The story of a father and two sons

Well, when speaking to God, Jesus always called God Dada, Father, except once.

We're about to hear a story that Jesus told.

We've already heard it in the kids' talk.

We're going to hear what Jesus said through the word as well.

And it's a story of father and two sons.

And we're told that listening to this story, there's two groups of people listening in when Jesus first said this.

There were sinners who had clearly broken God's rules, who thought they could find fulfillment in life by making their own rules.

And then there was the devoutly religious types who thought they could find fulfillment in life by keeping God's rules.

And Jesus is saying both groups have a wrong picture of God.

So as we hear this story, I hope we're all prepared to have our view of God challenged by this story.

So I'm going to invite James up to read us part one, and then I'll say a few more words.

So we'll be reading from Luke 15.

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to him.

And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying,

This man receives sinners and eats with them.

And he said,

There was a man who had two sons.

And the younger of them said to his father,

Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.

And he divided his property between them.

Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country.

And there he squandered his property in reckless living.

And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country.

And he began to be in need.

So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country,

who sent him into the fields to feed pigs.

And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate.

And no one gave him anything.

But when he came to himself, he said,

How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread?

But I will perish here with hunger.

I will arise and go to my father.

And I will say to him,

Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.

I am no longer worthy to be called your son.

Treat me as one of your hired servants.

And he arose and came to his father.

But while he was still a long way off,

his father saw him and felt compassion,

and ran and embraced him and kissed him.

And the son said to him,

Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.

I am no longer worthy to be called your son.

But the father said to his servants,

Bring quickly the best robe and put it on him,

and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet,

and bring the fattened calf and kill it,

and let us eat and celebrate.

For this my son was dead and is alive again.

He was lost and is found.

And they began to celebrate.

Well, let's imagine a family-owned farm.

It's been passed down generation to generation,

and we hear the younger son say to his father,

Father, give me my share of the property.

Now, you know as well as I do,

plenty of families argue over the will when someone dies.

But do you hear what he's saying?

To ask for this while his dad is still alive is to wish him dead.

It's to go, I want your stuff, not you.

Now, that would get the blood boiling in anyone, right,

in any father today.

But in ancient Middle Eastern culture back then,

to have your honour so blatantly offended like that,

any self-respecting man would have just cut him from the family,

kicked him out,

and said, you're not getting anything.

Get out.

So as shocking as the request is,

like it should shock us that a son would treat a dad like this,

what's more shocking is the father's response.

He divided his property between his sons.

His life was bound up with the land.

I think our indigenous brothers and sisters understand this better,

that it's not so much that the land belonged to him,

it's more that he belonged to the land.

So the word used here is actually he divided his life between them.

He didn't tear shreds off his son.

This father bears the pain of rejected love and he tears himself apart.

And then this younger son, thinking he can have a better life,

making his own rules,

takes his wealth as far away from the family as possible

and lives in self-indulgence.

And of course it eventually runs out.

If you live for things that can't last,

they don't last.

It runs out.

A feminine hits.

And his actions had cut himself off from all true family

because of his self-indulgence

and he ends up alone.

No one will give him anything.

Now I think self-indulgence,

it can't end in any other place.

If you put yourself before family,

you put yourself before community,

you put yourself before God,

when we lose everything,

of course we end up alone.

It's in hard times that we feel how empty life is

when we live for things that don't last.

So I'm wondering,

have you experienced rock bottom yet?

Have you hit rock bottom like this son did?

There's some things in life that just come from left field

and things you've been building in life on

just get stripped away.

Have you hit rock bottom before?

Maybe that's what's prompted you to come to church today.

If it is,

I hope you hear in Jesus' story

that you might feel really hopeless at the moment,

but Jesus is saying that hopeless feeling,

it feels like hell,

but it's actually the doorway to true hope.

This story gives you a picture of God

of the way back to true life.

But it's not in the way

that most people try and reinvent themselves,

and this story shows us that.

This son does what many try to do.

He comes up with a plan to redeem himself.

He knows he can't undo the past.

He can't.

He's done too much damage to the relationship.

But he comes up with a plan,

at least let me make it up to you a bit.

I know I can't be in the family,

but let me work for you.

Let me pay something back.

So he turns around

and he goes home.

And I think when we try,

when we experience hard times in life,

when we hit rock bottom,

I think a lot of people try and turn to religion,

thinking that if I come back to God,

if I come back to church,

if I give something back,

if I give a bit of money,

if I turn up a little bit,

if I volunteer a little bit,

then I can reinvent myself.

If I give something back to God,

he might help me turn my life around.

