SUMMER TOGETHER | Part 2 | The Prodigal Father

Okay.

Oh yeah.

Okay.

Amen.

Heat. Heat. N.

Woo. Well, good morning.

It's not quite the same starting off

without a hallelujah.

Right. All right. Hey, I know we miss

Pastor Ben. He's out of town today. Uh

my name is Pastor Mark Gross. I'm the

worship pastor here at Grace Summit

Church. It's an honor to bring the word

today. Um so I've been doing this for a

long time as far as worship is concerned

and really leading worship and and being

on that side of it. So in in 2002,

I started leading worship back in Crave,

which was our youth group back in the

day for those that remember way back in

the day, 2002.

which is when I graduated from high

school.

>> So for those of you who were my Sunday

school teachers,

that's how old you are.

>> So I started leading worship in 2002 and

really never stopped. So I started in

the youth and then I graduated to big

church and so led in big church for a

while. Really more underneath like the

main worship leader there. Went from

there uh led worship in Brooklyn,

Michigan for a couple of years. Um,

originally it was supposed to be a

six-month internship, but it turned into

me being there for two years, leading

worship there for them. Came back to

Fort Wayne to play Jesus in an Easter

musical.

>> That's a true story. Came back and

played Jesus in an Easter musical. Kind

of stayed here. Got back onto the

worship team at that church. Helped lead

worship from there to the inception of

Grace Summit Church. So, I've been here

since before day one helping to lead

worship. And then the the lead uh

worship leader left Grace Summit and and

moved on. And then I helped kind of lead

in tandem with another worship leader.

We were kind of tag teaming it. Uh and

then that leader moved on as well. And

then at that point, Pastor Larry at the

time was like, "Well, do you want to do

it?" And I was like, "Well, I'm the only

one left, so I guess I better." So from

that point, like that's what led me to

kind of being the worship leader. And

then in 2012,

thanks Carla. Love you, too. In 2012, I

got licensed and ordained and so then

became an official worship pastor. Uh

I've been doing it since then. So that's

from 2002 to now uh 24 years. So around

November of last year, I made a

realization that I was starting to get

tired. I was starting to get worn out.

And

I was glad that I recognized that cuz I

was moving towards burnout. Has anyone

dealt with burnout before? You just go

and you go and you go until you

literally you can't go anymore. And I

felt myself kind of approaching that

place as I was sitting on Saturday

night. I was working on something for

church and I was like, man, I'm really

not enjoying this right now. Like

something something's wrong. And so, um,

for those that don't know, as the

worship pastor, it's not my only

responsibility. So, even the weeks when

I'm off, I'm preaching or I'm handling

the creative side of things, not doing

that anymore. Shout out to Whitney.

She's been creative, so I don't have to

do that anymore. I put together all the

slides for worship and for the sermon,

so you guys don't have to bring your

physical Bibles, though we wish that you

would.

And I was just getting exhausted and I

was getting close to burnout. So, I

talked to Pastor Ben in November and

asked for a sbatical and he graciously

allowed me to take six weeks off at the

beginning of this year. Not sure if any

of you noticed I was gone, but I was

gone for six weeks.

That's why they don't let you come up

here by yourself,

Ethan.

Anyways,

where'd the Holy Spirit go? I need to

come on back.

Hey. All right. Um,

so I took six weeks off really to um

to rest, to receive, and to restore kind

of my own passion and God's calling on

my life as the worship pastor here at

Grace Summit. So during the sbatical, I

attended a conference called the worship

together conference. My wife pointed out

I actually have the worship together

sticker on my computer here along with

Sweet Water of course which every

worship leader has to have on their

computer is Sweetwater.

There was so there was a session of this

worship together conference and it was

one of it was the first night that we

were there. Um, and this session blew my

mind and completely reset a lot of how I

thought about my own faith, my own

relationship with God the Father, and

ultimately with Jesus. So, that's a

little bit of a teaser. So, you have to

stay awake for today's sermon because

we're going to resolve that. That what

blew my mind. We're going to get to that

in a little bit. I'll let you in on that

experience as I share the message that

God's laid on my heart for today. So, a

little teaser for that. We're going to

be spending a lot of time in the word

today. So, if you've got your physical

Bible, you can practice flipping your

pages or you can read the screens.

Apologize to Daphne. There are 103

screens today. I'm not lying. There's

103 slides to go through, but we're we

made it through first service with

plenty of time to spare. So, we're going

to spend some time in the word today.

So, Jesus

is going around uh Judea, Samaria. He's

walking around. He's wandering about.

He's teaching in villages and towns

about God and about the kingdom of God.

And we're going to pick up in Luke

Luke 15 · chapter mention

chapter 15. So we're going to be staying

kind of Luke 15 through through the rest

of today starting in verse one. Says,

"Now the tax collectors and sinners were

all drawing near him to Jesus. And the

Pharisees and the scribes grumbled,

saying, this man receives sinners and

eats with them." So Jesus

is offering a message that many of these

sinners and these tax collectors have

never heard before.

He talks about grace and mercy and

forgiveness and those things especially

for those who were considered less than

by the religious leaders. So people that

were looked down upon by the religious

leaders, Jesus was focusing on and Jesus

was offering them this message of grace

and mercy and forgiveness.

