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| SUNDAY'S SERMON Jerry L. Tracy, Pastor Elkton Baptist Church |
| October 8, 2006 |
| (Counter added on July 13th, 2000) |
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| From Wrong to Right Luke 15: 11ff. |
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| This story Jesus told has captured the minds and hearts of millions over the centuries since He first told it. It is well known and well told. In fact, Charles Dickens called it the greatest short story of all time. Pastor Frank Pollard begins his book on selected parables unique to the Gospel of Luke as follows: “A leader in the first church I served said to me, ‘Preacher, when you read the text from the Bible, I know what you are going to say. I have been listening to sermons for 50 years, and I always know what’s coming next.’”
Well I have chosen to re-look at this story this morning as we prepare our hearts for revival and for communion. Many of us have heard sermons over 50 years while others of us are beginners. There are hopefully many years of sermons left for you to hear, and I pray they will each impact your life for Christ. The main figure in this story is the father. He does everything right. He is loving and gracious. He is focused on his family and not himself. He is giving and forgiving. He seeks the best for his two sons. He is joyful and extremely generous. I find it interesting that this story has been named the Prodigal Son with the emphasis on the extreme wastefulness of the younger son. Yet the word prodigal can also mean extremely generous. So it could be called the Prodigal Father. How wonderful it is to know such a Father as Jesus had who would become the main focus of this great story. In verse 11, Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.” According to the law of that day, the heirs would receive 2/3 of the estate for the older son and 1/3 of the estate for the younger son. As you know, an estate is normally settled upon the death of the father in this case, not before. But this younger son wants his inheritance while he is young and he does not want to wait for his father’s passing. He essentially says, “Father, I want what you have for me now.” The generous father divided his estate with his two sons. The younger son took off as far away from home as he could go partying and wasting his inheritance. He finally ran out of his inheritance and had to get a job. What he could find was a job feeding hogs. Now that was very humiliating for a Jew. So this younger son was at the bottom as far as money and influence. All he could think to do was to go home and ask his father for forgiveness and a job. He did not expect anymore than being a hired hand on his father’s farm. Notice his speech that he was bringing with him in verse 18, Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men. With such a request, the younger son walks toward home. What a great picture Jesus paints for all to see of His Father in heaven. I stand amazed every time I think about the return of this young man to his father. It is not the son that amazes me but the father. For we have a Waiting, Compassionate and Gracious Father looking down the road seeing his son coming home. Look at verse 20, “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.” What a picture we have here of a senior man running toward his returning son. It was very undignified for a senior man to run in that culture. Why didn’t he just wait for the young foolish son to come up the lane and fall at his feet in shame? That shows the kind of father he was. He couldn’t help but lavish his love and grace on his son. His legs started moving toward his son as soon as he saw him. God is like that. As soon as God sees a sinner means business, He takes the necessary steps to embrace and receive the sinner. I like what one writer said, “according to Deuteronomy 21:18-21, he [the younger son] should have been stoned to death. If the neighbors had started to stone him, they would have hit the father who was embracing him! What a picture of what Jesus did for us on the cross!” Notice what the Father does for the son. Verse 22, But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. The best robe would be to cover the son from his filth and to restore the son to the family. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. The ring meant the son was put back into the family’s business and could transact business again. The sandals would cover his bare feet symbolizing his return to the family as a son and not a servant. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. The meal was to be the finest available in order to celebrate the return of the son. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. How happy the father is, and how joyful heaven is when a sinner comes home. Oh how He loves you and me. But Jesus continues by letting us know what the older son has been doing all these months or years. Look at verse 29, speaking to his father outside the house where the celebration is going on. ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. The older son has been working on the farm holding on to all his inheritance, but he obviously has not enjoyed it. He felt like a slave under orders from a taskmaster. We also see how he feels toward his returning brother. Look at verse 30, But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!” He refuses to call him his brother, condemns him for his sinful living and resents his homecoming. He does not believe in forgiveness and grace. Last week the country was shocked when a 32 year old father and husband went into an Amish school and executed five young girls. If the shooter had not committed suicide, I am certain he would have wished he had. What amazed the media was how forgiving the Amish were toward the shooter, his widow and three children. When asked why they forgave Charles Carl Roberts, IV, they echoed Jesus’ words, For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins (Matt.6:14-15). How is it possible to forgive someone who does such a horrific deed? Jesus concludes his story by telling the older brother that the father’s heart was filled with love for both him and the younger son. The father’s heart was filled with grace and forgiveness for both his sons. Such a father knows how to celebrate and enjoy his sons. Both sons were in the wrong. The younger son thought he could wander off and be better off without his father. The older son thought he was too good or too righteous to ever need forgiveness from his father. Revival will come to the ones of us who accept the love and grace of God for our sins, as well as God’s love and grace for those who have sinned against us. God wants each of us to realize how great is his love for us and how amazing is his grace. That love and that grace will lead us from doing wrong to doing right. That love and grace will help us to enjoy life and others for whom Christ died. I am glad I know this Father. How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! (1John3:1) Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. (John 1:12-13) |