Welcome to the Family | Ps. Keith Pittman

Welcome to the Celebration Church Orlando podcast.

Thank you so much for listening today.

We hope it encourages you and inspires you.

Here's today's message.

All right, all right, all right.

Excuse me.

Good lord.

How are you guys doing?

You guys doing good?

Yes, I love I love to hear um the energy.

While we're feeling so communal, can we show some love to people that are joining us in a family lounge?

Because we got a bunch of people that are over there.

So let's put our hands together and welcome them for joining us as well.

I know it takes a lot of effort when you know family lounges with typically ones with smaller kids and interests with them during church service.

And they could be at home watching this, but they still are coming in the context of community.

So I just want to honor and thank them so much for coming to worship with us uh today.

Um I also um just want to take a moment to invite anyone, if you're in the Orlando area, um we want to invite you to come and join us here in person.

I love the technology and how we are able to reach you where you are, but I truly believe that something transformational happens when we're all here together as family.

Now, as Nate had mentioned earlier, we're kicking off a brand new series called At the Table.

But you can see that literally behind me, to the side of me, that a table is being set.

Um and it's really meant to kind of serve as a strong metaphor and reinforcement of what we're gonna be talking about for the next four weeks, inclusive of this week.

What we're gonna be doing is we're gonna be examining the teachings and moments of Jesus sitting around the table.

And the reason why we're doing this is because it's so transformational.

You'll find that that life transformation can happen in rows, but it really does happen when you're in circles, when you're sitting across from other people.

And so what we see in the life of Jesus as he modeled brilliantly with his ministry and even taught with his words on the power of hospitality and generosity.

What does it look like to invite somebody to sit at the table with you?

And what did it mean in that context then?

And what does it mean for us now?

We wanted to do more than just provide you with uh four weeks of content and subject matter, but we also wanted to activate you.

We we love when we have series that we can really dig into that can equip you and activate you.

So what you'll find is for every household, somebody say household.

So every household, that's just one per household, um, you're gonna get one of these at the table boxes.

Now, you may be wondering, Keith, what is in the at-the-table box?

Let's open it up and see.

I'm glad you guys asked.

Okay, what you're gonna find is you're gonna have a welcome letter from us kind of explaining the heart of the series.

You're also gonna have a magnet that you could put on your refrigerator just as a reminder that you go to celebration church and you sat at the table with Jesus.

Great.

And then also you're gonna have four of these envelopes that look like this.

And each of the envelopes represents a week of the month, the content that we're gonna be sharing.

So, spoiler alert, this week we're gonna be talking about family.

And so, when you open up the one that speaks about family, you'll turn it over and you're gonna see just a brilliant, prophetic, prolific um devotional written by somebody that you guys know who's standing on the stage and talking to you right now.

So, you're gonna have a devotional about that subject matter being family.

Then we're gonna have reflection, some scriptures that we can memorize to reinforce the idea of family, and then some next steps, some practical things that you can do to really put the message into practice.

We really want to equip you.

But the beautiful thing is you may be saying, Keith, that's great, but man, I got I got little ones, and what does that look like?

Bam, we got you.

We got something specifically for your C kids as well, so that they can be a part of the series.

And you're like, I don't have C kids, man, I got a teenager.

Bam, we got something for your teenager as well.

Here's what I want you guys to recognize we are removing every excuse that we can use to keep us from engaging, and then wait, there's more.

Not only do we have this amazing content that's in here, but it also serves as a place to put your cell phone so when you're sitting at the table with your family, you are free from distractions.

Yes.

I don't want to say it, but the nine o'clock had a lot more enthusiasm at this point.

We're gonna give you guys some time to get caught up.

I gotta believe we're gonna get there.

So, so so check this out.

If if you're joining us online, um, you can download the content um from online, and even for those that um that maybe listening to the podcast later, we do have the content available for us, but we certainly do love um the ability to have the box.

Now, we do have um I have a challenge today, and I need your help.

My my challenge is to lay the foundation for the series, really kind of break down what we're gonna be talking about and the journey that we're on, while simultaneously preaching the first message of the series.

So there's a lot of things that I want to share, a lot of things I want to unpack, and I don't have a lot of time.

So here's what I need.

I need your help.

And this is the part that you play.

As I'm preaching and as we're talking, I don't want this to be a monologue, I want this to be a dialogue.

So if I say something that that resonates with you that that you can grab a hold of, I want you to say amen.

We're gonna try this right now.

We're gonna try this right now, and I'm gonna throw this out there.

I'm gonna point to y'all, and that's your spot to say amen.

Okay, here we go.

God is for you.

Come on, this is how we're working.

We're working, we're getting there.

Now, let's say, um, let's give the Lord some praise in this house.

Look at that.

We're getting it.

We're getting it.

I know some of us come from different denominations and we're thinking something we're having.

Listen, you still love Jesus and you're not weird.

It's okay.

We're engaging the presence of God.

What I want you guys to know is that in this series, in all of our time we're in the house of God, we want you to feel free uh to engage.

If you hear something that that resonates, it's okay to say amen.

