Feeling footloose and frisky…a featherbrained freshman from Fargo named Fred forced his father to fork over the family fortune. Feeling free…Fred flew far to fancy foreign fields—finding foolish frivolities, frequent fornication, and fabulous feasting with faithless friends. Fred frittered away his father’s fortune—fleeced by his “friends” in folly. Finally, fully fatigued and facing famine, Fred found himself a feed-flinger in a filthy farmyard with fungus on his face and fists full of fresh fragrant fertilizer. “Fooey! What a fiasco!” the frazzled fugitive forlornly fumbled—frankly facing facts. “Father’s flunkies fare far finer!” Freezing, frightened, and frustrated by failure, Fred fled forthwith to his Fargo family, filled with fear and foreboding. Falling at his father’s feet, he forlornly fumbled, “Father, I’ve flunked, and fruitlessly forfeited family favor. Frankly, I’ve flopped.” Fortunately for Fred, the farsighted father said, “Fantastic!” and forgetting Fred’s failings, frantically flagged the flunkies to furnish Fred with fashionable flannel, fetch a fatling from the flock, and fix a fragrant feast! But Fred’s fault-finding brother—Farley—flew into a fit, frowning on Fred’s fancy footwork and his father’s forthwith forgiveness. “Fred’s a fool!” said Farley. But the faithful father figured, “Filial fidelity is fine Farley—but the fugitive is found! What forbids fervent festivity? Let flags be unfurled! Find the fiddles & flutes! Let fanfares flare!” Father’s forgiveness formed the foundation for Fred the former fugitive’s future fortitude.
Did you like that? Well, the reason you enjoyed this story that has been “alliterated” in the key of “F” is because it is so FFFFFFamiliar. In fact it is probably the most familiar of all Jesus’ parables. William Barclay goes so far as to say that it is the greatest short story in the world. And I think he may be right because everyone knows and admires the story of the prodigal son.
By the way—for those of you who have never heard this alliterated version—I want you to be sure and note that it is not original with me. I don’t know the original source but I heard it first decades ago at CENTRIFUGE. And before we begin our study let’s read the original. Take your Bibles now and turn to Luke chapter 15 verses 11-32.
11 – “There was a man who had two sons.
12 – The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
13 – Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living.
14 – After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need.
15 – So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs.
16 – He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
17 – When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!
18 – I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.
19 – I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’
20 – So he got up and went to his father. 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.
21 – The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22 – But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.
23 – Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate.
24 – For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’
Now—as I said—this particular world-changing story is very popular. Everyone knows it. Well, why is that true? Why is this parable so MEMORABLE? I can think of three reasons—and the first is this:
(1) It is a story that begins with a surprising REQUEST.
As verse 12 says it all starts with the youngest of two sons asking for his inheritance—and this is a SURPRISING request because…
A. …he asked for his inheritance a bit EARLY.
His father was still alive at the time! When his father actually died, as the younger son, he would be entitled to one third of his estate. You may remember my telling you this last week as we studied the context surrounding Jesus’ parable of the rich fool. In that culture, the eldest always got two thirds of the estate and the younger got one third. If there were other sons then they split the third. That’s how estates were divided when father’s died. So—as a son—you always knew what was coming to you. But of course you didn’t ask for it BEFORE you had it coming to you. You didn’t ask for it before your father died….because it would be like wishing he was already dead. For the Palestinians of that day it was the deepest offense a child could impose on a parent and the Pharisees who were listening to Jesus tell this story would have understood that. I mean, it would be like saying, “Dad, could you take a loan out NOW on the life insurance we will collect when you keel over and go ahead and give me my share?”
Now—we aren’t told WHY the younger son made this rude request. Perhaps he felt like the low man on the totem pole in his household and so he had a passion to make a name for himself. Maybe the older brother was hassling him. Maybe he was just bored with his life. But for whatever reason—he wanted MORE than what he already had. He wanted what was coming to him. He thought it would be to his advantage to take his inheritance early and leave.
At this point I want us to stop and note a very important principle.
This part of the story should teach us that whenever we think we need MORE than God or more than what He has provided for us—well, when we start thinking like that we are in trouble. You see, the very essence of sin is drawing pleasure from anything other than God or His provision. In fact, this was the gist of the message Satan conveyed to Eve in the Garden of Eden. He told Eve—and this is a paraphrase, “To continue to be completely loyal to God will result in your life being less than it could be, in fact less than it should be. What God has permitted is not only manipulatively restrictive, it just plain isn’t enough. Your life could be richer, more satisfying, and more complete if you were not bound by loyalty to God or His rules.”
So you see, we always are headed in the wrong direction when, like this Feather-brained Freshman From Fargo, we think that things will be better for us away from our Heavenly Father that life is somehow more fulfilling away from His presence….His wise guidance.
