Younger Son - Luke 15

Well good morning church - I see some of you are back for more. If this is your first time joining us - welcome, we are so glad you’re here. Especially for those joining us online - we know that it’s August, and we’ve gone back to two services gearing up for fall and all of that, but truth be told a lot of us are still running on summer time. And so for those who are still out of town and joining us online - we love you, we miss you, we’re excited to see you when you get back. Now, for those who don’t know - last week we started this new series called “Prodigal” where we are going through the story of the Prodigal son, which is one of Jesus’ MOST famous stories,+ and we’re reading it from the vantage point of each of the characters. Last week we talked about the Father, and what it looks like to reflect the Father’s love in our lives. And during the message last week I asked the question, “do you have a prodigal in your life?” And without sharing anybody’s business - the answer is YES. For some of us it’s our literal son, or some other form of flesh and blood drama creator in our lives. For others - it’s the man in the mirror! It’s the things that we did, the life that we lived before we found Jesus - and even with the good gift of grace in our lives, there can still be a lot of shame that comes with memories of those days. The power of this story comes from the fact that it is so familiar, it’s so relatable. The story of the prodigal son, we don’t know if Jesus had a specific guy in mind. He tells the story in sort of a general way, he doesn’t give the characters names or anything - and yet, even without specifics, we know this story is true. I don’t know if it’s a real story, but I do know it’s a true story. And from what I heard last week - this is a story that hits home for a LOT of us in the room (and joining us online). 

And you know, right in the middle of the story is my favorite line in the whole thing. I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but there’s this part where everything has fallen apart for the younger son. He’s lost all his money, there’s a famine in the land and he’s starving to death. If this was a movie, it would probably be raining on him, and he’d be sitting there all alone and dejected and the camera would zoom in real slowly with a voice-over, “you’re probably wondering how a guy like me ended up in a situation like this” - right before it rewinds to the start of the story. And the line, it’s in verse 17 if you’re wondering, it has my favorite phrase, it says “when he came to his senses.” And for every prodigal, whether it’s you or someone in your life - this is the key moment: When he came to his senses. It’s the “aha” moment when you realize you’re being an idiot and you decide to fix things. And that moment is what we are going to focus on today as we dive into the story of the younger son.

Now, a lot of you know I have a thousand children - and they’ve all gone through the phases of growing up, but right now it’s kiddo number four. My son Asher, who is three years old - and he’s just hitting that developmental phase where he’s learning about consequences. Now I don’t want to paint the wrong picture, so here’s a photo of my kiddo on an average day of the week. He is my happiest child, just mr smiley all the time. Sorry other parents, I got the cute ones. Absolutely lights up a room with his grin, an immense source of joy in my life and I love him very much. But like every child his age, and all of his big brothers who have gone through this already - he has recently discovered the word “no” and then he has learned happens when he uses the word “no” with mom and dad. If you have kids, or if you ever WERE a kid you probably know how it goes - they’re not bad children, they’re just testing boundaries, figuring it out - how does the world work? What happens if I do this, or this? It’s all part of growing as a little human being. So a few weeks ago, Asher got mad at his little sister, and he just wound up and whacked her good. But just his bad luck, I happened to be watching them play outside from the window. And so the first new tactic he wanted to try out was lying. “Asher, did you just hit Maggie?” No! Of course not. Okay buddy, come here we need to talk about why she’s crying. No - I didn’t hit her! So then when lying didn’t work, he decided to try a new tactic - hitting dad. When yelling doesn’t work, he winds up and takes a swing - now he weighs all of three and a half pounds, so it doesn’t actually hurt - but you could see it in his face. Dad is a LOT bigger than baby sister. Asher has written a check he does not know how to cash - and so he just melts down. Have you ever experienced this? Where toddlers get all floppy and flaily? Where are my grandparents and nursery workers? Just starts wailing and blubbering. Inconsolable. I’m not even mad at him, but he knows he did a bad thing and he can’t handle being confronted by it. And this goes on for a long time - I did not hit her. I did not hit you. I did not. I did not. I did not. And he carries on for such a long time that I have to try and switch tactics a couple of times while trying to comfort him. And so I sit next to him on the steps, and I wrap him up in my arms and I tell him, “You know buddy, if you did hit Daddy - I would forgive you.” and it was like flipping a light switch. Have you ever experienced this - where a kid does a complete 180 so fast it’s almost like you have whiplash. [pause] Tears gone. Sits up straight. You would? And because in my house we try really hard to live as people of God’s grace, I can turn to my son and say, “You bet bud. In this family if you say “I’m sorry” we say “I forgive you.”’ All in a moment he came to his senses, it was really something to witness. My kids are all little - so I don’t have a story of a prodigal son running off and doing bad things, but on a smaller level, even with one of my youngest, it’s the same principle at work. He could not handle the bad thing he did in hitting his sister, in hitting me - but once he found out there was a possibility of forgiveness, everything changed. He was able to come to his senses. When we find out that there is actually forgiveness waiting on the other side of grace - we are more willing to take an honest look in the mirror. 

