The Prodigal Son

Well, I just want to start by appreciating the clicker police.

I've had. I grabbed it and put it on my chair, and I had about

eight people come and say, do you have got your clicker? Have you got your

clicker? And I do have the clicker today, so I will be

clicking right along. We're glad that you're here this morning.

A couple of announcements before we get started. First of all, right after this

gathering at 12:30, we've got a luncheon for our upcoming Fall

Fest this week. And so if you are planning to attend that, what

we're gonna ask you to do is exit right out there to your left,

go through the doors. They're gonna help you package the lunch together. And then you're

gonna turn around and come right back in this room. So, yes, you're gonna bring

your food back into this room. So you'll go right out there and bring it

in this way. And then also, if there's one thing that we know that kids

love, it is candy. And we need lots of it.

And so if you have the ability to help participate

by bringing candy for this thing, that would be fabulous.

You could bring that and drop it off by the church office. You can bring

it the night of if you want to. But there's never enough

candy, right, D.J. never enough candy. Right. Okay.

Next Sunday we also have a newcomer's luncheon. So if you are new to

Springhouse. Newer to Springhouse, and you want to meet

our staff and you'd like to learn about the

church, then you're welcome to participate in the newcomers launch.

And that will be next Sunday. So I encourage you to sign

up and be a part of that. We're gonna continue the greatest stories

ever told today. And you know, I realized every week I say, this is

one of the more famous stories. But this is one of the famous stories. And

that's why we're going over the greatest stories. We're gonna talk about the prodigal

son. And so if you'll stand with me this morning, we're gonna do something just

a little different as we read today what I'm gonna ask.

I want you to read everything in yellow. And I will read what's in

white. So everybody say, I'm yellow. I'm yellow.

Kevin is white.

There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his

father, father, give me my share of the

estate. So he divided his property between them.

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. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of

that country who sent him to the fields to feed the

pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the

pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. 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. I will set out and

go back to my father and say to him, father,

I have sinned against heaven and against you.

I am no longer worthy to be called your son.

Make me like one of your hired servants. 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. The son said to him, father, I have

sinned against heaven and against you. I am no

longer worthy to be called your son. 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. Bring the fattened calf and kill it.

Have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine

was dead and is alive again. He was lost

and is found. So they began to celebrate.

Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near

to the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one

of his servants and asked him what was going on. Your

brother has come, he replied, and your father has

killed the fattened calf because he has him back

safe and sound. The older brother became angry and

refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded

with him. But he answered his father, look, all

these years I have been slaving for you and never

disobeyed your orders. Yet you never give me

even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.

But when this son of yours, who has squandered your property

with prostitutes, comes home, you kill the fattened

calf for him. My son, the father said, you

are always with me, and everything I have is

yours. 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. Father, I

thank you for your word that it renders truth. I pray, Lord, that its truth

would pierce our hearts today. In Jesus name, amen. You may be

seated.

You ever notice how before you have kids you judge

everybody else's parenting?

You're in the store and you're thinking, my kids will never act like

that. Then you have kids, and all of a sudden,

out comes a cell phone, gummies, candy. You lose your dignity and your

sanity in the store while everyone else is making fun of you.

When you're dating, you think their little quirks are

adorable. She's so organized,

he's so chill. Then you get married and now

she's controlling and he's lazy.

When somebody cuts you off in traffic, they are a

terrible driver. But when you cut someone

off, it's because I didn't see them right.

Perspective changes everything. Perspective

changes everything. I brought this stool here today because I believe it

represents how most of us live our life. We tend to see life

from our level where emotions, frustrations and

assumptions live. We see what's

happening to us, but we're not what God may

be doing through us. We see the problem, but not the

purpose. But when I change levels

on this stool, when I

step up to a higher level,

my perspective changes. Same room,

same people, but I'm looking at everything

from a different vantage point. I believe that's

what God wants for us. Ephesians 2.

6 says that we have been seated in high

places with Christ, in heavenly places with Christ. The Word also tells us that

we've been given the mind of Christ. And so in that

in our lives, we have been given the ability and the

opportunity to look at situations and circumstances

from a perspective that is far superior than our

own. And so we look here and

down there. In my perspective, I see pain. But from

God's perspective, He sees purpose. From my

perspective, I see a mess. But from God's perspective,

He sees the opportunity for a miracle.

