Context of the story
This story took pace when Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem. (Luke 9:31) Jesus knew his impending death and suffering. On the way, Jesus stopped at one of the tax collectors' house. Perhaps the host was Levi's friend. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law grumbled saying, "This man welcomes sinner and eats with them." (v2) In response to their grumbling, Jesus told three stories. So Jesus was addressing both the tax collectors and the Pharisees, both the non religious and the religious.
The first story was about the man who had 100 sheep and lost one. The second story has to do with a woman who had 10 silver coins and lost one. Today we will look at the third story: A man who has two sons. Here is our plan. First, we will look at the story itself. Then we will discuss two things based on the story: 1. Who God is and 2. Who we are before God.
Let's pray, "Father, you are good and your love endures forever. Dear Lord, please open our eyes to see and open our ears to hear. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen."
The story began with a younger son's request. Perhaps the younger son just turned 18. The younger son was not willing to wait for his inheritance. He was basically saying to his father, "Father, I wish you were dead. I am young and I want to have your inheritance right now. So please drop dead and give me my inheritance."
This was shocking news to everyone who heard this son's request including the tax collectors and the Pharisees. John MacAuthur in his book, The Tale of Two sons said that this was a shameful request. Both the tax collectors and the Pharisees all expect this father to beat the crap out of this young man and put some sense into him.
The first surprise for the story is that the Father allowed his son's request. So he divided the inheritance between his two sons.
The son's action were so unthinkable and so shocking that he had to leave the family and the town. He shamed his father and his family. So he went to a far away country where no one knew him or what he had done.
In a far away land, he squandered his wealth in wild living. We are not sure what he did but we can imagine what he had done. After awhile, he left with nothing. He got a job as a pig care taker. This man was a Jew. Jews who touch pigs were four times as unclean as those who visited a prostitute. He hit rock bottom. He was starving to death. He was longing to eat pig's food.
Then he came to his his senses. (v. 17) He thought about his father who took good care of his servants. So he set out to his father's house. On the way, he realized his sin against God and against the Father. He confessed, "Father, I sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men." (18-19)
Then he came to his his senses. (v. 17) He thought about his father who took good care of his servants. So he set out to his father's house. On the way, he realized his sin against God and against the Father. He confessed, "Father, I sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men." (18-19)
But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him. Evidently his father was longing for his son to return. The Bible says, "still a long way off" This reveals his father's longing day and night and looking for his son. His Father was filled with compassion. He doesn't wait for him to come. At that time, the older man wore long robes. It was humiliating for an older man to show his legs. To run to his son, he had to wrap his robe to his hips. In this way, he humiliated him in front of all the town's people.The Father ran to him and embraced him and kissed him. Before the younger son had to confess his sins, the father said to his servants, "Quick, Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found. "(v. 22-24) The Father is declaring to the whole world, "My son came back. This is my son."
Again note the Father's response. His mercy and his acceptance of his son. His son was shameless and what he had done was so shocking that he had to be banished from his town. This son did serious damage and cut the relationship off but this Father did not remember anything. He was happy to see his son back.
He did not say."Where is the money? What have you done?" He did not say, "Come back when you cleaned your behaviors or reached a certain level." But he embraced him and humiliated himself in front of everyone. He killed a fattened calf. One calf can feed one hundred people. He invited all the town's people.
They had such a party. Perhaps he called the Herriot Tent company and Paul Toh et al pitched a tent and called David Kim to bring out his praise band. They ate and drank and danced the night away. The Father was dancing with his son.
The older brother became angry. He refused to come in. When his father heard this, we expect that the father got angry and rebuked the older brother. But what did the father do? He went out to him and pleaded with him to come.
The older brother said, "What? Celebrate for him. All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat to celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes come him, you kill the fattened calf for him." (v29-30)
The older brother did not regard the younger son as his brother. He said, "a son of yours." Your son, not my brother.
The story ends with the father's plea for the older son to come in and join the celebration. We do not know what the older brother did next -listen to the father and came in or refuse to come in.
Let's look at the story in some details.
Who God is
God is our father . Our God is the creator of the heavens and the earth. He is almighty. But here God is portrayed as a man who had two sons. We see these two sons. They were bad. But our God is so good and so generous, our God is not ashamed of having these two sons. He is so loving. He humiliates himself and dances and wants to eat with his two sons joyfully.
Have you understood the love of God like this? How generous our God is. God has given us so many good things. He does so without finding faults. This is the incredible generosity of God. Always willing to forgive and come out and humiliate himself. Tim Keller wrote about this story in his book, The prodigal God. He defined God's character as prodigal. Prodigal means wastefully or recklessly extravagant. God's love is prodigal.