If you want to grab your bible, we are going to be in Luke chapter 15, verse 11 this morning. While you’re looking that up, I always like to mention - this month I’m using the NIV translation, and if you forgot your bible you are welcome to grab one off the back wall. Or, of course, you can just look it up on your phone. It starts out, [read v.11-12]. Now hold your finger on that verse 12 for a second, because I want to show you something amazing. That word for “estate” and then the word for “property” have significant meaning for us today. The word they use for estate is ousias - which is mostly translated as “essence, substance of being” and then the word they have for property comes from the greek word for “bios” - which you can probably guess is the word for life. So to our ears in the english - we hear “estate” and “property” and we think - assets. Bank accounts, land, who gets the lake house - this is how we think of dividing estates for inheritance - but what the greek shows us is that this is far more personal that we thought. The younger son is asking the father to divide his essence, his substance, his life. The younger son is asking the father - I want you to rip your life in half for me. And this gets at the first major teaching I want you to see for the younger son - sin rips a life into pieces. When we live away from God, whatever the specifics of that might be in your life, we are ripping a life into pieces. We are designed to live in our Father’s house. To grow up inside his love - but when we strike out on our own. When we think to ourselves - I just want to go my own way. I just want the freedom to be the boss of my own life, to make up my own personal morality and live however I want to live - we have to understand that stepping away from God rips our life apart. 

And by reducing his dad’s life down to an inheritance of money - what’s he’s really doing is saying, “Dad, I want your stuff. I don’t want you.” When the younger son says, “give me my share” - it’s the same as saying, “Dad, I wish you were dead. I don’t want you. I want your stuff.” And truth is, in our lives we hit God with that nonsense all the time! Heavenly Father - my family is going through a hard time with our finances, and I ask that you provide for us. And God responds, “in this season, I want you to learn to lean on me and trust in me - not your bank account.” And we say, “I’ll take cash or check, maybe even venmo if that works for you.” We want the things of the Father, without the Father. Or we’ll say, “Heavenly Father, I’ve been dealing with a lot of anxiety with work or at home - if you could just help me feel better.” And God will say, “in this season, I want you to draw closer to me, learn to depend on me, and I will fill you up.” And we respond, “eh… do you have like a pill or something I can take? I don’t want to grow closer to YOU God, that sounds like a whole lot of work - can’t you just give me what I’m praying for without insisting that I have to work on my connection to you?” We find ourselves wanting the benefits of God, without actually wanting God - and actually - here’s a secret, that’s the root of pride in most of our lives. Wanting the things of the Father, without wanting the Father - just like the younger son in the prodigal story - that’s the root of all our problems.

But here’s what I want you to catch - there is no freedom in the Father’s things, there is only freedom in the Father. The good things of this world - we think those are the things we actually want, we think those are the things that will actually fulfill us - but they never do. Let me see if I can explain it like this - the good things of this world, the things we THINK will give us access to freedom, that stuff actually makes us slaves. For example - if in your life it’s your beauty. If you see that as your source of happiness and fulfillment - it doesn’t bring you freedom. It might for a little while, but then you become a slave to trying to stay young and beautiful - you aren’t free from age. Or if you think it’s money - you will spend your entire life slaving to make more. All the time. If you think I’m wrong, think about how much money you made ten years ago. For a lot of us we had smaller budgets for a very similar type of life. Today you might make more money - but you have the same level of fulfillment. Or if you think it’s sex - that’s the thing that will bring me happiness and fulfillment - so you become a slave to pursuit of that. I mean, think about every sitcom ever - it’s just a parade of pathetic men who will do practically anything and make absolute fools of themselves in pursuit of a beautiful woman. It’s great for comedy, not so much for real life. And if the example of literally all of humanity up until this morning teaches us anything - it will never be enough. The stuff of the Father’s world cannot live in the place of the Father in our hearts. The younger son couldn’t figure this out - he thought freedom was found in the Father’s stuff, rather than in relationship with the Father, and his life is a lesson for all of us: it doesn’t work out that well. 