From my perspective, I see failure.

But from his perspective, he sees a God who is able

to be faithful. From my perspective

down there, I see what's gone wrong.

But from his perspective, he sees everything that he has gotten involved with

and made right. Perspective

changes everything. It changes everything.

This story begins with a young man

standing before his father, determined, divided

and restless. And we aren't told

what created the situation that caused him to go to his

father, expecting his inheritance immediately. We

don't get the backstory, but something had to have

happened. Because people do not naturally just walk

out on something that's good. Maybe

it was frustration that built up over time.

Maybe it was small disappointments or quiet resentments.

Maybe it was a longing to be somewhere else or to be

someone else. Anybody ever felt that way.

Maybe he felt overlooked or misunderstood

or tired of living in his Father's shadow. Whatever it

was, it didn't happen. I believe in a moment it happened In a

series of moments that led to this moment. And now

he is here looking at his father in the eye, and he's saying,

give me my share of the

inheritance. This is my daughter Ruby.

Now, I want to just let you in. I'm a little bit of the OG

school when it comes to discipline. So

my daughter Ruby was in our early learning center when she was 2. And

we continued to get phone calls from the directors because Ruby had

this problem of biting children. She would go to class

and she would bite someone. She would go to class the next day and

she would bite someone. She'd go to class the next day and she would

bite someone, and I would have to go and pick her up. Well, one

day I got her in the car and I took her home and I said,

ruby, what did you do? She said, I bit someone. So I

took her arm and I bit her.

She did not bite one other person. Nay, one more

time after that time of me biting her. And I want to tell

you that if one of my children were to come to me

and say, I hate you, and I want to leave home and run away,

I might just go right upstairs and grab their bag and start packing it for

them. Set it right there on that porch. Because here's the thing.

I know that as soon as they get as far as the mailbox,

the realization will set in that what they've got is good.

What they've got at home is really. Is really good.

Here's the thing. He's saying, give me my

inheritance. It was deeply hurtful and offensive

to the father because it was as if the son was saying, you are

better off to me dead than alive. You're better

off to me dead than alive. Now, a man's

property back in this culture wasn't just his wealth.

It was his identity, and it was his legacy. The

land told the story of his name, his family,

his history, and his hope for the generation to come after

him. So when the son demanded his share, he wasn't

just walking away from home. He was walking away

from his identity, from his legacy. He was walking

away from whom he was meant to be. And still

the father. Excuse me. The father didn't stop him.

The father did not stop him. He didn't

argue. He didn't beg. He

simply let him go. The word tells us this. He divided

the property between them.

Real love has the capability

of letting go

even when it breaks your heart. Because the moment love starts

being controlling, it's no longer love.

So the father stands there watching his son disappear. Down the road, knowing full

and well the road he's chosen. And the road the son has

chosen is a road that's going to hurt him. It's going to lead to

destruction. It's going to lead to disaster. And I believe that the Father's

heart was breaking, but in that break, he was hoping that whatever

choices this son was setting out to make, that maybe, just

maybe, those choices and those consequences of those choices would

bring him back home. Would bring him back home.

Sometimes we have to walk through a consequence in order to learn a

lesson. So the son liquidates everything

associated with his Father and begins to live, the Word tells us, a

wild lifestyle, engaging in everything and

anything that would bring him temporary

pleasure, every sin possible. And

it leads him, as sin does, to a place of complete brokenness

and destruction. Jesus is wanting us,

I believe, to grab something in this portion of the story because

it's easy to look at this young man and see that sin,

his sin, is the main issue. But the issue really

wasn't sin. It was separation.

And if you're actively living in the place, if you're here this morning under the

sound of my voice and you're actively living in a place of

sin, I want you to know that sin isn't your biggest

problem. Separation is separation

from the Father, from the God who breathes stars. Isaiah says this. Your

iniquities. Excuse me, your iniquities have separated you from.

It is our sin that separates us from our God.

