The Prodigal Son

Let's get to the Lord once more in prayer so Lord Jesus we come to you as our risen Savior as our risen Lord We come to you with hearts that are full on this resurrection Sunday We thank you for all that you have done for us and we come before your word and we ask oh Lord now that you would speak to your people Lord we pray that you would open our ears open our eyes and our hearts That we might hear that we might see that we might believe that our faith Might be increased and as Kevin prayed this morning Lord I pray that you would preach a better sermon To your people then what is in front of me tonight? We pray that you have blessed your words our hearts and Christ's name Amen While we're continuing our series on the parables of Christ and so I will invite you to turn in your Bibles to Luke 15 you have to forgive my voice like many of you and I can hear you coughing right now the pollen's gotten the better of me That I play water up here, so hopefully We'll be okay as we look through and we look at the parable of the prodigal son I joked with Kevin a few days ago that this is going to be once someone's hard to preach without plagiarizing because so much has been written on this parable and no doubt You've heard many sermons on this and certainly I'm not going to be Reinventing the wheel tonight. I'm leaning on men like Sinclair Ferguson, Tim Keller with William Hendrickson all people who you've probably read and Heard before but it's Tom Craig even though we are covering a familiar text of scripture tonight I want to encourage you with with this thought as we start the God Can always take something that's familiar to us and show us something new and So we want to pray for that the God would take what's familiar to us and show us something new or maybe it's not just showing us something new Perhaps it's something that we need to remember So often we will have something that will dawn on us and the impression of it the truth of it will begin to fade as time Goes by and so many times the God's word he brings it back to our remembers some presses it in on us again And so as we look at this parable we will look to the Lord for that work a Kevin spoke last week on the parables of the Law Sheep and the Law's coin and Those being about the God who seeks and saves Centers and we'll continue that theme tonight and you were caused you look at Luke 15. There are three parables here And they're really taken as woven into one They're one answer. They're they're a singular response of Jesus to the question of the Pharisees and You're remember and verses one and two It's not so much question but scrambling and what were they grumbling about? They were grumbling that Christ is eating with sinners That he is welcoming sinners and that he's receiving them And so they were indignant over this is if they're saying Jesus Why are you a supposed righteous man? Why are you receiving sinners? Why do we find you here eating with sinners? Why are you welcoming them? And that contacts and that question that really serves as the interpretive key for all three of these parables as we look at it And Kevin noted the big idea behind this is is not only that God received sinners But even more so that God rejoices over reponsent sinners You see that in several verses and Luke 15 just look down at verse 10 and Here's what Jesus says it hovers as the big idea over all three of these parables So we want to think about this tonight Jesus says and I tell you There is joy before the angels of God over one sinner Who repents now if I were to ask each of you do you believe that obvious is this Sunday night crowd the answer would be Most definitely yes But the question for us Christ coming it is how deeply do we believe that? that God receives and rejoices over repentant sinners and the parable of the prodigal sign is a great exclamation point of verse 10 It's a climactic illustration of Verse 10 of the God who seeks and the God who saves and the God who rejoices over repentant sinners And you and I need to come to a greater knowledge of that so that we might better understand the gospel listen in relation to ourselves and in relation to others as well And so as we read we'll take this just a few verses at a time of make commentary as we go and we'll frame the sermon in this way we see first a revealing request Next we see a rebellious journey And then finally we see a rejoicing Father so I'll pick up in verse 11 As we read about the parable the prodigal sign Hear the word of the word and he that is Jesus said There was a man who had two signs and The younger of them said to his father Father give me the share of property that is coming to me And he divided the property between them And so we have two sons who live on the estate of their father by all accounts There's some wealth in this family. They're well to do. They're well taken care of But the younger son comes to His father with this request. He says father Give me the share of property That's coming to me Now this request is you've read it before it probably strikes you as presumptuous Maybe it strikes you as demanding And kids can certainly be that way when we promised them something I Remember when we moved here five or six years ago I promised the kids a dog is one of those desperate parenting acts that you do when you feel like your kids are melting down You got to give them something. I'll tell you what we're gonna give you a dog And it was one of those sort of kind of half-hearted parenting promises that I secretly hoped would would fade in memory from the children But guess what it didn't fade they remembered that promise in fact it got even stronger Hey, remember you promised a dog and I got so desperate that I thought okay Here's what I'll do. I got them a cat thinking