You can talk back to me.

You can stand up if something is really feeling good to you.

And if you really feel it, man, you can take a laugh.

We have people that do everything.

From our Pentecostals in the building, we got room, we got spaces, watch the cords in the back, and make sure you can do it all, but don't rush the stage.

Don't rush the stage because um I'm anointed and I pray and I do lay hands.

Don't come up here.

Okay.

I'm joking, but I'm not.

Okay, so we're gonna jump into, we're gonna jump into uh the first message.

And actually, we're gonna jump into our theme passage um for this series.

Our theme passage is gonna be found in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 15.

Luke 15 · chapter mention

While you're turning there, I want to give us some context to kind of frame up how we got to where we're gonna get to and then where we're ultimately going.

And that starts with Luke 14.

Luke 14 is a powerful moment where Jesus is sitting at the table of a Pharisee.

He's sitting there, and Pharisees are the ultra-religious of that time.

And he's sitting and having a meal with them.

And while he's sitting and having a meal with them, there's a man who comes in who's afflicted.

He's sick.

The Bible says that he's he's got some kind of disorder, that his body is swollen up.

So Jesus is looking around.

This day happens to be the Sabbath, and there were rules about how you're supposed to function on a Sabbath, what can what constitutes his work and what isn't.

So Jesus looks around, knowing that this is the moment that I think they actually use this guy as a prop to see what Jesus was going to do.

That he that he says, like, hey, if if if any of you guys were had like a had a lamb that had gotten lost, wouldn't you go and tend to it?

He was trying to make a point of we find liberties to do the things we want to do, we're gonna be ultra religious when it comes to what other people are doing.

So he uses that as a launching point for him to heal the man.

From that moment forward, as people are a little unnerved while Jesus is sitting at the table having a meal and talking about healing this man, Jesus uses this as a moment to share a series of parables about what the kingdom of God looks like.

And in three times in that short chapter, he reinforces this principle of people being invited to a table.

He reinforces this idea of coming to a banquet.

Where should we sit at?

He's ultimately trying to help them to understand what generosity and hospitality looks like in the context of the kingdom.

He's sharing all of this information.

And while he's doing this, now we're starting to see that there are Gentiles that are out on the outskirts.

But we also have people who are tax collectors and sinners.

These are people that were considered to be opponents of the children of Israel.

They're drawing close and they're knowing that Jesus sits at the table with them.

So people begin to complain about the people that Jesus is associating with.

So that's where we are right now.

Jumping into chapter 15, verse number one, in response to what I just shared with you, here's where we're jumping in at the Bible says this tax collectors and other notorious sinners came to listen to Jesus teach.

This made the Pharisees and the teachers of the law complain that he was associating with such sinful people, even eating with them.

Underline that.

Even eating with them.

In that time, when you sat down and had a meal with somebody, that was a way of showing that they were valued.

That was a way of communicating that you were equals.

And in that world, if you were a sinner, you were considered less than, you weren't equal.

So when Jesus is sitting at the table with people who were notorious sinners, they were confused about the message that Jesus is sending.

So as they continue to complain, even in spite of seeing all that Jesus is doing, he then starts in Luke chapter 15 to reinforce the value of God's people.

Luke 15 · chapter mention

So he gives a series of parables.

First parable is, hey man, like which of you guys, like if you had a 99 sheep or 100 sheep and one went missing, you would go after the one.

What was he communicating?

That the one is still valuable.

Then he goes on, they're not getting it.

So he's like, okay, let me give you another example that maybe you can get to.

If because he was talking to Pharisees, they were consumed with money.

Okay, if one of you guys had 10 coins and you lost one, you would still look for the one.

You have the nine, but you're still looking for the one.

He's communicating that even if you have some other things, that the one is still valuable.

They're still not getting it.

So then he brings them down to the parable that we often refer to as the prodigal son or the lost coin.

It's here that I want to spend the rest of our time.

So starting here at verse number 11, it says this to illustrate the point further, Jesus told them in the story a man had two sons.

The younger son told his father, I want my share of your estate now before you die.

So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons.

A few days later, the younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money and wild living.

About this time the money had run out, and a great famine had swept over the land, and he began to starve.

He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into the fields to feed the pigs.

The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him, but no one gave him anything.

When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, At home, even the hired servants have enough food to spare, and here I am dying of hunger.

I will go home to my father and say, Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.

Please take me on as your hired servant.

So he returned home to his father, and while he was still a long way off, somebody say long way.

While he was a long way off, his father saw him coming, filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.

His son said to him, Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.

But his father said to the servants, Quick, bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him, and get a ring for his fingers and a sand and sandals for his feet, and kill the calf that we had been fattening.

We must celebrate a feast, for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life.

He was lost, but now he is found.

So the party began.

So the party began.

Here's a quick little side note.

This is where we get our church name celebration from.

We always celebrate the goodness of God, and we have a culture of creating a space that when people come home, the party begins.

That's who we are as a church, and that's who I believe God aspires the kingdom of God to look like.

