. This, of course, was the very fraternity young Jenkins joined. For months he lived with the secret. Then, as he spoke to a church youth group one night, he was smitten by a sense of unworthiness. Returning to his room, he wrote his father in detail of his disobedience. Two days later he received this wire: “It’s all right. I forgive you. I knew it two days after you did it. Love, Father.”1

1 G. Curtis Jones, 1000 Illustrations for Preaching and Teaching (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1986), 34.

Father’s Day is an interesting day for which to prepare a sermon. Of course those of you who have been under my preaching for a while know I grew up with a wise man who loved the Lord and taught me a lot. Some of you however either never knew your dad, or he was not someone who brings warm memories to mind. So how can I preach a Father’s Day message that will help everyone?

One thing is for sure, although our earthly fathers will fall short, our Heavenly Father does not! in our passage this morning Jesus tells a story about an earthly father who exhibits the love of the Heavenly Father. As we study how deep a father’s love runs, let us honor and respect both our earthly and our heavenly Fathers… because powerful things happen When Daddy Loves.

When Daddy Loves, You Are A Part of the Family

Not everyone is God’s Child

John 8:44 KJV

Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

Believers are Adopted Upon Salvation

John 1:12 KJV

But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

Romans 8:15–17 KJV

For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

When Daddy Loves He Allows You To Walk Away (though it breaks his heart)

Luke 15:11–14 KJV

And he said, A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want.

A. Demanding an early inheritance

1. Implied freedom

2. Both sons were given the money

B. Riotous living

1. The son left almost immediately

2. Traveled away from parental supervision

3. Wasted his substance

· His money

· His potential

· His body

· His prime years

4. In a far country

· Promiscuity

· Drugs and alcohol

· All kinds of vices

5. He spent everything that his father worked to give him

· In want

· In famine

Yet in all of this, he was still his father’s son

Daddy Loves When No One Else Will

The humiliation of a broken life

Luke 15:15 KJV

And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.

1. Because of slave labour

2. A Jewish man forced to tend pigs

B. The desperation of a broken life

Luke 15:16 KJV

And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.

1. No one wanted anything to do with him

2. Hog slop became his main meal

Daddy’s Love Leads to Forgiveness and Restoration

A. He came to himself

Luke 15:17 KJV

And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!

Galatians 6:7–9 KJV

Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

B. He never dreamed he could come home as a son, but perhaps as a slave

Luke 15:18–19 KJV

I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.

1. Recognize his sin

2. Come in broken humility

C. He was restored

1. Daddy was watching

Luke 15:20 KJV

And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.

Zechariah 1:3 KJV

Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the Lord of hosts, And I will turn unto you, saith the Lord of hosts.

2. Confession

Luke 15:21 KJV

And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.

3. His father stopped Him in Mid Sentence and fully restored his position with him.

Luke 15:22 KJV

But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:

The best robe in the house would belong to the father himself. The ring would probably be a family signet ring—a symbol of reinstatement to sonship in a well-to-do house. Slaves did not normally wear sandals, though they carried and tied a master’s sandals. The father is saying, “No, I won’t receive you back as a servant. I’ll receive you only as a son.”1

1 Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), Lk 15:21–22.

Ring on his hand

put a ring on his finger Indicative of sonship and the ability to approve transactions on behalf of his father.1

1 John D. Barry et al., Faithlife Study Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012, 2016), Lk 15:22.

4. Celebration

Luke 15:23-24

23 And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.

15:23. The calf would be enough to feed the whole village; this would be a big party! Aristocratic families often invited the whole town to a banquet when a son attained adulthood (about thirteen years old) or a child married.1

1 Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), Lk 15:23.

Conclusion:

A man who was commissioned to paint a picture of the Prodigal Son. He went into his work fervently, laboring to produce a picture worthy of telling the story. Finally, the day came when the picture was complete, and he unveiled the finished painting. The scene was set outside the father’s house, and showed the open arms of each as they were just about to meet and embrace. The man who commissioned the work was well pleased, and was prepared to pay the painter for his work, when he suddenly noticed a detail that he had missed.

Standing out in the painting above everything else in the scene, was the starkly apparent fact that the father was wearing one red shoe and one blue shoe. He was incredulous. How could this be, that the painter could make such an error? He asked the painter, and the man simply smiled and nodded, assuring the man, “Yes, this is a beautiful representation of the love of God for His children.”

“What do you mean?” he asked, puzzled.

“The father in this picture was not interested in being color-coordinated or fashion-conscious when he went out to meet his son. In fact, he was in such a hurry to show his love to his son, he simply reached and grabbed the nearest two shoes that he could find.

“He is the God of the Unmatched Shoes.” 2

When you receive Jesus Christ as your Savior, you are adopted into the family of God, and God is your Heavenly Father. There is no limit to the Father’s love. Our Daddy’s Love Allows You to walk away even when it breaks His heart. Out Daddy loves you when no one else will. He is looking down the road, waiting to see you heading home. He will come to meet you and celebrate your return. That’s what happens when Daddy Loves!