The Reconciliation of the Lost Son — Sermon by Rev. Dr. Craig Stephans

let us pray oh father I pray that you

would reconcile us to yourself today

make yourself known to us and Lord give

us the courage to offer ourselves to be

known by you bless the words of my mouth

and the meditations of all of our hearts

oh God Amen please be seated

had the privilege as some of you may

know of going to Washington DC this past

week and participating in a Summit with

the one campaign and Scoggin BG who's a

member of our church who I think might

still be there is a leader he's a faith

leader in the one campaign so he was the

one who was responsible for inviting me

and others and while I was there in

Washington DC I had a couple encounters

with people that brought some awareness

in light of this parable about the two

sons that Jesus told and one of the

encounters was right in front of the

White House as I was going to see it I

was approached by a man who ended up

learning that he was homeless and he had

been in prison and had lost everything

and as we walked beside each other as he

smoked a joint and I listened to

him I learned that he lost everything

and was very angry angry and he was

angry at God and as we parted ways he

went off yelling angrily at people and

nobody and he had nothing but the the

tragedy was is that he had also

distanced himself from God and did not

have communion or the desire communion

with God or a desire to seek God and so

I pray for him that God touches him and

draws him to himself but a couple days

later we were visiting representatives

in the Congressional Office Buildings

and randomly I entered into a

conversation with a congressman just he

and I face Toof face with each other and

had a few minutes and this is a man who

is wealthy

multi-millionaire in the halls of power

very much influence one of the top

ranking

officials has access to everything in

the world someone might need and yet by

all appearances is very miserable very

much in Misery the song that we just

sang before the gospel was read there

was that line uh strain and stress this

man had the strain and stress of having

everything in the world that he probably

wanted and I I know from a little

research he is someone who has declared

himself not a believer in God very much

a

humanist and the dichotomy between the

homeless man in him was very vast and

yet they shared a similarity they were

both distant from God neither of them in

communion with God both of them

experiencing The Strain and stress and

misery of a self-centered life

self-indulgent self-righteous apart from

God and it sheds some light on this

Parable because it's not what we have or

don't

have that brings us into communion with

the Lord Lord and brings us into a

fulfilling and meaningful life it is

that very one thing that Jesus is

calling us into communion with the

Father the Son and the Holy Spirit that

gives our life fulfillment and that

actually gives our life life and so I

want to read through this Parable and

bring to light I think what God wants to

speak to us today knowing that there's

many ways that God speaks through such a

parable but it's in Luke chapter 15 it's

Luke 15 · chapter mention

it's on page

1039 of your Pew Bibles and it's

beginning in verse 11 and I want to walk

through

this Jesus said there was a man who had

two sons and the younger of them said to

his father father give me the share of

the property that is coming to me and he

divided his property between them so the

younger son comes he doesn't really have

any interest about the father their

relationship he wants his

stuff but it's interesting that the

father doesn't just give him his stuff

he divides his share with the other

brother they both receive their

inheritance they both receive their

possessions the younger brother we learn

not many days later gathered all that he

had and took a journey into a far

country and there he squandered his

property in Reckless living He indulges

himself using all that he had to indulge

into whatever Temptations He had sounds

like he Liv lives a very hedonistic

lifestyle and soon comes to the place

where all that he had had been

spent if we live whether it's

indulgently or

aesthetically dependent upon what we

have whether it's a little or a lot we

will come to the place where it is

spent our souls are spent eventually all

that we have in this world will be

spent because we will leave it if we try

to attain to some

self-righteousness spiritually we will

be

spent the example of this young man is

what happens when we rely on

ourselves the older son we will learn he

doesn't go anywhere he doesn't spend

anything but what he has is exhausted as

well because he has neglected all that

the father has given him and he's

remained in himself

self-centered and

self-righteous and as miserable as the

younger son is when he finds himself

feeding the

pigs whether it's through Indulgence or

whether it's through pride and

self-righteousness if we rely on

ourselves and try to entertain and

satisfy ourselves we will come to the

place where we are spent and exhausted

and desperate and that's where the

younger son comes to the awareness of

his situation when he had spent

everything a severe famine arose in the

country and he began to be in need so he

went and hired himself out to one of the

citizens of that country who set 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

