Lost And Found: The Prodigal Son Part 2 – The Sons

[00:00:01] Speaker A: Hello and welcome to Tall Paul's Preaching. This is the third sermon. This message originated on Sunday, April 8th in 2018. The main scripture for this episode is Luke 15, specifically the Prodigal son parable with a focus on the two sons, the prodigal son and his brother. This episode is titled Lost and Found. The Prodigal Son, Part two, the Sons. [00:00:32] Speaker B: All right. Oh, Heavenly Father, you are so good, and we thank you that you are. We know you're so good. We just praise you and thank you for your goodness. And we need to take comfort in how great you are. Lord, we always pray for our country, Lord, that you would guide and direct those in power and that your will would be done with our country and all these things. We pray in your son's name, in his precious blood. Amen. Well, last time I was here, we covered Luke 15 and the three parables, the lost coin and the lost sheep and the Prodigal Son. And we covered the Father and the Father's character, and that represents God's character, and that's the most important thing. And so I wanted to cover that last time. And today we're going to look at the two sons. If you want to turn to Luke 15, starting in verse 11, that's where we'll begin. And so just a reminder, the sinners are there to hear Jesus, and the Pharisees are there to complain about him. So just a quick reminder of the Father from last time that he is always loving. He's so forgiving. He's always there. He's looking for us to return and come to him. He's so gracious and giving. And what a wonderful heavenly Father we have. So I'm going to read the prodigal son story, and then we'll get into the Son, verse 11. And Jesus said, A certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with righteous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in the land, and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country. And he sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. And he would have gladly filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat, and no man gave unto him. And when he came to himself, he said, how many hired servants of my Father's have bread Enough to spare, and I perish with hunger. I will arise and go to my father and will say unto him, father, I have sinned against heaven and before you and am no more worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired servants. And he arose and came to his father. And when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and I am no more worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his servants, bring forth the best robe and put it on him. And put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring forth the fatted calf and kill it. And let us eat and be merry. For this my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found. And they began to be merry. Now his elder son was in the field, and he came and drew near the house. He heard music and dancing. And he called one of his servants and asked what these things meant. And he said unto him, your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf. Because he has received him safe and sound. And he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and entreated him. And he answering, said to his father, lo, these many years do I serve you. Neither transgressed I at any time your commandment. And yet you never gave me a goat that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as this your son was come, which has devoured your living with harlots, you have killed for him the fatted calf. And the father said unto him, son, you are ever with me, and all that I have is yours. It was proper that we should make merry and be glad. For this your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found so again. Prodigal, that's what we've titled. That parable is prodigal means wasting. But wasting wasn't his problem. His problem was his heart. The younger son's action was the result of his heart. What's inside of us comes out in our actions. So what's in our heart comes out our mouth. And so what we see is the action. But what really matters is the heart. Proverbs 4:23 says, Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. When we try and tame our actions without a change of heart, it's frustrating because we. We so want to not do whatever we're doing. But without a change of heart, we're just going to keep frustrating ourselves, basically. So we need to deal with the heart and not the behavior. That is true change. And so the father is not shocked when his younger son asked for his inheritance. I mean, he probably knew his son's character. So the father lets him go. Because restricting that action isn't going to change his son's heart. So the prodigal son, his heart leads him to running from his father, running from God. It's all about his self, which leads to a wasted life. Now, in that day, the inheritance was a custom. That's just the way it was always that you could ask for your inheritance before your father died. That's the way it was. And it partly came about because sometimes they'd have two wives. And so you might be the son of the wife that the husband didn't really care for. And you wanted to make sure that your inheritance was secure before he died. And so that was the custom. But when God the master, when he gives us freely our freedom, our money, our talents, our will, we should give it right back. Because our father, he knows what's best. He knows the best way to use our talents, our will, our money. And if we give that right back, if we say, God, your will be done, not mine, he knows exactly how to use that. The prodigal son thinks he knows better than his father. He's going to do it by himself, is under his own power. He doesn't think he needs help. He's got a better