[read v.13-16]. The younger son chased the things of this world - and he ends up in the pigpen, wishing he could eat pig food. By chasing the stuff of this world, he ends up disconnected and lonely. But you know, can I tell you something? Here’s what I’m worried about - this story is very dramatic. A famine in the land. Living the squaller, covered in mud next to pigs. This is a very dramatic picture of hitting rock bottom - and I worry that this is hard for us to picture in our lives. Like, no matter how bad I screw up my life, I am not going to end up in a pig pen starving to death - and neither are you, that’s just not real life for the time period and place in the world that we live in. But do you know what we CAN resonate with? He’s alone. What I want you to realize is not “uh oh, watch out and follow God’s rules or you’re going to end up in a pig pen!” No! What I want you to find in all of this is pursuing the stuff of this world, instead of God, living as a prodigal son leaves us disconnected. Maybe we’ll never be as dirty and destitute as the kid in this story is - but some of us in our lives right now are already just as lonely. Trying to be independent from God leaves us disconnected. Sometimes losing everything has nothing to do with how much money is in our bank account, or how many physical bodies are around us at this moment. What we have seen - over and over in this world, I know you’ve seen these stories - is that you can have millions of followers, billions of dollars, all the fame and fortune this world could ever offer - and still feel so empty. Still feel so alone. And for some of us - we don’t even have the pleasures of this world to comfort us, to distract us. I think some of you have probably never set foot in a pig pen, but you look at this story of loneliness and disconnect - and it still hits, hard. Have you ever had a moment like that - where you realise that chasing after the stuff of this world has left you disconnected and alone? I know I have.

And then we finally get to my FAVORITE part. It says, [read v.16-20]. You know that old phrase, “when you hit rock bottom, you have nowhere to go except up.” And if you know that, and you realize the truth of that - what you’ll come to realize is that rock bottom is a gift. It is a good thing to hit the bottom, to reach the end of ourselves - because for a lot of us that is the only place we can actually come to our senses. Rock bottom is the beginning of our journey home. There’s a story that comes from another part of the bible - where this guy Paul was writing a letter to a church in Corinth. And Paul wrote them a couple of letters, they had a lot of problems to deal with in this church, and in the first letter he convicted them of their sin. He wrote them a letter and said, “Dear Church in Corinth, Knock it off - you’re doing bad stuff.” And then in between the letters, he bumps into some people who have visited that church, Paul’s buddy Titus. And Titus tells Paul, “Hoo boy, you made them feel pretty bad with your previous letter.” And so Paul sends them another letter, to the church in Corinth. And in that second letter, we call it Second Corinthians, chapter 7 verse 8 he writes, [read v.8-9]. You can sort of hear the pastoral heart of Paul, can’t you? He’s like, “Look, I can see that my letter hurt you - I do regret that, but I’m happy, not because of your sorrow, but because your sorrow led to repentance.”

Rock bottom is a gift, It’s very true - but here’s the problem: we are getting SO GOOD, as a culture, we are SO GOOD at avoiding rock bottom. Our society is obsessed with distraction, with addiction to things that keep us from realizing how far down we are. I’m not lonely, I’ve got social media. I’m not disconnected, I’ve got streaming. Coming to our senses can be very painful. Giving an honest look in the mirror is so hard, and our world is FULL of alternatives. But the prodigal son needed rock bottom, just like the church in Corinth NEEDED Paul’s conviction. When Titus came to Paul he didn’t say, “hey you made the church in Corinth feel bad.” No, what he said was, “they felt really bad for the way they messed up, and they’re changing their ways” and then Paul “so that my joy was greater than ever.” Rock bottom and conviction can be so painful, but it’s so much better than the alternative.