that would have swaged the dog demand in the house But that didn't work either the kids reminded me over and over again you promised us a dog and now six years later We have little Carson who is at one time a very sweet dog But also the bane of my existence as well. She's probably home right now digging a hole in the backyard as we speak and So the kids kept reminding me of that they were digging in on this promise And you can think about this kids forget a lot But I'll tell you what they won't forget. They won't forget whatever words you repeat after I promise that will be like a steel trap in their memory So they remember what you promised them now think about your kids coming to you mom dad Give me what you've promised me give me what you owe me. I know what I've been promised the car The phone the allowance that vacation you said we were going to have give me that but what if this what if this What if your kids came to you and said mom dad, you know I Was on the computer the other day and I stumbled across your 401k It was rather sizable. I was impressed. I must say and I stumbled over some documents of of the state planning and and and here's the thing I'd like my share of that and I would like it now You've probably banished them somewhere if not to another room may be completely off the premises of your home for being so demanding and presumptuous It's a greedy and offensive Request the sun makes the more than that it's appalling And it certainly would have been appalling to this original audience because as in inheritance It was not something that he was to receive until his father died Is it is if he says dad? I see you're taking the multi vitamins and You're just a little bit too healthy and you're older age. You're a little too spry. Let's let's get rid of those and let's And let's introduce some extreme sports into your life, right? I wish you would just go ahead and die now So I can have your things just stop us in our tracks and what's so appalling about this request is it reveals the posture of the son toward his father Tim Keller highlights it so well He says this request reveals that the younger son wants the father's things, but not the father He wants the gifts, but not the giver and What we see is that this young man is at home, but he's not really at home His affections are elsewhere His heart has been captured by other things by temporal things that have become more Important to him than his relationship to his father so much so that his father's very existence becomes an impediment To what he desires and so he wishes him dead You see the posture of the son To the father, but we also see the the father's posture toward his son It's almost equally as shocking the The father knows that this request is tantamount to wishing him dead in Ordinary response would we would think would be a deep hurt Maybe frustration maybe anger And maybe the disavow the son of all of all his his privilege Maybe maybe to relic him to serve it to but not so with this father. He actually grants the request Killer also points out that typically well was tied up during this time in land Okay, so you have the older son who would have gotten two thirds of the share of the inheritance of the land the older The younger son would have gotten one third of the share But here's what we need to have in the father would have to actually liquidate the land In order to give it to his son So this is not just hey dad I notice you got a few mill in the bank and you skim off the top and you giving my share no This is dad would you cash out a third of your business that source of income that revenue would you cash that out And would you give it to me now and what's the point the point is that this comes at tremendous sacrifice and loss To the father But he does it willingly And you might say to yourself, well, why does he do it willingly it seems like bullish permissiveness But actually it shows the contrast in the character between the son and the father You see the son's selfishness and greed and you see the father's liberality in generosity. It's a revealing request But we also see a rebellious journey look at verse 13 It says not many days later the younger son gathered all that he had And he took a journey into a far country And there he squandered his property and reckless living And so this son he gets the money And he's got his plans. He's gonna go out. He's gonna grab life by the tail Yes, he hits the party scene He indulges every appetite and he squanders his father's wealth But notice that the text tells us he doesn't just leave what does it say rather he took a journey Into a far country The proximity here is telling Because it gives away the fact that this son wants to be as far away from his father as he can He wants to be uninhibited by his father. He wants to be independent from his father Why so he can pursue his sinful desires? What is driving the son is the desire for autonomy? And so he strikes out into this far country separating himself From his father We begin to see if we read this with a bit of a larger scriptural lens that this is not just a story About a sinful act and rebellion. No, this is a story about sin In separation itself. It's a story about you and about me It's reminiscent of Genesis 3 Just as Adam and Eve were in the garden with God. They were walking with God in the cool of the evening. They were at home with God And yet they were tempted to choose a life Of independence to determine good and evil for themselves And so they struck out on their own And why do they do that because they listen to the serpent who is casting seeds of suspicion about the character of God You're called the surface and God knows God knows that when you eat of the fruit you will be like him no knowing good and evil