plan than his father. He's got it. But he's got no thought for the eternal or the spiritual. He's thinking now. That's all he's focused on. And we often lose sight of the spiritual in life. We see what's before us in the physical. And we just forget that we are spiritual beings. So he went wild and free. But that's not freedom. Freedom contains responsibility. And the Pharisees thought the same way. They thought the law was what God was all about. And so they took that into their own hands. They created their own laws and religion and rules out of that, well, the prodigal leaves the Father, which also means he leaves his protection. When you want to get out and under from the thumb of your parents or of God, what you think is God is oppressing you, you're also leaving his protection. He thought the world had something better to offer, but it didn't. Now he suffered the consequences. He lost all his money, his inheritance. But you got to remember, he's Still a son. So he spent all his money, his substance, it says, on his wants and not his needs. And he ended up wanting those wants and desires that we feel. That's the lust that draws us away into sin. And sin leads to death. Feelings, what the heart wants can be often a deceiving thing. Until God changes our hearts. That results in different actions. And only the Father satisfies that thing inside of us. And only the Father can change our heart. So he's off into the world, the prodigal son. But the world who is convicted by God of their sin. They don't want God. So the world loves and accepts this son, but without his Father. And the world will party and use you up until you're of no use to them. And in the end, with the world, all is vanity. It's all empty. So the prodigal now is a pig farmer, which was low in every culture, but lowest, of course, for the Jews, for the pig was the unclean animal. And he joined himself to a citizen. You see that he became yoked, unequally yoked. And he was enslaved to the world. He lost all his freedom, even his freedom to eat. He was starving on the world's food, slave to the world. See, in the world's ways, you notice that the pigs were more important than his life. He was starving, and yet you have to feed the pigs and the Pharisees the exact same way. The rules and the laws became more important than a human life. And when Jesus healed someone on the Sabbath, they became enraged and angry. The prodigal son, at his lowest point there. What if someone at that point gave him a handout? Maybe gave him a better job? Someone came up to him and said, here, feed the chickens now, and you can use some of the grain to make some bread. After all, isn't compassion the right thing to do? Well, no. Not at the expense of them coming to Christ. When we enable them, we can prevent it and comfort kill it. It was good that he suffered for Christ, for God's will is that we'll all be saved. And the salvation of the soul is more important than anything. What is it worth if we gain the world and lose our souls? And at the same time, what does it matter if we lose everything in this life to gain everything the next? The prodigal, thank God, praise God, recognizes his condition versus his Father's. He now has spiritual eyes. He was blind, but now he sees. He was lost, but now he's found. He came to himself. He's in a stinking mess, but when you're flat on your back, you're looking up. When you're truly sick, you go to the doctor and dying, call out to God, and God can reach to the bottom of any pit. God's grace and love is deep. It's deeper than anywhere we could go and go. God used that pain and suffering for the moment, for everlasting life and joy. And notice that when the prodigal was willing to become the servant, that is true repentance. When it's no longer, I'm trying to do everything, Lord, it's, lord, I give my life to you, that that's true repentance. So the prodigal son got up and went. It's simple, but not easy. We don't always act. Sometimes we just have those good intentions. And sometimes we just don't want to face our Father. Because our worldly Father was an example. But that's not our God. That's not our Father as we studied him last time I was here. Even the good attributes of our worldly Father don't measure up to the greatness of our God. But he repented. He returned to the Father, and the Father restored him. There's three things that the Father gave him. He gave him a robe. It was a special robe. It was a holy robe that they would use when someone, some special dignitary, a king or something would come, and they would clothe them with that. And we have this robe sometimes of the guilt and shame. But God clothes us in his righteousness. We can't change. That has to come from God. Our righteousness is as filthy rags. But God provides. But we have to choose whether or not to put that robe on. We can live in our filthiness or live in his righteousness. He also gave them a ring of authority. And the ring represented power. I mean, that was their signet. You could seal a document. And many of them didn't know how to write or sign their name. And so that ring would act as power. And the ring also in marriage, we use it. And it symbolizes never ending because it's circular. And so that's our God's endless love. And in the name of Jesus, we have power. Our Father also. Shoes. Slaves in those days didn't wear shoes. You could visually identify a slave by his feet. And so the Father wanted to identify the prodigal son as a son immediately. Even though the Son was willing to be identified as a slave of his Father, he went back saying, I understand. I'll just be your slave. But the Father restored him Put shoes on his feet. The Father thinks and cares for us as children. He doesn't see us as slaves. And Jesus called us friends, not servants. So he's sound mentally and safe