What I want to do is I want to spend a couple of moments today starting off the series talking about this transformational idea of family.

And if you're taking notes and I hope that you're doing that, I've entitled this message, Welcome to the Family.

Let us pray and let's let the party begin.

Lord, we thank you so much for ordering our steps.

You brought every single one of us to this place, whether we're watching um online, listening on a podcast, in a family lounge, or whether we're in this room hearing this in real time.

You've brought us here for such a time as this.

So, Father, we we quiet our minds, we quiet our spirits, and we put ourselves in a posture to receive what it is you want to speak to us.

Father, I pray that you give us open eyes that we can see you.

I pray for open ears to hear you and open hearts to receive everything that you have for us.

It's in Jesus' name that we pray.

Amen.

Amen and amen.

Okay.

When when I say family, I realize that a lot of different things can come to mind for all of us.

All of us have a different variation, definition, and understanding of family.

For some of us, um, we may think of Vin Diesel, Dominic Toretto, and we hear family.

And we hear about superhuman strength and doing whatever it takes to try to protect and and nurture your family.

So there's that aspect of it.

But but quite frankly, most of us, whenever we are thinking about this idea of family, for us, we either think about the family we came from, our family of origin, we we think about our current family, the one that we're in, or the family that we want, the one that we're trying to become, or the one that we want to create.

It's either where we came from, where we are, or where we're going when we think about family.

Now, now here's the thing that we need to understand about the way that a healthy family is defined.

The way that family is typically defined is it's a location where you have a bond of love, unwavering support, shared values.

That family is a place where you belong, where you have security, and a solid foundation for growth.

Now, for some of us, you listen to that definition in the description I just provided for you, and you'll see some gaps possibly between what I've just defined as a healthy family and maybe even the family that you came up in or the family that you're currently in.

That's a reality.

Because we understand that there's different nuances that make up every single family.

And each family has a different way that they function.

We call that the family system.

The family system is ultimately the way that people interact, the way that they communicate, the hierarchy and the roles that exist within a given family and how they function.

And we all come from different family systems, even if there are similarities.

Like if you were raised in a family system, let's say, of that has an ethnic, a strong ethnic feel to it, if you were raised in a Jamaican home similar to my wife, there's a lot of heritage that's in that family system, but then there's also the uniqueness that's there.

And as a result of what we're raised in and what we're exposed to and what we experience, that has a way of marking us.

Let me give us a couple of examples.

Maybe you were raised in a family system where conflict wasn't resolved in a healthy way.

That everything was either passive, aggressive, or went unaddressed.

That marks us.

And what ends up happening is we don't know how to address conflict or we don't know how to resolve things because that is what we saw modeled to us when we were coming up.

What if we lived in a family system where there was no boundaries, where parents were always just overstepping and always invasive?

Well, for us, then we will know what it feels like to not have boundaries, and then we can often either perpetuate it ourselves or and not even realize it.

It's just a part of it.

If maybe you're raised in a family system where yelling was the way that you address things.

So now you're in a family system where being yelled at, and that's the way that things are resolved, and it has a way of marking us.

And the thing about family systems is what happens is not only does it become the blueprint that we are built on, but it also becomes the milepost that we're trying to escape from, depending on the context.

So my family system has a way of affecting me.

Megan and I, we love when we get a chance to do premarital counseling.

We have such a great system.

But at some point, when when the couples fill out the the tabulation, it'll bring questions up about the family.

Why is that important?

It's not so we can look in the rearview mirror and tear down our parents, who I believe were doing the best they could, but it's trying to understand the nuances that impact us.

It helps us to understand that if you were raised in a context where there was really strong male-dominant figures, and now the woman is rised up and she wants to have her say, but the other person that you're being married to, they weren't used to that.

Now we have conflict in the household, and we don't even understand why.

It's because the family systems that we were raised with are often the things that we're bringing with us into our new relationships.

It's a family system.

I and a lot of times we don't realize that there's a different family system uh until we are just thrust into it.

I I remember when I was introduced um to a different family system than mine.

I remember I was introduced into the gentle parenting family system.

I wasn't raised in the gentle family parenting technique.

If you don't know what gentle parenting is, it's a beautiful methodology that that really brings equality, it really highlights the engaging with children, helping them to regulate emotions, bring voice to how they feel is really beautiful.

But but I wasn't raised in that context.

So when I was in middle school and and I had a friend who was raised in a gentle parenting context, it was like a whole new world to me.

I still remember it as clear as day.

Let me bring you back to this experience for me.

I went over to Tanner's house.

And I remember Tanner, um, and his mom's name is Debbie.

The reason why I remember his name is her name was Debbie is because Tanner called his mom by her first name.

I I didn't even know that was something that you were allowed to do.

Like that, that wasn't even a part of my original wiring.

I still don't know my mom's first name.

Like I I didn't even know that that was even a thing.

So when I'm over at Tanner's house and and we're there and and and Debbie has little like the little orange slices and she has like the little meals out, everything is great.

And then there's a moment when when Debbie comes into the room, we're playing Nintendo, and she comes in, it's like, okay, Tanner, it's time for you to get ready to do your homework.