In doing so, Jesus spent a lot of time

with these people with sinners and with

tax collectors who weren't much better

according to the Jewish customs and

beliefs of the time. So these people

naturally they're going to gather near

Jesus. The guy who gives them hope. The

guy who speaks to them in a way that

these other religious leaders don't.

They want what he has to offer instead

of what the scribes and Pharisees offer.

Condemnation and ridicule.

So the religious guys didn't like what

Jesus was doing. They didn't like that

he was hanging around these sinners and

these tax collectors. And they let Jesus

know. And here's what's interesting.

They don't tell Jesus that they don't

like that he's hanging around with

sinners. Like if you look back, it just

says that they grumbled and they said,

"This man receives sinners and eats with

them." So just imagine like I think they

said it just loud enough for Jesus to

hear them, but not loud enough that it

seemed like they were talking directly

to him. Uh it's like Facebook. Who's So

who's on Facebook? Who's ever made a

passive aggressive post? Somebody did

something to you and you had to post

about it on Facebook, but you didn't

want to say their name, but whoever did

it knew who they were, right? That's

what the Pharisees are doing here. They

put up a passive aggressive post on

Facebook. Jesus catches it as he's

scrolling his feed.

He overhears what they're saying to him.

I lost my spot because I had to scroll

back up to the scripture. Hey,

so he he captures this and Jesus

overhears what they're saying. And Jesus

makes a decision. So he hears this from

the scribes and the Pharisees. He's

hanging out with the sinners and the tax

collectors. And he makes a decision.

He's going to try to explain. He's going

to give the why behind the what,

why he is doing what he's doing, why why

Jesus is hanging out with sinners and

tax collectors. And he wants to teach

this crowd that's around him. He wants

to teach them something. Whenever he

wants to teach people something, Jesus

almost exclusively when he's teaching

does so in parables. And parables are

stories they would understand in the

context that they live in. So similar to

the Facebook story that I just told you,

that's a parable. We're teaching

something that only those people in that

context would understand. So that's why

it's important when we're in the word,

we understand the context of what we're

reading. Who's this writing to and

what's it really about? And so as Jesus

talks in these parables, he's talking in

a way that the his audience understands.

So we're going to dive a little bit

deeper into that as we go through this

scripture.

He tells

stories,

all similar, but each have kind of a

different focus of of what Jesus is

talking about. And he starts with this

one in Luke 15:4.

Luke 15:4

He says, "What man of you having a

hundred sheep, if he has lost one of

them, does not leave the 99 in the open

country and go after the one that is

lost until he finds it? And when he has

found it, he lays it on his shoulders,

rejoicing. And when he comes home, he

calls together his friends and his

neighbors, saying to them, "Rejoice with

me, for I have found my sheep that was

lost. Just so I tell you, there will be

more joy in heaven over one sinner who

repents than over 99 righteous persons

who need no repentance. So Jesus is

talking to them about sheep. And I think

Jesus paused here. I don't think he went

immediately into his next, right? I

think Jesus paused and he's kind of

looking around. He's reading the room.

Have you ever tried to explain something

to someone and they just didn't get it?

And so you had to explain it a couple

more times. Like we were talking to

Harmony a couple of weeks ago. She's our

nine-year-old. She's nine now.

>> It's ridiculous.

>> We were talking to her about force like

like physics like force. And we've been

introducing her to Star Wars. So any

Star Wars fans out there? Hey. So we've

been introducing Harmony. We went the

right order. I almost messed it up, but

Kate saved it. We went 456 instead of 1

2 3. And it blew her mind when she found

out that spoilers, Darth Vader is Luke's

father. So,

so turn off the stream if you don't want

spoilers on that. So, she goes, she

goes, "Is it the force?" And I said,

"No, it's not the force. It's a it's a

force that moves things." I don't think

she ever quite got it, but we tried to

explain it a few times. And anyways,

that's what Jesus is doing here. He's

trying to explain these things to a

9-year-old who doesn't have they don't

have concept of what's going on here.

So,

he's think he's looking around. He's

trying to explain something and they

just don't quite get it. And this is

what Jesus is doing, trying to explain

this to these people. He immediately

then tells another story. So, basically,

he's like, "Let me explain it another

way. Let me give you another story that

maybe you'll understand a little bit

more." And he continues in verse 8. He

says, 'Or what woman having 10 silver

coins, if she loses one coin, does not

light a lamp and sweep the house and

seek diligently until she finds it? And

when she has found it, she calls

together her friends and neighbors,

saying, "Rejoice with me, for I have

found the coin that I had lost. Just so,

I tell you, there is joy before the

angels of God over one sinner who

repents." So, I think here Jesus pauses

again. He's told two stories. He's

looking at people's faces, trying to see

who got it. Who's who's where's the

light bulb turning on for some of these

people. And so he's looking, maybe some

more of them understood, but it seemed

like some were just not quite

understanding it. And so in my mind's

eye, as I'm kind of reading this passage

as I'm preparing, I see Jesus kind of

like doing one of these where he's

trying to he's trying to figure out how

can I explain this to you so that you'll

understand what I'm talking about.

shaking his head. Let me make this as

simple as possible. And by simple, I

mean, let me explain it. Let me draw it

out a little bit and give you some more

explanation about exactly what I'm

talking about to be hopefully more

relatable to his intended audience. And

this is a story that many of us have

heard, many of us may relate to in one

way or another. And this uh we're going

to end our introduction. We're going to

get into kind of the meat of what we're

going to talk about here. And it's

called the prodigal. The story within

the Bible, the title is the prodigal

son. Now, those titles were not in the

original scripture. We put those there.

