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July 16, 2024
Unwavering Love and Divine Grace: Lessons from the Prodigal Son
This episode isn't just about the son who left and squandered his wealth, but also about the father's unwavering love and the lessons we can draw from his patience and forgiveness.
We'll explore how the father's actions, driven by immense love, defied societal norms and expectations, offering a powerful analogy for divine grace.
We'll take you through personal anecdotes that resonate with the parable, from the thrill of skipping routines as a child to the realization of the emotional impact of our actions on our parents. The story of the prodigal son offers profound insights into the radical compassion and forgiveness shown by the father, who welcomes his son back with open arms despite societal conventions. Drawing parallels between biblical narratives and our own experiences, we'll highlight the tension between outward appearances and internal motivations, revealing the boundless nature of true compassion and forgiveness.
Whether you've grown up with the parable of the prodigal son or are hearing it for the first time, this episode invites you to embrace the grace and unconditional love that awaits you. Through these stories, we hope to offer a message of hope, forgiveness, and the deep bonds that define family, encouraging you to come home to the love that never gives up on you.
For more information and resources, visit www.citylightnyc.com
(00:00) The Prodigal Son's Father's Love
(04:05) Privileged Sons and Father's Love
(10:47) The Father's Unconditional Love
(21:24) Extravagant Reckless Love of a Father
(33:59) Father's Humble Love for His Sons
(41:16) Invitation to Come Home
Chapters
00:00 - The Prodigal Son's Father's Love
04:05:00 - Privileged Sons and Father's Love
10:47:00 - The Father's Unconditional Love
21:24:00 - Extravagant Reckless Love of a Father
33:59:00 - Father's Humble Love for His Sons
41:16:00 - Invitation to Come Home
Transcript
00:00 - Speaker 1
The father never gave up hope. He never stopped scanning the horizon, hoping that this day might be the day his son would come back. Maybe this day no, not today He'd wake up. Maybe it's this day, day after day after day. So the father's waited and he's waited, and he's waited for his son's return. So when he finally sees him on the horizon, jesus says he's filled with compassion and he runs to his son.
00:31 - Speaker 2
Welcome to the City Light Church podcast. Thanks for joining us today as we look into God's word and discover the hope and truth that he has for us. If you want to connect with City Light Church, feel free to visit us at citylightnyccom. That's citylightnyccom. Pastor Boyan Jancic and his team believe that the power of the Holy Spirit is already working in our hearts and minds. As you listen to today's teaching, remember that you are deeply loved by God, that you are surrounded by His grace and that he has a real hope and a future for you. That he has a real hope and a future for you.
01:05 - Speaker 1
My name is James. I get the privilege of sharing with you today and I wanted to talk to you about the prodigal son. How many of you heard the story of the prodigal son? A few of you, a few hands are going up. It's so familiar that even in pop culture, people who don't follow Christ, people that don't read the Bible from cover to cover, they've heard that story. Right, they know about Moses parting the Red Sea, they know about the Good Samaritan, they know about the prodigal son. They use these references usually out of context, but they know enough about it to mention it, and so I'm going to assume today that you know enough about the story of the prodigal son, right? Every time we talk about the prodigal son, what do we talk about? The prodigal son? So I'm gonna assume you know a lot about the prodigal son and I wanna spend a little bit of time diving a little deeper into the father. We just got done singing about the love of our heavenly father and I thought it would be interesting to kind of take a different spin on this, look at a different angle in this story. We know about the younger son, we know about the older son, these two kind of guys. But let's talk about the father. So that's what I wanted to spend my time with you here doing today.
02:09
This guy, he had it going on. He was a wealthy guy. He was probably one of the ones that, as Pastor Rob pointed out, was on those tablets that had utes. Utes had a lot of wealth. He was a wealthy landowner. He had lots of servants, lots of land, lots of livestock, a lot going on. He had a place in the Hamptons, he had a penthouse in Manhattan, he had everything in between. He was very comfortable and he had two sons that helped him in the family business. And these two sons knew that one day this business would be theirs. They knew that upon their father's passing, this inheritance would be coming their way. So they were helping daddy in the family business as they went on.
02:48
So these two young boys grew up knowing great privilege and I was just kind of wondering did you know anybody like that growing up, anybody that just kind of was operating at kind of a different level than the rest of us? I mean we were all kind of shopping at Sears and Kmart for our clothes and they were like at Macy's. I mean they were like designer clothes. I mean anybody have a friend like that? I had a friend like that. Maybe it was you that grew up a little more affluent than the rest of us were jealous about. We don't like you, no, we do.
03:18
He's sorry back there, but there was always somebody that just was at a different level. I had a friend like that. His name was Jason growing up and this guy I wanted to be Jason so bad. His house was better than everybody else's house. It was nicer, it was fancier. When you got to hang out at his house or heaven forbid, I mean you get like invited to a sleepover, like a growing up, like young, sleepover with some friends at this house. It was like a five-star hotel. He had everything going on at this house. He had motorcycles, he had four-wheelers, he had the best bicycles, he had all the gaming consoles that you could think of and with all the best games too Like I'm at home with a black and white TV playing Pong Not him. He got Sega Genesis, he got Atari, he got all the good gaming consoles. He wore designer clothes, he was a good looking kid. He had it going on and as we got older it only got worse.
04:09
You know you start to think, oh, maybe he's gonna go through that awkward stage and we'll catch up and then we can look down on Jason. No, it got worse. We all start driving and it's not as big a thing here in New York because you get old enough and your parents just say go ride the train and just don't die. In the rest of the country you're longing to get your driver's license and you get a car because that's freedom, okay, here it's like terror. If you drive in New York it's like ah, in the rest of the country it's like wide open, it's kind of normal. You get a car, you get a driver's license, we start driving just whatever we can Ford, anything with four wheels and a steering wheel and we are happy. Right, it can have a hole in the floorboard like the Flintstones. You just have to put your feet through to the cement to stop. It's that bad. They're not roadworthy. You never pass a state inspection but you're just happy with whatever jalopy you can afford.
04:56
But not Jason. His first car was a fully restored muscle car. This thing was gorgeous. You could see reflection in the hood. The rest of us were oxidized paints peeling off. Half of the parts are missing. This thing was gorgeous. It could win like a car show best of show, any day of the week hands down. This thing is amazing. And to make it worse, he had a. Anybody have vanity plates in here. I don't want to make fun of you if you do. He had a vanity plate with his last name on his car. I mean, come on, that was amazing.
05:29
This guy had it going on. I'm telling you, I wanted to be him so bad. I mean he may as well have had like a soundtrack playing behind him every time he'd enter a room. Do you know anybody like that? He just has this walk and, like time stands still, wind starts blowing. He's like he was smooth, so smooth. I wanted his life so badly. I mean he even wore the best fragrances.
05:58
Back in my day, if a guy wanted a little game, he'd slap on a little Old Spice okay, high karate, I'd get the gift set for Christmas, and that was my game. He'd slap on a little Old Spice okay, high karate, I'd get the gift set for Christmas, and that was my game. Okay, every now and then some of my friends would spring for a bottle of Dracar Noir. Remember Dracar Noir? Ooh, that was a good time right there. I didn't have Dracar. My friends had Dracar Every now and then, like, can I borrow a spray of Dr? There's your car? No more right now. But not Jason. He had the designer fragrances you could only get from the fragrance department in the mall. Yeah, the stuff that the rest of us mortals would only every now and then sneak a spray from the sample bottle as we walked through to the department store on our way to the food court. But he's living the dream every day of his life. Unreal, this guy. Just like these two boys. They grew up knowing great privilege and they had the love of their father to boot. They had everything their heart could desire, so much so that the younger son and you know the story he decides he gets the wild idea he's gonna ask daddy if he could have his share of the inheritance. Even before his dad kicked the bucket. He wants to get his money, go off and party like it's 1999, right? You remember that part of the story.
07:05
Some of you might be old enough, like me. You've heard the saying, the old adage, youth is wasted on the young. You ever heard that as you get older it makes a lot of sense. You look at young people. You're like you are so stupid. If I were your age with this knowledge now I would rule the world. Yeah, I used to be so. You know like, ooh, I know everything you wasted on the young People. Used to say it about me all the time. Now I say it about other people all the time.
07:26
This kid decided he was gonna live up to this, saying you wasted on the young. He was so dumb. He's like I have everything the world on a silver platter, but I want more. Hey, daddy, give me my share of the estate. Father, oh, father, dearest, can I have my share of the estate please? The younger son.
07:53
He acknowledges his dad as father.