He says, Get out my room, Debbie.

You gotta understand that for a young pre-bubescent Keith Pittman, I'd never seen that before.

So all I was looking at, and I always just looked over at Debbie and I was like, You gonna let him talk to you like that?

Like I'd never seen anything like that before.

I I was completely unfamiliar with it.

And so she says, Tanner, now Tanner, I told you, and he says, Look, Debbie, I told you I will get to it when it's time to get out of my room.

And she said, you know what?

I'm gonna give you some time to simmer.

And she turned around and walked out.

And I said, Simmer.

Simmer down.

Tanner, simmer.

So I'm thinking to myself, like, yo, this is a cheat code.

I I didn't know that a child could talk to their parent that way.

So I was like, yo, I'm gonna implement this at 211 Landers Lane where I was raised at.

So I remember I got home, and I remembered one of the stipulations in order for me to go to Tanner's house, is that when I came home, that I was gonna do the dishes.

So I come into the house, my mom's like, hey, how everything goes and it went great.

And she's like, okay, don't forget to do the dishes.

This was my moment.

So I said, I'll do the dishes when I'm ready.

So I'll do the dishes when I'm ready.

What did you say?

I said, Helen?

I'll do the dishes when I'm ready.

Let me let me bring in, we're a very diverse church.

So I realize that we all have different family systems.

Let me bring you into what I would say is predominantly specifically in my age group, the African American context.

Okay, okay, so so lean in, listen to me.

Here's some things that I want to send you as some cautionary things for you to be mindful of in the event that you're engaging with an African American and they do these two things.

Here's the first thing is a caution flag.

If you see an African American, particularly a woman at this point, and when they are talking and they begin to clap their hands, like I know you didn't that's part one.

That's when you know, like, okay, like something something odd's about to happen.

That's part one.

The second thing, and this is one that I think you need to be very concerned about, is when they start talking to themselves.

She said, I know he didn't just say what I thought he said.

It goes even higher when they start responding to themselves.

No, I think he did say what he didn't.

What I want you to understand is when that whole dialogue is taking place, that is when it's a good time for you just to move.

So when she says that, she says, I know you didn't just say what I thought you said.

She's like, I believe he did say it.

And I said this.

I said what I said, and I turned, and I'm making my way to the stairs.

Okay?

I said what I said, I felt good about it.

I'm making my way to the stairs.

I'm like, man, Tanner will be proud of me right now.

Making my way to the stairs.

I I genuinely don't know what happened.

Here's what I'll tell you.

The Montgomery ball is not the first time that I've seen a cherry used in my household.

My mom would grab every foreign object that there were, and there's literally a week of my life that I can't account for, and I believe it happened in that space.

But I learned a very valuable lesson that in this household, gentle parenting is not a thing.

It's it's it's being mindful.

Here's why I say all that.

When we are raised in a different context and we begin to recognize like our nuances and then other people's nuances, and they create conflict, and we're trying to build our own families, that that marks us.

It impacts us.

And so when Jesus comes on the scene and he begins to talk about this idea of being a part of the kingdom, what he's doing is he's saying, I'm inviting you to be a part of my family, and our family has its own way that we function, our own family system.

Because what Jesus understood and what we know now is that the way that we see God is often connected to the way that we see our parents.

Watch this.

If you were raised in a household where you had very rigid and strict parents, a lot of times when you reach Scriptures, you will see God as being very rigid and very strict.

You will see God as one who is so when you read passages of scripture that are challenging us, passages of scripture that are meant to really help us to be pruned, we can look at that and we can often hear it in the voice of our mother or father.

They call that the critical parent.

And sometimes we view God as the critical parent who only is there to critique everything we do, and we bring that into our faith system.

Or maybe we were raised in a context of parents who were very loving and nothing mattered, and you had just this joyless and there's no boundaries to what you could do, then we tend to look and lean on the grace of God and we don't have any discipline.

So one of the two tends to happen.

What Jesus was trying to do is saying that I want to give you a definition of what it means to be part of the kingdom and what the kingdom family system is.

And it expands beyond your natural bloodlines.

This is why at Mark chapter number three, when Jesus is talking about this idea of family, and they're saying, hey Jesus, your family is outside, then you would think that he would stop everything he was doing, but he was like, No, my family are the ones who were in fellowship with me.

My family are the ones who are obedient to me.

He's defining a new family system and inviting people to be a part of it.

See, in the times of Jesus, their family systems were very culturally infused, but they were also very, very specific in how everyone had roles.

The men had their roles, the women had their roles, the kids had their roles, and it was very, very rigid and expected on what that was going to look like.

So for most of them, when they understood, and we should read scriptures, you'll notice because of the culture at the time, women are often pushed to the side.

Now hear me.

I want you all to hear me closely.

That is a description of the culture, not a prescription from the heart of God.

That's a description of what's going on, it's not a prescription.

This is why, when you ever heard of the miracle of the fish and loaves, where Jesus like multiplies the fish and loaves, and it says, five thousand men were fed.