Well, for whatever reason, the father in this world-changing story granted his son’s SURPRISING request. He gave him what he wanted. Perhaps he knew his boy well enough to realize that the only way he was going to learn in life was the HARD WAY. And God is like that father in that He gives us the freedom to accept or reject Him…to follow His guidance or to make our own way in life.
By the way, how are you using that freedom these days? Are you acknowledging God in ALL YOUR WAYS? Or are aspects of your life where you foolishly go your own way?
B. The second reason this request is shocking is seen in the fact that this foolish son “gathered all that he had.”
You see, those words indicate that the son not only received his portion of the estate (the land and livestock that was coming to him). He sold it. He turned it all into cold, hard cash. And this would have been shocking because back then the father’s estate was not measured in stock portfolios, bonds, money market funds, and cash. No—wealth was measured in livestock and land—and in the Palestinian culture, you didn’t sell land that belonged to your family. Land was valuable family HERITAGE. It was part of the family IDENTITY. To liquidate it was a huge insult to the entire clan. But the son selfishly did this. He sold it all. The final surprising facet of this young man’s request is this:
C. He very quickly SQUANDERED all his inheritance-turned-to-cash in loose living.
This was a very selfish thing to do because in his day and age land and flocks were part of the family’s social security system. Aged parents made it through the end of their lives by literally living off the estate. So when the rebellious son sold part of the estate, he was cutting off his father’s resources. He took something that his father would need later in life and according to verse 13, “WASTED it in RIOTOUS living.” The word “riotous” here means “loud” or “wild.” It suggests a life of constant wild parties, loud music, and bright lights. And…the Greek word that we translate as “wasted” literally means “to blow away.” It was the same word that was used to describe the winnowing process that farmers of that day used on grain. When grain was harvested from the fields it was placed on a stone or wooden threshing floor. Animals were then led ‘round and ‘round over the grain, and the pressure of their hooves trampled the grain and forced the kernels to pop out of the husks. Then on a windy day, the farmer, would use a wooden paddle much like a shovel to toss the grain up into the air—like this African farmer is doing. When this is done the wind blows the lighter husks away, and the heavier grain falls back onto the floor. By repeating this process the husks are soon all blown away and nothing but pure grain is left on the threshing floor. This is called “Winnowing” because the WINd is used to blow away the husks. AND that’s the word that is used to describe what the young man did with his family inheritance. Today we would say he literally “Blew” it all on wild living. Now some of us might think, “Well boys will be boys! And you know, boys do tend to sow their wild oats.” But listen—when we SOW wild oats that is all we REAP—WILD worthless oats.
I don’t know about you but this part of the story reminds me that whenever I foolishly, pridefully disobey God—well, I always come back worse than when I left—scarred by sin and feeling like I have WASTED something precious.
I mean, you and I always pay a PRICE for sowing wild oats as this prodigal soon discovered. Verse 14 says that he quickly spent everything. The bill for all his “wild living” was his ENTIRE inheritance.
This should remind us that sin is an EXPENSIVE business! Sin is never an investment. When we sin, we always SPEND relationships, health, time—things we never get back again. Verse 14 ALSO says that after he had wasted all his money, there arose a severe FAMINE in the land, and he fell into abject POVERTY. When this happened this lost son lost two things. First he no doubt lost his Far Country FRIENDS. To re-use my earlier words—after “…frittering away his father’s fortune in fabulous feasting—Fred’s faithless fair-weather friends forsook him.”
This, reminds me of Proverbs 14:20 where it says,“The poor are shunned even by their neighbors, but the rich have many friends.” This foolish son also lost HIS SELF-RESPECT. As a last resort he took a job which would be equivalent to cleaning cesspools today. You see, the prodigal ended up working for a Gentile, feeding pigs—a task that was forbidden to a Jew because the law plainly said, “Cursed is he who feeds swine.” But the son sank even lower still. He got so hungry that he longed to eat the pigs’ food and, as you know, pigs will eat just about anything!
Some of us have been there. We have felt the degradation of sin and sought for something to satisfy us. We learned the hard way that the longer we sin…the longer we stay in the “far country”…the longer we rebel against God….the emptier and hungrier we feel.
This should remind us that when the Lord is our shepherd, we do not want. But when we forsake Him we always want. His way is always best….always the most satisfying. Now—up until this point the Pharisees probably liked this story Jesus was telling—including it’s surprising beginning. In fact, I thing at this point they were probably forming the 1st century version of an “AMEN corner” thinking, “Right on Jesus! Exactly! These people You hang around are sinners. They’ve offended God just like the prodigal did his father. They’re degraded. They deserve their punishment! Preach that sermon! Turn or burn! Forsake or bake! We love this kind of stuff!”