And it isn't what the Son did that ruined him. It

was how far he ran from the Father. Might I

suggest this morning that distance will drain you faster than sin will

stain you. Distance will drain you

faster than sin will stain you. Our

perspective down here, our perspective down here

is that if I will just stop doing that,

if they will just stop doing that,

everything will change. If I stop losing my temper, everything

will be okay. If I stop lusting, everything will be

fine. If I stop drinking, everything will go away.

If I stop looking at that, everything will be just fine. But here's the

truth. See, sin is just the symptom of a deeper issue. And that issue

is lack of relationship. Lack of

relationship with God. Listen, you can cut off the

branch, but if the roots are still there, nothing's going to change.

You'll just find another way for sin to manifest itself.

You can fix the behavior, but if your heart isn't healed,

you'll find another outlet. That's why

Jesus didn't come to modify our

behavior. He came to heal. And

when our Heart is healed, then the behavior follows, the

behavior changes. See, we tend to want to fix our sin

and try to fix other people's sin from our perspective

and not from his higher perspective. Here's the thing. Your sin in

this room this morning might be greed,

but your real issue is fear.

Your sin might be anger in this room this morning,

but the real issue is unforgiveness or pain.

Your sin might be gossip, but the real issue

is insecurity. Your

sin might be sexual immorality, but the real sin. The real

issue. Sorry. The real issue is rejection.

Your sin might be pride, but the real issue is shame.

Your sin might be addiction, but the real issue is emptiness,

because you're filling a void that only the Father's love can

satisfy. Guys, sin

is not random. It's a signal.

It's pointing to something beneath the surface that needs

to be addressed. A wound, a lie, or a longing

to be healed. And the Father's not

standing over you saying, fix that. He's

saying, come home. Let me heal you. Let

me heal you. Because once the

relationship is restored, the symptom loses its power.

When you walk away from the Father, I believe that your life begins

to leak away from you. When we walk away from God, our life just

begins to dissipate. You may look alive on the outside, but your

soul begins to starve. And we look to feed it with things that don't bring

life. Many years ago, Margaret was sitting in our office, and her

daughter Valerie was there. And Valerie had accidentally tripped and knocked a

cup of water over a laptop that she had sitting there. And she was

in the middle of really needing to be on a laptop working. And so Margaret

stood up and they cleaned up the water and the laptop wasn't working. Well, they

go over next door, and Barbie's there, and there's a laptop sitting there on the

floor. Well, Margaret says, barbie, do you have a laptop that we could use that

Valerie could use? And she said, well, there's one there on the floor, but it

has its own problems. Here's the thing.

Sometimes we go and we will make. We will take on more problems

instead of addressing the one at hand. Sometimes we're

content with going into a situation where we'll take on more problems

than actually addressing the root cause of the issue. Let me

get rid of this symptom with another symptom. Let

me get rid of this visible symptom and utilize an invisible

symptom and just live from there.

But God wants to get to the root and he wants to get to the

heart. And so, in his great love for you and me, in his

great love for you and me, God will allow

painful circumstances to take place in our lives

painful circumstances to take place in our lives so that we would wake up

and be willing to see ourselves and our situation

from his perspective and finally

come to our senses. The Word tells us when he came to his senses, he

said, I will arise and I will go back to my father. The

turning point in this story isn't when he runs out of money.

It isn't when he's in the pig pen. It's when he comes

to his senses, when his eyes are open

to a higher perspective. And this, my

friends, is where repentance begins.

Repentance is not an emotion. It's not just a sorrowful

plea to the situation or what we've done wrong. It's not

an emotional response with tears. It can be part of it, but

that's not what repentance really is. Repentance, I

believe, has three components, and we often neglect the last

one. The first part of repentance is changing the way that

you think you can change your behavior all day long.

But until you change the way you think about it, the root of changing

behavior is not going to go anywhere. So the first part of

repentance is changing the way you think. The second part

flows right naturally. After changing the way you think, it's changing the behavior.