We know that women were there, but they weren't counted because at that time they were viewed as property.

That was not the heart of Jesus because we could see his ministry was the opposite of that.

But that's the cultural context.

This is why when the children were trying to come to Jesus and the disciples said, no, no, don't let them come close.

And Jesus said, No, bring them to me.

He was saying, hey, in my family system, women are equal, and in my family system, children have access to me as well.

He was defining a new culture and inviting us to be a part of it.

He was going against anything that they had ever been exposed to.

So as Jesus is introducing this idea of being a part of a kingdom family and the family systems, he's saying that I realize that the way that you see God the Father may be the same way that you know your own father.

And I need to give you a new definition of who the father truly is.

In my kingdom family system, we are all equal.

In my kingdom family system, we actually forgive one another.

In my kingdom family system, we support one another.

In my kingdom family system, we love one another.

In my kingdom family system, we serve one another.

In my kingdom family system, we seek reconciliation.

This is what the Sermon on the Mount was.

This is why he would start every statement with saying, You've heard it said to you this way.

This is the system that you're used to.

But I say unto you, this.

I want to introduce you to the way that my family is going to work.

So he uses this parable as a beautiful illustration of what does it truly mean to be a part of the kingdom of God and what does it mean to function and thrive in his family system.

There's three things I want to highlight and to encourage us with this.

Here's the first one.

In the kingdom family, the first thing I want y'all to write down is you are accepted.

You're accepted.

And you can put a parenthesis around this thought because it's important.

You are accepted as you are.

You are accepted as you are.

To be accepted means to be welcomed, to be received, to be brought into the home.

When I was waiting for my grill to be delivered a couple of weeks ago, it was signature required.

And I was gone.

And so the guy called me and said, like, hey, I'm I'm here, but I can't leave it here.

I need you to sign for it.

So when I pull up, I I get I get out and I'm looking at the signature, and as I'm signing off on it, I look at the fine print.

And what the fine print is saying is everything that is on this list, you're signing and saying that you have received it.

It is welcome.

In other words, what it says is there's nothing else required.

There's no more work that's required of us.

See, some of us come from a family system where we feel loved, we feel valued if we perform.

That's called hustling for love.

That means that if I do these things, then I will feel loved, I will feel valued, I'll feel welcome in the family.

As long as I'm doing and fitting into the mode of my family, as long as I'm doing what my father wants me to do, as long as I'm living up to the standard that they want me to live up to, as long as I'm continuing in the family business, all the nuances we can think about, as long as I'm doing these things, then I'm accepted in the family.

But any deviation, even if it's good or bad, then I become, watch this, the black sheep of the family.

When I don't fit into the family mode, we all know the black sheep.

And even as I say those words, the sad thing is we are thinking about the black sheep of our family.

And if you're not thinking about the black sheep of the family, it's you.

But but what what Jesus is saying, but what Jesus is saying, that in my kingdom, I accept you as you are.

There are no black sheep.

So when this son, who goes to the father and says, I want my share of the inheritance, he is distancing himself from the father's house.

This is a person who's made a decision that I don't want to be in fellowship and under the rule of my father.

He basically asks for the resources.

In other words, in that culture, him asking for the resources would have been the equivalent of saying, I just wish you would have hurried up and died already so I can get my inheritance.

I can't think of anything more disrespectful.

But you see, grace comes from the Father and he gives him exactly what he wants.

He gives him choice.

He gives him freedom.

Any family system that doesn't give people freedom and choice, you're actually robbing people of the dignity of what it means to be made in the image of God.

You can't force people to do the things that God wants them to do.

Think about Adam and Eve.

God had given them a choice.

I'm giving you a choice.

You can eat from the tree of life or you can eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

I know the path that both of them will lead to, but I'm giving you a choice.

I think some of us we overparent because we want our kids to choose life, and I get it.

And then a lot of times we beat ourselves up because even though we're trying to lead them in a place where they're choosing life, they still want to go their own path and define things on our own terms.

And when they do that, we can beat ourselves up because we feel like if I was a better parent, then they would have chosen life.

But if our parenting is connected to the choice of our kids, what does it say about God?

Because he allowed Adam and Eve to make a choice right in front of them.

Thank you.

We've got to learn to raise our kids, and this is our responsibility.

As long as we're giving them the choice, all we can do is step back and allow them to make the choice and be there as a support no matter which direction they go.

That is what a kingdom family system looks like.

I'll share that in another message another time.

Let me keep moving.

So he is presented with a choice.

The son departs from the father's house, and then he goes, and the Bible says that he has wild living.

And you can fill in the blanks with anything that you can think of, but he's living in a behavior that is not becoming of a son of the house.

But the Bible says that he came to his senses.

There was a moment where he had a moment of clarity.

He recognized where he was and he knew that the father's house would still be better for him than where he currently was.

So he begins to come to his father.

And what the Bible says is that the father sees the son still far away, and he goes and meets him where he is, and it says he embraces him.

He embraces his son even though he literally smells like a pig style.

He embraces his son while he has the aroma and the stench of where he was.

