The "I Was" vs. The "I Am"
Notes
Transcript
This morning we have read over one of my favorite parables that Jesus ever said. The parable of the prodigal son! It’s a riveting story where a man turns away from the father who loves him, he betrays him, squanders away all that he has, returns to the father and is met with open arms, mercy, grace, and even a celebration!
But, there some depth to this story. Follow along with me in your Bibles, if you would.
We are introduced to a man with two sons. Not much to explain here. Now, the younger son goes to his father and says, “Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.” This demand is more than just going to a father and asking for money. For the younger song to go to the father and say, “give me my share of the property that will belong to me,” is the same as the son saying, “give me all that I will get when you die, because you are dead to me.”
He’s wanting the riches sooner than normal, and a few days later the younger son takes all that he was going to get and travels to a distant country. Again, this parable doesn’t really explain where, but we know it was far away. Now, it’s there, in that country, where the younger son takes all of inherited property he recieved and he squanders it away in “dissolute” or “reckless living.” It means he used his money for a lifestyle that was not so good. Heavy drinking, partying, prostitution, things like that.
Things get so bad for this young man that he hires himself out to work and ends up getting a job where he doesn’t something that is so incredibly detestable… he feeds pigs. He was so hungry, so desperate, that Jesus includes this bit of information, saying “he would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating.” Meaning, he was low enough in his life to eat the very food that pigs ate.
It’s also noted here in verse 16 that no one gave him anything. Not a passing person offered food, money, clothing, shelter, water… he was completely and utterly alone now. He looks at his situation, at what is going on, and realizes that his father’s slaves have food enough to spare. So, he decides he’s going to repent to his father and beg to be a hired hand.
This young man humbles himself, trudges back to his father, ready to repent and be a slave. Well, the father sees his son walking to the house and is filled with compassion, compassion enough to cause him to stop what he was doing and run out to his son, to wrap his arms around him, to kiss him. The son, shocked, confesses, repents, calls himself unworthy…and the father responds in a manner the son didn’t expect.
“Bring out a robe, the best one, put a ring on his finger, sandals on his feet, kill the most precious calf we have and let us feast. This son of mine was dead, and is alive again. We lost him, and he is found.”
This father, instead of a posture of “I told you so” or “how dare you come back here” or “you should have known better” responds with grace, love, mercy, and excitement. In fact, in the putting on the robe, the finger, the sandals, and the calf he is welcoming the son BACK into the family. This, right here, is an ultimate act of forgiveness and mercy.
I Was vs I Am
I Was vs I Am
What we see through this parable is tension between the “I Was” and the “I Am.” This young man was dead to the family, he was hungry, he was dirty, he was unclean, he was poor, he was broken, he was worth nothing. But, after returning to the father, after repentance and returning back, his “I was” meant nothing, and his father made him something new. The young man can now say “I am” forgiven, “I am” restored, “I am” fed, “I am” loved, “I am” worth something.
This movement from the “I was” to the “I am” is something that we as believers should understand.
Each and every one of us has an “I was” story. Before Christ I was someone else, I was wicked, evil, filled with sin that promised to kill me one day. Who I was, and who I am in Christ are two totally different people.
Look at 2 Corinthians 5:16-21
16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. 17 So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. 20 So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
When we are in Christ our “I was” no longer matters.
But, sometimes people, and even we ourselves, try to remind us about who we were before Christ. And, for some of us it’s hard to move beyond who we were.
Look at the older brother’s response to all of this in Jesus’ parable. He says, “When this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!” The older brother is so stuck on who the younger brother was that he refuses to celebrate the good news that his younger brother who was dead has now come to life, who was lost but is now found.
And, sometimes we are the older brother, always focusing on who someone WAS, or what someone HAS done, that we forget to recognize and celebrate who they are NOW in Christ.
In our own lives we focus much on who we were, our past mistakes, what we used to think and do… but in Christ we are new creations. The “I was” does not matter because after we meet the Messiah the focus becomes “I am.”
Everything old has passed away
This newness can be the very start of every day
Just because you met the Messiah many years ago and have made mistakes and sinned since then it doesn’t mean the your “I am” is corrupted.
22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
his mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
16 So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day.
5 For his anger is but for a moment;
his favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping may linger for the night,
but joy comes with the morning.
18 Do not remember the former things,
or consider the things of old.
19 I am about to do a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert.
Sometimes we don’t struggle with this in our own lives, but we may struggle when it comes to other people, especially when it is someone who has hurt us in the past or done us wrong.
Look at the older brother’s response to all of this in Jesus’ parable. He says, “When this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!” The older brother is so stuck on who the younger brother was that he refuses to celebrate the good news that his younger brother who was dead has now come to life, who was lost but is now found.
And, sometimes we are the older brother, always focusing on who someone WAS, or what someone HAS done, that we forget to recognize and celebrate who they are NOW in Christ.
When we work with or talk to other brothers and sisters in Christ, we must remember what this mornings Scriptures say...
They are new creations in Christ, each and everyday
They may have run from the father, disobeyed Him, and fleeted…but once they return, each time they do, our Father runs to them with eager expectation
7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
In being like the Father, like Christ, as we are commanded to do, we must be less like the older brother in Jesus’ parable and more like the father. And, sometimes we have to be the younger brother who admits our faults, repents, and returns to the father.
No matter what, we can be like one of the three main characters in Jesus’ parable.
We can be the younger brother who turns away from the father, even after coming back to him, and doing our own thing. We can forsake God, we can turn from His plan, we can wish to be left alone, and God allows us to do so. He allows us the free will to choose rather or not we will follow him. But, we can also be the younger brother who, at any moment can realize our wrongs, recognize what we have given up, and we CAN return. We CAN repent, we CAN humble ourselves.
Sometimes we are more like the older brother. We remain faithful to God, for days, weeks, months, and even years, and we sometimes get a little angry when we see brothers and sisters around us betray the Father. We get upset when our fellow Christians fall back into sin, or make choices that are clearly anti-Biblical. We get so angry that when and if they return to the Father, we tend to stew in our anger and forget to see who they are now in Christ and remember who they were.
Or, in all of this, we can be the father as well. There are a myriad of people in our lives who betray us. They are friends, family members, co workers, even strangers who betray us and our expectations. Yet, as we are instructed to do, we must forgive someone not just once, not just 7 times as Peter suggests, but seventy-seven times, (which what Jesus means is an unlimited amount of times). When there is someone who has wronged us that repents, returns to God, and comes back to you we can either be the father who runs to meet them or the older brother who festers in anger.
But, at the end of the day, whether its you or someone else, all of us has an “I was.” In college, do you know what I was? I was a terrible person, a terrible Christian. I hurt people, I betrayed their trust, I lied, I cheated, I worried all too much about myself and little to none about the people around me. But, who I was in college, who I was even before that is someone completely unrecognizable.
You see, I found true faith in Christ, and after coming back to Him, after repentance, I became a new creation in Christ. The “I am” right now is drastically, wonderfully, and beautifully different from the “I was.” And all of us have stories like this. We need to remember that in the moments where we doubt in ourselves, and when we doubt in the people around us.
So, in your own lives, and the lives of the people around you, remember that at one point there was an “I was” but after Christ there is the “I am”
I am saved
I am forgiven
I am a new creation
I am a believer
I am found
Amen