Coming Home

Luke chapter 15, verse 11. It's a pretty popular

Luke 15:11

story. Some of you may have heard it before.

If you hadn't, that's okay. It's a great, great

story. Jesus tells a parable here of a man whose

son went astray. And I know what some of you

are saying. Some of you are saying, well, you

just preached this passage. Not too long ago,

and you are correct, but we're going to look

at it again today. I felt like this was what

we needed to look at today, and so we're just

going to refresh ourselves with it, even if we

did just look at it recently. Luke chapter 15,

Luke 15:11

verse 11 is where we will start today. Let's

pray, and then we'll jump in. God, we come to

you. We thank you for your good word, dear Lord.

We thank you for loving us. We thank you for

the truth that's in this passage, God, that sometimes

we just blow it, dear Lord. Sometimes we sin

so greatly against you and against others. But

dear Lord, I pray that we would know today that

you love us, that if we are that one who has

gone astray in our foolishness and our sinfulness,

dear Lord, that we'd know you wait for us to

come home. So I pray. That you just bless the

reading of your word, and I ask these things

in Jesus' name. Amen. Luke chapter 15, verse

Luke 15:11

11. Jesus had just told a couple of other parables

before this, and this kind of follows in line

with the theme of that which is lost being found.

And he also said in verse 11, a man had two sons.

The younger of them said to his father, Father,

give me the share of the assets I have coming

to me. So he distributed the assets to him. Not

many days later, the younger son gathered together

all he had and traveled to a distant country

where he squandered his estate in foolish living.

After he had spent everything, a severe famine

struck that country and he had nothing. Then

he went to work for one of the citizens of that

country, who sent him into the fields to feed

his pigs. He longed to eat his field from the

carapods the pigs were eating, but no one would

give him any. When he came to his senses, he

said, How many of my father's hired hands have

more than enough food? And here I am, dying of

hunger. I'll get up. Go to my father and say

to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven

and in your sight. I'm no longer worthy to be

called your son. Make me like one of your hired

hands. So he got up and went to his father. While

the son was still a long way off, his father

saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran

through his arms around his neck and kissed him.

The son said to him, Father, I have sinned against

heaven and in your sight I am no longer worthy

to be called your son. The father told his slaves,

Quick, bring out the best robe and put it on

him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on

his feet. Then bring the fattened calf and slaughter

it. And let's celebrate with a feast. Because

the son of mine was dead and is alive again.

He was lost and is found. So they began. To celebrate.

Now this is a popular passage in a well -known

parable of Jesus. And rightfully so. I believe

it's a parable that every one of us can connect

with. Now the setting is very simple for us to

understand what's going on. There's a father

who has two sons and all is well. The father

has raised the sons. The father has provided

for the sons. Everything that the Father has

will be the Son's, and everything is established

for them. They're in a place of safety and security,

and all their provisions are met. So there's

really no need for the Son to leave. Why would

the Son want to leave the presence of the Father?

Because the Son has the same problem that many

of us have, and that is the grass is always greener

on the other side of the fence. where we are

that doesn't look as good as where we want to

be i don't i don't know what what what that is

in us we just think that there's got to be something

better there's got to be something better and

we never stop to think that that maybe we're

in a good place sometimes we think the grass

on the other side of the fence is greener and

sometimes we find out it's the same grass we've

been eating or maybe even not as good and so

the son had grew up in the father's house and

And you guys get this because you were all teenagers

once. And, you know, your parents have rules

and they have ways they like to do things. And

you say, I don't want to follow these rules.

And they say, it's my roof, my rules. And they

say, it's time to find a new roof. You've had

this conversation with your parents probably,

something similar to that. And if you've got

young kids and I've got bad news for you, you're

going to have that conversation with them. And,

like, there's something about. even if we're

teenagers and maybe even adults, that we think,

I want to go out and do it my way. And the son

here didn't even really work to do it his way.

He just said, Dad, give me some money. I'm going

to get this anyway, right? You're going to die.

I'm going to get what's coming to me, so just

let me have it now. And I want to go and do things

my way, which was the first mistake that he made.

And the father allowed... the son to make this

mistake. Now, maybe there's something we can

gain from that, too, is that sometimes as parents,

maybe you have to let your kids make those mistakes.

Now, the father certainly knew that this was

not going to be good for the son. It probably

wasn't going to work out good. It was foolish

to begin with, but nevertheless, the father granted

the son's request. He gave him the money, and

the son went out and lived foolishly, and we

get it. I think that's why stories like this

are so good. Jesus was so brilliant at using

these kind of stories because every one of us,

this is probably your story. You were young one

day. You were so proud and so foolish you were

going to do it your way, and you went out and

you just made the worst decisions possible. And

you blew everything you had, and you didn't plan

ahead, and you didn't think straight, and you

did stupid, stupid things, and you find yourself

in a mess. It turns out all those things your

parents had said, your grandparents had said,

they start to make a lot more sense. Like when

you're young, your parents are so stupid. And

then the older you get, your parents, they get

smart. It's the craziest thing. And nothing's

changed. And so this guy was probably not so

different than you and I. His dad wasn't giving

him the life that he wanted. It's got to be better

out there. Give me what I got. I'm going to go

out and live my life my way and do my thing.

And he did that. And he lived so foolishly and

got himself in such a bad, bad situation. Now

he ends up working for a pig farmer, feeding

pigs. He wants to eat the pig slop. The text

says they won't even give him none of the pig

slop. He's starving to death. There's a famine

in the land. His foolishness has got him in a

bad, bad place. Now that might be where some

of us are today. It might have been where you

were when you were a teenager or it might be

where you are as an adult. You may have made

some really foolish decisions and they are painful.