Now again, this story,

Jesus wants your life to be turned around,

but not in the way you might expect.

This father won't hear anything

of your self-made plan to redeem yourself.

He'll have none of it.

We hear in the story,

while the son's still a long way off,

his father saw him and felt compassion

and ran and embraced him and kissed him.

Now fathers back then,

they did not run.

Women ran.

Children ran.

So this guy,

his emotions are just letting loose.

His son's back.

He doesn't care what people think of him.

He doesn't hit or scold the son.

How dare you show your face?

He embraces him.

He doesn't rub his son's nose in what he's done,

like keeping him in guilt,

going,

you better make it up to me.

He doesn't do that.

He kisses him.

The son tries to implement his plan.

I've sinned against heaven and against you,

but he can't even get the words out.

This father will have none of it.

He won't even let him take a bath.

This son has no opportunity to clean up his act.

This father gets the coat,

puts it on him.

The father brings him back,

puts a ring on his finger.

He's part of the family.

You can't earn your way back.

This father will bring you back at his own cost.

Bring quickly the best robe and put it on him.

Ring on his hand,

shoes on his feet.

And this father wants to celebrate

because he's got his son back.

This son of mine was dead and is alive again.

He was lost and is found.

Do you know God like this kind of father?

You might be here today, like I've said,

trying to have a fresh start for yourself,

thinking that getting into religion

might start improving things.

But this father, God the father,

he won't let you clean up your act and prove yourself.

He will come to you.

At his own cost, he will bring you back.

He wants to embrace and kiss

and bring you back into the family.

And we know this for sure

because the one telling this story

is on the road to Jerusalem.

He's on a road where he knows at the end of it

is a cross.

And he's telling this story.

This father will bring you back at his cost

and he paid that cost on the cross.

It's not your plan of redemption that works.

It's his plan of redemption.

It's his cost.

He wants to bring you back.

So can I urge you to leave whatever plan you've got

to clean up your act at the cross

and just look to him.

Let him clean you.

Let him clothe you.

Let him make you God's child again.

You might feel a very long way from God.

But the moment he sees a desire to come back,

he will come to you.

He will meet you where you're at right now.

So can I urge you,

turn back to this kind of father.

Do it in your mind now.

Do it in the car on the way home.

But I suggest you get ready to pull over

because the tears are going to flow.

Be careful about that.

But do it.

This father just wants you back.

That's the kind of God he is.

And he wants to celebrate when you come back.

So that's part one of the story.

We've got part two coming.

But I want to pause there.

And we're going to sing another song.

And then we're going to hear from Don McMurray

who's going to tell us a bit of his story

of how he was brought to this father.

And he asked me to say he's truncated the story down.

And then James will bring us part two of the story

and I'll say a few more words.

So let's sing and then we'll hear from Don

and then we'll hear the next part.

If anyone's looking for pride and prejudice,

I've got the DVD at home.

Of course, the first thing that God hates

out of six things is pride.

And I think pride was the downfall of my life

in part of it at any rate.

But at the age of zero, being born,

like the newborn baby just heard about,

they called me Donald.

Donald meets proud chief.

And pride is always there with me

as a bit of an extrovert

and a show off in so many ways.

But I can't remember never being at church

unless I was sick or something else was drastically wrong

from the age of two,

riding on my father's shoulders,

coming from the Presbyterian church at Bangalore.

And even as we moved to Newcastle in 1938,

my father was an elder in the Presbyterian church

at St Andrews,

superintendent of the Sunday school.

And I was always there at church.

By the time I was 14,

I was in year nine

and knocked around with a bit of a mob

around the Cooksville area,

stealing, lying, cheating,

and filthy and thought and word and deed.

And I was so bad at school,

I neglected everything then

and failed every subject

and they put me back to year eight from year nine.

I shamed my father and my mother

and people that looked to me

and thought I was a lovely little boy,

they didn't know my heart.

I brushed up my act,

left the mob

and did well at school the following year

and I thought I'd be a teacher,

went on to year 10,

but mucked up a bit at school

and decided I'd leave school again

and earn some money like my mates.

My third job was in a bank,

a union bank in Hunter Street

and at 18 they wanted to send me to the country

and no way was I going to go

because I just started playing state under 21 hockey

and hockey became my god.

Sport was the thing that I lived for really,

although I was everything at church.

At 18 also I joined the Freemasons

with my father and two brothers.

To be a Freemason you had to be good enough

and so I felt pretty good about that

and everyone blackballed me

and I thought, well, I'm doing pretty good.

By the time I was 20

I'd been selected in a

under 21 Australian hockey team on paper.