So, the title in your Bible, if you look

at it, says the prodigal son, but we're

going to we're just going to call it the

prodigal. So, more than just about sheep

or coins, this parable provides deeper

explanation into the idea that Jesus is

trying to share with his audience. So,

we're going to unpack the story as Jesus

tells it to us. And he starts in verse

11. And he says, "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. So we start off, we have a father,

we have two sons. The younger son says

that he wants his share. So he goes to

his dad and says he wants his share.

What does that mean? His share was not

something that he should be receiving

while his father was still alive.

his share was the share of the

inheritance that he would receive when

his father dies.

So basically, so I have two brothers, a

younger one and an older one, but I'm

going to be the older son in this

scenario. And Tim, my younger brother,

is going to be the younger son. So Tim

walks up to dad and dad and and says,

"Dad, could you either kick the bucket

here or give me my inheritance right

now?" He's impatient. He wants the

reward that's coming to him that is

coming to him. So, it's not like this

isn't going to happen, but he wants it

before he's supposed to have it. He

wants it before the right time. So, he

has this impatient child. And the first

thing we learn about the younger, the

prodigal son, is that he wanted his

reward early.

And Pastor Ben talked last week about

those who are in the waiting. We're

waiting for healing or we're waiting for

a door to open or we're waiting for a

vision or clarity of what God wants from

us for a reward that was promised in the

word or in our prayers as we're talking

to him for any number of things. And

like the younger son, we often find

ourselves getting impatient

and we ask for our reward now. I want it

right now. Give it.

But here's the thing in this story, like

you're basically saying, "Dad, would you

die already

or give me what I want?" And demanding

an early reward is rebellion.

And this shows a rebellion to God's

plans for us because God does have a

plan for us. And God has the right

timing for that plan to happen. So,

we're rebelling on God's plans. But it

also ultimately shows that we don't

trust God or his timing.

Now, the father in the story is never

portrayed as a bad father or one who

didn't love his sons. And it's not

explicitly stated, but since the father

in this story reflects God the father, I

think that when the father did this and

he divided up his his inheritance and he

gave it to the younger son. I think the

father had an idea of what was going to

happen if he gave the younger son his

reward before he was supposed to get it.

Because a good father knows his

children. My dad withheld many things

from me when I was younger.

Yes,

I was pretty stupid when I was younger.

And and at the time, like we're angry.

We're like, "Dad, it's not going to hurt

me. Let me have it. Like, I can handle

it." But dads know, good dads know when

we're ready to handle something, whether

good or bad.

And I think that this father also knew

his son wouldn't learn the lesson that

he needed to learn without doing what he

asked.

So I think that sometimes God gives us

things that we ask for and lets things

go wrong because we ask for it too soon

because there's a lesson we needed to

learn that we wouldn't have learned

otherwise unless we recognized, oh man,

I really messed up there. Like like when

I got to be like 23 24 like right before

I got married I looked back at all the

things that dad withheld for me and I

was like dog gone it he was right every

time.

>> That's right man.

And that's what we find out that that

fathers have a certain foresight

that sons don't have and we wouldn't

learn the lesson without doing

what he asked. And so he divides the

property. He gives the younger son his

share. And the thing about rebellion is

it starts in the heart. But rebellion

never stays in the heart for long.

Eventually rebellion changes our

direction. And so we continue in Luke

Luke 15:3

15:3. It says, "Not many days later, the

younger son gathered all he had and took

a journey into a far country. So the

younger son gets his inheritance early

before his father dies. And it's not

long after that, not many days, he's

gone. He gets what he wanted and he

leaves. He's done living under his

father's roof. And I'm sure he was

looking forward to being done living

under his father's rules.

And so he distanced himself from his

father.

Once he had what he wanted, it was far

easier for him to leave.

Like as long as his reward was tied up

with his father and he didn't have

access to it, he has to stay in his

father's house. He has to stay under his

father's rules. But he also receives all

the things that he receives from his

father's house. But once he had what he

wanted, he no longer needed to be under

his father's influence. And he

recognized that. He's like, "I'm out of

here." His rebellion led directly to his

separation.

See, if God always gave us our reward in

our timing instead of his, if we get

what we're waiting for too early, we can

quickly find ourselves moving from God

reliance to self-reliance.

Say, "I don't need you anymore. I have

what I want. I'm going to do it myself."

And self-reliance means we no longer

need to live under God's roof and we no

longer have to live under God's rules.

And that sounds great and it sounds like

freedom and a lot of people um say that

it is. Uh but we find that living

outside of God's house and outside of

God's rules and his protection is not

the freedom that we think it is. Relying

on God is necessary when we're in the

waiting. But if we get our reward, if we

get our healing, if we get our vision or

our clarity before we learn our lesson

or mature to the point we're ready for

it, we can more easily leave the shelter

of God's presence in our lives.

Sometimes it happens quite quickly, like

the younger son, he he had all of his

stuff and he was out of there. Sometimes

it takes a little bit longer. Sometimes

in the morning, your alarm goes off to

to read your devotionals and read your

Bible and you're like, "I'm going to

sleep in today just just once."