And man, we're in the midst of that pain. We

don't like it. But a lot of times our decisions

get us right there in that spot. And so he begins

to think and he says, golly, when I was in my

father's house, things were pretty good. He says,

even my father's servants. Even they've got it

better than me. Even the people who work for

my father were better taken care of than I am.

I'm not here with the pigs. I don't have anything

to eat. I've got to do something. So he plans

out this whole speech. I'm going to go home and

I'm going to tell my dad everything I've done.

And then he has to take that step to go back

home. And that's a hard step to take. Now, I

don't know if any of you have ever been there

before. I suspect you have where you've... You've

decided to do things your way and you said, I

can do this. I'll do the way I want to do it.

I don't need you. And then all of a sudden you

find out, uh -oh, I do need dad or mom or whoever

it may be. And that's a hard step to take to

swallow that pride because now all of a sudden

you've got to go back and you've got to say,

I need some help. And sometimes people don't

take that step. Sometimes we're too ashamed or

sometimes we're just too proud. Sometimes we'd

rather just be proud and live in hungry and afraid

and ashamed because we're too proud to take that

step. And as hard as it may be, that step is

what's going to restore us in life. Now maybe

for some of you today, maybe this story is kind

of literally your situation. Maybe there's a

broken relationship you have with a parent. or

a child because of something like this. Maybe

this scripture today is a good wake -up call

for you to say, you know what? It's not good

to live separated. It's not good to live in pain.

It's not good when there's foolishness involved,

whether it's your foolishness or your child's

foolishness or somebody else's foolishness. Our

desire should be for some restoration to take

place, and it may be for some of us today. That

it's time to take that step. That it's time to

take that first step and say, man, I have really

blown it and I'm in a bad place. But I want to

go back where there's peace and safety and security.

And so the son begins his journey home. And the

beautiful part of the story is that as the father

sees the son coming in the distance, Smirk or

smile and say, well, I told you so. I can't wait

until he gets over here to tell him. His first

words were not, I told you so. And that's a good

lesson in there for us too. Okay, so maybe your

child has done something or somebody else has

acted foolishly towards you. Maybe our first

response doesn't need to be one of, I told you

so, but one of compassion. To see that there's

somebody that's blew it and they know that they've

blown it. And they're coming back. before us

in shame and in guilt and just feeling the weight

of that. It's not a good time to say, I told

you so. That's not love. The father, he had compassion.

He saw the son coming at a distance and he runs

out and he embraces the son and he says, my son

is home. Let's have a big party. Let's have a

feast. My son was dead, but now he is alive.

And the father welcomes him back in with open

arms. And this is a beautiful story because maybe

it's not our story in real life. Maybe our life

with our parents or other people have been good

and we haven't made too many foolish decisions

and things are pretty good. Praise the Lord if

that's you. But this story is all of us because

this story represents God. who's a good father,

who's provided for us and desires to take care

of us and give us all that we need in a place

of safety and security and say, look, you're

here. Just let me take care of you. That's what

God says to each and every one of us. And how

many times that we read God's command and see

his instructions in our life and we just think,

I want to do it my way. I don't want to do it

God's way. I want to have fun. I want to do this.

I want to do that. There's so many things in

our life, temptations and sin, that look so good

to us. And that grass on the other side looks

so green, but where God has placed us in God's

presence is the best place for us to be. Because

it's there we have everything that we need. And

some of you know what it feels like to be in

the presence of the Lord. You know that joy.

You know that peace. You know that comfort. And

some of you know what it feels like to step out

from that. Some of you know what it feels like

to be out on your own doing it your way. To be

out living for the world. To be out living for

sin. And you know what it feels like. And you

know what this son in the story felt like. Because

you're there right now. You may have food on

your plate today, but spiritually inside you

just feel like you're just famished, like you're

just starving, like you cannot make it. Like,

how can I go on? Well, I've got good news for

you today. God the Father wants you to come back

to Him. All you've got to do is take that step.

Yeah, you've probably blown it. Every one of

us has. We have blown it with such foolishness

in our life. And we have sinned so greatly and

God has provided for us and we know what he told

us to do and we've just done the opposite. We've

just abandoned him. We've just stepped away from

him. We've just quit listening to him and gone

our own way and we find ourselves in such a rotten

place. But I want to tell you today that Jesus

Christ died on the cross so that you could be

forgiven. Whatever your sin may be, however great

it may be, I want you to know today that the

Lord... He wants you to come home. He wants you

to take that step. He wants you to get on that

journey. He wants you to come before Him. He

wants to give you compassion and grace. God doesn't

desire to see you struggle and fail and live

in foolishness. He wants to see you seek Him

and put your trust in Him. So what are you going

to do today? The invitation that God gives us

through Jesus Christ is that we can come home.

That our sins can be forgiven. Have you wandered

far away from God? Today you can come home. If

you take that step. If God's speaking to you

today. Don't stay in a foreign land. Starving

and worried and afraid. Seek the Lord. Let's

pray. God we come to you. We thank you for your

good word. I pray dear Lord that you would help

us. In our life, in the midst of our foolishness,

wherever we may be, dear Lord, maybe there are

some in here that's just made some really foolish

choices. Maybe there's some online, dear Lord,

that's wandered far away from you, dear Lord.

I pray today that they would just repent. To

know that you love them, that you don't want

them to stay in your foolishness, but you sent

Jesus Christ to die on the cross so that they

could be forgiven. So if there are some here

today that don't know him, I pray that they take

that step. to come to Jesus. If there are some

in here today, God, that are yours, and they've

just been like the prodigal son and wandered

away, I pray today that they would repent and

return to you. God, if you've spoken to anybody,

I pray that as this music plays, that they would

come to you now. And I ask these things in Jesus'

name. Amen.