Well Jesus didn’t stop there to acknowledge their “AMENS.” And, as He continued to teach, I think the “AMEN corner” began to quiet down because…
(2) …in the next part of His story included a surprising DECISION.
You see, in spite of his GREAT sin—the boy determined to go home. And at this point I want you to be sure and note something else. You see, in the same way that the son took steps AWAY from his dad—there were steps BACK to him. This should help us to see that when WE take steps away from God…there are steps back to Him as well—the same steps in fact that the prodigal took. And in case you ever feel foolish about your own sin…in case you ever find yourself needing to walk in the direction the son walked, here they are.
A. The first step is the step of RECOGNITION.
Look at verse 17. It says that the prodigal awoke to his condition and “came to himself.” He finally began to recognize things as they really were. He saw how CRAZY his actions had been. He realized that he had been behaving like someone who didn’t have “both oars in the water.” And you know, the fact is ALL sin is really a form of insanity. Anyone would be crazy to give up a relationship with God for the pleasures of this world. We would be foolish to give what we cannot LOSE to gain what we cannot KEEP! But, many times in life we become demented enough to forget this. We delude ourselves into believing that sin is good—that disobeying God will lead us to experience some joy we are missing—and that is what had happened to this prodigal. He apparently thought that things would be better away from His father’s influence that the joys of the FAR COUNTRY would be greater than the pleasure to be found in His father’s presence.
When his money began to run out he no doubt told himself that his hard times were only temporary and that his “ship” would soon come in. He imagined he still had friends. Even when he had to take a job with a detested pig farmer, at first he probably thought he was only doing it a short term basis…to keep body and soul together until his bad fortune changed. Maybe he told himself not to worry—that he would make it big in pigs! You know—he would become the Bob Evans or Jimmy Dean of the Far Country. It was only when he got to the point of starvation that he realized that no one, not even his former faithless forsaking “friends,” would give him anything. It was only then that he “came to his senses” and FRANKLY FACED THE FACT thathe had been foolishly sinful.
You know, sometimes, like the prodigal, WE have to learn the hard way that God’s way is best. King David did. I say this because he wrote a psalm of gratitude for the lessons he learned in the school of hard knocks. In Psalm 119:67, 71. He said to God: “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now [after I have encountered tough times] I obey Your word…It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn Your decrees.”
In any case, the first step back to God for all prodigals is recognition—a realization that you are indeed going the wrong way in life—that you need to turn back to God.
B. And the second step is CONFESSION.
The son had sinned and now, having come to his senses, in verses 18 & 19, he acknowledged his sin. He said: “I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: ‘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.” Notice that he didn’t excuse his behavior as understandable “youthful wild oats,” He didn’t blame others as Adam had blamed Eve or Eve the serpent. No, he confessed his sin AS his sin, because he had come to see himself and his offenses clearly. Further, he confessed that it was sin against heaven as well as against his father and that gave sin an even greater seriousness.
Let me stop and ask—do you ever stumble in THIS particular step back to God? To you ever start out confessing your sin but end up excusing it? “I know I was grumpy with my kids but I had a hard day.” or “I know I shouldn’t have gossiped but I just needed to talk to someone.” Or…“I know I should have helped my neighbor but I’ve been so busy.” Do you know what I mean? Ever do that? Do you ever spend more time excusing your sin than confessing it?
Listen, God doesn’t take our EXCUSES for sin very seriously. You see, the word “confess” means “to call it the same thing.” In other words, when we sin, we don’t need to make excuses, or blame somebody else, or try to wiggle out of it. We need to say, “God this was sin. You call it sin. I confess it as sin…and that’s all there is to it. Please forgive me.” To confess means to own up to the fact that our behavior wasn’t anyone else’s fault. Confession means saying that a conscious choice was made…and it does not need to be excused, explained or even understood. After his sin with Bathsheeba, King David admitted to God,“For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against You and You only have I sinned.” (Psalm 51:4) We should note that the son showed that he saw his actions as sinful because he planned to go home and ask to be a hired SERVANT…and a hired servant was not only less than a son but in actuality he was less than a slave. A slave at least had some sort of security. But a hired servant could be dismissed from his position. So the son asked not for the BEST but for the LEAST in his father’s house. However, when the prodigal got home, he even abandoned THIS request. In verse 21 he said, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” So, he didn’t ask to be made as one of the hired servants. He just confessed and threw himself on his father’s mercy. And THIS is true confession….no deals…no negotiations….no strings attached.