07:55
He does the right thing. Oh, father, can I have the money? He doesn't just say, hey, old man, give me the cash. He knows better. He addresses him respectfully, but then what comes out of his mouth is anything but respect. Right, that's not a normal characteristic of a father-son relationship, right there, and we do that with God sometimes. Oh, father, heavenly Father, daddy, god, but then we live life our own way. We treat him like a magic genie that's just there to give us everything that our heart desires. Right, bless me, bless me, bless me, protect me, protect me, help me, help me. It's all about me. I'm the center of the universe, a little bit like this guy. Jesus even calls it out Matthew 15, verse eight. He says these people honor me with their lips, but their hearts they're what? Far from me, a little bit like the son, I think it's pretty interesting that compared to the way we see the older brother later in the story address his father Remember the beginning of verse 28, the father's pleading with the older son to come into the party, and he won't come in because he's mad.
08:59
Right, and this is the way he addresses his dad. He says look, all these years I've been slaving for you, never disobeying your orders. The older son doesn't even give the courtesy that the younger son did and call him father. Oh, father, dearest. He just says look, that shows kind of the disdain he has for dad. We know that's not a way of showing respect. Here's what's interesting and we've got to pay attention to these details.
09:28
In Jesus's day, the listener knew that showing that kind of disrespect to an elder in public was literally a matter of life or death. Today we see kids disrespecting mom and dad all the time and they get a Nintendo Switch as a reward. That all the time, and they get a Nintendo Switch as a reward. Oh, just be quiet. If you stop, I'll buy you something else In this day. You disrespected an elder and they'd kill you. That's how they purged that sin from the land. I think we need to bring that back. You know, I think we'd have fewer kids. I don't know about that, but Jesus' listeners knew that very clearly. His father has two sons, both whose hearts are far from him, but he chases them both, but in very different ways.
10:18
I remember when I was in the seventh grade I had another friend. His name was Jeff, and he decided one year for Halloween he had this kind of shed kind of thing, this other building on the back of his property that he and his older brother had converted into a haunted house this particular year. They had put time and money into it. I don't know how these great, rich friends, I don't know why I didn't have this kind of, and Jason and Jeff, they had it going on. He had his own haunted house this year and he invited a group of us over. He said this is gonna be amazing, it is gonna blow your mind. I was so excited.
10:47
So the morning of hey dad, can I go to Jeff's house for the haunted house? And so my dad's response was we'll talk about it when you get home from school. Now, most of you were young at one time. Do you remember back when your parents said we'll talk about it or I'll think about it? You know what that's code for? No, it's not gonna happen, right? So that's what I heard my seventh grade We'll talk about it when we get home, like no, oh my gosh. So all day that's all we could talk about. I hope he can get to go. I don't know why my dad won't let me go. I hope he's gonna. How are we gonna convince him? We're writing speeches. We're not listening. We didn't learn anything that day. I feel bad. Sorry, teachers. All we're talking about is how cool this haunted house is gonna be and how we can scheme our way to all get to the haunted house.
11:33
So really, maybe about lunchtime, jeff has the brilliant idea. He says James, bus home from school instead of your bus, look how much time it'll save. Instead of you going home talking to your dad, your dad bringing you over, look, let's cut out the middleman. Just ride my bus home. We start having fun right away. I said, jeff, you're a genius Like you're going to be president one day or something. That's amazing. I said that's office. Hey, can I speak to my father? He's not here right now. Can you take down a message. So I asked him to take a message. Hey, tell my dad when he gets back I've taken Jeff's bus home and I'm all good. Okay, so now I've left a message in my seventh grade mind I'm good to go, I made the call, that's all you need to do, right? So I ride Jeff's bus home and it is everything he said.
12:29
It was this haunted house was over the top, scared the spit out of me. I had nightmares for weeks. It was awesome. So we are having the time of our lives. What I didn't know was the reason my dad wasn't at his office when I called was because he had left work early to come home and surprise me and take me to Jeff's house as soon as I got home. Yeah, ow, don't you wish you had a time machine and you could kind of go back and do things over? Now you gotta remember this was before cell phones, because I'm really old. This was before pagers. We didn't have pagers. Remember beeper. This was before voicemail or caller ID. So my dad has no idea where I am. All he knows is I didn't show up from school that day. So he's probably worried out of his mind. But he also was probably a little hurt that I would disrespect him and dishonor him the way I did disregard his instructions.
13:40
Think about that. Multiply it by maybe like 1,000, and we start to maybe get a glimpse of what this father felt like when his son said hey, old man, give me my cash. I want to go off and party and live life my own way. You start to get a sense. We spend a lot of time thinking about the kid. What would I do with all that money and freedom? What about the dad? What do you think? He was feeling Heartbroken.
14:06
And you have to understand, in this day, the traditional culture that Jesus' listeners were speaking to. It was not common at all for this father to act this way. The listeners were already probably a little upset and irritated. Remember, jesus is telling this story. So step back in some context. Jesus is preaching, he's telling. He said let me tell you a little story about a family, his father. He has two sons. So the listeners, they're listening. So this son disrespects the dad, asks him for the cash. Wait, the dad does what Like, even at the request you should like, beat him like, disown him, take him to the public square, rip off his robe, make a big speech about how this kid is horrible. He acts more like his mother than you. It's gotta be her fault and then go on and regain some semblance of your honor. That's what they're listening to Like. Why? Why haven't you done that? There's already this kind of depth of mystery to the story even at this point, as Jesus is telling the story.
15:11
In our modern Western culture it's not uncommon for people that maybe grew up in a small town or out in the country to leave to the big city or abroad right To go to school or to get a job or to find themselves. I'm going to go backpack through Europe. I'm going to move to New York. If I can make it there, I can make it anywhere. That's a very Western concept In this culture and in many still today.
15:41
That's very disrespectful. You're saying I don't want your way of life. I'm turning my back and rejecting you, everything you stand for. I'm saying I'm not going to care for you in your old age. So your social security, your Medicare plan was me. You got to figure something else out. Sorry, I'm going to go live my life for myself. Huge slap in the face. That was ultimate dishonor and shame.
16:07
The younger son's abandoning every obligation that he has their tradition, their way of life. So this father's been shamed, disrespected, dishonored, but he still grants his son's request Isn't that crazy? He liquidates enough of his estate to pay out the one third that he was going to give his son as the inheritance. So the son goes off and he parties hard. We know that part of the story right, because we all think, ooh, what would I do? Where would I go first? But the story tells us that before long all the money was gone. All the VIP tables at all the right restaurants gone. All the status, all the friends that he was paying the bill for gone. All the food and drink he had become accustomed to, gone, gone, gone, gone. So do you think all those people that were around him, his entourage, were there to help a brother out Some hard times here? You want me to spot you this time? No, they were gone Like cockroaches when you turn on the light. I know they were there a second ago. It just disappeared.
17:15
This guy has nothing. So the story tells us that's when he's at his lowest, that's when he's getting a job as a Jewish boy, mind you, feeding pigs. You know pigs are unclean to the Jewish people. So he's feeding pigs that's how desperate things are. He's fantasizing about stealing the food, the slop he's giving the pigs and filling his own stomach with it, cause the growl of his stomach is louder than his pride right now and he just can think about nothing else but eating that slop. And so he finally says you know what the servants at my dad's house eat better than I do. I really messed up. Maybe I should go home and ask daddy for a job as a servant in his house. Maybe he'll give me a job. I'm not really qualified for anything, but maybe some nepotism will help me at least get a job. I'll feed his pigs, his utes. So he decides, he writes this little speech, he's going to go home and he's going to ask dad for a job.
18:11
I think it's interesting that the story doesn't tell us how much time has passed in this story for all this to take place. When you read the Bible I would encourage you to do it. I've talked to so many of you I say get an archeological study Bible, get a Bible and journal and think about the context. Step outside of our 2024 world and think of what must it have been like when this was written the culture, the context, the landscape, what did all these things really mean? And so think about it. We just think, oh man, he got a whole bunch of money and he spent it. I mean, if I gave you a bunch of cash, probably by tomorrow you could spend it all. But that's not really what happened here. He had a lot of money I mean this was a sizable estate and he liquidated all the cash.
18:56
And the Bible says there was a big famine in the land right. All the food was gone. That's why he's feeding pigs. It's the desperate time. Most theologians believe that for a famine to have impacted the land the way the Bible says, it had to have been years, not weeks or months. Years that this son has been away for everything in the story to have taken place. That's a long time. So look at what happens.