Or you're getting ready to go into your

time of prayer, uh, but you're scrolling

on your phone and you find an article

that's super interesting and you're

like, "Well, God already knows

everything that I want and everything

that I need. I don't need to pray." Or

church becomes optional instead of being

exciting.

We decide we don't have to be in the

house. We can uh stay home. We can do

all these fun things.

But ultimately from those things,

sometimes quick, sometimes slow, we

separate ourselves from him. And

distance from the father always creates

space for something else to take his

place.

And we see that happen here in Luke

Luke 15:3

15:3. and we continue the story. So,

he's moved to a far away place which in

and of itself not a bad thing. But then

something happens because he received

his reward too early in his rebellion

and he distanced himself from his

father. 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 his fields to feed the

pigs. And he was longing to be fed with

the pods that the pigs ate and no one

gave him anything. So he rebelss,

separates himself and we find that he

wasted his wealth.

So remember rebellion led to his

separation. When we rebel, we can more

easily separate from God. And that

separation from God will ultimately and

always lead to ruin.

See, the younger son had reached the

point in his life where he was mature

enough to spend or save or invest, be

good steward or take good care of the

wealth that was given to him. And I

think that the father knew when he gave

him that wealth

what would happen. Now, I'm sure the

father hoped that

he would spend it well, that he would be

wise with it. But I think he knew that

the most likely scenario was going to be

him wasting it. But here's something I

learned, and I love learning new things,

especially as I'm studying that I can

share with you all to teach you guys new

things. Something that I learned while

preparing this message. We talk about

this story, the prodigal son. What does

prodigal even mean? I think for a lot it

means uh weward. So we talk about this

weward son that left or the lost son

that he went away. He was lost. Like it

goes with the other two stories that

he's lost. But prodigal doesn't mean

either one of those things. Prodigal

doesn't have any sort of connotation to

being weward or lost. Prodigal means

recklessly extravagant, wastefully

lavish or spending with reckless

abandon.

In other words, the son is called

prodigal not because he was lost or

because he was weward. He was prodigal

with his inheritance. He squandered it.

He recklessly spent it. He took his

reward and he wasted everything that was

given to him. and without his father's

wisdom and his father's rules to guide

him, he didn't know how to use his

wealth and it landed him in a pigsty.

So to understand this further, again

talking about context in the word of of

of who Jesus is talking to here, we have

to go back to Leviticus and Deuteronomy.

So, the books of the law in the Old

Testament and all the people that Jesus

is talking to are are Hebrews and Jews

and they know Leviticus and Deuteronomy

because they all learn the Torah, the

first five books of the Bible. So, they

know the Torah and the Jews had strict

dietary laws. Now, pigs, uh, they were

strictly forbidden to eat pigs. So, no

bacon for them, no ham. I know it's sad.

Their Easter didn't have ham.

Even though Easter didn't happen yet,

maybe that's what it was. That's what

made it okay to eat ham. Okay, sorry,

that was not in my outline.

So pigs, they couldn't eat them. They

weren't allowed to eat them.

And they also couldn't touch their

carcasses. So if you go back and you

look at Leviticus and Deuteron, that's

the law. That's the scriptural law.

Don't eat a pig. Don't touch a dead pig.

That was the rule. Now,

this is thousands of years after

Leviticus and Deuteronomy were written.

So, we're here with Jesus talking to the

Jews. And over those years, the Jewish

leaders, so the Pharisees and the

scribes, the religious leaders that were

with them

uh would place further restrictions on

the law. And and originally, I think the

intention was good because they didn't

want people to break the law and become

unclean and have to sacrifice and all

that stuff. They wanted to help people

not break the law. So let's say uh that

we have a chair sitting here and we look

in Leviticus and in Leviticus it says

thou shalt not sit in this chair. Okay,

that's the scripture. That's what God

has told us. Don't sit in the chair. So

what happens over these rabbis and these

Pharisees and these religious leaders

say we're going to help people not sit

in that chair. So, we're gonna add a

little bit to the law. We're gonna say,

uh, you can't touch the chair. So, so

they've elevated this idea of not

touching the chair to scripture. And

Jesus is is calling this out here as

well, more subtly. Well, after a few

more years, they're like, people are

getting awful close to that chair, even

though they're not touching it. So,

we're going to make another law, and

we're going to say you can't be within

3T of the chair. So, so not only the

scripture by itself said don't sit in

it, but then these rebbitical laws would

say don't touch it and then they would

continue to expand and say don't get

within 3T of it and then a few years

later they're like let's just build a

wall around it and then they can't touch

it or be within 3T or sit in it. So they

would do all these things and they would

elevate them to the level of scripture.

And so at this point this is what

they've done with pigs. So, the

scripture only said, "Don't eat it.

Don't touch the carcasses. Don't touch

dead pigs." Well, now you can't be in

the presence of pigs. You can't touch

live pigs. You certainly can't be in the

sky with them feeding them. And so, this

guy to the Jews around him had reached

the lowest point that he could reach.

There was no lower than he could get

than being in the sky feeding pigs. In

fact, he was wishing that he could eat

the slot that he's giving to them. So

this is where this guy's at. He had this

great wealth. He wastes it. And here he

is in a pigsty.

See, when we rebel and we separate

ourselves from God, we may prosper in an

earthly way. We see it all the time. We

see people that prosper with their

wealth

in spite of their distance from God, but

ultimately this will lead us to ruin.

