Living As A Son

You're very welcome to today's Triumph Church podcast.

We pray that you enjoy the message.

All right, here we go. So we're in you.

You might have figured it out by now.

We're in Luke chapter 15. Today I'm going to be reading

Luke 15 · chapter mention

all of the texts from the Passion translation.

Just a quick note, the passion translation is what is called a

paraphrase. And so paraphrases are written

with a couple of things in mind, but mostly what they do is they

expand, they use modern language to get to the meaning of the

original text and they don't stick so close to the original

text. I enjoy the passion translation.

Another thing that that this author did was he uses Aramaic

for whatever it's worth as his base language because he he's

convinced that was probably the language of the New Testament,

but he doesn't write in Aramaic. So using the passion translation

and we're in Luke 15 and we're going to go to some other

scriptures, but just keep your finger in Luke 15 because we're

going to be coming back to that all the time.

I really love scripture because it's so full of detail.

And as you go through, slowly all kinds of things jump out.

So we're slowly going to go through Luke 15 today and we're

going to pick up on salient points.

But what I said is actually what we're going to be looking at.

We're looking at this is the story not of the prodigal son.

It's bigger than that. It's the story of the generous

loving father and his two lost boys, The generous loving father

and his two lost sons, because both of them have been taken

away from the father's presence and both of them are invited to

to return home. And as we're listening today,

maybe let's listen from that perspective.

Jesus told stories because they get beneath our brains and they

get to the heart. And these stories are a

retelling of our story. So see if you can spot yourself

in this today. You might spot yourself in both

of them, and that's OK. I have found myself in both of

these these young men. So let's go.

Luke 15. We're going to begin right at

the start of the chapter, verses 123.

Many dishonest tax collectors and other notorious sinners

often gathered around to listen as Jesus taught the people.

Now, this raised concerns among the Jewish religious leaders and

experts of the law. Indignant, they grumbled and

complained, saying, look at how this man associates with all

these notorious sinners and welcomes them all to come to

him. And in response, Jesus gave them

these illustrations. And I think this is where we

really need to begin with this. This is the context of this

parable, Two groups of people, a group who are notorious sinners

and have broken every law imaginable in the 10

commandments and beyond, and another group who pride

themselves in the fact that they've kept the law and they've

kept themselves holy and that they do the right thing.

So you can see when Jesus is telling the story, how he has

set this up. That's clear enough, right?

So Jesus is using a story to get below the head and to speak to

the heart. Then we're going to jump ahead.

We're going to skip the two first parables.

They're the parable of the lost sheep and the parable of the

lost coin. And we're going to come down to

verse 11 to 13. So then Jesus said once there

was a father with two sons, The youngest son came to his father

and said, father, don't you think it's time to give me my

share of your estate? Of course, the answer to that is

no, because I'm still alive. And essentially we need to get

the gravity of this insult the the incredible contravention and

the lack of respect involved here, where the son literally

was saying you're worth more to me dead than alive.

So the father went ahead and distributed between the two sons

their inheritance. Shortly afterward, the younger

son packed up all of his belongings and travelled off to

see the world. He journeyed to a far off land

where he soon wasted all he was given in a binge of extravagant

and reckless living. I want to get to the roots of

what's in the the youngest son's heart.

It's the same thing that the devil or the evil 1 proposed to

Eve in the Garden of Eden. And what was in his heart?

Was this the world the Father has made available to me?

That is not all that there is. He's hiding something from me.

He's keeping something from me. I need to go exploring in order

to find out what the world is really about.

It's the same thing that evil once said to Eve.

Did God really say you shall not touch the tree of the knowledge

of good and evil? No, said the serpent to her.

He said for the day you eat of it, you will become like God.

So that was the evil 1's temptation.

Now remember the stories. It's designed for self

reflection. And a good thing to ask

ourselves is have I fallen for this line in my life?

Have I had moments in my life where I thought, I think God's

hiding something from me, I need to go figure this thing out for

myself. And off he goes and he does what

everybody would do with a lot of cash and no borders.

He just goes wild and he spends his money on all sorts of

things. What is it that took the young

son away from his father's presence?

Let's go to James. James, chapter 113 to 16.

And now for the the younger ones among you.

You got to help me fill this in. It's a word that begins with the

letter D James chapter 1, verses 13 to 16.

James 1:13–16

What took the youngest son away from his father's home?

When you are tempted, says James, don't ever say God is

tempting me. God is incapable of being

tempted by evil, and He is never the source of temptation.

Instead, it is each person's own desires and thoughts that drag

them into evil and lure them away Into Darkness.

Evil desires give birth to evil actions, and when sin is fully

mature, it can murder you. So, my friends, don't be fooled

by your own desires. What took the youngest son away

from his father's presence? Anybody.

It's AD yes. There we go.

I heard somebody whispering it. You're welcome to shout it.

That's sort of fun. Desires.

It was his desire that took him away from his father's presence.

And this is something we need to be honest with ourselves about

as well. Often we create the kind of mess

this young man ends up in when we follow our desires, and it's

easy to blame everybody else. Oh, the economy went bad at the

time, a famine came in, whatever it might be.

But we need to be honest about the fact that our desires and

our pursuit of our desires can often take us away from the

House of the Father. So where does he find himself

now? Here we go.

