How many of you, at
an earlier point in life, had a plan for where your life would be right now?
Perhaps you had a plan for your life at thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, or
seventy. How did your plan work out? Are you where you planned to be in life?
Robert Burns wrote that the best laid
plans of mice and men oft go awry, and that is certainly true when it comes
to planning for our future.
Much of what happens
to us in life comes as a result of the unexpected, the unplanned, and the
unintended. Thankfully, life
doesn’t always go as planned, but there is a beautiful serendipity to life that
turns the unexpected and unplanned into wonderful gifts.
About ten years ago I
met a couple of minister friends for lunch here in Shelbvyille. After lunch, we drove by this building,
and I commented that I had watched its construction with great interest and
would be very interested in seeing the inside. One of the others said well,
let’s stop in and take a look around.
Walking through the building I couldn’t, at that time, fathom the idea
that within a few years I would be the minister here. It was not on my planner or my radar screen, but thankfully,
it was on God’s planner.
This morning, the
text for the message is perhaps the most well known and beloved of all the
parables told by Jesus – the parable of the Prodigal Son. Found in Luke, chapter 15, it is the
final of three parables that Jesus tells in this chapter, all of which are
about things that are lost.
The parable of the
prodigal sons (I use the plural
because, as we will see, both of the sons are prodigals) is one that is
foundational to the message and ministry of Jesus.
11 And He said, “A
man had two sons.
12 The younger of
them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to
me.’ So he divided his wealth between them.
13 And not many days
later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into
a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living.
14 Now when he had
spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began to be
impoverished.
15 So he went and
hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into
his fields to feed swine.
16 And he would have
gladly filled his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, and no one
was giving anything to him. 17 But
when he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have
more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger!
18 I will get up and
go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven,
and in your sight;
19 I am no longer
worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men.”’
20 So he got up and
came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him
and felt compassion for him,
and ran and embraced him and kissed him.
21 And the son said
to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer
worthy to be called your son.’ 22 But the father said to his
slaves, ‘Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on
his hand and sandals on his feet;
23 and bring the
fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; 24 for this
son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been
found.’ And they began to celebrate.
25 “Now his older
son was in the field, and when he came and approached the house, he heard music
and dancing.
26 And he summoned
one of the servants and began
inquiring what these things could be.
27 And he said to
him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf
because he has received him back safe and sound.’
28 But he became
angry and was not willing to go in; and his father came out and began pleading with him.
29 But he answered
and said to his father, ‘Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I
have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a young goat, so that I might
celebrate with my friends;
30 but when this son
of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed the
fattened calf for him.’
31 And he said to
him, ‘Son, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours.
32 But we had to
celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.’”
Everyone is looking
for something in life, but the search for what we want out of life includes
many twists, turns, and surprises.
Perhaps the biggest surprise is when we get what we want out of life, it
doesn’t always turn out to be what we wanted. This happens, I believe, because of the nature of what we
want in life. Imagine, for
instance, someone wants a really great job because they desire to make a lot of
money. But perhaps it’s not money
they really want, but a sense of security, which we often think money will
bring, but money can evaporate very quickly, so there is no real sense of
security there. The things we want
out of life are often much deeper than the surface desires that we express.
What is often tragic
about life is how long it takes us to learn some lessons, and how much
heartache we have to endure – and cause – before we learn some of those
lessons.
I assume this young
man was a young adult, probably about the age of a college student, and he
probably had the answer to every one of life’s questions. When I was that age I had no opinions –
only facts. I had an answer to
every question and then some, none of which were my opinion – at least in my
mind – but were hard, absolute facts.
It took me a long time to learn that I really didn’t have all the
answers, and it took me a lot of heartache to learn many of life’s
lessons. Wouldn’t it be wonderful
if we could learn from the experience and mistakes of others? Why is it that most of us have to learn
the hard way?
As I was reviewing
this message yesterday, I realized that I had a lot of information, so I’m
going to split it into two parts, with today being Part One.
1. The father wanted to give to his sons, but what he
really wanted was their love.
Please don’t raise
your hands, but how many of you parents have struggled and agonized over
decisions your children have made? How many of you have been broken-hearted with grief over
those decisions? How many of you
have been awake at night, wondering where they were, what they were doing, and
feeling powerless to fix the problems that came about because of some of their
decisions?
Imagine the feelings
of this father, as his younger son, in such a self-centered way, demanded his
share of his father’s estate. He was in essence saying, I don’t have the time to wait until you are gone; I want my inheritance
now! The son seemed to have absolutely no concern for how his demand would
affect his father, and the father didn’t even object to the demand! I couldn’t
even talk my father out of an advance on my allowance! In fact, I didn’t even
get an allowance! (Can I get some pity?)
