The Lost Son – Focusing on the Father – GRACE FIRST – Luke 15 – Paul Black

GRACE FIRST

24^th January 2021

Paul Black

Three weeks ago I spoke about the ministry of Jesus and how He lived, I believe, with an attitude of GRACE FIRST.  I shared accounts of Jesus ministry to Zacchaeus and the Samaritan Woman at the Well. The Bible tells us Jesus came full of “grace and truth”. Jesus never compromised on the truth and His ministry should be an example to each one of us of how we can reach out to our neighbours; our neighbourhoods’, our towns, even our nation and see lives changed. I want to continue this theme by looking at another aspect of the ministry of Jesus and how He taught and touched people’s lives. We must learn from Him.

 

(Matthew 11:28-30 – The Message) – Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep Company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

 

I would like to share with you this morning a few thoughts from a parable, which Jesus told to a crowd of people, who had gathered around him. The crowd included tax collectors; sinners and even Pharisees and Teachers of the Law.  The Pharisees and Teachers of the Law weren’t happy with the others in the crowd. They were upset with Jesus and they muttered amongst themselves; ‘This man welcomes sinners and He eats with them’.   Jesus heard the mutterings and so He told them a series of parables.  The first one was about a man who lost a sheep and how he went to seek the one that was lost, leaving the other ninety-nine safe and protected. He told the next parable about a woman who had ten silver coins who had lost one. How she searched for it and swept the house clean and didn’t rest until she found her lost coin. I read the other day that a woman on her marriage would sew ten silver coins into her headdress – so this lost coin would be very special to her.

Jesus, in these two parables, was showing the heart of the person who had lost something of valuable, and the efforts they went to find them – a shepherd – a sheep – a woman – a coin. BUT then Jesus really raises the bar and tells the story of a father who has lost his son.

 

This is the parable I would like to share some thoughts on.  This has become known as the Parable of the Prodigal Son but the word prodigal doesn’t appear in it. It appears as if an editor or somebody wrote this title above these verses in the Bible and it stuck. The word “Prodigal” actually means ‘Recklessly Extravagant’ or ‘Having Spent Everything’.  We have come to think that this parable was mainly about the son – ‘His Reckless Extravagance’ – ‘His Having Spent Everything’.  BUT many think that this parable’s main focus is the Father?

Jesus tells about the man who had two sons. One day the younger son comes and asks for his inheritance NOW.  What he was effectively telling his father was that, he didn’t want to wait until he died, he wanted the money now.  He didn’t want to live under his father’s rules and restrictions – he wanted to live – he wanted his freedom now, to be free from his responsibilities in his father’s house, he wanted to go and enjoy himself.  He wanted to go and live life – not to be restricted here.  I think that as Jesus continued the parable, the crowds would have been shocked at such a request by the son, but even more so, that the father did what his son asked.  So the son leaves – his pockets full of cash – the open road before him – freedom; life; enjoyment; all the things he wanted; free now to do what ever he wanted without have to refer to anybody else. He would now decide what was good or bad for him – fullness of life here I come.

But it didn’t work out that way!  With a lot of money in his pocket he gathered a lot of friends. We are told he squandered his money on getting drunk; on prostitutes and on wild living – when his money began to run out so did his friends; when it had all gone – he was alone and ended up working in a pig-sty.  This life of freedom; free from constraints; from control; away from his father’s corrections; having chosen the rules by which he would live his life – well here he is – feeding pigs.  Not a life of freedom BUT a life of bondage – he is hungry; dirty; penniless and alone.   Jesus telling his listeners that the boy ended up in a pig-sty was about the worst thing that could happen to a Jew – How could anyone recover from such a life – What father would ever take him back?

When the boy, in his desperation came to his senses, he decides to go back to his father, not as a son but as a hired hand or servant, that is of course , if his father will take him back.  He prepares a speech, ‘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. “ I don’t think this was just a prepared speech – I think the boy meant it – I think this is what Jesus was trying to impress on the crowd.  Just look at the order the boy has begun with,  ‘Father I have sinned against heaven and against you’.  When David committed adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband Uriah killed, when confronted by Nathan the prophet said, ‘I have sinned against the LORD’.   Firstly we must acknowledge our sin against God first, this does not negate our sins against one another, but primarily we have broken God’s Law.