19:24
Let's look at Luke, chapter 15, starting in verse 28. So he decides to go home, but while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him. That's an interesting response. So he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. After years of waiting, waiting and watching, the father never gave up hope that one day he might see his son again. Interesting response. Have you ever waited and wanted something so badly and you waited and waited? I get impatient. Usually if there's something I want so much, I've given up by lunch I'm like, ah, it didn't come, what else do I want? You have to want something and love something pretty badly, to wait and hope for it year after year, and that's what this father does. The father never gave up hope. He never stopped scanning the horizon, hoping that this day might be the day his son would come back. Maybe this day no, not today He'd wake up. Maybe it's this day, day after day after day. So the father's waited and he's waited and he's waited for his son's return. So when he finally sees him on the horizon, jesus says he's filled with compassion and he runs to his son. Pause, right there. He runs to his son. Now again, step back out of where we are.
21:03
Think of the first century, the audience Jesus is speaking to. No self-respecting man would be caught running. Now, today, it's cool. It's like I read a 5k today. Now, today, it's cool. It's like I read a 5k today From the couch to a 5k. I'm amazing. We got a Peloton, we got an elliptical. We think it's cool to run.
21:24
My dad used to make fun of me. I go to the gym. He's like why do you do? Why don't you just do work? Like, why do you have to pretend to do stuff to stay in shape? Just do stuff. I'm like, bro, because this is better. But in this day, no self-respecting man would run. You didn't run if you had any clout or status. But the Bible says that he ran. They wore dresses, okay. So you got to remember that too. He's not wearing his velvet track suit. He's not looking all fly. He's wearing an ankle length dress. He has to pick up his dress and run. This looked weird. That's why they didn't do it.
21:59
So the listeners are saying what? He gives him, the money he doesn't disown him. And then he sees him. He's filled with compassion. And then he did you say runs. He runs what? They are flabbergasted at this father. They're like what are you even talking about? And then he embraces and kisses him. You're nuts. This is not a way a dignified man would conduct himself in public. This father has been mortally offended by his evil son and then he's sprinting towards him with compassion in his heart and love to receive him.
22:37
Look at verse 22 through 24. Look what the father tells his servants. He says 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 kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate, for the son of mine, who was dead, is alive again. He was lost and is found. What a response. He sees his son approaching and while he's still a long way off, he recognizes that all familiar gate of his son. You gotta really love somebody to know their gate, to know their walk. But he knew his son's walk Again, this is another detail that you have to really dig in and understand the story.
23:19
This was not like a little house on the prairie, this little homestead out in the middle of nowhere, and they never got visitors. This was a big, important estate. There was a lot of traffic and a lot of people came to his land all the time. So the fact that he saw someone in the distance was no big deal. That was nothing new. But he recognized the walk of his son from a long way off. You got to really love somebody to know their walk. I know your walk. She knows my walk. I got this smooth glide. I don't I look stupid, but if she loves me she probably knows my stupid walk. So while he was a long way off, he said could I know that walk? That's my son.
24:03
And his heart was filled with compassion. He picks up his skirt and he runs. That's his first response, not anger, not sit there and cross his arms and withhold himself from his son, that insolent boy. I don't see any bags of cash. Did he spend it all? Oh my gosh, did he say? You know what? I'm going to wait, I'm going to make sure he, like, delivers a speech. So I know he really knows that he messed up. I'm going to sit here and think of 101 ways to make sure he knows. I told you so. He didn't do any of that. He was filled with compassion, ran to him and kissed him. Shocking, filled with compassion. Think about that word for a minute.
24:49
In Milan Kendra's book the Unbearable Likeness of being, he says for there's nothing heavier than compassion. I thought that was an interesting thought. He goes on to say not even one's own pain weighs so heavy as the pain one feels for someone and with someone. Think about that for a minute. It's intensified by the imagination and prolonged by a hundred echoes. The word compassion literally means to suffer with another. So you can have your own pain. But when you have compassion for someone else, you're taking on their pain and suffering as well as your own. And that's what this father did.
25:27
This son was tore up from the flow up. He had a rough time. He's coming beat up and battered. This is not his finest hour, so he has nothing to offer the father. But the father takes on all of his pain, his misery, his suffering, through his compassion. That's an important thing to note. We just hear oh, he had compassion on him. That's awesome.
25:46
What happened next? They had a party. That's a big deal To take on the suffering of someone. You didn't deserve the suffering. What did the father do wrong? All he did was love his son. Did he deserve to take on the suffering of his son's stupidity? No, but he did. Father was willing to take his suffering and restore him to a place of honor.
26:10
He said go get the best robe in the house and put it on him. Which robe in the house do you think was the best robe? Daddy's robe. He didn't say oh, go get one of those old robes in the linen closet or on the side of that coat closet. Get one of those that we use to clean the floors. Get one of his old clothes that we just haven't taken to goodwill yet. No, get the best one, get my best one and put it on him.
26:41
Another interesting detail if you read between the lines, it doesn't say that from the time he was feeding the pigs to the time he came and daddy saw him on the horizon and he embraced him and put the robe on him that he had time to take a bath. He's been rolling around with the pigs. Who knows the last time he had a nice hot bath? Would you put your best jacket on somebody who'd been rolling around with pigs? I wouldn't.
27:09
Sometimes I'm making a beeline for the hand sanitizer station after just like, spend a little bit of time with some of you. You know what I'm saying. I'm not putting my jacket on, but he puts his best robe on him without even a second thought and then he says put a ring on his finger. You know what that meant, the signet ring. It says I'm restoring his sonship, I'm giving him access to the family fortune. You remember what he did the first time, right? You think that's smart. He's making him a signer on the checking account, the one that blew all the money. That's like hiring a bankrupt accountant. It's not smart, in case you're doing it, but he does it. He says I'm making you a son again, I'm giving you access to the family fortune.
27:57
Then he says bring some sandals, put some sandals on his feet. You know why that's important? Because the servants and the hired hands they didn't wear sandals and shoes Couldn't afford it. And you remember the son's plan? He had his whole speech. He was gonna come back and ask daddy if he could have a job as a servant on his estate. So by putting sandals on his feet, the dad's saying you're not a servant, you're my son. You gotta look at these little details. He is speaking volumes. With each one of these things he did, with the robe, with the ring, with the sandals. He's restoring him to a place of honor. How crazy is that?
28:41
Now these listeners listening to Jesus. They're thinking this dad is absolutely nuts, he's lost his mind. First he gives the cash to this insubordinate, ridiculous son and then this ingrate comes back and then he treats him with compassion and love. It almost seems reckless. It almost seems reckless. I kind of think that was Jesus' point he was showing us. The extravagant, reckless love of a father Defies all logic, defies all reason.
29:23
Now we hear stories like that and I know in a room this size some of you may kind of bristle and struggle at hearing some of that. You think, eh, you're talking a lot about dad, that's great. Maybe you didn't have the best relationship with your dad, maybe you didn't have a great dad, maybe he wasn't around, maybe he was emotionally abusive, maybe physically abusive or worse. I get that. But what I want to tell you today, I want to make sure you understand, is God's father ship is lacking nothing. Everything you're kind of superimposing on Father God because of an inadequacy from your earthly dad. It's inaccurate. So just free yourself from it, throw it off, say, let me start from scratch. That's why Jesus told this story I want to show you about a father that loves unconditionally, makes no mistakes, doesn't harm you, has only the best for you. So that you had a comparison. Now you didn't have to spend all your energy comparing him to your earthly father. That might not have measured up.
30:29
God's fatherhood is perfect. All he wants from us is for us to choose to love him back. That's what he wants. Here's a little secret Even when we don't choose to love him back, he still has compassion for us, and compassion for us Wow, that's why God gives us freedom.
31:01
You ever wonder. I do. All the time I watch the news and I say why? Why do you even let us have free will? We're stupid. If I were God, I'd make us all like mindless robots. Like the hive mind all comes down. We all march in lockstep and we do what we're supposed to do and make this world a better place. But no, we have free will. We mess up, we hurt each other, we do damage. Why does God give us that freedom? He gives us the freedom so we have the freedom to choose him. That's the whole point. Have the freedom to choose him. That's the whole point the freedom to choose him. He wants our unforced, uncoerced love. That's all he wants.
31:47
Funny thing is that all we have to offer the Father is shame. Think about it. What do you really have to offer a perfect, holy God? Nothing, just shame. Think about it. What do you really have to offer a perfect, holy God? Nothing, just shame. Yet he still gives us honor and unconditional love.