I like to show you one picture entitled " The prodigal son's return" by Rembrandt. It shows the Father's incredible love. Notice his hands, his expression, his unconditional love, what it has cost him in terms of tears and love. This parable teaches us God who treats each of us as his favorite son.
God the Father raises the dead. When the younger son came back, God the Father describes his younger son's coming like this: "This brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found."(v.32) When we decided to live apart from God, of course we are lost. But this story tells us that our lostness is our death. We become dead when we move away from the father. It is like a sheep running away from the shepherd. A baby away from a loving mother. And a coin lost on the dirt floor. How can we become alive again? This is only possible when we are found by God's tender and lavish love. Francis Schaffer who is the eminent Christian scholar of the 20th century said of our work of finding the lost and reaching out to them like this: "It is not difficult, but impossible". Finding the lost and bringing them to God is like reviving the dead. Who can do this? It is humanly impossible work. But with God it is possible. God gives life. God's prodigal love raised the dead son to life. When the lost son came back, the Father revived him to life by embracing him with his tender loving care. This was what God has done through Jesus. God came down from the heaven. He humbled himself and became a man. He went out for us, welcomed us and had dinner with us, the sinners. He told this story on his way to Jerusalem. In Jerusalem, he died humiliating death for us. Jesus died for us but rose from the dead. This is God's love for us. This gives us much hope for us who are heartless and so bad. God was willing to do anything for his sons so that he can call us back to God and give life. This story demonstrates God's almighty power to raise dead people like us. What then is our life? The Bible defines life like this: To know the true God who loves us and to know Jesus Christ whom God sent to us. (John 17:3).
God the Father knows how to throw a party. In view of God's joy of reviving his dead son, we can understand his joy. We can understand how he wanted his older son to come in and join the party. The Christians are the ones who know how to throw a party, not just a mediocre party but the best. Our life is one party after another in Jesus. So Jesus compares our life like attending a wedding banquet. But there is one final party that we are looking forward to. We are looking froward to the biggest banquet in the kingdom of God. We will celebrate with our Lord Jesus who has forgiven all our sins and made us new in God. The kingdom delights in calling every kind of sinner who is trapped in so many different sins -willful and hidden sins but forgiven by our God's incredible grace and his mercy. (Psalm 19) In God's kingdom, we are accepted and have joyful life in Jesus.God the Father raises the dead. When the younger son came back, God the Father describes his younger son's coming like this: "This brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found."(v.32) When we decided to live apart from God, of course we are lost. But this story tells us that our lostness is our death. We become dead when we move away from the father. It is like a sheep running away from the shepherd. A baby away from a loving mother. And a coin lost on the dirt floor. How can we become alive again? This is only possible when we are found by God's tender and lavish love. Francis Schaffer who is the eminent Christian scholar of the 20th century said of our work of finding the lost and reaching out to them like this: "It is not difficult, but impossible". Finding the lost and bringing them to God is like reviving the dead. Who can do this? It is humanly impossible work. But with God it is possible. God gives life. God's prodigal love raised the dead son to life. When the lost son came back, the Father revived him to life by embracing him with his tender loving care. This was what God has done through Jesus. God came down from the heaven. He humbled himself and became a man. He went out for us, welcomed us and had dinner with us, the sinners. He told this story on his way to Jerusalem. In Jerusalem, he died humiliating death for us. Jesus died for us but rose from the dead. This is God's love for us. This gives us much hope for us who are heartless and so bad. God was willing to do anything for his sons so that he can call us back to God and give life. This story demonstrates God's almighty power to raise dead people like us. What then is our life? The Bible defines life like this: To know the true God who loves us and to know Jesus Christ whom God sent to us. (John 17:3).
Who we are before God
We are sons of God. In this story, we are sons. Not just anyone's sons but we are sons of God. (Luke 15:11). We have looked at three parables. In the first parable, we are God's precious sheep. In the second parable, we are God's precious silver coins. But in the last story, God reveals the ultimate reality of us: We are God's sons.
Dad is an important figure to sons and daughters. Your dad can provide good things or he can really mess you up. Some dads are good. Some dads are bad. But this story tells us that our dad is our God. Fundamentally we are equal and has the intrinsic value to God because we are God's sons who have the image of God. (Gen 1:27) God made us. God is our father. So we pray to God like this: "Our Father in heaven." We cried out to God, "Abba Father." (Luke 11:2, Luke 3:27,Rom 8:14-15, Heb 12:7)
Who is the most valuable to a father? His house? His car? His career. No. His sons. So to God the father, we are precious sons and daughters of God.
Who is the most valuable to a father? His house? His car? His career. No. His sons. So to God the father, we are precious sons and daughters of God.