came to this awareness that what I'm

doing is not working I cannot rely on

myself this is ridiculous it's not going

anywhere by God's grace may we come to

that realization that whether we're

trying to do it on our own spiritually

or whether we are trying to satisfy

oursel through some

Indulgence it's not going to be enough

we will exhaust that and by God's grace

we will turn to the father and say wait

a minute I have a father

and what the son realizes about the

father is what is true for our heavenly

father when he came to himself he said

how many of my father's hired servants

have more than enough

bread his father had more than enough

the least in his father's household had

more than enough even after the father

had given to the younger son his

inheritance and to the older son his

inheritance there was still more than

enough for even the hired servants in

that household

it's a mistake and error to think that

because what we can have in this world

is limited and we exhaust it and spend

it to think that God's resources are

also so limited and can be exhausted in

the father's house there is more than

enough the father doesn't worry about if

he gives to you he won't have enough for

someone else just like the father in the

parable wasn't worried about that he had

more more than enough Our Father in

Heaven has more than enough and what he

wants is each of you and

me the son comes to his senses and in

verse 18 says I will

arise and go to my father and I will say

to him father I've 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 and what he is doing

and what he is giving to the father is

the one thing the father desires is his

Fellowship his presence a relationship

with him it's the one thing that the

father cannot produce or have on his own

a relationship with his son it requires

the surrender the commitment of the

son the son thinks that he's going to

beg from his father to give him what he

needs to survive what he doesn't realize

is he in going home is giving the father

everything the father is Desiring a

relationship with him he arises and he

goes to his

father and while he was still a long way

off his father saw him and felt

compassion and ran and embraced him and

kissed

him for each one of

us the father is Desiring us our father

in Heaven is Desiring not just that we

know about him but that we truly know

him and are known by him he desires an

intimate relationship with us as crazy

as that sounds as almost offensive

because why would someone want such an

intimate relationship with me I'm not

worthy I've made mistakes I've indulged

myself I've lived in Pride and

self-righteousness this cannot be but

the point Jesus is making in this

Parable is that yes it can be it is true

the father desires you

all of you

and there's a deadline for that

reconciliation this father in the

parable it seems like he was longing for

the return of his son so that when he

sees him he runs to

him the father is longing for return to

him of everyone for whom Christ

died he can woo you with his love as we

learned from St Paul's reading 2

Corinthians God is working and was

working in Christ to reconcile the world

to himself that's what God is working

but he won't control you like a puppet

or a robot he Woos you with his love

that you would come to him and give him

that thing that he most

desires and you might say there is some

desperation in the father in the parable

because there is a deadline because that

deadline is that there's a line and on

one side of it a person is alive on the

other side they're dead and can no

longer bring about this reconciliation

and return this father is hoping and

praying that his son will return before

he dies or his son dies and that

deadline exists for every single one of

us to give ourselves fully to God before

that line of

death so when the father sees him him he

rejoices because the son has returned

while they are both in the land of the

living they can be reconciled they can

Rejoice together

now before it would have been too late

so the father rejoices he says to his

servants bring quickly the best robe and

put it on him put a ring on his hand and

the shoes on his feet bring the best

robe we think if somebody gets the best

robe that means everyone else is not

getting it and that's not fair and

that's what the older son is thinking

why does he get the best robe in the

ring I wanted

that that's to think from our

perspective in God's house there's more

than enough there are a multitude of

best robes there are a multitude of

rings that God puts on his sons and

daughters who come to him because we are

all his in Christ

Jesus there's more than enough in God's

house but it's the the thinking that if

someone gets that best robe then I don't

and I'm better than him and look what

he's done and what a jerk and I'm just

going to stay outside that's the

attitude of the older son that is as

self-centered and indulgent as the

younger son's attitude it's expressed in

different

ways so the father creates this C