32:08
Wow, just like this loving father waited and watched day after day for his son's return. That Halloween back in the seventh grade, I had a father who was watching and waiting for my return, kept looking out the window wondering if I'd come back. But, unlike this father, after a few hours my dad went out looking for me. And here's the interesting thing. This again you got to think of the day this is way back when he didn't know Jeff's last name. He didn't know Jeff's address. He didn't know Jeff's parents' names. Where's the guy going to start? We didn't have find my phone or track my kid. He wasn't slipping air tags in their lunchbox. I know where my kid is. He has no idea where to start. But that didn't stop him.
32:52
So I'm out, living it up, having the time of my life with my friends, scaring each other over and over in this haunted house, thinking this is the best thing ever. We even were having so much fun. We all decided in our seventh grade wisdom, when our parents did finally arrive, we were gonna ask them if we could spend the night and let the party just keep on going all night long, because that's how smart we were. So somehow, by sheer will and determination, my dad finds Jeff's house. I still don't know how I need to call him today and ask him dad, how did you find me that day? God must've just led him there. He pulls up front in Jeff's driveway to collect his son and in all my wisdom, the first thing out of my mouth dad, can I spend the night so we can hang out and keep having fun? I still remember my father's response, like it was yesterday. He just so calmly looked at me and said not this time. And we started our drive home. And we started our drive home.
33:59
Now I'm furious. I'm in the back seat. I can't believe it. I've got the only dad. That's not cool. That's not letting me spend the night. I'm sure everyone else is gonna get to spend the night. They're gonna have stories. I'm not gonna have the stories. I'm gonna be out of the cool kid group. How come my dad doesn't get it? Oh, my dad, my dad, my dad. So how come my dad doesn't get it? Oh, my dad, my dad, my dad. So I'm ranting and fuming in the back seat, but after a while, my stupidity, my frustration, it turned to humility and gratitude, because I started to understand that the way I was being treated didn't match what I deserved.
34:46
You see, my father wasn't yelling at me the whole way home. He was eerily silent, which is worse. Parenting tip 101, if you really want to scare him, just be quiet. They hate that way more than yelling. He wasn't driving with one hand reaching back, smacking me and beating me with the other. We didn't get home and he grounded me for the rest of my life. He didn't do any of that. I would have deserved all of it, by the way, but he didn't do any of it.
35:19
What I realized that day was just how grateful my father was to have his son back. Exactly, it was just the love of a father. His son, who was lost, was now found. I still remember that to this day. That was over 35 years ago and I think of that and it still brings me to tears because I realize just how much my father loves me. That's what this father shows his son unconditional love, didn't matter the mistakes he had made, he was just happy to have his son back.
36:14
But then look at the older son. Now we're celebrating the return of the younger son and the older son is so upset and has anything but unconditional love for his father. Now he's showing his father disrespect Everything he has for his father is performance-based. It's conditional. If I do this, I expect that I stay here and work for you. I expect this from you. So the father's celebrating the return of the younger son. The older son doesn't want to come in, disrespects the dad. So what does the dad do with now another son's disrespect? He chases him too. He leaves the party to go talk to his son Again. Context A host would never leave the party.
37:01
That's unheard of. Right now, the host is like bopping around, taking codes, working the room. That's not how it was. Back in this day. You sat in a prominent place. Everybody came and greeted you. You didn't leave that place of position and prominence. He leaves the party to go chase after his older son. Now, jeez this guy. How does he deal with this son's disgrace? Let's look.
37:30
Beginning of verse 29. Here's the son talking to his father. But he answered his father. He said look, all these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never even gave me a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours, who has squandered your property with prostitutes, comes home, you kill the fattened calf. For him, not even a shred of grace or understanding for what the father's done. I think it's interesting that this older son tells the dad that the younger son spent all the money on prostitutes. Isn't that interesting? Because the passage never tells us that's what the son spent his money on. We just assume, oh, this guy went out food, drink and women. We don't know that. The people that assume that are the ones that are kind of more like the older brother. This gives us a little insight into his heart. He says he went out spending his money on prostitutes because that's what he would have done. I think he was just upset. The younger son went out and did what he wishes he could have done. It's telling. So once again, being dishonored and disrespected by a son. What does the father do? Look at verse 31 and 32. My son, the father, said you were always with me and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found. He is alive again. Worship team can come up.
39:07
Well-known author and pastor, max Locato. He tells the story of a Brazilian girl named Christina. She grew up in a little shanty town. Maybe you've been on a mission trip or you've seen documentaries where these people, these towns, they're literally made out of cardboard boxes. These people live in no amenities or creature comforts. Their bed is literally a pallet on, like a dirt floor. And that's the way Christina lived in this small Brazilian little town, this little village. But she longed for so much more. She would often think about and fantasize how much better life would be in the big city. So one day her discontentment got the better of her and she decided to run away.
39:45
Well, her mother, maria, was completely distraught at her young daughter's decision to run away. She knew she was going to the big city. She knew her daughter had no way of making any money. She also knew her daughter was way too stubborn to give up. When pride and desperation collide, it's amazing what a human will do that before. You might've thought unthinkable, and that's exactly what Maria knew. So she decided to go chase after her daughter. She went to the bus stop and before she hopped on the bus to the big city, she stopped by a little drug store and she got into one of those little photo booths where you get in, you pull the curtain, put in your quarters and take a bunch of pictures. She took as many pictures as she could afford, a little bunch of black and whites of herself, and then she got on the bus, headed to Rio de Janeiro. Well, she knew that again, her daughter had no way of making money, so her first thought was to go to places that were known for prostitution and streetwalkers. So she started going, and everywhere she went she left a picture of herself little phone booth, lobby, bulletin board, mirrors at a bar or a restaurant. Each one had a little note from her on the back. Well, she went from place to place to place and before long all the pictures and her money had run out. She had to go back home. So, weeping, she boards the bus. She says one final prayer for her daughter as she heads back to her small village.
41:16
Well, a few weeks later, christina descends the stairs of a hotel. Her brown eyes that once danced with joy and promise spoke of fear, horror and pain. Her dream had become a nightmare. She would trade these hundreds of beds for one more night in her safe little pallet in her shanty in her little village. As she descended the stairs she looked across the lobby and she saw a familiar face looking back at her. It was a picture of her mom.
41:58
Her eyes started to burn, her throat started to tighten as she slowly made her way across the lobby to that picture.
42:08
She pulled the picture from its spot and she looked, and on the back was a note from her mom and it simply said whatever you've done, whatever you've become, come home, come home. So she did, and I've got to think that's what our heavenly father is telling each one of us. He's looking at you lovingly saying whatever you've done, whatever you've become, it doesn't matter if you've become. It doesn't matter if you've run as far away from me as you possibly can to live life on your own terms. You think you know better, making a mockery of everything that I hold dear. Or maybe you sit in church on Sunday and you think you're all right and you're living a good life and you're holding onto your holiness and your piety. Whatever you've become, come home. We have a loving father who's always scanning at the horizon, waiting for you to come home from whatever it is that's keeping you from his loving embrace. For some of us it's sin, some of us it's pride.
43:42 - Speaker 2
But he says it doesn't matter.
43:45 - Speaker 1
I'm waiting to bring you back, to call you my son, to call you my daughter. I wanna put my best robe on you. Come home, let's celebrate. Father, thank you for not leaving us, not forsaking us, no matter what we do, no matter how far we've run, how much we break your heart, father, thank you that you're always there with compassion and love, and you don't just look and wait for us to approach you, but you run to us, you pursue us with reckless abandon. Thank you for that kind of love. Thank you that, whatever we've become, whatever we've made of ourselves, we've never gone so far that you can't reach us. Thank you for that kind of love.
44:46
So, while we're here, just with our eyes closed, just take the next moment and if there is something that you feel like is keeping you from the intimate relationship with your heavenly Father, maybe you're a Christian, you're a Christ follower, you come to church, you try and do good, but there is something that you know is just keeping you from that true intimacy, something you're holding back, something in your life that you've said I'm gonna keep this for myself. You say, oh, father, I love you, but this one area I'm gonna keep because I want it for me. Maybe today's the day that you put it down. You give him everything, make him Lord of all, so nothing is between you and him and you truly feel the embrace of your loving father. So my hope for you is that you'll ask him what it is and that you'll have the courage to lay it down at his feet, say I surrender it all. This is yours. Everything, I am, everything I hope to be. I'm not pretending that I'm good enough. I'm super Christian. I'm going to just be honest. He knows already. He wants you to choose to be honest and then give it to him.
