Good evening. You’ll notice that the handout has kind of a matching quiz on it. What I want you to do before we get started tonight is spend the next 5 minutes writing the appropriate letter to the right of each sentence, and then we will go over it and fill in the correct answers. So take about 5 minutes and fill that in………
Okay, let’s come back together. Before we move on, let’s open with a word of prayer.
Where are you all in the pecking order of your families? Are you the oldest, youngest, or are you maybe in the middle?
Okay, how old where you when you first left home?
At that time, where you ready physically, emotionally, and spiritually?
Well, after doing the handout, you may have a pretty good understanding of the parable already, but let’s go ahead and read the Parable Of The Prodigal Son. Turn with me to Luke 15:11-32 and let’s read. Now I think that this parable could have been named, “The Parable of the Loving Father” or “The Parable of the Jealous Son”. But instead, people decided to call it The Parable of the Prodigal Son or the Parable of the Lost Son. Anyway, here in Luke 15:11-32 it says, “1”
Now this parable really deals with 3 interesting characters. The father, and his older and younger sons.
From your perspective, what caused the younger brother to want to leave home?
Okay, if you were the father, would you have given the boy his inheritance early?
What finally caused the younger son to come to his senses?
Do you think the father made a wise decision in throwing his son a party when he retuned?
How do you suppose the older son felt when he heard about the party for his younger brother?
What do you think kept the older brother from coming to the party?
Okay, well let’s look over that handout and make sure that we all really grasp this story. Did anyone figure out what the word prodigal meant? Yes the word prodigal means wasteful. In the end we find that the younger son really was wasteful of his inheritance.
The younger son asks his father to give him his inheritance. This son had a rebellious spirit. He didn’t want to listen to his fathers advise and so he was acting foolishly.
But the father goes ahead and gives his son the inheritance. Once the father grants his sons request, the son goes to a distant country. However, with his wasteful living, he soon lost his possessions. He tried to replace the love of his family with the things of this world. He though he could buy with his inheritance the love that he walked out on, but he was wrong.
But even after losing everything, his situation gets worse when a famine strikes the land. In his desperation he ends up feeding pigs. You see, he went from living high on the hog, to feeding the hogs. And there couldn’t have been anything worse for him to do, especially considering he was Jewish
Finally, he comes to his senses. In a way he gets a reality check in his life. Ultimately he decided to go home to his father and confess his sin. Repentance is really the only way to restore broken relationships. When we have our relationship broken from God, the only thing that restores that relationship is a repentant heart and repentant actions.
After he returns to his father, the father’s love is immediately evident. I mean look at what he does for his son that has returned. First he said that his son was dead and is alive again. When we get lost, Jesus says to us, “I am the way.” When we are dead, Jesus says, “I am life.”
Then we come to the response of the older brother. Instead of being happy, the older son was angry. He has become mad and upset because the younger son messed up and is now being welcomed back. I mean no party was thrown fro the older son who stayed and did as his father desired. So he begins to become jealous. And the father responded that the younger brother was lost and is now found.
He was so happy to see his son that he then threw this huge party to welcome and celebrate that return of the younger son.
Now, we know the story, but that still leaves me with several questions. Why didn’t the father stop his younger son from going in the first place?
Well, I think that the father here is exactly like God is. Just as God does not force us to be followers of Christ, the father here didn’t force his son to follow his advice. Both this father and our Heavenly Father want us to come freely.
Now, let’s look at that Who’s Who section. The father in the parable obviously represents our Heavenly Father. He is compassionate, deep love for His children, He cares for us, and He has this yearning and desire that we follow Him freely.
The prodigal son represents a repentant sinner. This is what we are all to be. We have all wasted the life that God has given us to some degree. Either we waste the talent that He gives, the advice He gives us in His word, or we waste other things, but we need to have a repentance about ourselves that sets us apart from the rest of the world. Remember that repentance is the way to restore relationships.
Finally the last character is the older son. I think that the older son represents the Pharisees. Look again at verse 29. It says, “1”
The Pharisees where the same way. They felt they deserved something from God for what they though was serving Him.
Now, before we look at the lessons to be learned, let me ask you a few questions to help you apply this story to your own lives. Spiritually speaking, which brother reminds you of the beginning of your spiritual pilgrimage? Why?
Has that changed as you have spent more time in Christ? Why?
Does anyone have anything that they would like to add before we close this evening?
Well, we have 4 good lessons to be learned. First, our Heavenly Father loves His children. Just like this father, God is going to be so excited and come to us with arms wide open when we return to Him.
Second, even when we turn away from Him, his heart yearns for us. Even when we fall into sin, God’s only desire is that we come back to Him. No matter what we do, He still loves us unconditionally.
Thirdly, God anxiously waits for His wandering children to repent. He is waiting for us to change our ways when we are separated from Him and he waits for us to come back to Him. Repentance is the only way to fix our relationship with God.
And finally, we need to share God’s joyous attitude when someone comes to Christ. When we see people repent and follow Christ, we need to be just as excited as God is. We can’t be like the older brother and be bitter and jealous. So as we leave here today, may we be repentant in the areas that we need to be, and may we realize the love that the Father has for us. And above all, may we not be the angry brother when the Lord celebrated others coming to Him.
Let’s Pray
Before we sing our last song, how did you all do in filling out the handout ahead of time?
Well, our closing song will be… |