physically. So let's party. This fatted calf, they would feed this calf, the choice grains. Hand feed. It was a special. And you know, the same thing as the robe. When a special dignitary came through, they would kill it and celebrate. So all was right in the world again, right? Well, yes, with the problem of the Son. But we. We've forgotten about the eldest son and we're coming to him. Do you know how to win every time? You make up the rules as you go. There was a comic a while back called Calvin and Hobbes. And they would play this game, it was called Calvin Ball. And they would just make up the rules as you go. You know, you get 10 points if you've got gray hair, you know, 20 points, 20 points if you're sitting, but 100 points if you're standing. See how easy it is when you make up the rules as you go to win? You know, you can always put yourself higher than someone else. Now, the religious of that day, the scribes, the Pharisees, the lawyers, the Sadducees, they'd taken the law of God and used it to advance themselves above others. They would say they're more holy because they do this or they don't do that. And they'd play that game. They made the law into their own system on how to get ahead and win. And Jesus didn't play along with that, which frustrated them. They thought Jesus should be exalting them for their works. But the law was not given so that we could score and grade others. The law was to teach us that we needed the Father. The law was to show us that we're all equal. We're all sinners. We all have come short of the glory and we need God. But the oldest Son, who represented the Pharisees in this parable, he was playing that very game. He was better than his younger brother and thought he was winning. But let's look at the older son's problems. He was judgmental. He compares himself to his brother. In his own eyes, he was better than his brother. Under God's standard, there's none righteous. No, not one. He was a busybody. He was a meddler. He was bothered by his brother's business. He was contemptuous. Notice, he says, that son of yours, he divorced. He disowned his own brother. And in that day and age, family was Everything. He was resentful. How come he gets the fatted calf? He was boastful. He felt owed by the father. I have stayed here. I have. He was merciless. Even though his brother is safe and sound, mentally and physically safe, he didn't care. He was unforgiving. He did not even want to see his own brother. He. He was enraged and angry. You know, you don't come to an instant boil. So he had been stewing over his brother for a long time. And so when his brother shows up, instantly he's angry and enraged. He was unthankful of what he did have. He had access to the Father all this time, and yet wasn't thankful for it. And he was jealous of his brother. And he was petty. I'm standing outside while the party goes inside. He was having a pity party for himself while a party for a saved soul was going on inside. So the prodigal son, who was a waster of all his substance, an older son, was judgmental, a busybody, contemptuous, resentful, boastful, merciless, unforgiving, enraged, angry, unthankful, jealous and petty. Which son was doing better? See, the older son's problems were worse or more. But socially, the younger son was seen as the problem. And that's reflected in who's listening to this parable that Jesus is giving. You've got the sinners who seemed in society, you know, the tax collectors and the harlots, they seemed in society to be the problem. But the Pharisees were there with a stone heart. They were in God's presence. Jesus was right there. And yet they couldn't even see him because they were so focused on the sinners. Was past for the prodigal. His sins were past. He was lost. But now he's found. It was still present for the elder son. He couldn't let it go. We should move on. In God's view, the younger is alive and we should party. The eldest son's problem was also his heart. When we forget our former state, when we forget that we were all lost, we become judgmental. We shouldn't forget the joy of being found and the joy of being in the presence of the Father. Our heart has an inclination to go away from God. But if we press, if we lean in towards God when we fall, going to fall towards them, not away from them. So the eldest son, he had filled his life with work, not with God. He was too busy working for the Father. And he was caught up in what we call religion. And so when we look at the two sons, we compare them. We compare them to each other, we compare them to ourselves. I once thought that, oh, I identify with, with this son or identify with that son. Which one am I? Who am I more like? I thought I had to fall in one of those two categories. And then I realized I'm doing the exact same thing as the elder son. Comparing myself and judging myself upon the brother. When we should be comparing ourselves to the father, father instead. How am I like the father? Is what I should be asking myself. Not if I'm better than my brother. That's why the father's character is the most important thing. Because we want to become like the father, not just be better than a brother. The eldest thought he was way better than his brother, but he was nothing like his father. He had stopped improving himself, stopped getting better. As long as he was better than his brother, that was all he cared about. He could have been at peace and joyful. He could have partied with the fatty path. He could have rejoiced and enjoyed life with the father. But he didn't. And the sinners who were there listening to this were seeking just that, that peace and the joy. And the Pharisees were so concerned with the sinners that they completely missed it. We all need to keep our eyes on God, looking to him, the author and finisher of our faith. I got a little