So we turn away from the behavior. I change the way I think, I. I

turn away from the behavior. And that's a lot of times where we put the

period and we just move on. But guys, I don't believe that the first two

can even happen without the third one being involved. We change the

way we think, the behavior changes, and then we

run to a merciful God. We run

to a merciful God. We run to a God who has the

supernatural power to help us get out of the situation

and the pain and the destructive path that we're in. All three of

those ingredients are part of the repentance process. And for the life

of the believer, repentance is a part

of our journey. Guys, I was

struggling with two issues over the last three weeks. Two, they're not

connected, but man, two issues and boy laden in there in that sin world.

One was pride. Anybody ever dealt with pride?

I'm not alone. I was in situations in the last three weeks, I

thought, I've got the answer. I got the monopoly on the answer to

this. I was looking from my

perspective in another situation. I'm walking through

Fighting. And I'm wrestling with bitterness against how I've been

treated. And sometimes that bitterness that you walk in can lead

you to places where you just are in the pig pen. Because I see

it my way, I don't see it his way.

And until I change the way I think, coupled with the behavior and

the actions with it, and run to a merciful God, nothing's going to change in

my life. And maybe you are here and you're contending and

wrestling with something in your life that you need to turn

from. Repentance gives us the

ability to stop thinking like a slave and to remember that we are

sons and daughters of the most high God. Romans 2:4

Romans 2:4

says, God's kindness leads us to repentance. And we have been

placed in positions to be the hands and feet of Christ in that.

Several years ago, Allen was serving communion. I don't remember what section it was, but

he was on the steps and Allen tripped and he fell.

I didn't see this, but he told the story later. And you know, when he

fell, so many people got up and they ran over to help

him. Could you imagine if he fell and everybody just looked

at him and scoffed and laughed and then kicked him while he was down and

said, look, you fell, Allen, you're hurt.

Just want to make sure, you know, you fell. Did everybody see that? Can we

pan the camera there,

guys? None of us plan the fall. None of us

plan the fall. But when the fall happens, I pray that I have

loving people in my life who will run to me and help me get

up from the fall.

God's kindness leads us to repentance. How does he manifest

his kindness? Through believers who have been through some things and say,

hey, I need to render kindness in this situation because you've

fallen and you need to change.

And so we've been placed in a position to be the hands and feet of

Christ. The young son didn't wake up because he feared

the fathers. He woke up because he

remembered the Father's goodness.

And it changed everything. He

didn't have to fix himself before returning. He didn't need a

plan. He needed a person. And that's the

turning point of the story. The son didn't stop at a well to wash

his face. The word didn't tell us that he goes to a clothing store to

make sure he looks the part. It didn't say that he went back and earned

all of the money back so that he could pay back what he squandered.

He showed up like he was

grace doesn't wait for you to get cleaned up. It meets you where

you messed up. And then in the story,

something really scandalous happens. Jesus says,

but while he was still a long way off, the Father

saw him and was filled with compassion.

And he ran. Son,

now I want to tell you something.

Mideastern, Middle Eastern men did not run.

It was undignified. They would have to lift their robes and

expose their scrawny legs in order to run. They

didn't run. Running

was just something that. This is something that they didn't

do. But this father didn't care about his dignity. He didn't care

about what the neighbors thought. He didn't care about how bad his boy

smelt or how foolish that he might look. He cared that his

son was coming home. And so

he takes off running. Because love doesn't mind looking foolish when

restoration is on the line. Love does not mind

looking foolish when restoration is on the line.

So before the Son. Before the Son can finish his apology,

the Father throws his arms around him. Before

the confession, there's compassion. Before the explanation,

there's restoration. And that's the gospel over. In 2

Corinthians, it says this. All this is from God

who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the

ministry of reconciliation. That God was

reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's

sins against them. Might I

suggest to us this morning that we understand that you don't

fix your sin to find God. You find God and he fixes your sin.

You find a relationship with God and he begins to fix your

sin. The young man who got baptized. Right up here, Cody, I'm going to tell

on you, okay? He said to Scotty, he said, I sometimes

cuss. Can I get baptized? Absolutely,

brother. You can get baptized. You don't fix your sin

to find God. You find God, and then he fixes your

sin.

This is what grace looks like. A father who runs toward

you when everyone else runs away.