He embraced him with open arms.

He accepted him as he was.

Stink in all, flawed in all, footprints of manure in all, but the father came to him and accepted him exactly as he was.

A lot of us need to understand that we don't have to hustle for love in the kingdom of God because we're accepted because of what Jesus has done on the cross.

We're invited into the family, not based off of our performance, but because of what Jesus has done.

Ephesians tells us that we're seated in heavenly places, not because we earned our own way there, but because Jesus bought our ticket.

So in the kingdom context, there are no black sheep because we're all covered by the blood of the Lamb.

Every single one of us are where we are because of Jesus and not because of anything we've done in our own strength.

Can we get a good amen on that?

Here's the second thing I want us to write down.

We're going to move a little quicker on this.

The second thing that we see in this narrative that is that God is trying to help us to understand the heart of the Father and what it means to be connected to a kingdom family is that we are forgiven.

Is that we have forgiveness in the house of the Lord.

The prodigal son's experience is a beautiful reminder of the love and the forgiveness that is extended to us as followers of Christ.

When he shows up and he sees him and the son shares where he's at, mind you, there was a moment of clarity that the son had experienced.

There was a moment when the son was on his own journey, and the Bible says that he looks around and he realizes where he's at, and he knows that this is not the father's best for him, and it says he came to his senses.

That's what we call the moment of clarity.

That's what we call a moment of repentance, the moment when you recognize that the life that I've been living has brought me to a place that is beneath what God has called me to live.

That's the moment of clarity.

And the Bible says that he came to his senses and said, if I can just get back to the Father's house, even if I'm just a servant, that'll be okay.

But I want to be put myself in an environment that's going to allow me to thrive.

The son came to himself, he repented.

One time I was going this way, but repentance means I've had a change of heart and I'm shifting directions.

I'm going back to the father's house.

And so he begins to position himself to go to the father's house.

That's repentance.

But while the father sees him still a far way away, he comes and he meets him where he is.

The son didn't have to go the whole way.

The son didn't have to have it all figured out.

The son just simply had to turn around and start walking towards the father, and the father met him where he was.

The beautiful thing is, the Bible says is that the father says, Man, after the son gives his speech, man, I'm messed up.

I'm no longer worthy to be even considered to be your son.

I would just like to be a servant.

His dad was like, Man, miss me with all that.

Hey, y'all go and get me the best robe, get me a ring, and go ahead and bring me out sandals.

The best robe would have been the father's robe.

So he's saying, I want you to put what I would wear on him.

He then says, Bring me the ring.

The ring would have been a family crest, restoring his identity as a son.

And then putting the sandals on his feet would have been an indication of, I know that you have a past that brought you here, but you're putting on sandals to indicate the new path that you're on.

All of these things are beautiful, all of these things are powerful.

And the boy didn't even take a shower yet.

All of these things are significant because the aroma of where he was from was still on him.

But because he had a change of heart and he was walking in the right direction, the father met him where he was.

I want us to understand that we are forgiven.

We're forgiven for what we've done, we're forgiven for where we've been.

It's the moment when we begin to repent and work our way back into the direction of the Father that we can experience this true radical and transformational forgiveness.

He was forgiven.

And then the third thing that I think is so significant for us to get a hold of is understanding that he was invited to the table.

This is really significant because at that time, when you were invited to the table, that signified that you were part of the family.

That signified that there was nothing between us, that we have everything in common.

Some of us may know what it feels like when there's something going on and you don't feel invited to it.

I remember many years ago I had a friend of mine who was getting married.

And then he had some friends that he was inviting and some friends that he wasn't able to invite.

And I get it.

Like, weddings are incredibly expensive.

So I remember for Megan and I, when we were looking at our list, and when it was a very short list, I was like, okay, I'm only inviting people that I think can actually help pay for this wedding because I need to get some of this money back.

Sorry, not sorry, just being real.

So so it's it's it's expensive.

It's expensive.

So so watch this.

So watch this.

So so for this friend of mine, he was making a choice of which friends he could actually invite.

And I get it, I really do get it.

But watch.

But for the friends that weren't invited, I just remember how they felt.

They were thinking to themselves, like, man, I thought we were, I thought we were cool though.

Like I thought we were closer.

And so meanwhile, you have some people that were invited, and other people who felt like outsiders, and I just remembered that awkward feeling of really having empathy for the people that were aware of the celebration that was going on, but not feeling like they were invited to it.

That's how it can feel sometimes when we come into the household of faith.

That's how it can feel sometimes when we recognize that we're on our own journey and we're trying to figure life out, but we don't feel like we're invited into the community.

But what Jesus was trying to show the Pharisees with this illustration is that in my house, in my family, everybody is welcome.

He invites the young man to come and sit at the table.

He was saying, in other words, you're not an outsider in this kingdom family system.

It doesn't matter what your mistakes are, where you've been, and what you've done, but the moment that you come to a moment of clarity, that you have a place of repentance and you're on your journey, I want you to know that you're welcome to have a seat at my table.