story here that I've got time for that. It's after Easter, so it's a Christmas story. Christmas is coming up. So it's a Christmas story. I'm going to give. And there was a young married couple with a little 14 month old little girl. Now it was Christmas Eve and they were scrambling around trying to get everything ready for Christmas morning. And they realized that they needed food and diapers for their cute little toddler. So they headed off to their local grocery store. They were headed in from the parking lot, but in their way, outside in the cold, was a filthy bum. The homeless man, upon seeing the little girl, dropped his sign that pled for money and started waving and making baby noises to the little girl. Completely ignoring the cold stares of her parents. The young father reluctantly gave the transient some money, hoping to get rid of him. The homeless man was pleased with the money, yet he kept waving to the little girl, thanking her instead of her father. Once safe inside, the young couple started up and down the aisles doing their last minute shopping. And the squirmy little toddler began begged to be released from her mother's arms. And her mother obliged with a warning to stay close and not touch anything. The little girl wandered to the end of the aisle where she proceeded to engage in a conversation accompanied with arm gestures with someone just around the corner. The mother went to rescue what she thought would be some little old lady conversing with her daughter to her shop. The little girl was babbling in baby talk with the bum, who was babbling in nonsense right along with her. The mother snatched up her child and walked briskly away while her daughter waved goodbye to the strange man. The homeless man was busy buying some much needed food with the young couple's money, but went out of his way to wave and coo at the little girl whenever they saw each other. They ended up in the same crowded checkout line together with the bum, a couple customers ahead. With one last wave, the bum was out the door to the relief of the little girl's parents. The little girl was in her father's arms as they left the store and he looked to locate their car in the parking lot. The couple didn't notice. The homeless man was back holding a sign and a plea for help. But the little girl noticed and as they passed him, she leapt from the father's arms into the arms of the homeless man. To the shock and awe of all concerned. The little girl hugged the man with her arms straight out and put her head on his shoulder. The homeless man burst into tears as he patted her back and as he handed the little girl back to her father, he thanked the young couple for the greatest Christmas gift he had received in a long, long time. Having not been touched or loved so purely in ages. You see, the parents saw the filthy, stinking, outwardly gross bum that he was, while the little innocent minded girl saw the soul that needed some love. We judge by sight and God judges the heart and we need to be more like the Father and look at the heart. We should be rejoicing in Christ. We should be joyful that our friends are saved. We should be joyful and thrilled at our own salvation. We should have a party, we should be merry. It's ours, it's proper, it's the right thing to do. Notice the last verse in Luke 15: There 32 the Father speaking, He says it was proper. It's the right thing to do. It's needed that we should make merry and be glad for this your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found. The kingdom is ours. Salvation. Our Father's everlasting life is our inheritance. We should enjoy it with our friends and neighbors, not just with those saved, but with everyone. If you look back at the parable of the lost sheep in verse six, there. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying unto them, rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost. And the lady who lost her silver coin, verse nine. And when she found it, she calls her friends and her neighbors together, saying, rejoice with me, for I have found the peace which I had lost. We have found it. Salvation is here through the redemptive blood of Jesus Christ. We just celebrated Easter. He lives. He's alive forevermore. And through his blood and his sacrifice, his body broken, his bloodshed. Even though we can't do communion, we can still remember what Jesus did for us. Praise God. Go have a party, have some fatted calf ice cream or whatever and just celebrate. Just be joyful and reflect what God has done for us. We were lost, but we're found. Pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for everlasting life through your son. You are so loving, so forgiving. Thank you for your son Jesus. You love us so much that you paid the price so that we could be adopted sons and daughters. Just as that story there you take us in and we inherit your kingdom and everlasting life. Thank you for the unspeakable joy, the peace that passes all understanding and help us to let it show. May our lives reflect it. May people see you when they look at us. We praise you for who you are and what you are. Thank you. We love you. And Lord, bless this offering that we are about to take and may your will be done with it and with our lives as well. You are the master, you know what should be done and we just give it all to you. This we pray in Jesus name. Amen. [00:32:48] Speaker A: Thank you for listening to this message. We hope you enjoyed it. Our prayer is that the message, in some way or another, helped in your walk with God and that your relationship with God was strengthened and grew more intimate. [00:33:07] Speaker B: If you would like to contact us. [00:33:08] Speaker A: With questions or comments, you can email us at the following address. That's meadletters.com or M E D L E T t e r s.com thank you.