46:14
Maybe you're here and you've never accepted him. Maybe someone invited you here. Maybe you found us. Maybe you just wandered in. Maybe you've been listening, checking it out. For a while you say, oh, that's great, but I know I'm not a son, I know I'm not a daughter, sounds cool. I'd like to be in that family. There's an easy way to do it. You just have to give up and come home. All you have to do is confess with your mouth that Jesus is who he said he was. He died for your sins and you accept him as your Lord. Now I'll give you a chance to do it just right. Where you are, you just say Heavenly Father, I need you. I know I'm a sinner. I know Jesus died for my sins. I accept his forgiveness. Come into my life, make me yours. Thank you for bringing me into your family. In Jesus' name, I pray Amen.
47:26 - Speaker 2
Amen, Amen. Citylightnyccom. Feel free to visit us online or in person anytime. We would love to connect with you. We pray that you have been encouraged today, that you have been reminded how much God loves you and that you are surrounded by grace. Thank you for listening. Make sure that you subscribe to City Light Church Podcast wherever you find your favorite podcasts worldwide.
The father never gave up hope. He never stopped scanning the horizon, hoping that this day might be the day his son would come back. Maybe this day no, not today He'd wake up. Maybe it's this day, day after day after day. So the father's waited and he's waited, and he's waited for his son's return. So when he finally sees him on the horizon, jesus says he's filled with compassion and he runs to his son.
00:31 - Speaker 2
Welcome to the City Light Church podcast. Thanks for joining us today as we look into God's word and discover the hope and truth that he has for us. If you want to connect with City Light Church, feel free to visit us at citylightnyccom. That's citylightnyccom. Pastor Boyan Jancic and his team believe that the power of the Holy Spirit is already working in our hearts and minds. As you listen to today's teaching, remember that you are deeply loved by God, that you are surrounded by His grace and that he has a real hope and a future for you. That he has a real hope and a future for you.
01:05 - Speaker 1
My name is James. I get the privilege of sharing with you today and I wanted to talk to you about the prodigal son. How many of you heard the story of the prodigal son? A few of you, a few hands are going up. It's so familiar that even in pop culture, people who don't follow Christ, people that don't read the Bible from cover to cover, they've heard that story. Right, they know about Moses parting the Red Sea, they know about the Good Samaritan, they know about the prodigal son. They use these references usually out of context, but they know enough about it to mention it, and so I'm going to assume today that you know enough about the story of the prodigal son, right? Every time we talk about the prodigal son, what do we talk about? The prodigal son? So I'm gonna assume you know a lot about the prodigal son and I wanna spend a little bit of time diving a little deeper into the father. We just got done singing about the love of our heavenly father and I thought it would be interesting to kind of take a different spin on this, look at a different angle in this story. We know about the younger son, we know about the older son, these two kind of guys. But let's talk about the father. So that's what I wanted to spend my time with you here doing today.
02:09
This guy, he had it going on. He was a wealthy guy. He was probably one of the ones that, as Pastor Rob pointed out, was on those tablets that had utes. Utes had a lot of wealth. He was a wealthy landowner. He had lots of servants, lots of land, lots of livestock, a lot going on. He had a place in the Hamptons, he had a penthouse in Manhattan, he had everything in between. He was very comfortable and he had two sons that helped him in the family business. And these two sons knew that one day this business would be theirs. They knew that upon their father's passing, this inheritance would be coming their way. So they were helping daddy in the family business as they went on.
02:48
So these two young boys grew up knowing great privilege and I was just kind of wondering did you know anybody like that growing up, anybody that just kind of was operating at kind of a different level than the rest of us? I mean we were all kind of shopping at Sears and Kmart for our clothes and they were like at Macy's. I mean they were like designer clothes. I mean anybody have a friend like that? I had a friend like that. Maybe it was you that grew up a little more affluent than the rest of us were jealous about. We don't like you, no, we do.
03:18
He's sorry back there, but there was always somebody that just was at a different level. I had a friend like that. His name was Jason growing up and this guy I wanted to be Jason so bad. His house was better than everybody else's house. It was nicer, it was fancier. When you got to hang out at his house or heaven forbid, I mean you get like invited to a sleepover, like a growing up, like young, sleepover with some friends at this house. It was like a five-star hotel. He had everything going on at this house. He had motorcycles, he had four-wheelers, he had the best bicycles, he had all the gaming consoles that you could think of and with all the best games too Like I'm at home with a black and white TV playing Pong Not him. He got Sega Genesis, he got Atari, he got all the good gaming consoles. He wore designer clothes, he was a good looking kid. He had it going on and as we got older it only got worse.
04:09
You know you start to think, oh, maybe he's gonna go through that awkward stage and we'll catch up and then we can look down on Jason. No, it got worse. We all start driving and it's not as big a thing here in New York because you get old enough and your parents just say go ride the train and just don't die. In the rest of the country you're longing to get your driver's license and you get a car because that's freedom, okay, here it's like terror. If you drive in New York it's like ah, in the rest of the country it's like wide open, it's kind of normal. You get a car, you get a driver's license, we start driving just whatever we can Ford, anything with four wheels and a steering wheel and we are happy. Right, it can have a hole in the floorboard like the Flintstones. You just have to put your feet through to the cement to stop. It's that bad. They're not roadworthy. You never pass a state inspection but you're just happy with whatever jalopy you can afford.
04:56
But not Jason. His first car was a fully restored muscle car. This thing was gorgeous. You could see reflection in the hood. The rest of us were oxidized paints peeling off. Half of the parts are missing. This thing was gorgeous. It could win like a car show best of show, any day of the week hands down. This thing is amazing. And to make it worse, he had a. Anybody have vanity plates in here. I don't want to make fun of you if you do. He had a vanity plate with his last name on his car. I mean, come on, that was amazing.
05:29
This guy had it going on. I'm telling you, I wanted to be him so bad. I mean he may as well have had like a soundtrack playing behind him every time he'd enter a room. Do you know anybody like that? He just has this walk and, like time stands still, wind starts blowing. He's like he was smooth, so smooth. I wanted his life so badly. I mean he even wore the best fragrances.
05:58
Back in my day, if a guy wanted a little game, he'd slap on a little Old Spice okay, high karate, I'd get the gift set for Christmas, and that was my game. He'd slap on a little Old Spice okay, high karate, I'd get the gift set for Christmas, and that was my game. Okay, every now and then some of my friends would spring for a bottle of Dracar Noir. Remember Dracar Noir? Ooh, that was a good time right there. I didn't have Dracar. My friends had Dracar Every now and then, like, can I borrow a spray of Dr? There's your car? No more right now. But not Jason. He had the designer fragrances you could only get from the fragrance department in the mall. Yeah, the stuff that the rest of us mortals would only every now and then sneak a spray from the sample bottle as we walked through to the department store on our way to the food court. But he's living the dream every day of his life. Unreal, this guy. Just like these two boys. They grew up knowing great privilege and they had the love of their father to boot. They had everything their heart could desire, so much so that the younger son and you know the story he decides he gets the wild idea he's gonna ask daddy if he could have his share of the inheritance. Even before his dad kicked the bucket. He wants to get his money, go off and party like it's 1999, right? You remember that part of the story.
07:05
Some of you might be old enough, like me. You've heard the saying, the old adage, youth is wasted on the young. You ever heard that as you get older it makes a lot of sense. You look at young people. You're like you are so stupid. If I were your age with this knowledge now I would rule the world. Yeah, I used to be so. You know like, ooh, I know everything you wasted on the young People. Used to say it about me all the time. Now I say it about other people all the time.
07:26
This kid decided he was gonna live up to this, saying you wasted on the young. He was so dumb. He's like I have everything the world on a silver platter, but I want more. Hey, daddy, give me my share of the estate. Father, oh, father, dearest, can I have my share of the estate please? The younger son.
07:53
He acknowledges his dad as father.
07:55
He does the right thing. Oh, father, can I have the money? He doesn't just say, hey, old man, give me the cash. He knows better. He addresses him respectfully, but then what comes out of his mouth is anything but respect. Right, that's not a normal characteristic of a father-son relationship, right there, and we do that with God sometimes. Oh, father, heavenly Father, daddy, god, but then we live life our own way. We treat him like a magic genie that's just there to give us everything that our heart desires. Right, bless me, bless me, bless me, protect me, protect me, help me, help me. It's all about me. I'm the center of the universe, a little bit like this guy. Jesus even calls it out Matthew 15, verse eight. He says these people honor me with their lips, but their hearts they're what? Far from me, a little bit like the son, I think it's pretty interesting that compared to the way we see the older brother later in the story address his father Remember the beginning of verse 28, the father's pleading with the older son to come into the party, and he won't come in because he's mad.