celebration with the fattened calf let

us eat and celebrate for this my son was

dead and is alive again he was lost and

his found and they began to celebrate

and by the other the previous two

parables in Luke 15 we know from what

Jesus says that when one sinner returns

to the father from Death to life from

being lost to

found from Darkness to light all of

Heaven rejoices

imagine

that one act of repentance by God's

grace through faith in Christ brings

about rejoicing and celebrating in

heaven because those that were lost are

found they are brought into the father's

hand and no one can snatch one of God's

Own from his hand so they celebrate

because what is being celebrated is an

eternal

relationship this son in the parable is

not going to leave again the father has

him home let's wrap him in a robe let's

put a ring on his finger let's put shoes

on his feet let's celebrate and feed him

that he will never leave again that he

will like the psalmist encourages all of

us taste and see the goodness of God and

he will never leave the house of his

father

again now his older son was in the field

and he came and Drew near to the house

and and he heard music and dancing the

older son while there with the

father who split the inheritance and

gave one to each is out there in the

fields you get to feel like he's distant

from the father like he's distant from

the father's house he's out there in the

field with the Hired

Hands and he called one of those

servants and he asked what these things

meant he doesn't know he doesn't know

the father's longing for the younger son

he doesn't

appreciate the father's desire to have

that son back with

him he says when he learns that the

father has killed the fattened calf

because he has received the younger son

back safe and sound in verse 28 but he

was angry and refused to go in

it seems like he knows what the younger

son has been doing he's heard rumors

he's heard

stories rather than join in the father's

longing for reconciliation like Paul

tells us God is doing in us he has

reconciled us to himself through Christ

so that we can become ministers of

reconciliation this son has rather

judged the other son and condemned him

and essentially just wished for him to

go away and probably even

die that's his anger that's his reason

for refusing to go into the celebration

I don't want that guy back I never

wanted to see him again it's a natural

human

attitude but it's not the father's the

father's attitude is full of grace and

mercy and thanks be to God because that

is what we all need we all need the same

grace and mercy shown to this younger

son and the father goes out to the older

son and entreats

him but he answered his father look

these many years I have served you and

I've have never disobeyed your

command th this Parable is like others

that Jesus told the Pharisee and the tax

collector who go into the temple the

Pharisee thanks God that he's not like

that guy he's been good

but the tax collector just says Lord

have mercy on me a sinner and Jesus said

he was justified there's another parable

of two sons whom the father says to go

out into the field and work and one says

okay but then doesn't he goes and does

what he wants to do but the second says

no I'm not going but then he goes and

Jesus asked which one did what the

father wanted and it was the latter and

then Jesus confronts the Pharisees and

the rulers who were self-righteous and

he says

the tax collectors and the prostitutes

are entering the kingdom ahead of you

and you refuse to repent and believe

it's all about entering the kingdom we

do that all through Mercy none of us

deserves it but this self-centered

self-righteousness keeps us from

communion with the father and whether

people know it or not it keeps us in

misery like this older son

he complains that 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

form at the beginning of this Parable

the father gave him

everything everything the father had was

his yet he neglects it he doesn't

receive the gift of the father's

inheritance the gift of everything that

the father has in his

household for all of us we have to make

sure that we have received the gift of

God's grace that we've received the gift

of Salvation through Jesus Christ that

we don't just hang around it but remain

self-centered and

self-righteous we have to make sure that

we

come and say to the father I am yours

and I receive the gift The Inheritance

the salvation

of your kingdom through

Jesus Jesus I receive your forgiveness

of sins I receive you into my life give

me your Holy

Spirit make me your child your son your

daughter the father pleads again and he

said Son you are always with me and all

that is mine is

yours this is God's message to us in

Christ Jesus said the father has given

me a

kingdom and I confer upon you a

kingdom when he began his ministry he

said repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is

here he's not saying that for his own

sake he's saying it for your sake and my

sake that we would recognize that Jesus