C. We come now to the third step that all returning prodigals must make: REPENTANCE.
Verse 20 says that having seen himself as he was and having confessed his sin as sin, the prodigal “got up and went to his father.” He repented. He turned from his sinful choices and headed home. You see, thinking alone did not save him, accurate though his thinking was. Confession alone did not save him, though he had much to confess. He needed to turn around and RETURN to his father. And that is what he did. To return to God, we too have to take this final step. We must turn and make a complete break with what has been. There’s a saying in baseball that you can’t steal second base with your foot still on first. And neither can you begin a new future with God with your feet still planted in the past. You have to LEAVE your sin. Proverbs 28:13 says, “He who conceals his transgression will not prosper, but he who confesses AND FORSAKES THEM will find compassion.” You see, FORSAKING sin always follows a genuine confession of sin.
Well…the son headed home….and as he turned up the last road something unbelievably wonderful happened. This is perhaps the MAIN reason this story is so memorable because…
(3) …It ends with a surprising CONSEQUENCE.
His father came running down the road to meet him! Verse 20 says, “…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.” This would indicate that the father regularly looked for his son’s return. Every day he probably went for long walks on his estate keeping his eyes on every road that led to the family home.
As I reminded you a few weeks back, my Grandfather Adams had a farm in Mississippi and the drive way was about a mile long and it was covered with gravel which meant you could hear someone coming for a long time. So whenever we pulled into the front yard each summer for our annual vacation visit he and grandmom would be standing there on the porch looking—waiting for us. As soon as our station wagon rounded the bend they’d come running down into the yard. They would open the car doors and grab grandkids in their arms, welcoming us home. This is the picture we have here—a loving father looking for his son to come back and when he did, running out to meet him.
In this story, the father symbolizes God and in all of Scripture this is the only time we see God hurrying at anything….hurrying to welcome a repentant sinner back into His presence.
I don’t know about you but this part of the story reminds me of James 4:8 where it says, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you….He will run to be near to you!”
Now, the father’s SURPRISING behavior at this point would have shocked the Pharisees—I imagine their mouths were hanging open—for you see, a KISS in Palestinian culture is a sign for full acceptance and friendship. And the father didn’t stop with a kiss and a hug. He called for a robe, a ring, and sandals! That ROBE stands for honor; the RING stands for authority—for if a man gave to another his signet ring it was the same as giving him the power of attorney. The SHOES stand for a son as opposed to a slave, for children of the family were shod and slaves were not. Remember, the slave’s dream in the Negro spiritual was of the time when “…all God’s chillun got shoes.” Shoes were the sign of freedom.
Now…if it had been my son, I would have said, “Let’s go home. Wait till your mother sees you! She’s going to be so happy! And by the way…I’m glad to welcome you back but you’re on probation for the rest of your life.” Well, not this father. No! He simply JOYFULLY welcomed him and issued no punishment.
Someone asked Abraham Lincoln toward the end of the Civil War, “How are you going to treat the rebellious Southerners when the war is over?” He replied, “I will treat them as though they have never been away.” That’s what the father did! That’s what God does.
The late Grady Nutt used to say that only two on the farm were sad to see the prodigal return—the elder brother and the fatted calf. And the Pharisees would have empathized with the elder brother. They would have felt that he should not have been welcomed home—that he deserved punishment instead. But that is the main truth that this story illustrates. It is as Philip Yancey says, “God is like a love-sick Father….” Who cares more about us than our sin. He longs to welcome us home and restore us to full sonship. When we take these three steps…when we recognize our sin, confess it, forsake it, and return to our Heavenly Father, He “restores the joy of our salvation.” (Psalm 51:12) and “redeems us so that we can receive the full rights of sons.” (Galatians 4:5)
So, the WONDERFUL, MEMORABLE news this parable illustrates is that you and I can go home again. We were created for fellowship with God. Sin….our “far country” sin….broke that fellowship and separated us from our Heavenly Father. But, in spite of our rebellion, God still loves us and through the death of His Son Jesus Christ on the cross, He made provision for our forgiveness and our return. We can go home again! We can return to the open, waiting arms of our Heavenly Father.
The ordinance of communion is a celebration of this precious truth—and if you are our guest this morning and are a Christian we invite you to join us at this table. Even if you are not a member of this church, if you are His, this is yours.
THE ORDINANCE OF COMMUNION
After hearing this familiar world-changing story, perhaps you’ve seen that you are like the prodigal. You have rebelled against God and you see your need to return. Maybe this parable has shown you your need to be less like the Pharisees and reach out in compassion to the lost of the world. You may feel led to join this church in it’s ministry. If you have a decision that you wish to make public. I would invite you to walk the aisle and share that decision with me as we stand and sing. I’ll be standing here at the front…waiting to welcome you.
BENEDICTION:
Let the PEACE OF CHRIST rule in your hearts
since as members of one body you were called to peace.
Let the WORD OF CHRIST dwell in you richly
and whatever you do…in word or in deed
Do it all in the NAME OF CHRIST giving thanks to God the Father
through Him.