And he's planting these hard thoughts about God. God is just trying to keep you under his thumb He's he's keeping you from the good life planting seeds of suspicion about the goodness the character of God something Sinclair Ferguson calls serpentine theology Stiology of the serpent that doubts God's goodness and God's graciousness in those seeds are in the heart of Every single fallen person And so what happens with Adam and Eve they rebel and what they find themselves Separated from God and one wonders if this son had similar thoughts about his father

Well, I think dad loves me, but maybe he's just trying to keep me from the good life Maybe dad is just trying to keep me under his thumb and I look over there And I see all this freedom and all this promise and all these material possessions and everything that it can bring me

I wonder if my father's just trying to hold me back from that And so he journeys into this far country the Greek here the word is Kormakra It means this vast empty space this wide open space This unnamed Undefinable space that's the far country that he goes in the modern day Meaning might be to find yourself in the middle of nowhere and so he journeys out into this nameless Space what's the implication this son is lost This son is lost Like the lost sheep Like the lost coin except there's one difference Cheat get lost because they're stupid Coins get lost all the time, but this son this son is lost by his own choice. This son is lost Because of his rebellion the son has intentionally and willfully walked away He's chosen a path or lifestyle that is absolutely contrary to what he knows is good and surely we can resonate with this Because many of us have been the prodigal And that might be you here this evening Maybe you've chosen a path or living in a way that is absolutely Contrary to God's will and knowingly or unknowingly if you if you boil down all of your decisions in your life The sum of them is to get as far away from God as you can Because you have supposed that the good life exists Outside of knowing him Or maybe that's someone you know or love They are in the core of Makra they are they're lost they're they're in the middle of nowhere spiritually And perhaps we're tempted in a self-righteous way to write them all how Dare they thumb their nose at God or how dare they thumb their nose at me or maybe we're tempted to write them off out of deep despair Well, they're never coming back Or maybe if it's you I can't come back Well this story it serves as a wonderful corrective to us Because not only do we see ourselves in this story we see others as well And it reminds us That we serve a God who seeks and saves the lost we serve a God Who came not to call the righteous but sinners we came and we serve a God who came To help the sick Not the well And so Jesus here gives us a picture of sin and separation He gives us a picture of a lost condition that we might better see the God who saves Look at verse 14

And when he had had spent everything a severe famine arose in that country And he began to be in need And so he went hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country We sent him into the field to feed the pigs He was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate And no one gave him anything And so this son is now become a wretch He's not only lost he's hungry He's helpless And notice the scripture tells us there's there's no one to help him He's singingly hopeless

And the question is how is he going to get out of this situation The question is has he gone too far Has he sinned too greatly No one has compassion on him. He's in the core of Makar Makar what's going to bring him back What's going to bring him back? We see a starting point in verse 17 the Bible says He comes to himself What a beautiful phrase of the Holy Spirit working in someone's heart Verse 17 but when he came to himself He said how many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread but I perish with hunger I will arise and go to my father and I will say to him father. I have sinned against heaven and before you I am no longer worthy to be called your son Treat me as one of your hired servants So he comes to a senses He sees where he is In this hopeless helpless situation he sees what he's he's done He's squandered his father's wealth. He's been selfish. He's been greedy but more importantly He's forsaken his father and he sees that No one has compassion on him the only hope Is to go to the very one whom he has forsaken scriptures tell us that he remembers His father and that's a good starting point. He remembers there is provision with his father And he goes on to confession Another good step he says I will arise and I will go to my father and I will say to him I've sinned against heaven and before you so he's not hiding his sin He's not attempting to avoid what he's done. He's coming before his father is going to acknowledge his sin So we see his confession His young man is Financially bankrupt. There's a picture this young man is financially bankrupt but more Important he's morally and spiritually bankrupt In his greatest need is not for his father's food. It's for his father's forgiveness And that's the drama of the story And we see a change in his posture And that's crucial. It's important for us to know that it's first approach to the father He was demanding he was greedy. He was selfish and now what he's humbled

He's helpless. He's weak He's hungry. He's crying out for mercy

And so these are all good and wonderful things but We'll process this a little bit more. He's he's probably thinking Now I've got to come up with something He's like like the kid who took his his father's credit card and he ran up the bill He can't pay it anymore. He knows he's in big trouble. You didn't think of himself now. What can I say You imagine him journeying on that road and just thinking to himself. Okay, all right here If he says this I'll say that and if he responds this way I'll I'll respond that way