It was all amateurish then

and we never went anywhere

but here I was,

I thought, boy, this is good,

I'm heading for the 56 Olympics

and then after church one Sunday

I went to, down to the park

just nearest it at Cooks Hill

and the boys were playing a game of hockey.

There was no Sunday sport

but they organised a social game

and they said, come on, we want you to play.

I said, oh, no, I promised the Lord

I wouldn't play any Sunday sport

and so they badgered me

and not being a true believer

I soon got my gear on

and said, something's going to happen

and sure enough

towards the end of the game

I was flat on my back

my nose splattered across my face

and that was the end of my Olympic dreams.

By 21 I was engaged to a teacher

by 22 I was disengaged

and then I started to go with my wife

who was in the choir with me, June

my later wife-to-be

and we were married

and we moved to the house

that I now live in at Charlestown.

After we'd had two children

still going into town

we had no car for seven years

still going into town

to St Andrew's Preparation Church

pushing a stroller up

towards Charlestown Road

there was no footpaths in those days

and we just got a bit sick of it

and we thought

well, let's go to the local church

so we went to Charlestown Presbyterian.

Now the Presbyterian Church

in those days was all liberal

in other words

that they preached

they didn't preach the gospel

that we're hearing today

they preached about

a moralistic type of life

a good life

and we had a wonderful time

amongst the people

but we went up to Charlestown Presbyterian Church

just a kilometre up the road

and it was there that we met

Bruce and Olive Boots

they were later the ones

that started Courant Books

but Bruce and Olive Boots

are in this church

a liberal church

and they were true believers

they'd been converted

in the New England area

and they saw that

we were quite religious people

through the Freemasonry

I'd now come to the point

where I'd become

Master of the Masonic Lodge

at Lord Robert's Temperance

and I was feeling pretty proud about that

that I'd reached to this height

in Freemasonry

but Bruce and Olive could see

that we were very religious

but not Christians

I was then elected

to the eldership

of St. David's Presbyterian Church

at Charlestown

unconverted

with a number of other people

unconverted

very few Christians

in the whole church

and

I must say

that we

I'd had a few tragedies

in the house

in the home

my father died

nine months before

we were married

I had a brother

who died in

Morristet Mental Hospital

on a criminal charge

he was 44

left six children

I had another

my oldest brother

was dying

of lung cancer

and

in the

January of

1961

I

I was just

I went to visit him

I could hear the death

rattles in his throat

and I just couldn't

stand it any longer

I was caring for my mother

trying to provide

for my wife

and two children

and

with all these deaths

and things going on

I just couldn't cope

and I just wanted

to commit suicide

I spoke to my wife

and to my cousin

and

we went

I went to see

Dr Chambers

at

near the police station

up in Newcastle

and told him my story

and

he said

well how are you

with God

I thought

this man's a bit of a nut

I've always been at church

who could be more

better than I am

I'm always there

everything at church

I go out talking to people

about God

and at any rate

that night in bed

I hadn't slept well

and

conviction came over me

that

I wanted to be like my father

an elder

I was

but had no peace with God

I'd risen to the height

of a sonic

lodge in the first three degrees

but I had no peace with God

I thought

well

I was pretty good

going to church

all the time

but then

the Lord

just showed me

that

the church

didn't die

for my sins

showed me

that my sin

was against

the holy God

I'd done plenty

of things wrong

but

I was better

than most people

but when he

showed me

that my sin

was against

the holy God

and that

Christ came into the world

to save sinners

not good people

that I went out

in the lounge room

during the sleep

in the bed

and I just

clonked down

in front of the chair

that I now sit in

and I

just called on the Lord

that he might save me

first the scripture

came to mind

which I can't remember

ever reading

but it did

no temptation

has taken you

except such

as is common

to man

but God

is faithful

who will not

allow you

to be tempted

beyond what

you're able

but with the

temptation

will also

make a way

of escape

that you may

be able

to bear it

I didn't

want to bear it

I wanted to be

zapped out

of my problem

but the boots

kept pointing me

to Christ

and I believe

the Lord

changed me

on that

that evening

and gave me

a hope

that God

is faithful

I started

to read