08:59
Right, and this is the way he addresses his dad. He says look, all these years I've been slaving for you, never disobeying your orders. The older son doesn't even give the courtesy that the younger son did and call him father. Oh, father, dearest. He just says look, that shows kind of the disdain he has for dad. We know that's not a way of showing respect. Here's what's interesting and we've got to pay attention to these details.
09:28
In Jesus's day, the listener knew that showing that kind of disrespect to an elder in public was literally a matter of life or death. Today we see kids disrespecting mom and dad all the time and they get a Nintendo Switch as a reward. That all the time, and they get a Nintendo Switch as a reward. Oh, just be quiet. If you stop, I'll buy you something else In this day. You disrespected an elder and they'd kill you. That's how they purged that sin from the land. I think we need to bring that back. You know, I think we'd have fewer kids. I don't know about that, but Jesus' listeners knew that very clearly. His father has two sons, both whose hearts are far from him, but he chases them both, but in very different ways.
10:18
I remember when I was in the seventh grade I had another friend. His name was Jeff, and he decided one year for Halloween he had this kind of shed kind of thing, this other building on the back of his property that he and his older brother had converted into a haunted house this particular year. They had put time and money into it. I don't know how these great, rich friends, I don't know why I didn't have this kind of, and Jason and Jeff, they had it going on. He had his own haunted house this year and he invited a group of us over. He said this is gonna be amazing, it is gonna blow your mind. I was so excited.
10:47
So the morning of hey dad, can I go to Jeff's house for the haunted house? And so my dad's response was we'll talk about it when you get home from school. Now, most of you were young at one time. Do you remember back when your parents said we'll talk about it or I'll think about it? You know what that's code for? No, it's not gonna happen, right? So that's what I heard my seventh grade We'll talk about it when we get home, like no, oh my gosh. So all day that's all we could talk about. I hope he can get to go. I don't know why my dad won't let me go. I hope he's gonna. How are we gonna convince him? We're writing speeches. We're not listening. We didn't learn anything that day. I feel bad. Sorry, teachers. All we're talking about is how cool this haunted house is gonna be and how we can scheme our way to all get to the haunted house.
11:33
So really, maybe about lunchtime, jeff has the brilliant idea. He says James, bus home from school instead of your bus, look how much time it'll save. Instead of you going home talking to your dad, your dad bringing you over, look, let's cut out the middleman. Just ride my bus home. We start having fun right away. I said, jeff, you're a genius Like you're going to be president one day or something. That's amazing. I said that's office. Hey, can I speak to my father? He's not here right now. Can you take down a message. So I asked him to take a message. Hey, tell my dad when he gets back I've taken Jeff's bus home and I'm all good. Okay, so now I've left a message in my seventh grade mind I'm good to go, I made the call, that's all you need to do, right? So I ride Jeff's bus home and it is everything he said.
12:29
It was this haunted house was over the top, scared the spit out of me. I had nightmares for weeks. It was awesome. So we are having the time of our lives. What I didn't know was the reason my dad wasn't at his office when I called was because he had left work early to come home and surprise me and take me to Jeff's house as soon as I got home. Yeah, ow, don't you wish you had a time machine and you could kind of go back and do things over? Now you gotta remember this was before cell phones, because I'm really old. This was before pagers. We didn't have pagers. Remember beeper. This was before voicemail or caller ID. So my dad has no idea where I am. All he knows is I didn't show up from school that day. So he's probably worried out of his mind. But he also was probably a little hurt that I would disrespect him and dishonor him the way I did disregard his instructions.
13:40
Think about that. Multiply it by maybe like 1,000, and we start to maybe get a glimpse of what this father felt like when his son said hey, old man, give me my cash. I want to go off and party and live life my own way. You start to get a sense. We spend a lot of time thinking about the kid. What would I do with all that money and freedom? What about the dad? What do you think? He was feeling Heartbroken.
14:06
And you have to understand, in this day, the traditional culture that Jesus' listeners were speaking to. It was not common at all for this father to act this way. The listeners were already probably a little upset and irritated. Remember, jesus is telling this story. So step back in some context. Jesus is preaching, he's telling. He said let me tell you a little story about a family, his father. He has two sons. So the listeners, they're listening. So this son disrespects the dad, asks him for the cash. Wait, the dad does what Like, even at the request you should like, beat him like, disown him, take him to the public square, rip off his robe, make a big speech about how this kid is horrible. He acts more like his mother than you. It's gotta be her fault and then go on and regain some semblance of your honor. That's what they're listening to Like. Why? Why haven't you done that? There's already this kind of depth of mystery to the story even at this point, as Jesus is telling the story.
15:11
In our modern Western culture it's not uncommon for people that maybe grew up in a small town or out in the country to leave to the big city or abroad right To go to school or to get a job or to find themselves. I'm going to go backpack through Europe. I'm going to move to New York. If I can make it there, I can make it anywhere. That's a very Western concept In this culture and in many still today.
15:41
That's very disrespectful. You're saying I don't want your way of life. I'm turning my back and rejecting you, everything you stand for. I'm saying I'm not going to care for you in your old age. So your social security, your Medicare plan was me. You got to figure something else out. Sorry, I'm going to go live my life for myself. Huge slap in the face. That was ultimate dishonor and shame.
16:07
The younger son's abandoning every obligation that he has their tradition, their way of life. So this father's been shamed, disrespected, dishonored, but he still grants his son's request Isn't that crazy? He liquidates enough of his estate to pay out the one third that he was going to give his son as the inheritance. So the son goes off and he parties hard. We know that part of the story right, because we all think, ooh, what would I do? Where would I go first? But the story tells us that before long all the money was gone. All the VIP tables at all the right restaurants gone. All the status, all the friends that he was paying the bill for gone. All the food and drink he had become accustomed to, gone, gone, gone, gone. So do you think all those people that were around him, his entourage, were there to help a brother out Some hard times here? You want me to spot you this time? No, they were gone Like cockroaches when you turn on the light. I know they were there a second ago. It just disappeared.
17:15
This guy has nothing. So the story tells us that's when he's at his lowest, that's when he's getting a job as a Jewish boy, mind you, feeding pigs. You know pigs are unclean to the Jewish people. So he's feeding pigs that's how desperate things are. He's fantasizing about stealing the food, the slop he's giving the pigs and filling his own stomach with it, cause the growl of his stomach is louder than his pride right now and he just can think about nothing else but eating that slop. And so he finally says you know what the servants at my dad's house eat better than I do. I really messed up. Maybe I should go home and ask daddy for a job as a servant in his house. Maybe he'll give me a job. I'm not really qualified for anything, but maybe some nepotism will help me at least get a job. I'll feed his pigs, his utes. So he decides, he writes this little speech, he's going to go home and he's going to ask dad for a job.
18:11
I think it's interesting that the story doesn't tell us how much time has passed in this story for all this to take place. When you read the Bible I would encourage you to do it. I've talked to so many of you I say get an archeological study Bible, get a Bible and journal and think about the context. Step outside of our 2024 world and think of what must it have been like when this was written the culture, the context, the landscape, what did all these things really mean? And so think about it. We just think, oh man, he got a whole bunch of money and he spent it. I mean, if I gave you a bunch of cash, probably by tomorrow you could spend it all. But that's not really what happened here. He had a lot of money I mean this was a sizable estate and he liquidated all the cash.
18:56
And the Bible says there was a big famine in the land right. All the food was gone. That's why he's feeding pigs. It's the desperate time. Most theologians believe that for a famine to have impacted the land the way the Bible says, it had to have been years, not weeks or months. Years that this son has been away for everything in the story to have taken place. That's a long time. So look at what happens.
19:24
Let's look at Luke, chapter 15, starting in verse 28. So he decides to go home, but while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him. That's an interesting response. So he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. After years of waiting, waiting and watching, the father never gave up hope that one day he might see his son again. Interesting response. Have you ever waited and wanted something so badly and you waited and waited? I get impatient. Usually if there's something I want so much, I've given up by lunch I'm like, ah, it didn't come, what else do I want? You have to want something and love something pretty badly, to wait and hope for it year after year, and that's what this father does. The father never gave up hope. He never stopped scanning the horizon, hoping that this day might be the day his son would come back. Maybe this day no, not today He'd wake up. Maybe it's this day, day after day after day. So the father's waited and he's waited and he's waited for his son's return. So when he finally sees him on the horizon, jesus says he's filled with compassion and he runs to his son. Pause, right there. He runs to his son. Now again, step back out of where we are.