has brought the Kingdom of Heaven to us

and is offering it to us as a gift that

we might receive it and that we might

enter into it and explore all that the

father has for us because the father

says in this final verse it was fitting

to celebrate and be glad for this your

brother was dead and is alive he was

lost and is

found the father declares the truth not

the son that it was fitting to celebrate

and to Rejoice because him who was lost

is found him who was dead has been made

alive it is fitting to rejoice and

celebrate we we get bogged down with the

things of this

world we get weighed down with our

self-importance we get distracted with

the Temptations that tempt us to indulge

in them and all of that leads us from

the father it leads us from the

celebration of the Kingdom of Heaven it

leads us from our reconciliation with

God and prevents us from being ministers

of

reconciliation recognizing that there is

a celebration to invite other people to

who though they're not worthy on their

own They will receive the same welcome

that the younger son receives the

Embrace of God the entrance into the

Kingdom of

Heaven there's a wonderful verse in

Romans chapter

8:32 Paul assures the Romans of God's

goodness and his generosity when he says

he who did not spare his own son but

gave him up for us all how will he not

also Al along with him graciously give

us all things and what does God desire

what does he ask us to do well if we

look at the parable what did the father

ask the younger son to do he didn't ask

him to do anything the very posture of

his of his humility and return was

enough what God asked us to do is to

call him father to pray as the spirit

inspires ABA

father come to me fill me with your

presence I am

yours to say to the father Jesus has

purchased me on the cross I belong to

you bring me into your kingdom give me

eternal

life when I was coming home from

Washington DC from the hotel to the

airport I took an Uber which I've done

before but it's been a while and the

driver had the Uber app on which has the

map gives in directions like we've all

heard turn right here in a mile turn

left but then I got caught it caught my

attention because close to the airport

it said in half a mile pull to the right

and drop Craig off by American Airlines

and I

thought wow that's very personal and

then in a quarter of a

mile dropped Craig off on the right

American Air lines and while I felt

special I

thought you know that's what I need all

the time like Craig it's 6:30 wake up

today and go do this or Craig call your

daughter and say

this wouldn't that be something well we

don't have that I'm

sorry but we do have some more General

commands from god of what to do and and

I want to emphasize just

one and we'll hear it again in the

service it's the first comfortable word

that we read after the Absolution

following our

confession Matthew

Matthew 11:28

11:28 I think it is the one command

above all that we must do

first come to

me all who labor and are heavy laden and

I will give you rest

come to me that's the desire of the

father in the parable if he could

Proclaim anything loudly throughout the

land to reach that son who went far off

it would become to me if he could say

anything to break through the hardness

of the self-centered heart of that older

son I think it would be come to

me and what God I think would say to

each of us whether we've come before or

we've come a thousand times it would be

each and every day come to me come to me

enter into an Hour of Prayer come to me

enter into a time of Silence let me

speak to you come to me you who labor

and are heavy laden with fear with

anxiety with Temptations even addictions

come to me you who labor and are heavy

laden with grief with not knowing what

to do with the burdens of life with all

of the

responsibilities come to me don't allow

yourself to be overcome by the

Temptations or by the deceptions of

Pride and vanity come to the Lord he

knows your labors he knows the burdens

that you

carry and he promises in the midst of

that to give you rest and in that rest

is the rejoicing in the Lord in that

rest is a celebration of Heaven that say

says I'm with you and will be with you

forever Jesus goes on in these verses

and says take my yoke upon you and learn

from me for I am gentle and lowly in

heart and you will find rest for your

souls this is the ongoing call of

Jesus come with me and learn from

me for my yoke is easy and my burden is

light come to the Lord as I close with a

short prayer let's take a couple minutes

and just reflect

prayer intend and actually come to the

Lord in his presence right now and

father I pray that your grace will

abound to

us Lord I pray for that homeless man

near the White House I pray for that

Congressman in Capitol Hill that your

grace will abound to them that they

might come to you and find your rest and

rejoice in your salvation and and I pray

for all of us oh God give us the grace

to come and to be overwhelmed by your

goodness and Grace amen