And maybe not financially,

but oftentimes it'll be a physical

ailment. Sometimes it'll be emotionally,

but ultimately the ruin comes

spiritually. Even if your wealth lasts

your whole life on earth, ruin's going

to come at the end. You want to avoid

the ruin at the end. The ruin

spiritually.

And Jesus is is talking again in the

book of Mark verse 8 or sorry, chapter

8:34. He says, "And calling the crowd to

him with his disciples, he said to them,

if anyone would come after me, let him

deny himself and take up his cross and

follow me. For whoever would save his

life will lose it, but whoever loses his

life for my sake in the gospels will

save it. For what does it profit a man

to gain the whole world and forfeit his

soul?" So we can find ourselves at our

lowest place deep in the valley

even having gained the whole world but

have lost our souls.

And when we reach kind of rock bottom

when we come to the place where we're in

the pigsty we'll do one of two things.

One, we blame God for where we put

ourselves.

See, the the younger son could have

said, "Dad, you gave me this stuff. You

enabled me to make these choices to end

up in the pigsty."

He could have blamed his father for his

situation, for giving into his demands

that he was in the situation he was in

because the father put him there. Or we

can do what the prodigal son ultimately

does. He realized that sometimes God

doesn't speak the loudest on the

mountaintop.

Sometimes he waits until the pigsty

becomes quiet enough for us to finally

hear him.

And so he doesn't blame his dad. He

doesn't blame anybody. He recognizes I'm

the problem.

I put myself here. And in verse 17 of

Luke 15, the story continues. It says,

"But when he came to himself, he said,

"How many of my father's hired servants

have more than enough bread, but I

perish here with hunger."

So he came to himself. He he realized

something. His rebellion had led to his

separation.

And his separation has now led to his

ruin.

And now his ruin led him to a

realization

that even the lowest in his father's

house

have more than enough.

In the moments that we're at our lowest,

having separated ourselves from God

through our rebellion and finding

ourselves in ruin, we have to start the

process of repentance. And the process

of repentance starts with the

realization that we put ourselves where

we are.

Our choices led to the ruin.

God didn't do that to us.

And that we can find all that we need.

We just got to go back to the father's

house. Even the lowest servant in the

father's house has more than enough. Has

more than they need. our father's

provision and promises for us that we

can find all we need in Christ.

And Paul talks about this in the book of

Philippians chapter 4. He says in verse

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

11,

"Not that I am speaking of being in

need, for I have learned in whatever

situation I am to be content. I know how

to be brought low, and I know how to

abound in any and every circumstance. I

have learned the secret of facing plenty

and hunger, abundance and need. I can do

all things through him who strengthens

me. And my God will supply every need of

yours according to his riches in glory

in Christ Jesus. So what do we do after

we have this this realization?

When we finally stop blaming God and we

start realizing our responsibility for

the situation that we find ourselves in,

what do we do? Because realization is

all well and good when we realize we've

done something wrong. But realization

alone never changed anybody.

We can realize that there's something

wrong, but until we take action, change

will not come.

And so the prodigal got up

and in verse 18 it says,"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. So

he makes this realization

and he returned to his father.

He's a changed man because of what he

went through. A lesson that he couldn't

have been taught any other way.

His ruin taught him something. He didn't

need lavish living. He didn't need

self-indulgence or self-reliance. He

needed his dad.

And sometimes we just need our dad.

and he was ready to surrender everything

to be allowed back into his father's

house. His rebellion had led to his

separation

and his separation had led to his ruin

and his ruin led to this realization.

But his realization had to lead to

something and his realization led to

surrender.