my dad's

old Bible

and Lord

was speaking

to me

I was in

depression

for about

three years

before I left

the Freemasonry

and then there

was this peace

that I had

that God

is good

pride

is awful

self-righteousness

God hates

but Lord

he loves

sinners

who come

to him

with nothing

but a hope

that he might

save them

now his oldest

son was in

the field

and as he

came and

drew near to

the house

he heard

music and

dancing

and he

called one

of the

servants

and asked

what these

things meant

and he

said to

him

your brother

has come

and your

father has

killed the

fattened calf

because he

has received

him back

safe and

sound

but he

was angry

and refused

to go in

his father

came out

and entreated

him

but he

answered

his father

look

these

many

years

I

have

served

you

and I

never

have

disobeyed

your command

yet you

never gave

me a young

goat

that I

might celebrate

with my

friends

but when

this son

of yours

came

who has

devoured

your property

with prostitutes

you killed

the fattened

calf

for him

and he

said to

him

son

you are

always with

me

and all

that is

mine

is yours

it was

fitting

to celebrate

and be

glad

for this

your brother

was dead

and is

alive

he was

lost

and is

found

well

like Don

I'm

assuming

that many

here today

have

grown up

in and

around

church

circles

as I

have

and if

that's

you

it's

the story

of the

elder

brother

that really

challenges

your view

of God

and your

view of

sin

and your

view of

why Jesus

came to

save us

so as we

picture this

elder brother

dirty and

tired

working in

the field

and he

hears music

and dancing

and what is

that

what's going

on

and he

finds out

and he

is

he is

livid

like he

is furious

now who's

he angry

at

he's mainly

angry at

his dad

and he

shows his

anger at

his father

by publicly

humiliating

him by

not going

into the

greatest

party his

dad has

ever thrown

it's like

at a

wedding where

everyone's

celebrating

inside and

there's a

family argument

happening

outside

he's standing

outside

and he

lets

he just

gives full

vent to

his anger

he doesn't

respect him

calling him

father

he goes

look

these

many

years

I've

served

you

and I

never

disobeyed

your

command

yet you

never

gave me

a young

goat

that I

might

celebrate

with my

friends

but when

this

son of

yours

came

who

has

devoured

your

property

with

prostitutes

you

killed

the

fattened

calf

for

him

why

is he

angry

and

not

relieved

and

full

of joy

like

his

dad

I

think

notice

that

he's

upset

about

the

fattened

calf

you

gave

the

calf

to

him

I

deserve

your

stuff

not

him

you

haven't

even

given

me

a

goat

now

I

know

that

calf

and

goat

probably

isn't

relating

too

well

to

us

you

gave

the

family

car

to

him

you

kidding

after

years

of

obeying

you

surely

I

deserve

some

reward

for

my

efforts

surely

this

gathering

if we're

going to

celebrate

anyone

it should

be

celebrating

me

for

my

obedience

not

this

self

indulgent

son

of

yours

can

you

understand

his

anger

I

can

I

think

I

know

it

too

well

I

think

I

know

when

I'm

thinking

like

this

when

things

don't

go

well

in

life

and

I

feel

like

God

has

short

changed

me

I'm

one of

the

good

ones

like

I

try

my

best

with

my

family

I

sacrifice

the

church

I

did

the

prayers

you

haven't

given

me

the

health

for

me

and

my

family

you

haven't

helped

helped

me

given

me

that

peaceful

holiday

you

just

feel

angry

that

you're

not

getting

what

you

deserve

and

I

got to

admit

I

struggled

to

get

my

head

around

the

father's

response

and

I

think

I

struggled

because

if

I'm

like

anyone

I

think

I

can

relate

more

to

the

elder

brother

here's

what

the

father

said

son

probably

more tender

than that

son

you

are

always

with

me

as

compared

to

the

other

you

are

always

with

me

and

all

that

is

mine

is

yours

now

how

does

that

answer

the

claim

of

unfairness

you're

always

with

me

and

all

that

is

mine

is

yours

how

does

that

answer

the

claim

of

unfairness

because

he hasn't

been

rewarded

for his

obedience

I

think

to

understand

that

we

need

to

put

ourselves

in

the

father's

shoes

and

we

need

to

feel

the

heartbreak

that

the

father

felt

he's

hearing

his

son

basically

say

I

was

doing

all

this

I

was

obeying

you

to

get

the

calf

to

get

the

goat

you

mean

all

these

years

you

obeyed

me

to

get

the

stuff

all

I

own

is

yours

we're

family

I

thought

you

were

obeying

me

because

you

love

me

here

I

thought

relationship

is

the

reward

I

thought

you

were

obeying