 

Let’s be honest – we have all been in that place where the ‘lost son was’.  We have all sinned; we have all failed; we have all fallen short of God’s glory; we have all wanted to live our own lives free of the constraints of God – This is what the essence of the story is about. But I also believe there is a much wider and fuller picture here; something even more to which Jesus is alluding.  He is giving us a glimpse, a look into the future.   So the son starts his journey back home.

As I have said – Many believe that this parable is more about the Father than the son.  So let us focus on the response and the attitude of the Father – will he receive the boy; will he allow him to work for him; will he want anything to do with him at all?

The Father is watching the road; he is waiting.  Note, that the father did not go running after his son when he left – he had to wait for his son to freely return, because in doing so the Father knew that there had been a heart change in his son. Jesus describes the Father as looking out; who sees a figure walking up the road and instinctively knows it’s his son.  It doesn’t need much imagination to realise that the figure walking up the road is nothing like the figure who had walked down the road with a pocket full of money – NOW – head down, shoulders bent, no spring in the step, no expectation, maybe a bit of fear of how he would be received, clothes dirty and smelling of the pig-sty.  What a picture – the father hurting to see his son in such a condition yet rejoicing that that he’s back.

 

The Father, a man of standing; of position and respect in the community, did a humiliating thing in the eyes of Jewish society – He pulled up his robe from around his ankles, bared his legs and ran towards his child.  The first thing the Father does, even though his son is dirty and smelly, is to throw his arms around him and kiss him on the cheek.

 

Whilst the father is doing this, the boy is trying to talk. He is saying, ‘Father I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son’. He didn’t have chance to say, ‘Make me like one of the hired men’, because the Father was speaking above him to the servants. You see everything the Father needs to know has already happened; He knows the heart of his son that it has changed, and he has come home, to the Father.

 

So the Father is shouting to the 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 let’s celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

Let’s just think of the words the Father spoke – ‘Bring the best robe and put it on him’. The boy is dirty, smelly, maybe his clothes in tatters; But the Father is calling for the BEST ROBE – not any old robe; not one too big or too small; not somebody else’s robe – but one made for his son.

 

Isaiah 61:10 – I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of His righteousness, – Not any old robe but a robe of His righteousness – made to fit me; made to fit you – as individuals – this is so personal – these robes – put on each one of us by God Himself.

 

Put a ring on his finger – a sign that he carries his Fathers authority. When he speaks it is as if his Father is speaking; when he orders something it is as if his Father is ordering it.

The authority to speak and represent the Father – 2 Cor 5:20 – We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.

 

Put sandals on his feet – in those days servants and slaves often went bare foot – But this wasn’t a slave or a servant – This is the Father’s son – and he has to be recognized as such.

And the last command of the Father – Bring the fattened calf and let’s celebrate; let’s have a party.

 

The other parables of the Lost Sheep and The Lost Coin also end in a celebration

Luke 15:7 – I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

Luke 15:10 – In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

 

Everything Jesus has the Father doing and saying in the parable leaves no doubt in the hearer’s minds that the boy has been re- established as the Father’s son. – What amazing – extravagant – outrageous GRACE.

 

This is a parable of extremes. The son falling so far, even to the depth of the pigsty;  yet the Father lavishing so much love and Grace upon lifts him back into Son-ship.

 

Ephesians 2:1 – As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,

 

Ephesians 2:4-5 – But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved.

 

1 John 3:1 – See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!

 

GRACE – GOD’S RICHES AT CHRIST’S EXPENSE

 

Sting in the tail – The Elder Brother – He didn’t appear to like his younger brother – thought he had been let off too lightly by the Father – resented him – no party for him – He should have welcomed the guests to the party as the Eldest Son, it would have been expected, but refused to, so actually dishonoured his Father in public – The Elder Brother thought that his Father treated this brother as if he hadn’t done anything wrong (JUSTIFIED) no condemnation from the Father. Pharisees in crowd – how much of the elder brother’s attitude is in me.

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