He says treat me as a hired servant I'm no longer worthy to be called your son now taking it face value It's simply a humble confession Just make me a hired servant I see what I've done but but but nope he's thinking he's planning. He's processing and one wonders one wonders Does he feel like he has to bargain with this father? For forgiveness Perhaps he's thinking as you and I are prone to think that somehow Someway he must offer something he must do something to draw out the love and mercy of his father thinking Look, I know the rules of society Yeah, I should be ostracized At the very least I should have to earn it back I mean surely my father would not discard all of those rules much less the the personal offense against him and brush them aside me who does that

Who just receives wretched helpless sinful people Who does that you see Jesus's point God does We see a contrast here in the story emerging between the rules of the culture of the day And what it's true what the kingdom of Christ And Christ puts his finger on the point of the parable right here As the focus begins to shift from the sinful character of the son To the gracious character of the father We see finally a rejoicing Father Look at verse 20 And as he arose and came to his father But while he was still a long way off His father saw him And he felt compassion and he ran and embraced him And he kissed him and the son said to him father. I've sinned against heaven and before you I'm no longer worthy to be called your son, but the father said to his servants Bring quickly the best row put it on and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet bring the fatten calf and kill it Let us eat and celebrate For this my son was dead and his alive again. He was lost and is found and they began to celebrate

What is Jesus doing here? He's displaying the gracious character of the father By focusing on the father's actions toward his son While he was still a long way off And so we see that the father is is looking for him He's he's seeking him. He's not sitting back and and waiting for him to come to him He's not sitting back and waiting for him to make up that ground of separation No, what we see is the father is actually making up the ground of separation by running to him And in the scene Jesus brings us right back to the God who seeks and saves and the God who rejoices And the scriptures tell us they began to celebrate Now what's on display here? Is it just extravagant material wealth surely not You know what's on display is the riches of God's forgiveness mercy and reconciliation And that's what this son experiences We he barely gets that confession now, you know, he's on the road. He's thinking I've got to come up with something. I got to say something He barely gets it out before there's already rejoicing and dancing in celebration fathers doesn't know no go quickly Close him Put a ring on his finger shoes on his feet Now notice this When the son tried to throw his own banquet by chasing the world's possessions he ended up impoverished When he allows the father the throat to throw a Bank would have mercy and grace and forgiveness he ends up with a robe on his back with shoes on his feet and a ring on his finger It's the father's banquet In the contrast in this scene in this story of this younger son is between the poverty of sin and the riches of God's mercy

And Jesus could have ended there He could have ended there, but it would be incomplete You see the the story is not just about how we understand the gospel in relation to our self But it's also about how we understand the gospel in relation to others as well It's so quickly and closing. Let's look at the posture of the older brother He doesn't get it Verse 25 Now his older son was in the field and as he came and drew near to the house he heard music and dancing And he called one of the servants and asked What these things meant And he said to him your brother has come and your father has killed the fattened calf because he received him back safe and sound But he was angry and refused to go in Was father came out and it treated him But he answered his father look These many years I've served you and I have never disobeyed your command yet you never gave me a young goat that I might celebrate with my friend But when this son of yours who has devoured your property with prostitutes You killed the fattened calf for him He said to him son You are always with me and all that I have is yours And it was fitting to celebrate and be glad for this your brother was dead in his life He was lost It's found Now note the complaint of the older brother and remember the interpretive key here About welcoming centers He refused to go in why You're welcoming him He devoured your property he blew all of your money on prostitutes He stunned his nose at you how could you how could you welcome him And in the older son's grumbling we hear the echo of the Pharisees and verses one and two

He perceives the father's mercy to be an injustice And he doesn't understand and so we see a self-righteous posture toward his brother Notice he didn't even call him as a brother he says the son of yours But what's interesting is his self-righteous posture toward his brother is actually rooted in his self-righteous posture toward his father Look at what he says I've served you I have served you all these years Essentially I've been Slaving for you. Give me what you owe me