The good news that I have to share with you this morning is that God’s grace is stronger than your sinful nature. The younger son comes to his senses - he realizes he is FAR away from the Father. He figures forgiveness is going to be conditional. He figures restoration will only go so far. I’ll probably end up as a servant in my Father’s house. But what we see when the Father runs out to the son, wraps his arms around his boy and throws him a party - claiming him once again as his son, what Jesus is telling us with this story is that God’s grace is stronger than your screw ups. Some of you know that this church is a part of a tradition called the Wesleyan church, and I come from a different tradition. I was born and raised Methodist - which is very similar, but slightly different. And so to become fully ordained in this tradition, I have to take a couple classes to get my credentials to transfer over. So all summer I’ve been taking a class on Monday nights, and most of the information I already knew - but there’s one phrase I’d never heard before. They said, “John Wesley, you know, the guy who started our specific flavor of Christianity, John Wesley was very optimistic about God’s grace.” All Christians believe that God’s grace is stronger than your brokenness - but Wesley was so optimistic about it. He had this idea, that God’s forgiveness, it doesn’t just wash you clean so you can start over - it actually gets into your spirit, it gets into your heart and starts to transform your life. When you have a confidence, when you have an optimism about God’s forgiveness - that helps us come to our senses!

Do you understand what I’m trying to say? So many of us in life, we try to hide our flaws. We keep the embarrassing parts of ourselves covered up until we know they love us, and then we let them see the real us, right? We put on a face, we put on a charade where we pretend we are better than we actually are. But if we are confident of love, if we believe what the bible tells us about the love of Jesus, if we are optimistic about grace - we can finally, truly look in the mirror. Look, nobody likes being convicted of sin - but can you imagine the freedom that comes from knowing that you don’t have to hide anything anymore? You don’t have to pretend you’re not alone. You don’t have to pretend you are better than you are. God sees you, exactly where you are, exactly how you are - and he has a better plan for your life than that. God’s grace is stronger than your sin.

And so to carry this out from here to the rest of your week, I have a challenge for you. This week, I want you to come to your senses. Repentance is a one way street. If you are walking towards your sin, if you are walking further and further away from God - the only thing for you to do is to do a complete 180. And I know maybe that can feel like you’re moving backwards, but every step you take towards the Father is a step closer to home. Now you might be wondering, “Pastor JJ, how do I “come to my senses”? Like, what does that look like in my life? Well, hey - I’m so glad you asked. The first part of that is you need to open your eyes. Ask God to convict you. “God in heaven, I want the truth. I want to know how far away I am. I trust in your grace, and so I am willing to look at my life honestly. I’m pretty sure I’m not going to like what I see, and so I’ve been living with my eyes squeezed tight - but I see the story of the Prodigal Son, and I see your promise of grace and forgiveness and love, and so I trust your love will still be there, even when I look with brutal honesty at my own life. So God, Please show me my sin. Show me my pig pen. Help me come home.” If you want to come to your senses, you need to open your eyes. And let me say, I have prayed this prayer - many times in my life, and every time he shows me new stuff. It’s awful, but at the same time it’s amazing - because every sin he shows me is just another area I get to grow closer to God, another way I get to feel his mercy and love.  

The second part of that is you need to value GOD over the things of God. With conviction our prayer shifts. We say stuff like, “God I’m so grateful for the good things you have brought into my life, but the most important thing is YOU. I don’t want to lose everything, but even if I did - as long as I have you, I have everything I need.” So first, ask God to convict you, then ask God to consume you. That’s how we run to the Father.

I think about my little boy Asher, and how he just could not handle being confronted with his mistakes. But as soon as I gave him that reassurance - love will still be there on the other side of confession - he came to his senses. And maybe it sounds cute or trite, but I think we all have a bit of a toddler meltdown in our hearts when it comes to confronting our sins. But if you can have some optimism about God’s grace. If you can trust in his love that will still be there, even when you stop lying to yourself - you can finally take the first step towards freedom. In a minute, the worship team is going to come up and sing this song called “Run To The Father.” And it’s been out for a few years, but it’s pretty new for us in this church - and so we introduced it last week, but we’re going to sing it again. But if not familiar, I want to encourage you to let the words wash over you this morning. And while we sing, I want you to pray. Make some space, as you might need. Feel free to sit or kneel or spread out. Ask God to convict you. Ask God to open your eyes, to help you come to your senses - to help you come home. Like the song says, “I run to the Father I fall into grace. I’m done with the hiding, no reason to wait. My heart needs a surgeon, my soul needs a friend. So I’ll run to the Father again and again and again.” Let’s pray.