And the beautiful thing that's so that's so just transformational is that he didn't treat him like he was just a person who's sitting at the low end of the table.

He treated him like he was the guest of honor, like a place of value.

When he said, pull out the fatted calf, that's like imagine like your fanciest meal, your most extravagant meal.

Maybe it's Thanksgiving, maybe it's something that you know that you put a lot of effort into.

You imagine this big banquet that you're pulling off at your home, and you would think that, hey, we do this once a year.

This is the only time we do this.

The son comes home, and that's the celebration that he throws for his son.

He doesn't give him the paper plates.

You know, the ones that get soaked up and it falls apart when you try to heat it up in a microwave.

He didn't give him the red solo cup.

He broke out the fine china for his son.

It's another indication that God only gives us his best.

See, this whole story is meant to be a reminder of God so loves us that he gave us Jesus.

He gave us the very best that he had to offer.

He clothed us with Christ's righteousness, he invites us to have a seat at the table of Christ, and all that's required of us is to have a change of heart and start coming back to the Father.

It's such a transformational moment.

You see, the original story is a little bit different.

Jesus didn't make this parable up.

In fact, he was taking a well-known parable and he gave it a twist ending.

Let me let me share with you what the original story would have been.

The original story would have started pretty much the same way: that there was a son who wanted his inheritance, and he goes off and he lives a wild life.

He ends up broken, he ends up poor, and he comes back to his father's house.

But watch this: when he comes back, his father beats him and never allows him to come into the house.

That was the story that the Pharisees were used to, and that was the object lesson that the Pharisees would tell to the people in a rabbinic school to keep their families from going into rebellion.

If you drift away from God, if you come back, you're gonna be beaten and you're never gonna be allowed to come into the house.

So when Jesus begins to tell this story, they're familiar.

You know how when someone's telling the story and you want to start filling in the blanks, like, oh yeah, I'm familiar with that story, and you want to jump ahead and you want to jump into it?

But Jesus' like, no, no, no, let me finish.

You're waiting for that moment when the father says, You good for nothing, son, you're never gonna be allowed to come back in.

They're waiting for that part.

And Jesus says, No, the father met him where he was.

He actually ran and met him.

Running to his son would have been completely undignified of a man of that stature.

You don't run.

One, because you got on sandals and a dress.

That's weird.

But you don't.

It's the culture.

Again, descriptive, not a prescription.

We're not wearing okay, okay.

So so it's it's uh it's an indication of the passion and the love that he truly has for the son.

He embraced him even with all the stench on him, and then he welcomed him into his home, and then he brought him back and had him sitting at the table as a guest of honor.

Jesus changed the story.

And what he wanted to communicate to them, what he wants to communicate to us, is that you're always welcome at the table because grace is on the menu.

No matter what you've been through, no matter what you're walking through, that you're welcome at the table because grace is on the menu.

And I don't know about you, but I'm so grateful for the grace of God that is made available to me every single day.

Because no matter how much I try to walk and draw closer to the Father, the Bible says that our righteousness is as filthy rags, that we all fall short of the glory of God.

And I'm so thankful that when Jesus looks at me, he doesn't see me through my flaws, but he sees me through the blood of the Lamb that allows me to have a continuous space at his seat as long as I'm wanting to be in the Father's company.

First John 3:1 speaks about this a little bit.

1 John 3:1

And it says we could see very much our Father's love, for he calls us to be his children, and that is what we are.

We're God's children.

A family is a group of individuals that bond together, that have love and support, common values.

It's a place of belonging, security, and a foundation for growth.

In the kingdom context, what God wants us to understand is that there's a place for you.

But I also want us to hear this that while Jesus is having this profound lesson of making sure everyone felt welcome at the table, he gives us these subtle nuances that he loves us where we are, but he loves us enough to not let us stay there.

When he sees the Son, he puts a robe on him.

In other words, catch this, he helps him to change.

I know that you're coming back with the aroma of where you've been.

Your garments are tattered with where you were.

But let me put a new robe on you.

Let me help you to change.

Let me walk with you into the Father's house.

Let me let you sit next to me.

Because in the kingdom family system, God knows that you can't be like me if you're away from me.

And you can't grow in an environment that you don't feel like you belong in.

God wants to make sure that we feel like we belong so that He can help us to change into what He's calling us to be and ultimately what He wants us to do.

That's what it means to be a part of the family of God, knowing that, man, I am I'm invited, that I'm welcome, and that there's a space for me no matter what I've done.

And God loves me so much that He's going to help me to change, to look more and more like Jesus every day.

When we came in today, we were given the elements for communion.

And so if you have them, I would like for you to go ahead and and grab them at this time.

I think it's very fitting for us to have a moment of communion together, a moment of us sitting at the table.

Because I believe that communion in the story that we just got finished looking at is beautifully expressed together on the night that Jesus was betrayed.

You see, Jesus was sitting at the table, and if you didn't get the communion elements, you can slip a hand up and we have some team members that'll that'll come and serve you.

Um but while Jesus is sitting at the table, he he knows with foreknowledge that there's people sitting at the table that are gonna run away from him, they're gonna drift from the Father's house.