And he surrendered not only his stuff

like he didn't have any stuff. He was

living in a pigsty. He has no stuff to

surrender. He was actually ready, if we

read, he was ready to surrender his

sunship. He was ready to give up

everything that he had and more. He was

ready to say, "I'm not worthy to be your

son. No longer worthy." He understood

surrender. And this idea of surrender,

um, my wife and I have learned quite a

bit about this idea of surrender over

the last couple years now. So, some of

you know, a lot of you don't. I do have

permission to tell the story. So, my

wife has been going through some

physical issues. So, she has bouts of

dizziness and bouts of um vertigo where

she'll feel like she's on a on a ship

like swaying back and forth when she's

standing still. It comes and goes and

sometimes it's really severe and

sometimes it's not. And sometimes it

lasts for a long time and there's other

times where she doesn't have it, but it

always continues to come back. And so

it's led to a lot of frustration. It's

led to a lot of um anger really at God

because we keep praying for healing um

and and nothing seems to come. And so a

few weeks ago um she was at the Radiant

Women's Conference and um she's on the

way, she's driving up uh to this

conference and she's praying. She's

like, "God, is this is this like the

moment?" like I'm going I'm stepping out

going to this conference like is this

the moment that I can be free of this

that I can be free of this ailment and

so she's she's weeping in the car on the

way to the she's not even at the

conference yet she's having these

moments with God she's weeping she's

crying out to God to free her of this

physical ailment we still can't figure

out what it is and she goes there and

they have this session and it seems like

this this lady's talking to my wife and

so she's feeling these the the feelings

of of God's like working in her and then

there's an opportunity for them they

they go up to this basket and there's

like a bunch of bookmarks in it and my

wife's like meek and shy and so like

she's like going to get bookmarks and

like the other ladies are like are like

check they're not checking her out of

the way they're they're like she's like

letting everybody else go first because

that's who she is she's like I'll just

wait. And then like she finds like the

little bookmark that could it was like

the one at the bottom of the basket. And

she finally gets up there and she she

pulls out this this one bookmark from

the bottom after all of this that she's

gone through. And they all said

something on them. They they had like

encouraging words or phrases or

something. And she pulls this out and

her bookmark I'm mad I didn't bring it

because it's at home. her bookmark said

healed

and

and she just like breaks down and so

like all the women are coming around her

and praying for her. So she has this

moment she pulls this bookmark out and

it says healed. And here's the thing

that didn't heal her physical ailment,

you guys. Like she still has it. Like

we're still going like trying to figure

out what this thing is. Okay? God didn't

heal her body in that moment, but he did

heal something else. He healed her

mindset towards it. Like like he removed

the I like she's like take this ailment

away. Take this ailment away. He took it

away from her holding on to it and

letting it affect her walk with him.

Like it healed her mindset.

And so we were talking later about her

whole experience and I'm crying because

I'm an empathetic crier because whenever

she cries I cry. So, so we're weeping

together and she she pulls out the

bookmark and I'm like and tears

tears are falling and and the girls are

asleep. We're trying not to wake them

up. And we got to talking about

surrender and what surrender really is.

And I think that especially as

Christians, we have a wrong idea of what

surrender actually is. We will surrender

our poverty or our financial situation

and we expect prosperity to come back to

us. And this is the trap that the

younger son fell into. He's like, "Give

me this prosperity. Give me it. Give me

give me it. We'll surrender our problems

and expect a problem free life in

return." It's like, "God, once I give

this to you, don't give me any more

problems. Here's this one."

Or we surrender our condition expecting

a cure.

But that's not what surrender is.

Surrender, the definition is to yield to

the possession of or power of another to

give up, abandon, or relinquish.

Surrender has zero connotation of

receiving anything in return.

She surrendered her sickness. She

surrendered her ailment. Did God

immediately heal it? No. Like I said,

we're still seeing doctors. We're still

paying for doctors and we still don't

know what it is. In fact, she goes to

this neurologist. That was useless. She

goes to this neurologist and he

diagnoses her with situational

uh ver positional vertigo and she's

like, "Okay, great. We got a diagnosis.

What do we do?" Literally, I'm not

kidding you guys. The neurologist said,

"Google it."

>> Oh my god.

>> We paid like $1,500 for this neurologist

to tell us to Google it. So, a little

frustrating still. However, we've placed

the ailment in God's hands, not

expecting anything. Like, if he never

heals her physically, like we know that

God's put her in the place that she's at

for this time and that ultimately she's

going to be healed.

>> You know, at some point or another,

she's going to be healed.

She did receive one thing. She

surrendered her sickness. And this

counts for anything we surrender. Once

we truly surrender something and give it

up, we take the weight off of ourselves

and put it on God. We receive peace.

>> Her mindset about this ailment, though

we get frustrated sometimes, ultimately

is always peace. Her mindset is

different now. She knows she's in the

waiting. She knows she's in the hands of

the father. She dwells with the father

in his house, waiting for his timing and

the reward at the right time.

So, our realization has to lead to true

surrender. When we're giving something

up, like leaving our hands empty, like

like we don't want anything back, God,

you take it.

And true surrender becomes repentance,

trusting God with what we relinquish to

him. So, the prodigal son returns to his

father ready to surrender all to be in

his house once again. And here's the

beautiful part of the story and more

deeply the gospel. The son takes one

step home and the father starts running.

Chapter uh 15 20. But while he was still

a long way off, so the prodigal son,

he's still way far away. His father saw

him. His father's watching for him. His

father was watching for him to come back

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 my son was dead and is

alive again." He was lost and is found.

And they began to celebrate. His father

restored him.

So, here comes his son. He's like, he's

looking for him. Sees him off in the

distance. He's dirty. He probably reeks.

He's broke. He's probably wearing rags.

Probably not wearing any shoes.

And we look back at the passage and we

see again who's doing the running.

Prodigal son's not running. He's he's

he's broken. He's walking. He's doing

the best that he can to get back to his

father's house.

But the father sees him.

No hesitation. He sees his heart and he

runs to him.

The father loved his son long before he

returned. He loved his son before he

repented. He loved his son before his

ruin. He loved his son before the

separation. He loved his son before the

rebellion. He never stopped.

He was watching for him to come home

before he repented.

And he embraced him before he

apologized.

The father knew his heart. The father

knew as he was walking up that he was a

broken man and that he was ready to

surrender. He saw his heart in his

brokenness.

And God does that for us. We can say

what we want. We can say we repent. But

if we're not walking in brokenness,

God doesn't recognize that. God

recognizes our hearts

of

of repentance, of wanting to be back

with him, of truly wanting to be in his

house,

our realization of our failure, our

heart of surrender, of all to him. And

as he walks, as we walk to him, he runs

to us.

And not only that, not only did he run

to him and he embraces him, he gives him

the best robe. He gives him the best

shoes. They have a party to celebrate

his return.

Now, did the prodigal son, the one that

left, did he deserve all of this?