We don't deserve this type of love. Psalms says this. He does not treat

us as our sins, deserve or repay us according to our

iniquities. As far as the east is from the west, so far as he has

removed our transgressions from us guys,

God cares more about getting you back than getting you

right. And if you are wandering away

from this king of the universe, this star breathing God, this

morning he wants you back. And I don't think

it's happenstance that you're sitting here this morning because

the God of the universe has his arms Wide open for you.

The father didn't demand an explanation. He didn't stand there with

a litany of questions. Where were you?

What did you do with my money?

He didn't need to talk about the past because love was already building a future.

And so the father says, bring the best robe

because your shame is covered. Put a ring on his finger

because his authority has been established. Put sandals on

his feet because you are no longer a servant. You are a child of this

house. And not only that, you are my son.

This father says, do you notice something here?

The father neglected to bring up the sin. Our perspective

would say, we need to address this sin. We need to talk about this sin.

We need to pay penance for this sin. We need to make sure that this

sin doesn't happen again. But what we're not understanding it is that symptom of a

root issue. If you get to the root issue, the sin is going to dissipate

and go away because of relationship.

Man at a funeral I was at yesterday named Austin, he was sharing a

story. He goes hunting and he had killed a buck for

the first time. And he pulled it in. But I guess with hunting season,

there's a time where your license expires or whatnot. And so you go through

this process. And he didn't have his license up to date or portion of it.

And so. So he has to go to court for the very first time. Never

been there before. And he's talking about that the deceased was his father in law,

but at that time it was his future father in law because he was just

a boyfriend to the girl at this time. So he goes to court, he doesn't

know what he's doing, doesn't really know what to wear. He's never been to court.

He's been somebody who's done all of the right things, but he just was a

lapse of judgment here. And so he goes in there and

explains to the judge what happened. Well, the father

in law shows up that morning to court with him, to stand and be with

him. And so he gives this case. And the judge says, okay, that will be

a $10 fine. Now let me tell you something. Have you ever been in

court? $10.

$10. So he goes around to the

clerk's window to pay the $10 fee. And the clerk says, that would be

$460 because you have the payment

for the guilty sentence, but you also have these things called court fees.

So he pays this $460 and he leaves rejected, with his head

down. Come Next Sunday, this future father in law

comes up to him and hands him an envelope. And inside the envelope is a

check for $450. Now, why did I share

this story? This future father, this

was a boyfriend. This future father in law had

no reason to pay this bill, had no reason to take

on the penalty. But because of love and because of relationship,

he comes in and pays the bill. And guys, that's exactly what our God

does. It's exactly what our God does.

The motivation to pay the debt was love and relationship. And when you come home,

the father does not rub your failures in your face. He wraps

his arm around you and whispers, you were never meant to live

without me.

So now the father has his son back and he

can't help but celebrate. And guys, anytime a

relationship is reconciled, it is cause for

celebration. It is cause for celebration.

But while everyone was inside celebrating, there's another story that's

unfolding outside in the field. You see, out in the field, the older

brother hears the sound of celebration and stops in his

tracks. He's been working hard, doing everything that he's supposed to

do. Faithful, disciplined, responsible.

And now, after all of these years of consistency,

he hears laughter that isn't his. He smells food that's not

belonging to him. And he sees a robe and a ring given to him

to the one who wasted everything.

And resentment starts to rise.

He calls a servant over and he says, what's going on?

And the servant replies, your father has killed the fattened calf because

his younger son has come home.

But instead of joy in this older brother, there's anger

instead of relief, there's bitterness. And in that

moment from the older son, we see a different type of

distance from the father. Not the distance of rebellion,

but the distance of resentment. You see, the older

son has a perspective too.

All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders.

That's what he says to his father. Here's the tragedy. And this

is what I want us to grab. You can stay in the

father's house and still live like a hired

hand. You can take room in the

father's house and still operate like a hired hand. The

older brother never left home, but he still missed the father's heart.

Listen, rules can guide you, but only relationship can change you.