me

because

you

wanted

to

express

your

love

for

me

you

love

being

my

son

but

you

too

just

want

the

stuff

and

not

me

both

sons

saw

their

father

in

terms

of

rules

the

younger

son

didn't

want

anything

to do

with

the

rules

they

thought

no

way

I'm

getting

out

of

here

I'm

going

to

find

life

away

from

God's

rules

whereas

the

older

son

was

thinking

in

terms

of

rules

as

well

okay

I

don't

like

the

rule

I'll

do

it

they

both

were

thinking

in

terms

of

rules

when

the

father

wanted

relationship

they

both

wanted

the

stuff

and

not

the

father

himself

and

I

think

this

is

why

there

can

be

so

much

religious

activity

going on

and

we

heard

a glimpse

to

that

without

without

real

love

for

God

we

don't

fully

appreciate

why

Jesus

had to

die

on

the

cross

until

we

understand

that

I

we

need

to be

saved

for the

motivations

for doing

right

we need

to be

saved

for the

wrong

things we

do

but we

also

need

to be

saved

for the

motivations

for why

we do

the

right

thing

because

if we

do

the

right

thing

to

try

and

control

God

if I

do

this

for

you

you

owe

me

or

if

we

do

the

right

things

to

bolster

our

sense

of

self

importance

we

compare

ourselves

to

others

they're

failing

I'm

succeeding

then

it's

not

true

love

for

God

it's

the

elder

brother's

self

righteous

goodness

that

makes

him

lost

he

is

just

as

lost

as

the

younger

brother

it

just

looks

different

he

is

worlds

away

from

loving

the

father

for

his

sake

we

can

know

we

are

lost

like

this

I

think

we

can

feel

it

and

sense

it

when

we

are

comparing

ourselves

to

others

we

hear

this

older

brother

go

this

son

of

yours

he

wants

nothing

to do

with

him

he's

comparing

himself

and I

think

we can

do the

same

when

we

don't

want

others

to be

forgiven

because

we

think

we

don't

need

forgiveness

ourselves

a

true

son

wouldn't

be

comparing

like

that

a

true

son

would

share

this

father's

longing

to have

all the

family

come

home

so

this

story

Jesus

is

telling

is a

confronting

story

it's

bad

people

good

people

you're

all

lost

we're

all

lost

because

we're

all

looking

at

God

as

if

it's

all

about

rules

trying

to

run

away

from

rules

or

trying

to

keep

the

rules

to

get

his

stuff

we're

all

lost

when

this

father

wants

relationship

as

the

reward

all

year

round

but

especially

at

Easter

we

celebrate

that

we

have

a

true

elder

brother

this

elder

brother

could

have

left

the

home

and

searched

for

the

younger

brother

and

brought

him

home

but

he

didn't

but

we

have

a

true

one

we

have

one

who

left

heaven

to

come

and

find

us

he

left

his

home

in

heaven

there

is

one

son

who

always

saw

his

father

as

he

really

is

and

who

obeyed

him

out

of

love

not

to

get

his

stuff

but

willing

to

lose

it

all

even

to

the

point

of

death

there

was

one

time

he

didn't

call

god

father

and

it

was

on

the

cross

my

god

my

god

why

have

you

forsaken

me

he

was

cut

out

of

the

family

so

that

you

and

I

can

be

brought

in

with

his

resurrection

we

can

now

enjoy

a

relationship

with

this

father

as

close

as

Jesus

has

a

relationship

with

God

the

father

and

we

can

celebrate

that

forgiveness

is

done

reconciliation

is

done

so

Jesus

gives us

a picture

of what

God

is really

like

he

runs

out

to

us

he

comes

out

to

us

to

plead

to

come

in

and

there's

only one

question

that

remains

it's

the

cliff

hanger

of

Jesus

story

will

the

elder

brother

come

in

he's

outside

in

the

dark

angry

feeling

entitled

he

won't

come

into

the

celebration

because

he

doesn't

think

he

needs

forgiveness

will

he

come

in

we

don't

find

out

and

it's

the

cliff

hanger

of

my

story

your

story

will

you

come

in

or

will

you

stand

outside

and

be

in

the

dark

because

you

think

you're

too

good

will

you

come

in

and

celebrate

forgiveness

and

see

this

father

as

wanting

relationship

not

rules

yes

obedience

but

obedience

because

you

love

the

father

not

to

get

stuff

from

him

so

I'll

leave

it

with

you

will

you

come

in

to

the

party

that

has

started

the

resurrection

means

the

party

has

begun

peace

with

God

as

Don

talked

about

has

been

achieved

it's

time

to

celebrate

and

I

think

the

moment

we're

in

right

now

is

kind

of

like

at

a

wedding

reception

when

the

party

has

begun

but

we're

waiting

for

the

groom

the

bridal

party

to

show

up

it's

going

to

kick

up

a

notch

when he

comes

back

but