While he's sitting at the table, he's aware that that Peter's gonna deny him, he's aware that Judas is going to ultimately betray him.

He knows that all the other disciples are gonna scatter, with the exception of John, who was the only one of all of his followers that were literally there when he breathed his last breath.

And Jesus was aware of all of that, and yet he still went through it.

We remember that one of the last words of Jesus when he was on the cross was forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.

This was the most powerful prayer that echoes through space and time that we still benefit from.

So that even when we make mistakes, those words of Jesus are still over our lives where he's saying, Forgive them, they don't know what they're doing.

Those those ones who are drifting from me, they don't know what they're doing.

Those ones who are who are going through a phase of of being hurt and they've drifted from the Father's house, they don't know what they're doing.

Just just forgive them.

That's the dispensation of grace, and that is the invitation for us to sit at the table.

So as Jesus is sitting with his disciples, he says to them, This is my body that is broken for you.

I want you to be reminded that by my stripes you're healed, you're healed of the emotional trauma, you're healed from maybe some of the abuse that you've experienced in your other family system.

You're healed from sickness, mind, body, and soul.

I want you to understand that in my kingdom context, that healing is available.

There's a fresh start for you, which is why it says, be born again into a new family system.

So, as a family and as a community, let us take the bread knowing that I am forgiven and that I am part of a new family system.

Lastly, he takes the wine, which is the juice, which is symbolic of the blood, and he says that this was shed to remove the barriers that keeps us from the presence of God.

You see, in the kingdom family system, there is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus.

That even though we fall short, that even though we make mistakes, that we are able to boldly go into the presence of God, not using grace as a crutch, but allowing grace to propel us to the foot of the Father while simultaneously empowering us to not continue to live.

Life upset.

So when Jesus is sitting with his disciples and saying that every barrier has been removed, all I need you to do is come to your senses and return home and allow me to show you what the etiquette looks like in the kingdom.

By his shed blood, when Jesus sees us, he sees us through the sacrifice of Christ, which means that we're walking in the grace of God.

As a family and as a community, let us take it and drink together.

We're gonna wrap up in in just a moment, but I want to ask us all to stand on our feet.

I want to pray over us.

But while we're doing that, I think that there's a good possibility that some of us are hearing this message and you can identify with being the prodigal son, where you've simply drifted from the heart of God.

We want you to know, like that as a church family, it's a core value for me to make sure that you guys feel welcome.

Because God welcomed me.

And I believe that the church is meant to be a conduit that welcomes you as you are.

We love you as you are, we're walking with you into the Father's house, and we believe that we're called to help each other change.

I want to say this because I don't want to miss this moment.

What I realize is that because we associate the things of God often with our own parents, that when we hear messages that challenge us, scriptures that challenge us, it can force us to kind of shut down and run away from the places that are actually trying to help us.

It's called pruning.

So there's a lot of times when we come into a church environment and we hear a message that may be talking about sin and we hear it in the voice of our father, and we end up going to another place because we don't want to hear it.

We don't want to hear about that.

But when you're part of a community, a healthy community, watch this, should be able to handle the weight of correction.

A healthy community should be able to handle the weight of being redirected.

I know that when Megan and I often would meet with couples who are married and they're talking about their arguments, I'll say, hey, arguments are normal, and a healthy relationship should be able to handle the weight of disagreements.

That's what a healthy family looks like.

So when in the kingdom family, there are gonna be messages that focus on God's grace, like we just heard.

But there's also gonna be messages that's gonna tell us, hey, but let us help you to change.

It doesn't mean for us to escape, it means us to stay where we are, stay rooted so that we can be pruned and flourish in the things that God is calling us to do.

If you're in here with us today and you know that you've drifted away from God, we're not gonna do a big elaborate prayer, but I want you to recognize that, man, maybe there's a little bit of prodigal in me.

And what I want to do is simply pray for you.

But as I'm praying, you begin to ask God, what are your next steps?

Maybe your next step is to meet us outside in the courtyard and have us pray a prayer with you.

Maybe if you're joining us online, you want to text in, whatever that is, but if you are drifting away from God, this is an opportunity to come to our senses and to come back.

Lord, I thank you so much for your goodness.

I thank you for your grace, and I thank you for this precious community.

And God, I pray that in the same way that we recognize that Jesus is full of grace, we also understand that he's also full of truth.

That he loves us where we are, but he loves us enough to change us along the way.

God, I pray over this precious community that as we're taking our steps, that we're returning to the Father's house in whatever way that looks like for us, that we're that we're devoted, that we're rooted, that we're connected to community, and that we're being sharpened and pruned and ultimately thriving in the way that you've called us to be.

I pray for every person in here that's experienced a father wound, trauma in their own household, family systems of abuse, and they have such a hard time with how to move forward, how to really love you, how to engage community, and it's affecting even their current relationships.

I pray that you heal them because you took it through the cross.

So, Father, I pray, may the Lord bless you and keep you.

May He make his face to shine upon you and give you everlasting supernatural peace.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

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