Father Wants You Home • Luke 15:11-32

1:12:37 Teaching begins

Notes

Jesus told two stories about lost things being found.

To be lost is a tragedy for everyone. No one can take joy in loss and death.

To find the lost and bring them home to safety, life, restore value, is a joy for everyone.

Jesus applies “lost and found” to people in His third story, and it’s the best story because His punchline is absolutely true: Father wants you home.

I’m reading in Luke 15 from verse 11.

1. Jesus knows the grumbling, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

A. He’s reaching out to the lost, traitors, sexually immoral, people who don’t care about God.

B. This bothers the Pharisees.

c. Jesus wants to get across His Father’s attitude: everyone takes joy in finding and saving the lost, unless you yourself are lost.

2. We’ll call the second son in the story “Younger”. Younger obviously has very little relationship with his father.

A. His opinion of his father is: he’s dull and doesn’t know how to live life at all. If I had what he has, I’d know exactly what to do: live it up.

B. He’s figured out how to do that. He says to his father: “Give me my share of your estate right now.”

1. The older son would receive a double portion, and that would divide the estate into thirds. Older gets 2/3, Younger gets 1/3.

2. This is clueless: “Hey Dad, let’s pretend you’re dead! Can I have the money?” The father does it! Gives Younger his share.

C. Younger packs up and goes away to a far country. There he parties, he gets drunk, he has as much sex as he can. Live for the moment.

1. He was already far from his father in his thinking. I’m young, cool, and know what I’m doing. He is old-fashioned, boring. Irrelevant. Doesn’t know how to live.

2. Now he’s physically far from his father. He’s separated. There’s no communication, no contact. As far as he’s concerned, his father doesn’t exist.

3. Younger learns hard truths by experience.

A. The money runs out and he doesn’t know where to get more. He learns you have to make money through hard work.

B. A famine happens and everyone is in trouble. Life becomes a struggle for survival.

C. He gets the only work he can find, feeding swine. This job has no interesting parts, doesn’t require skill. You can’t take pride in a job well done. No dignity.

D. No one cares about him even though he’s doing the work. They don’t give him anything. They’re taking advantage of him. He has no leverage to get them to live up to their part of the deal.

E. He has become worthless.

4. He faces the truth. He comes to himself. He becomes aware of his situation. He understands who he is and where he is. He’s lost.

A. He is aware that his life is completely messed up. Something has to change quickly or else he’ll die in this far-away country.

B. He understands that his father is a really good guy. My father’s hired men are doing way better than me! They work hard for him because my father treats them very well. He’s honest and fair. I know by experience: you don’t find that often at all.

C. My father knows how to live life right. He knows what he’s doing.

D. Hardest truth of all. I’ve treated him badly and I’ve treated God badly. I can’t make it up to him. I can’t pay him back. I can’t ever expect him to treat me like his son.

E. If I ask him to hire me maybe he’ll do that and I can make it.

5. When he comes home everything goes better than he ever dreamed.

A. His father sees him a long way off because he was looking for him to come home. He wants him to come home!

B. He runs to meet him, embrace him, kiss him. The father knows, just the fact that Younger has come home means he’s not only alive, he’s aware, he’s thinking right. He’s okay!

C. But he has to fix one thought. Younger honestly believes he does not deserve to be the father’s son.

D. He finds out it’s not what he thinks, it’s what the father thinks! You are my son! He commands the slaves to clothe Younger in honour, get the best food, we’re going to celebrate right now because my son is alive from the dead.

E. In his wildest dreams Younger never expected his father to react this way. Maybe it’s a shock to realise, he does know how to celebrate and whoop it up! My father, having a good time!

F. He’s learning a lot of things that he never knew.

1. My father has always loved me.

2. I left him, but he never left me. He wants me.

3. He knew how stupid I was. He’s smart and he’s wise.

4. I had no clue that I was so important to him. I never knew him.

5. My father is the best father. He’s so good.

6. But we’re not done. Older comes home and he’s angry with both his brother and his father.

A. He’s been working in the fields doing his job and comes in and what? It’s a party? What for? Who’s this for?

B. He is so angry that he refuses to go in to the celebration. The father has to go out to him. Notice, Older is far away from his father.

C. And he complains, I do what you say, you don’t give me a young goat so I can rejoice with my friends, but this son of yours blows his inheritance on prostitutes and you put on a feast. You reward the stupid and you ignore hard workers like me.

D. Notice, Older doesn’t acknowledge Younger as his brother. He’s your son, but that pig’s not my brother.

E. You’re both wrong. He lives stupid and you welcome him. And what about me?

F. These are different sons, but they’re in the same situation.

1. Neither one of them has a relationship with their father.

2. Neither of them know or understand their father.

3. Each of them is thinking only of themselves, not about their father. But one of them changed his mind.

7. The father explains himself to Older.

A. He calls Older, “Son”. He’s spelling out their relationship. I’m your father. I gave you life and I love you. The basis of our family is, I love you.

B. Anytime you wanted anything you could have asked me for it. You never asked me. Do you realise you’re not talking with me? You don’t expect me to say, “Yes.”

C. He’s my son and he’s your brother. In my family we are all related no matter what. Younger stopped acting like my son but I never stopped being his father. And you threw away Younger as your brother. You can’t throw him away because I can’t throw him away.

D. It’s right that we celebrate your brother returning home, safe, from the dead! We have to do this! He’s safe! He’s thinking right! He’s going to be okay! He’s a changed person who understands that he is supremely important to me. I love him, that’s who I am. He’s part of us, that’s who we are.

E. Our relationship is not a contract, you fulfil your part, I’m obligated to fulfil mine, or else you sue me for breach of contract. Do you know me? What kind of a father I am?

8. So what?

A. The story ends right there and we don’t see how the Pharisees react to it. Do they get it? Do you?

B. The Father loves His children and wants them to come home to Him.

C. Before He created the universe, God is Father. He has always had a Son whom He loves with all His Holy Spirit. Before there was a world, there is eternal family relationship.

D. The Father is right here in our midst. He is right here, and yet we don’t know Him.

1. Some of us don’t care at all. Just give me the good stuff, I’m out of here.

2. Some of us think, if I do the right thing, I can obligate God to bless me. He owes me.

3. Are you aware of the Father? He loves us, He gave us life, and we are dead in our sins against Him. He’s right here in the room, and we don’t know Him.

E. The Father overcomes our sins and our being dead by giving us His Son.

1. Jesus died for all our sins against the Father, everything we did in selfishness and ignorance.

2. He makes us conscious of how selfish and ignorant we are. He’ll allow us come right to the bottom, if that’s what it takes, to make us aware of how lost we are, how far away we are from the Father.

3. Jesus’ death and resurrection brings us home to the Father. He gives us His Holy Spirit, the Spirit of His Son, so we can really say, “Father.” We are born again of His Spirit and we can know our Father.

F. You are aware that you are far from the Father, that you’re dead in your sins. Maybe it’s the first time you’re aware. Maybe you’ve received Jesus and you realise, how little you know the Father. You don’t know Him and you are dead.

G. Right now, receive Jesus. You say, “I know I’ve sinned against You, Father, and am not worthy to be called Your son, Your daughter. I know I don’t deserve You, but You gave Jesus to save me. Please receive me as Your son, Your daughter. Please cleanse me and cover my nakedness. Bring me into Your home. Make me know you.

Let’s pray.