No, he didn't deserve it. This guy

basically said, "Dad, I wish you were

dead so I could have my inheritance." He

rebelled. He separated himself from his

father. He disrespected his father's

house and his rules, ultimately

disrespecting the father. But the father

turns around and gives him that which he

doesn't deserve.

And do we know what that is?

That is grace.

Rebellion, separation, ruin,

realization, he surrenders. And now

finally his surrender positioned him to

receive the grace that has always been

available. He didn't have to get back to

the house. The father went to him and

gave him grace

and he didn't have to wait until he was

ruined. The grace was always available.

You can always surrender. No matter if

you're in the pigsty or if you're in the

separation or if you're in the

beginnings of rebellion to realize, man,

I can surrender this and I'll receive

grace.

His surrender positioned him to receive

the grace that has always been

available. And Paul talks about this in

Ephesians chapter 2. He says, ' And you

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

were dead in the trespasses and sins in

which you once walked, following the

course of this world, following the

prince of the power of the air, the

spirit that is now at work in the sons

of disobedience. So here's the prodigal

son. He's walking in disobedience.

We're at the lowest, dead in our

trespasses.

In the sins in which you once walked, we

rebelled and separated ourselves and

found ourselves in ruin.

But Paul continues,

he says, "But God,

but God being rich in mercy because of

the great love with which he loved us,

even when we were dead in our

trespasses, even when we're in the

pigsty,

God loves us. Made us alive together

with Christ. For by grace you have been

saved through faith. And this is not

your own doing. It is the gift of God,

not a result of works that no one may

boast. So this prodigal son can't give

himself grace. He can't run into the

house and put the best robe on and put

the shoes on. Only the father can give

that to him. Not by our works. Only God

can provide grace.

And if prodigal means lavishly

extravagant, then perhaps there are

actually two prodigals in this story.

Maybe the prodigal son isn't fully

accurate

because the son was prodigal. Yes, in

his rebellion and in his wasting of the

reward that his father gave him. But if

we look at what the father did,

the father was prodigal. He was lavishly

extravagant with his grace. He gave the

son that which he didn't deserve because

he loved him and he came back to him. A

gift he didn't deserve. And so will God

lavish his love and grace upon us when

we return to him, our prodigal father.

And if Jesus had stopped there, every

sinner in the crowd would have been

cheering. They're like, "Yeah, grace,

grace for everybody. We're lost and now

we're found." But Jesus in this story,

he goes on. That's not the end of the

story because there was another son in

the story. As we continue on, verse 25,

now the father's older 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 the older son 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 disobeyed

your command. Yet you never gave me a

young goat that I might celebrate with

my friends." That's a lot of first

person. I, me, my.

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." And so

all the the other two stories, the the

sheep, the sheep and the coin end with

restoration and celebration.

But Jesus includes something different

in this story. He includes the older

brother's reaction to grace.

And when we look through Jesus told

three stories and Jesus also had three

audiences. He was talking to sinners and

he was talking to tax collectors and he

was talking to religious leaders and

each story pertains to one of those

groups. So when we look at the story of

the lost sheep, we're looking at the

sinners, the prostitutes, the people

that hung around Jesus because they were

looked down upon by the religious

leaders, giving them the message that

God will leave 99 good sheep to come and

find you. He'll leave all of those to

come and find you and then he'll bring

you back and he'll celebrate. And so God

goes and gets them.

And that talks to the sinners. Now, the

tax collectors, Jesus talks about money,

talks about a lost coin, and talks about

how if a woman loses a coin out of 10,

she moves everything out of the way. God

will clear the way to come and find you

and bring you back and celebrate. And

so, he's talking to the tax collectors

now, the prodigal son. And here's here's

where the whole teaser has led to if

you've stayed with me this far. Here's

this blew my mind. referenced way back

at the beginning. The intended audience

for the prodigal son is not the people

that think they're the younger son. Like

he's telling that part of the story to

lead to this point. The intended

audience for this story were the

religious leaders. How are you going to

react when other people that don't

deserve it get grace?

He started the story the same way and it

came to restoration. But then he pointed

out that the story wasn't only about the

younger son but also the older son's

reaction to the extravagant grace given

to the sinner. The audience for this

story were the ones who have served him

for many years. The ones who have never

disobeyed a command even when they made

up the commands themselves.

The one who led worship for 24 years.

The one who stood at the door and

greeted for five years. The one who's

been an elder in the church for 40

years. The one who's been a Sunday

school teacher. The one who came to

Christ as a child and never fell away

and stayed in his house, never

disobeyed, a faithful Christian since

childhood. And as I sat in that

conference, I realized that Jesus wasn't

just talking to people who had wandered

away. He was talking to people like me,

people that have been in the church.

So, a lot of us always think that the

prodigal son was primarily about one

lost son. And what I learned in that

moment is that Jesus wasn't primarily

talking to the younger brothers in the

crowd at all. He already talked to them.

He was talking to the religious leaders.

He was talking to the people that never

left the father's house.

He drops this bomb on them. He says that

the older son remained with the father,

but the older son and we

are in no less need of grace than the

younger son was.

Like if we look back at the beginning of

the story, the younger son asked for his

inheritance, but it doesn't say the

father only gave it to the younger son.

It says the father divided the

inheritance, gave the younger son his

share, gave the older son his share.

He divided his wealth. Now, did the

older son deserve to receive his share

early? No, he sure didn't. So, in that

moment and until now, he was living

under grace and he didn't realize it.