In verse 12 Jesus
says the father divided his property between the two sons – verse 12 tells us he
divided everything between them. The word for property is actually living. It wasn’t just money in the bank or stocks that the father
gave up; it was the total resources by which the father made his living. The
division of property meant that any livestock and land was liquidated or given
the both sons. The sons took what was theirs by right of inheritance, and the
father goes along with the request, even though it would limit his ability to
continue to make a living. To add insult to injury, the younger son then
gathers it all together and wanders off to squander the money. All the
resources the father had accumulated over the course of many years were about
to be squandered by his son in a very short time.
Doesn’t it just make
you want to say you know what that father
really should have given that young man? “You want to leave? You want to go out
on your own? Let me show you the door and help you on your way!”
What this young man
didn’t understand is that what we want out of life and how we set about getting
what we want has real consequences for the people in our lives. When we’re young we don’t think about
consequences. What is one of the
most terrifying moments in the life of a parent? When your child gets a driver’s license. In one of what my kids call my virtue speeches, I tried to warn them
both of the consequences of their actions when they get behind the wheel of a
car. A thoughtless, careless
moment could have life and death consequences for them and for others as well. They were now responsible for driving
and handling a machine that could take a life in a moment, so it was important
for them to understand that whatever actions they took while driving had
consequences for others.
The young man did not
understand the consequences of putting out his hand and asking it to be filled
with his share of an inheritance. It
didn’t occur to me when I was young why my parents worked so hard. It didn’t
occur to me they had to work so hard because they were raising five children
and it took a lot of hard work and a lot of money to provide for five children.
My father was a steel worker, but he was also a gunsmith, a sign painter, an
engraver, he did work with his tractor – anything that helped to enlarge the
family income. There were far too
many times when I just put out my hand without any consideration to what was
required of my parents to be able to put something in my hand. After becoming a
parent myself I had some understanding of how they sacrificed for my siblings
and me and I was sorry for the times I was ungrateful for what they had done.
It’s unfortunate that it took so long to for that realization to sink into my
head and into my heart.
This younger son had
no clue about what he had asked of his father. And it’s amazing, don’t you
think, that this father lets his son go. Not only does he give him his money,
he doesn’t try and convince his son to stay at home. The impetuousness of youth
makes us think we can conquer the world on our own, but this young man would
soon discover that no one gets through life on his or her own. He soon finds
out the world can be a very difficult place. His father allows him to go and learn a painful lesson. How
difficult that must have been for the father.
What this father really
wanted was the love of his son; instead, he received rejection. Love always
faces the risk of rejection, and there is so much pain involved in rejection
but love continues to love. If the younger son did not want to stay at home,
the father was not going to force him to stay. The father believed in love, not
obligation. This father never stopped loving his son. God never stops loving
even the most wayward prodigal.
Never.
It’s possible to
think that the father let go of his son too easily, but in reality the father –
in giving his son what the son thought he wanted – was allowing his son to
learn an important and much needed lesson. If the son wants to go looking for a
life of pleasure he would learn he was really chasing an illusion. The son had to go out and chase after
something else in order for him to see his home and family in a very different
light.
But lest we be too
hard on this young man, let us remember that all of us, to one extent or
another, is a prodigal.
I have not seen the
movie Unbroken, nor have I read the
book. Tanya read the book some
months ago and would often tell me about what she was reading. It’s the story of Louis Zamperini, who
was a prisoner of war during World War II, and his struggle to put his life
together after that horrible experience.
Tanya flagged a few parts of the book for me to read, in particular the
parts of the book that dealt with his religious conversion. Mr. Zamperini struggled
in vain to put his life back together after coming home at the conclusion of
the war. He was angry, had
terrible nightmares, was an alcoholic, and dealt with other struggles. His wife convinced him to attend a
Billy Graham rally in Los Angeles and he agreed to go. Although it only made him angry at
first, the message did penetrate his heart and mind and he had a profound conversion,
spending the rest of his life working with children and, eventually, forgiving
his captors from the POW camp. While little of this is mentioned in the movie,
it was his coming to faith and the huge impact it had on his life that defined
him from that moment forward. In
one the passage, which told of his anger, debilitating alcoholism, and other
struggles, was this line – no one could
reach Louie, because he had never really come home (page 171).
We are all prodigals,
in our own way, and if we fail to understand the extent to which God is loving
and merciful to his children, welcoming home the prodigals, we have failed to
understand God.
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