21:03
Think of the first century, the audience Jesus is speaking to. No self-respecting man would be caught running. Now, today, it's cool. It's like I read a 5k today. Now, today, it's cool. It's like I read a 5k today From the couch to a 5k. I'm amazing. We got a Peloton, we got an elliptical. We think it's cool to run.
21:24
My dad used to make fun of me. I go to the gym. He's like why do you do? Why don't you just do work? Like, why do you have to pretend to do stuff to stay in shape? Just do stuff. I'm like, bro, because this is better. But in this day, no self-respecting man would run. You didn't run if you had any clout or status. But the Bible says that he ran. They wore dresses, okay. So you got to remember that too. He's not wearing his velvet track suit. He's not looking all fly. He's wearing an ankle length dress. He has to pick up his dress and run. This looked weird. That's why they didn't do it.
21:59
So the listeners are saying what? He gives him, the money he doesn't disown him. And then he sees him. He's filled with compassion. And then he did you say runs. He runs what? They are flabbergasted at this father. They're like what are you even talking about? And then he embraces and kisses him. You're nuts. This is not a way a dignified man would conduct himself in public. This father has been mortally offended by his evil son and then he's sprinting towards him with compassion in his heart and love to receive him.
22:37
Look at verse 22 through 24. Look what the father tells his servants. He says 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 kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate, for the son of mine, who was dead, is alive again. He was lost and is found. What a response. He sees his son approaching and while he's still a long way off, he recognizes that all familiar gate of his son. You gotta really love somebody to know their gate, to know their walk. But he knew his son's walk Again, this is another detail that you have to really dig in and understand the story.
23:19
This was not like a little house on the prairie, this little homestead out in the middle of nowhere, and they never got visitors. This was a big, important estate. There was a lot of traffic and a lot of people came to his land all the time. So the fact that he saw someone in the distance was no big deal. That was nothing new. But he recognized the walk of his son from a long way off. You got to really love somebody to know their walk. I know your walk. She knows my walk. I got this smooth glide. I don't I look stupid, but if she loves me she probably knows my stupid walk. So while he was a long way off, he said could I know that walk? That's my son.
24:03
And his heart was filled with compassion. He picks up his skirt and he runs. That's his first response, not anger, not sit there and cross his arms and withhold himself from his son, that insolent boy. I don't see any bags of cash. Did he spend it all? Oh my gosh, did he say? You know what? I'm going to wait, I'm going to make sure he, like, delivers a speech. So I know he really knows that he messed up. I'm going to sit here and think of 101 ways to make sure he knows. I told you so. He didn't do any of that. He was filled with compassion, ran to him and kissed him. Shocking, filled with compassion. Think about that word for a minute.
24:49
In Milan Kendra's book the Unbearable Likeness of being, he says for there's nothing heavier than compassion. I thought that was an interesting thought. He goes on to say not even one's own pain weighs so heavy as the pain one feels for someone and with someone. Think about that for a minute. It's intensified by the imagination and prolonged by a hundred echoes. The word compassion literally means to suffer with another. So you can have your own pain. But when you have compassion for someone else, you're taking on their pain and suffering as well as your own. And that's what this father did.
25:27
This son was tore up from the flow up. He had a rough time. He's coming beat up and battered. This is not his finest hour, so he has nothing to offer the father. But the father takes on all of his pain, his misery, his suffering, through his compassion. That's an important thing to note. We just hear oh, he had compassion on him. That's awesome.
25:46
What happened next? They had a party. That's a big deal To take on the suffering of someone. You didn't deserve the suffering. What did the father do wrong? All he did was love his son. Did he deserve to take on the suffering of his son's stupidity? No, but he did. Father was willing to take his suffering and restore him to a place of honor.
26:10
He said go get the best robe in the house and put it on him. Which robe in the house do you think was the best robe? Daddy's robe. He didn't say oh, go get one of those old robes in the linen closet or on the side of that coat closet. Get one of those that we use to clean the floors. Get one of his old clothes that we just haven't taken to goodwill yet. No, get the best one, get my best one and put it on him.
26:41
Another interesting detail if you read between the lines, it doesn't say that from the time he was feeding the pigs to the time he came and daddy saw him on the horizon and he embraced him and put the robe on him that he had time to take a bath. He's been rolling around with the pigs. Who knows the last time he had a nice hot bath? Would you put your best jacket on somebody who'd been rolling around with pigs? I wouldn't.
27:09
Sometimes I'm making a beeline for the hand sanitizer station after just like, spend a little bit of time with some of you. You know what I'm saying. I'm not putting my jacket on, but he puts his best robe on him without even a second thought and then he says put a ring on his finger. You know what that meant, the signet ring. It says I'm restoring his sonship, I'm giving him access to the family fortune. You remember what he did the first time, right? You think that's smart. He's making him a signer on the checking account, the one that blew all the money. That's like hiring a bankrupt accountant. It's not smart, in case you're doing it, but he does it. He says I'm making you a son again, I'm giving you access to the family fortune.
27:57
Then he says bring some sandals, put some sandals on his feet. You know why that's important? Because the servants and the hired hands they didn't wear sandals and shoes Couldn't afford it. And you remember the son's plan? He had his whole speech. He was gonna come back and ask daddy if he could have a job as a servant on his estate. So by putting sandals on his feet, the dad's saying you're not a servant, you're my son. You gotta look at these little details. He is speaking volumes. With each one of these things he did, with the robe, with the ring, with the sandals. He's restoring him to a place of honor. How crazy is that?
28:41
Now these listeners listening to Jesus. They're thinking this dad is absolutely nuts, he's lost his mind. First he gives the cash to this insubordinate, ridiculous son and then this ingrate comes back and then he treats him with compassion and love. It almost seems reckless. It almost seems reckless. I kind of think that was Jesus' point he was showing us. The extravagant, reckless love of a father Defies all logic, defies all reason.
29:23
Now we hear stories like that and I know in a room this size some of you may kind of bristle and struggle at hearing some of that. You think, eh, you're talking a lot about dad, that's great. Maybe you didn't have the best relationship with your dad, maybe you didn't have a great dad, maybe he wasn't around, maybe he was emotionally abusive, maybe physically abusive or worse. I get that. But what I want to tell you today, I want to make sure you understand, is God's father ship is lacking nothing. Everything you're kind of superimposing on Father God because of an inadequacy from your earthly dad. It's inaccurate. So just free yourself from it, throw it off, say, let me start from scratch. That's why Jesus told this story I want to show you about a father that loves unconditionally, makes no mistakes, doesn't harm you, has only the best for you. So that you had a comparison. Now you didn't have to spend all your energy comparing him to your earthly father. That might not have measured up.
30:29
God's fatherhood is perfect. All he wants from us is for us to choose to love him back. That's what he wants. Here's a little secret Even when we don't choose to love him back, he still has compassion for us, and compassion for us Wow, that's why God gives us freedom.
31:01
You ever wonder. I do. All the time I watch the news and I say why? Why do you even let us have free will? We're stupid. If I were God, I'd make us all like mindless robots. Like the hive mind all comes down. We all march in lockstep and we do what we're supposed to do and make this world a better place. But no, we have free will. We mess up, we hurt each other, we do damage. Why does God give us that freedom? He gives us the freedom so we have the freedom to choose him. That's the whole point. Have the freedom to choose him. That's the whole point the freedom to choose him. He wants our unforced, uncoerced love. That's all he wants.
31:47
Funny thing is that all we have to offer the Father is shame. Think about it. What do you really have to offer a perfect, holy God? Nothing, just shame. Think about it. What do you really have to offer a perfect, holy God? Nothing, just shame. Yet he still gives us honor and unconditional love.
32:08
Wow, just like this loving father waited and watched day after day for his son's return. That Halloween back in the seventh grade, I had a father who was watching and waiting for my return, kept looking out the window wondering if I'd come back. But, unlike this father, after a few hours my dad went out looking for me. And here's the interesting thing. This again you got to think of the day this is way back when he didn't know Jeff's last name. He didn't know Jeff's address. He didn't know Jeff's parents' names. Where's the guy going to start? We didn't have find my phone or track my kid. He wasn't slipping air tags in their lunchbox. I know where my kid is. He has no idea where to start. But that didn't stop him.
32:52
So I'm out, living it up, having the time of my life with my friends, scaring each other over and over in this haunted house, thinking this is the best thing ever. We even were having so much fun. We all decided in our seventh grade wisdom, when our parents did finally arrive, we were gonna ask them if we could spend the night and let the party just keep on going all night long, because that's how smart we were. So somehow, by sheer will and determination, my dad finds Jeff's house. I still don't know how I need to call him today and ask him dad, how did you find me that day? God must've just led him there. He pulls up front in Jeff's driveway to collect his son and in all my wisdom, the first thing out of my mouth dad, can I spend the night so we can hang out and keep having fun? I still remember my father's response, like it was yesterday. He just so calmly looked at me and said not this time. And we started our drive home. And we started our drive home.
