Tonight we are going to continue looking at the parable of the Prodigal Son. So far we have looked at the father - the picture of our God. Then we have looked at the older brother - the picture of the unforgiving ones. Now we will look at the younger son.
Luke 15:11-31: Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 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.’”
When Jesus tells this parable when He speaks of the prodigal - the ones who walk away from God - He is talking about the sinners and the tax collectors. It’s you and me!
There are two key things or phrases this young son says to his father. The first one is:
Give Me (12)
People who a prodigals in their heart are only interested in these two words: give me!
Give me my blessing, give me my reward, give me my wants, give me my house, give me, give me, give me.
They live in a world where they are in the centre of it. Everything in life revolves around them. They look to be blessed but don’t look to be a blessing.
What we discover about these people is that when they don’t get want they want they will fall away or move to another church that promises blessings all the time.
Their appetite is never satisfied. They will always want more.
What they forget is that the Bible speaks clearly about early inheritances:
Proverbs 20:21: An inheritance claimed too soon will not be blessed at the end.
The word prodigal means ‘wasteful.’ Those who live a ‘give me’ life are wasteful people, they will not put some aside for difficult days.
After he gets 1/3rd of his father's estate, he takes everything he has and goes 13: Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living
In context, this means that he abandoned the Holy Land to go, voluntarily, into exile to a gentile, pagan country where he could live loosely without being censured by fellow Jews living all around him.
The prodigal son experiences four humiliations. Each of these can be seen as stages of him moving further away from God:
Humiliation 1: he has to work for a pagan (15). For a devout Jew to have to work for a gentile was almost as low as you could go.
This is a sign that he hlas paced himself under the command of the world rather than the command of God
Humiliation 2: he has to go and feed pigs (15). Pigs for the Jews were unclean and to be avoided. Everyday he is working with them he can feel himself drifting further from God.
This is a sign that he can no longer worship God for he has no opportunity to make himself ritually clean for worship.
Humiliation 3: He would have been happy just to eat pig food (16), he was experiencing hunger and starvation.
This is a sign that he is no longer experiencing the provision of God that he enjoyed in his father’s house. The blessing of God does not lat forever outside of God’s care.
Humiliation 4: but nobody gave him anything to eat (16), not even from the left overs from the pig food.
This is a sign that he is now not even valued as a human being but is considered nothing, not even equal to a pig.
For every one of us there comes a moment when we have to realise that life without God is worse.
This brings us to the second key phrase he says:
Make Me (19):
Luke 15:17: “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.
The prodigal says ‘make me.’ Before says this he goes through a process in his mind.
He came to his senses! Sometimes people will live in terrible sins and think it is normal. This young man is starving, smelling of pigs, and is treated so badly by everyone around him that he finally realises that this is not the way it is meant to be.
To live for Jesus is not to lose your mind but it is to come to your senses!
I will go back! He decides he will go back to his father. Why? Because even his father’s servants are not hungry.
He realises that even on the servants worst day with his father is better than his best day without him.
Turn back. It is this action of repentance. To change direction, to head towards God that is so important.
I am not worthy! He prepares a little speech. It begins, “I am not worthy to be called your son…”
For the sinner to truly repent they have to realise that they are not worthy.
People today will say you have to ignore feelings of guilt and shame. But these are indicators and signs that the Holy Spirit is convicting you of sins against God.
Every one of us who knows Jesus will understand that on the cross Jesus took our our guilt and took our shame.
Make me! He is now willing to express the desire to be changed! Before he said “give me,” now he wants to say “make me.”
When you get to the place of saying ‘make me’ instead of ‘give me’ then you will discover that you are in the place where God can use you!
‘Give me’ is often built on selfish motives, ‘make me’ is built on God’s agenda:
- Give me a ministry or make me your servant
- Give me more money or make me a better steward
- Give me a wife or make me the man you want me to be.
- Give me blessings or make me a blessing to others
When you are willing to truly say ‘make me’ to your Father then He will be ready to lift you up!
Jesus was willing to be made like us (Philippians 2:5-11). The Bible tells us that He is God but took on the nature of a servant, becoming a man! He was made human! That He died on the cross. Then God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name above all names.
If you want to be lifted up in the Kingdom then you must be willing to say, ‘take me, shake me and make me!”
The Father Interrupts!
The Father in the parable interrupts the prodigal son:21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 “But the father said to his servants….
You see when you are repentant God sees your heart. He restores you to be His son or His daughter. He takes away the guilt and the shame. He puts the robe on your shoulders, the ring on your finger, the shoes on your feet and lifts you to be a co-heir with Christ Jesus!
But the father said…
Note this too:
- When the people around you tell you, “are you’re a bad person, a sinner,” you can say, “but God has said…”
- When the devil reminds you or your past, you can say, “But God has said…”
- When your circumstances squeeze you, you can say, “But God has said…”
- When your life is hard, you can say, “But God has said….”
Whatever you are facing remember what God has said!
Wrapping this up:
Maybe tonight you need to go back to God and say sorry for being a ‘give me’ Christian, but tonight you need to say a pryer of rededication, ‘make me.’
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