Rather than rather than a gracious father He sees a slave master

Serpentine theology You would see what Satan Would do with us He's planted hard thoughts once again About his father He's not just and so we see the posture of this older son But that's not the posture of the father toward him Look at what it says he entreats him to come in my son. You've always been with me All that I have is yours and the father extends Him mercy You see the tragedy here is all that this older brother needs is present in the loving and gracious care of his father But he won't believe it And we are left with something of a cliffhanger We can presume that he doesn't come in Know that for certain But in the story of the older brother we see the contrast as Kevin said last week between the gladness of God In the grumbling of the Pharisees, but I want us to notice something here in the gladness of God He wants the older brother to come in too

And here again we see the father's great mercy and compassion for both sons He wants them both at the banquet And this should help us not only with ourselves but with others Because you see if you if you're a younger brother type you you look at the older brother and you think that there's So self-righteous and hypocritical they don't deserve to be in And if you're older brother type you look at the younger brother and you think there's so rebellious They don't deserve to be in but that's not the heart of the father Nor is it the way of the kingdom of Christ

There are some scholars who who make a case that the parables in Luke 15 actually represent the Jews and the Gentiles

You have the parable of the lost sheep where the shepherd goes far and wide To gather that sheep in representing the Gentiles You have the parable of the lost coin that's in the house, but it's lost representing the Jews And here the parable the prodigal You have the younger son who wanders far off Representing the Gentiles you have the older brother who's home, but he's lost representing the Jews Want to be careful not to press that too far, but but what's what's the message? What's the overarching message from a kingdom perspective? It is God wants both at the feast He wants both at the banquet

In Christ God is looking for both the prodigal and the older brother He's calling both to repentance and to come in which means that in Christ God is looking for both you and me Adairsay Christ coming if we really honest with ourselves We wouldn't admit that we have a little bit of the younger brother in us And we all have a little bit of the older brother in us all at the same time

And this should encourage us as we think about this On this resurrection day that Christ stands before us and he's inviting you And me in Now how can how can he extend such a gracious and abundant invitation does he just brush away our sins? No It brings us back to Easter It comes through the death and resurrection of his son That's how the father extends the invitation to you and to me at the cross we see God running to us at the cross We see God embracing us at the cross. We see the cost of our forgiveness He was delivered over to death for our sins and raised to life for our justification at the cross We see God's welcome of repentant sinners What a display of mercy

And so the message is simply this as we close To the one who is far off maybe you're you're the prodigal And you're about as far away from God You can be You think you're beyond his mercy will this story is for you and the message is come home Come home You may think you've sinned too greatly rejected God But you are the very one you are the very one that is welcome you need no speeches You need no servitude you need no merits to draw out the father's love and mercy The father's love and mercy has already been poured out for you in Christ and abundance It's all there in Christ. There is a robe of righteousness for you It's given for you in Christ. There's a ring of royal sonship They placed on you their shoes for your feet. There's food for your soul. There's wine to make your heart Mary there is a banquet in Christ for you Prodigal Come home Or maybe you see yourself as the older brother The message to the older brother is come in come in Why stand on the outside looking at the banquet cold and calculating despising the mercy and grace that God gives to others wins that very same mercy and grace That he longs to give to you You too are the very one that he came to seek and to save So realize that you need his love and mercy As much if not more than the younger son the message is Come in to the banquet and to all others The message is to see how God is working through the preaching of the gospel in his kingdom And to welcome others in those we would not expect Those who are not like us those who are far and wide and those who are nearby who are in our midst but don't yet get it

the message is To welcome them then to preach the gospel freely to them that all who are repentant all who turn from their sins All who hear the call and begin the journey They can come home to their father Because of his abundant provision and mercy They're welcome And so Church of Christ on this resurrection day Let us rejoice Just as those we see in this banquet Because of our father's great mercy for us Let's pray So Lord Jesus we thank you for these wonderful parables

They teach us not nearly About how to live but they teach us About the gospel The gospel that we celebrated this morning The gospel of your death and resurrection for us the gospel that we celebrate tonight The gospel that gives us hope in our own journey To live lives of repentance Because of your mercy and grace for us the gospel Then inspires us To communicate that love and grace and mercy to others to call them And so Lord we pray that you would strengthen us that you would correct us that you would increase our faith And we thank you for your presence with us in Christ name Amen