You can follow all of the rules, but if you don't have relationship,

you've missed the heart of God. Listen, I've been married

to Shari for over 15 years and I

obey the rules of marriage not because

I'm married. But because I love Shari,

my fuel to obey the rules of marriage isn't because I'm under some

institution or some rule or anything. The reason I obey the rules of

marriage is because I love her. Relationship

fuels my obedience. Relationship

is key. I believe relationship is the currency

of the kingdom to which we live. Justin was talking

about in the pool. He was talking about baptism. And he talked

about him to Scotty, to Scotty, to Cody. What he's talking about is

being in relationship. Not fake relationship, real

relationship, authentic relationship.

Relationship is key. And the greatest victory

in the kingdom is when relationships are restored.

Have you ever seen someone forgive the unforgivable?

Have you ever seen someone be so wrong that they

deserve to do something to the person, but they love them above the hurt?

Have you ever seen. It's remarkable. It's supernatural,

because in our flesh, we want to take people out.

The greatest defeat of the enemy is when he tries to place a

wedge between people. And then love from the father

supernaturally gets involved and those two people come back together.

And so our heart check is this. You can live in the father's house and

still miss the father's heart.

In other words, you can be absolutely right in the

way you feel, but you can respond in a way

that misses the father's heart simply because you

were operating from your perspective and not

his. I

believe that forgiveness in the world is a 5050

proposition. I will meet you halfway. Here's

my forgiveness with strings attached. Forgiveness in the

kingdom is not a 5050 proposition. Forgiveness in the kingdom

is 100%. I have washed that away

as far as the east is from the west. We can walk forward

in pure relationship.

Forgiveness in the kingdom allows us beyond our

hurts, beyond our pain, beyond our struggles to take the next step forward,

first and foremost with our God, but also

with one another. Proximity does

not equate to intimacy. You can serve God faithfully

and still not enjoy him fully. Do you know that God desires to be

enjoyed? You can be in his house

and be so worried about whether you're doing everything right and crossing every

T and dotting every I and miss him altogether.

This isn't just the story of one prodigal son. It's the story of

every heart that has ever wandered or ever

been hardened. And the father stands

in the same place for both, watching the

road, waiting for relationship.

So you may be in the pig pen this morning.

There may be something that you need to repent for this morning.

You may be distant from this glorious God who's waiting on the road

with his arms wide open, saying, here I am. Come,

let us reason together.

You have a father who's saying, come home. This

story is about two sons. The younger son

thought freedom meant distance. He believed he could just get away from his father

and that he would find happiness. But he was wrong.

The older son thought faithfulness meant favoritism.

He believed it just if he just worked harder and he did all the right

things, that the father would finally notice him.

But he had access to the father all along.

Both were seeing this from ground level, from

their perspective, from their

own understanding. Neither of them was seeing it from the

father's vantage point. The father's

perspective is always higher. It's always

better. Would you stand with me this morning?

If you're going to minister to people, if you'll come forward.

You know what makes that pig pen so nasty?

I believe what makes that pig pen so that that feed the trough

so nasty? It's not that the pigs are eating. I don't know what they feed

pigs, but that slop, that's not what makes it

nasty. What makes the trough nasty is that

all of our saliva is in it together.

That's what makes it nasty. But here's the deal.

You don't have to stay there eating my saliva or your

neighbor's saliva in the pig pen.

Everything can change. Today

you say, I don't know how to fix this behavior in my life.

Stop trying to fix it. Come and get the relationship straight with your

father. Maybe you're looking at some situation

from an earthly low perspective and you need God to change it.

Lord, change my perspective about this. I need your eyes, God. I need to

see your perspective in this situation. Come.

He knows how to give you a pair of his eyes to see it the

way he sees it. Maybe

you're sitting there and you're like, I have checked off all the list. I have

done so many things right and I don't understand why that person

gets to get away with X, Y and Z. I don't know why that

person gets to have the blessing. I don't understand why that is.

Here's the thing. Can I tell you. God doesn't just want to get you to

a place where you accept that for other people. He wants to get you to

a place where you rejoice with them when they do

so. There's a lot of opportunity to meet the God who breathes stars and

knew you were going to be here today. You can do like that song

said that they sang this morning. I've decided I'm not going to leave this

place the same way I came. The only way to do

that is to encounter the God of the universe. Let's

worship.