The parable tells us what kinds of sons we are. Everyone of us are like this younger son or the older son. Who am I? Who am I before God? I know I am both -like the younger and like the older son. I am a composite, a hybrid and a freak. But God's love restores me as his son. His grace and mercy extends me and revives me. God's love restores my soul. (Psalm 23)
We can see that our community is full of younger sons running away every time God or someone else does not meet their expectations. It is full of older brothers who are angry and grumpy.
We can see that our community is full of younger sons running away every time God or someone else does not meet their expectations. It is full of older brothers who are angry and grumpy.
Like the younger son, we have been squandering what God has given us. Everyday we start out the day saying that I will do this and that but when we review at the end of the day, we find that we have been squandering our day doing almost nothing. Like the younger son, we have no regard for our Father God. We just want things from God. We always make shameful requests. But God is always ready to give us and forgive us and welcome us. We can come to him and ask for his mercy and our God extends his mercy daily.
We are like this older brother. We are not grateful. Our relationship with the father is not like a son and a father but more of a slave and slave master. "I have been slaving for you." Do you have this kind of relationship with God? Meeting God is burdensome and there is no joy of meeting him? You are just angry. The older brother complained that God did not give him even a young goat. That's not true. When he divided the inheritance, he divided 50-50 for both sons. The older son was lying. He had no mercy and had no regard for his younger brother. He looked down on his younger brother whose life was messy. We think that we are so much better than others.
The younger brother had no love for his father or his brother. Likewise, the older brother had no love for his lost younger brother. The older brother knew the love intellectually but not from the heart. We must pray to have God's love that moves from our head to our heart. 1 John 4:19-21 say of love like this, "We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother."
The younger brother had no love for his father or his brother. Likewise, the older brother had no love for his lost younger brother. The older brother knew the love intellectually but not from the heart. We must pray to have God's love that moves from our head to our heart. 1 John 4:19-21 say of love like this, "We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother."
We are Jesus' brother. God accepted us as his sons. Jesus is God's son. That makes Jesus our brother. But Jesus is neither like the younger son nor like the older son. Jesus is different. When Jesus welcomed the sinners and the tax collectors, Jesus was showing his love for his brothers. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law got really upset when they saw Jesus accepting the sinners and the tax collectors as God's precious sons and daughters.
Jesus showed God's love for us the sinners. So we love Jesus. Ultimately God gave us his son who died for us on the cross. Through Jesus' incredible love for us can we find our way to God.
So we love our brothers regardless of who they are in Jesus. We welcome who are lost in the name of Jesus believing that our Father has the power to revive them to life.
Our God's love is great. So Our community's character is to show the love of our God who is so generous and merciful. Because we have experienced God's love, our community is to go after the lost and share the love of Jesus. Our character is to welcome those who are broken and invite them to our fellowship and our family and to our dinner table. So we come to gather around Jesus and look at him. Through Jesus we can see God's love for us. Through Jesus we can hear his stories and celebrate God's incredible grace upon us. Not on Sundays but every day we express God's love shown to us through our Lord Jesus. We have at least one "bad" brother. God gave this brother so that we can know God's heart. In loving our brother we love God.
Summary
Our God's love is great. So Our community's character is to show the love of our God who is so generous and merciful. Because we have experienced God's love, our community is to go after the lost and share the love of Jesus. Our character is to welcome those who are broken and invite them to our fellowship and our family and to our dinner table. So we come to gather around Jesus and look at him. Through Jesus we can see God's love for us. Through Jesus we can hear his stories and celebrate God's incredible grace upon us. Not on Sundays but every day we express God's love shown to us through our Lord Jesus. We have at least one "bad" brother. God gave this brother so that we can know God's heart. In loving our brother we love God.
Summary
We have looked at three stories. I want to get back to v. 15:1 which says, "Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering around to hear him." Today we are gathering around Jesus to hear him. This is our community. We all confess that we are lost and dead -like the older and the younger sons. We are trapped in our shameful requests and shameful self righteousness. We are helpless like a lost sheep, like a lost coin and like two equally bad and heartless sons. But God showed his love for us like this. Jesus came to us. He welcomed us and ate with us, and ultimately through his death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead, Jesus made us God's sons. Jesus brought us from the dead.
Let's pray. "Dear Father, thank you for your prodigal and incredible love for us. We are so bad. But you are so good and you have been so good to us. We have been so heartless like these two sons. Please help us to see your love. We thank you for your son and our brother Jesus. Help us be like your son who knows your heart and knows your love. Our brother Jesus showed your love for us. Thank you for restoring us as your sons. Please help us to come to the heart of your love and dwell in your love. Help us to love our brothers and sisters who are struggling and lost. Help us to celebrate your grace shown through your son our Lord Jesus. I pray in your son's name. Amen."
1 comment:
great message
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