Prodigal Son Series-WK3
Notes
Transcript
Coming Home
Coming Home
17 But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! 18 I will get up 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 like one of your hired hands.” ’ 20 So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him.
—> The Comeback Story
—> Everyone loves a good comeback story right
—> Songs have been written around this topic.
—> “Baby come back, you can blame it all on me.”
—>
—> John Wesley, Sermon 14, “The Repentance of Believers”
17 But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger!
—> As Christians sometimes we need to hear that we aren’t perfect.
—> As Methodist, as we walk the path of grace from Prevenient - to - Justifying - to - Sanctifying
the reality is that we haven’t arrived.
—> It would help us to remember that this story isn’t about the “outsiders” its not about those outside our family of faith but it is about those that are or were once insiders, and chose to walk away.
—> Now this son, this prodigal one, is choosing to come back.
—> Coming back into relationship with God has a churchy word associated with it “repentance”.
—> The son has come to realize that despite his status as a member of the family he has indeed hurt God and those around him.
—> The son wasn’t immune from sin just because he was a member of the family.
—> The son still had these feelings of pride, or selfishness, maybe lust, idolatry. All of these things were always under the surface. Always right there waiting for a chance to get the better of this prodigal son.
—> We don’t know how long the younger son was fighting these feelings, we only see the aftermath of when they finally won out.
—> These feelings are in all of us, John Wesley writes in his sermon entitled “the repentance of believers”
But, notwithstanding this, there is also a repentance and a faith (taking the words in another sense, a sense not quite the same, nor yet entirely different) which are requisite after we have "believed the gospel;" yea, and in every subsequent stage of our Christian course, or we cannot "run the race which is set before us." And this repentance and faith are full as necessary, in order to our continuance and growth in grace, as the former faith and repentance were, in order to our entering into the kingdom of God.
—>
—> vrs 18
18 I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you;
—> Reality one about a “second repentance”, when we sin we sin against God and man.
—> Sin occurs when we break relationship with God. Sometimes this is done in full knowledge sometimes this is done by mistake or accident. If we don’t fully know the “rules” of Christianity and our still living by the rules of the world.
—> If my girls invite friends over to our house and they jump on the couch and stand on the table. They don’t know that is an unacceptable behavior in our home. This action/behavior can be corrected and it is a mistake. If they continue to do this it becomes a disobedient action and our relationship is damaged resulting in consequences that could possibly end the relationship.
—> Much the same sometimes we do things as new Christians that we don’t know can hurt our relationship with God. Other times we allow our own will and desire to trump the will and desire of God for us. Either way our relationship with God is damaged and needs repair.
—> In the same way sin or the break in our relationship with God hurts others as well.
19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.” ’
—> There are no levels to our relationship to God. We can have this idea like we come back to God and he allows it on a trial basis or its a probationary period, but the reality is that we put those limiters on the relationship and not God. It is us that determines our relationship with God not the other way around. This is a one sided DTR.
Luke 15:20 (NRSV)
20 So he set off and went to his father.
We have 3 weeks until Palm Sunday and Holy Week, less than a month until Easter. This is the time that we commit. This is the time that we get serious about getting our relationships in order with God and with one another.