33:59
Now I'm furious. I'm in the back seat. I can't believe it. I've got the only dad. That's not cool. That's not letting me spend the night. I'm sure everyone else is gonna get to spend the night. They're gonna have stories. I'm not gonna have the stories. I'm gonna be out of the cool kid group. How come my dad doesn't get it? Oh, my dad, my dad, my dad. So how come my dad doesn't get it? Oh, my dad, my dad, my dad. So I'm ranting and fuming in the back seat, but after a while, my stupidity, my frustration, it turned to humility and gratitude, because I started to understand that the way I was being treated didn't match what I deserved.
34:46
You see, my father wasn't yelling at me the whole way home. He was eerily silent, which is worse. Parenting tip 101, if you really want to scare him, just be quiet. They hate that way more than yelling. He wasn't driving with one hand reaching back, smacking me and beating me with the other. We didn't get home and he grounded me for the rest of my life. He didn't do any of that. I would have deserved all of it, by the way, but he didn't do any of it.
35:19
What I realized that day was just how grateful my father was to have his son back. Exactly, it was just the love of a father. His son, who was lost, was now found. I still remember that to this day. That was over 35 years ago and I think of that and it still brings me to tears because I realize just how much my father loves me. That's what this father shows his son unconditional love, didn't matter the mistakes he had made, he was just happy to have his son back.
36:14
But then look at the older son. Now we're celebrating the return of the younger son and the older son is so upset and has anything but unconditional love for his father. Now he's showing his father disrespect Everything he has for his father is performance-based. It's conditional. If I do this, I expect that I stay here and work for you. I expect this from you. So the father's celebrating the return of the younger son. The older son doesn't want to come in, disrespects the dad. So what does the dad do with now another son's disrespect? He chases him too. He leaves the party to go talk to his son Again. Context A host would never leave the party.
37:01
That's unheard of. Right now, the host is like bopping around, taking codes, working the room. That's not how it was. Back in this day. You sat in a prominent place. Everybody came and greeted you. You didn't leave that place of position and prominence. He leaves the party to go chase after his older son. Now, jeez this guy. How does he deal with this son's disgrace? Let's look.
37:30
Beginning of verse 29. Here's the son talking to his father. But he answered his father. He said look, all these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never even gave me a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours, who has squandered your property with prostitutes, comes home, you kill the fattened calf. For him, not even a shred of grace or understanding for what the father's done. I think it's interesting that this older son tells the dad that the younger son spent all the money on prostitutes. Isn't that interesting? Because the passage never tells us that's what the son spent his money on. We just assume, oh, this guy went out food, drink and women. We don't know that. The people that assume that are the ones that are kind of more like the older brother. This gives us a little insight into his heart. He says he went out spending his money on prostitutes because that's what he would have done. I think he was just upset. The younger son went out and did what he wishes he could have done. It's telling. So once again, being dishonored and disrespected by a son. What does the father do? Look at verse 31 and 32. My son, the father, said you were always with me and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found. He is alive again. Worship team can come up.
39:07
Well-known author and pastor, max Locato. He tells the story of a Brazilian girl named Christina. She grew up in a little shanty town. Maybe you've been on a mission trip or you've seen documentaries where these people, these towns, they're literally made out of cardboard boxes. These people live in no amenities or creature comforts. Their bed is literally a pallet on, like a dirt floor. And that's the way Christina lived in this small Brazilian little town, this little village. But she longed for so much more. She would often think about and fantasize how much better life would be in the big city. So one day her discontentment got the better of her and she decided to run away.
39:45
Well, her mother, maria, was completely distraught at her young daughter's decision to run away. She knew she was going to the big city. She knew her daughter had no way of making any money. She also knew her daughter was way too stubborn to give up. When pride and desperation collide, it's amazing what a human will do that before. You might've thought unthinkable, and that's exactly what Maria knew. So she decided to go chase after her daughter. She went to the bus stop and before she hopped on the bus to the big city, she stopped by a little drug store and she got into one of those little photo booths where you get in, you pull the curtain, put in your quarters and take a bunch of pictures. She took as many pictures as she could afford, a little bunch of black and whites of herself, and then she got on the bus, headed to Rio de Janeiro. Well, she knew that again, her daughter had no way of making money, so her first thought was to go to places that were known for prostitution and streetwalkers. So she started going, and everywhere she went she left a picture of herself little phone booth, lobby, bulletin board, mirrors at a bar or a restaurant. Each one had a little note from her on the back. Well, she went from place to place to place and before long all the pictures and her money had run out. She had to go back home. So, weeping, she boards the bus. She says one final prayer for her daughter as she heads back to her small village.
41:16
Well, a few weeks later, christina descends the stairs of a hotel. Her brown eyes that once danced with joy and promise spoke of fear, horror and pain. Her dream had become a nightmare. She would trade these hundreds of beds for one more night in her safe little pallet in her shanty in her little village. As she descended the stairs she looked across the lobby and she saw a familiar face looking back at her. It was a picture of her mom.
41:58
Her eyes started to burn, her throat started to tighten as she slowly made her way across the lobby to that picture.
42:08
She pulled the picture from its spot and she looked, and on the back was a note from her mom and it simply said whatever you've done, whatever you've become, come home, come home. So she did, and I've got to think that's what our heavenly father is telling each one of us. He's looking at you lovingly saying whatever you've done, whatever you've become, it doesn't matter if you've become. It doesn't matter if you've run as far away from me as you possibly can to live life on your own terms. You think you know better, making a mockery of everything that I hold dear. Or maybe you sit in church on Sunday and you think you're all right and you're living a good life and you're holding onto your holiness and your piety. Whatever you've become, come home. We have a loving father who's always scanning at the horizon, waiting for you to come home from whatever it is that's keeping you from his loving embrace. For some of us it's sin, some of us it's pride.
43:42 - Speaker 2
But he says it doesn't matter.
43:45 - Speaker 1
I'm waiting to bring you back, to call you my son, to call you my daughter. I wanna put my best robe on you. Come home, let's celebrate. Father, thank you for not leaving us, not forsaking us, no matter what we do, no matter how far we've run, how much we break your heart, father, thank you that you're always there with compassion and love, and you don't just look and wait for us to approach you, but you run to us, you pursue us with reckless abandon. Thank you for that kind of love. Thank you that, whatever we've become, whatever we've made of ourselves, we've never gone so far that you can't reach us. Thank you for that kind of love.
44:46
So, while we're here, just with our eyes closed, just take the next moment and if there is something that you feel like is keeping you from the intimate relationship with your heavenly Father, maybe you're a Christian, you're a Christ follower, you come to church, you try and do good, but there is something that you know is just keeping you from that true intimacy, something you're holding back, something in your life that you've said I'm gonna keep this for myself. You say, oh, father, I love you, but this one area I'm gonna keep because I want it for me. Maybe today's the day that you put it down. You give him everything, make him Lord of all, so nothing is between you and him and you truly feel the embrace of your loving father. So my hope for you is that you'll ask him what it is and that you'll have the courage to lay it down at his feet, say I surrender it all. This is yours. Everything, I am, everything I hope to be. I'm not pretending that I'm good enough. I'm super Christian. I'm going to just be honest. He knows already. He wants you to choose to be honest and then give it to him.
46:14
Maybe you're here and you've never accepted him. Maybe someone invited you here. Maybe you found us. Maybe you just wandered in. Maybe you've been listening, checking it out. For a while you say, oh, that's great, but I know I'm not a son, I know I'm not a daughter, sounds cool. I'd like to be in that family. There's an easy way to do it. You just have to give up and come home. All you have to do is confess with your mouth that Jesus is who he said he was. He died for your sins and you accept him as your Lord. Now I'll give you a chance to do it just right. Where you are, you just say Heavenly Father, I need you. I know I'm a sinner. I know Jesus died for my sins. I accept his forgiveness. Come into my life, make me yours. Thank you for bringing me into your family. In Jesus' name, I pray Amen.
47:26 - Speaker 2
Amen, Amen. Citylightnyccom. Feel free to visit us online or in person anytime. We would love to connect with you. We pray that you have been encouraged today, that you have been reminded how much God loves you and that you are surrounded by grace. Thank you for listening. Make sure that you subscribe to City Light Church Podcast wherever you find your favorite podcasts worldwide.
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