It's hard to recognize our need for

grace when we've never abandoned it.

In another exchange with a Pharisee

earlier on in Luke chapter 7, Jesus goes

Luke 7 · chapter mention

to Simon the Pharisees house. So he goes

to this Pharisees house and while he's

at Simon the Pharisees house, he's

talking with him. Um, a woman labeled as

a sinner in the text, but most scholars

believe this was probably a prostitute.

Came into Simon the Pharisees house

while Jesus was there. came into the

house with an alabaster flask of

perfume, expensive perfume, likely

perfume that she used in her profession

to draw men to her. So, she takes this

flask of perfume, she breaks it, and she

pours it on Jesus's feet and she washes

Jesus's feet with this expensive oil

with her tears as she's weeping and with

her hair. She's washing Jesus's feet.

Now, Simon is a Pharisee. This is a

prostitute that has just walked into his

house. So, Simon, Simon's like, "Uh,

gross." Like, Jesus, what are you doing

here? Like, this prostitute came in and

she's like, "You're letting her wash

your feet." And Jesus like calls him out

in Luke 7:41.

Luke 7:41

And he calls him out by again telling a

story. Tells a parable. A certain money

lender had two debtors. One owed 500

daer and the other 50. When they could

not pay, he canceled the debt of both.

Now, which of them will love him more?

And I think Simon realizes like Jesus

got him here. And Simon goes, Simon

answered the one, I suppose, for whom he

canceled the larger debt. And then Jesus

says, "You have judged rightly." So

Jesus calls out Simon. The woman washed

and anointed Jesus's feet. While Simon

the Pharisee did not have a basin at his

door, which was important for religious,

you know, for the Jewish faith, you

needed to wash your feet before you came

into someone's house. And Simon didn't

even have a basin there for Jesus to

wash his feet.

And he says, "This sinner came in and

did what you weren't willing to do."

And Jesus says something here that

changed my perspective on grace.

He says in verse 47, he says, 'There I

tell you, her sins which are many, so

Jesus recognizes, yeah, she's a sinner,

but her sins which are many are

forgiven, for she loved much. But he who

is forgiven little loves little.

And the idea that I came home with from

that con that conference and I hope that

I carry forward

through the rest of my walk with God in

this life is that grace doesn't seem

that good when we don't think we're that

bad.

Like grace isn't that amazing if we

think we're amazing.

We love to hear the story of the

prodigal son. We love to hear that part,

the part of redemption and being

restored and that God's going to come

and get us and we're going to celebrate

together.

The story of the prodigal son, the

sinner, the prostitute, the porn star,

the drug or the alcohol addict. They

rebel, they separate, they live in ruin,

and they come back. We love to hear that

story. We love to hear those

testimonies.

Those are the ones that that get our

emotions going.

But we forget there's another part of

the story. Jesus is talking to us.

The ones who remained faithful for

years.

Maybe even the ones who returned and

have been staying in the house for a

long time,

not recognizing

that we were already living there only

under the grace of the father,

not anything that we've done.

Grace isn't amazing until we realize our

desperate need for it, whether returning

as the younger son or living there as

the older son. And I'll close with this

scripture in Ephesians chapter 2. We

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

read some of it before, but we're going

to read a little bit more of it. Verse

four, Paul writes, "But God being rich

in mercy, because of the great love with

which he loved us, even when we were

dead in our trespasses, made us alive

together with Christ.

By grace, you have been saved. There's

no other way. It's only a gift that be

can be given to those who don't deserve

it, and we don't."

and raised us up with him, seated us

with him in the heavenly places in

Christ Jesus, so that in the coming

ages, he might show the immeasurable

riches of his grace and kindness toward

us in Christ Jesus. Let's stand together

today. I'm going to invite the worship

team back up.

And as we we close out service in in

worship, I want to invite the prayer

team to come

and prepare themselves.

Some of us uh were the younger brother.

Maybe we're not in the pigsty yet. Maybe

you are. Maybe you are in ruin.

But maybe you've just rebelled. Maybe

you've just began to separate yourself

from the father's house.

Some of us are the younger brother

today. And we know that we've wandered

and we know that we've run or we're on

the run. We know that we've wasted what

God has given us.

The father today is sitting on the porch

waiting to see you on the horizon so

that he can run to you today. And if

that's you, as we continue to worship,

come and receive. Come and receive

prayer. Step out. Come and worship at

the altar.

But some of us, I'd say most of us are

the older brother. We've been in church

for decades. We've been Christians for

most of our lives. We've served

faithfully.

But somewhere along the way, we've

forgotten that we're standing in this

house by exactly the same grace that

calls back the younger prodigal son.

And so, receive today the grace that God

has for you. Whether you've wandered far

away or never left the porch, the

invitation is the same. Come to the

father. Come to Christ today. Let him

restore you and let him remind you of

grace and his love. And so do that as we

worship today. We're going to pray.

Lord, we are grateful for your grace.

We're grateful for your power, your

mercy, your love. Lord, your love that

never stops. Your love that never gives

up on us. no matter where we're at or

what we've done. God, your grace is

available

to those who've been lost. But God, we

also pray conviction on those of us that

have stayed in the house and we've

forgotten the importance of your grace.

Lord, break us today and mold us into

something new.

Move in us today and prepare us for all

that you have for us.

move in this house today as we worship

in Jesus name. Amen.