Luke 1514 to 19. With everything spent and

nothing left, he grew hungry because there was a severe

famine in that land. So he begged a farmer in the

country to hire him. The farmer hired him and sent

him out to feed the pigs. The sun was so famished he was

willing even to eat the slop given to the pigs because no one

would feed him a thing. We need to be honest about the

pursuit of our desires. They promised the world, and

they deliver nothing. They promise satisfaction, and

they bring us to this place. Have you ever come to this spot

in your own life where you're so desperate you're willing to take

garbage in as your sustenance? They're pretty brutal.

Those things that promise life often deliver NT starvation and

something. Jesus is really rubbing it in

over here. He has this young man, remember,

he's a Jewish boy. He has him feeding pigs.

Pigs were unclean. You weren't allowed to touch

them. Not only is he feeding them, but

he's willing to eat the same food that the pigs are eating.

The symbolism is so rich over here.

He's reduced to nothing, and in many senses, this is precisely

the kind of place that we want to come to in our journey.

Often this is where the journey home really begins, because as

long as we believe we've got our own resources and we've got our

own abilities and our own strength to hand, we'll carry on

trying to make our own way. But look what happens to him.

It's a good, it's a good moment for this young man.

Humiliated, the son finally realized what he was doing.

He woke up and he thought, there are many workers at my father's

house who have all the food they want with plenty to spare.

They lack nothing. Why am I dying of hunger feeding

these pigs and eating their slop?

I want to go back home to my father's house.

So here's here's a cute question.

What was his motivation for returning home?

If we read that, what's driving this young guy?

Is it love for his dad? I don't think so.

I think he just wants food. You know, that's not a bad

thing. Jesus said I am the bread of

life. Jesus said I am the water of

life. And sometimes this is actually

where the journey needs to begin.

We're just that hungry and we're just that thirsty.

Of course, there is a lot more than just food in the Father's

house. But if you know someone who's

returning to Jesus and you find yourself going, I'm not so sure

what your motives are. You know what?

The Father didn't really bother with the motivations when his

son came over the horizon. And off he decides he's going to

go back now. I love this.

Listen. Listen to the plot.

Right? So I'll go back to my father's

house. Here's what I'm going to say.

I was wrong. I've sinned against you.

I'll never again be worthy to be called your son.

Please, Father, just treat me like one of your employees.

And here's where the second question is really important.

What kept him from his father's presence?

He wants to return home as a servant, as a slave.

He wants to forgo his sonship as punishment for what he has done.

He's clothed in rags. He's got no shoes on his feet.

He's filthy. He smells like a pig, like in

every sense of the word. It's not metaphor.

And he's saying in my present condition, I can't go home.

It's my father's son, but maybe I could live in the servants

quarters and eat a few scraps every single day.

He wasn't returning home to return to his father's presence.

He was going home with a deal that he was going to propose

that would get him the food he needed but preclude him from the

presence of the father. So the question is, what is

keeping him from his father's presence?

What would you call the stuff that's on him?

Shame is the right word. My wife didn't see my notes.

I hope I maybe she did. I'm not sure, folks.

I want to make a distinction between guilt and shame.

When we sin against God, when we transgress his ways, the

ministry of the Holy Spirit brings guilt to our hearts.

Guilt is there for our own good because usually when we've

transgressed God's law, we're stepping into territory where we

can get harmed or we can die. It's as if we'd gone on holiday

and we were living in a resort and our little, our little child

there and he left the resort and he was out on the sidewalk

alongside the busy Main Street. I'd stand at the fence and I'd

yell his name. Ryan, that's guilt.

Guilt is meant to get your attention.

What's the purpose behind guilt? As to get you to leave the

dangerous spot and come back to where it's safe.

That's the purpose of guilt. That's the ministry of the Holy

Spirit and it's meant to bring you home.

Shame is not guilt. Shame begins with the same

pretext. You've broken God's commandment,

you've done the wrong thing, but shame is the ministry of the

evil. 1 And shame says, and you are no longer worthy of God's

love. Now here's the thing.

Often we confuse the two. Have you ever done that in your

own life? I don't deserve God's love.

Because the truth is this, that for many who've been where this

young man was, we do return to church.

We return to God, but we never really managed to ship step into

his presence. We're kept away by dirty shame.

Dirty shame is what's keeping this young man away.

What's God's answer to this? Let's have a look here.

Colossians one versus 12 to 14. Colossians one versus 12 to 14.

Caleb, could you possibly get me a glass of water from outside?

Thanks, Mommy. I don't stress.

Mom's got something here. So you need to help that frog

out. Here we go.

Your hearts can soar with joyful gratitude when you think of how

God, God made you worthy to receive the glorious inheritance

freely given to us by living in the light.

He has rescued us completely from the tyrannical rule of

darkness and translated us into the Kingdom realm of His beloved

Son. For in the sun, all of our sins

are cancelled, and we have the release of redemption through

His very blood. Oh wow, if you were this young

guy, if this is your story, and if you found yourself kind of,

you've come back home, but you're living in the servants

quarters, I want to give you good news.

God took care of it. Jesus took all of your sin.

I'd like you to remember everything you have done and

then know it's been taken care of, it's been paid for, the bill

is wiped clean, and he's brought you home.

So what is the way home? Let's read this engagement as he

comes back home. I love it.

Luke 1520 to 24. See the heart of the Father.

In fact, before we head you, I want to, I want you to imagine a

moment I in my mind as I've meditated on the story.

I like to think this father had one of those houses like they do

in South Africa and in America, with a great big porch.

It's like 6 meters wide and it stretches the full length of the

home and it's covered. And I like to imagine this

father used to spend at least his lunch hour, but many, many

moments in the day sitting in his rocking chair, quietly

watching the horizon for his son, longing for the return of

this one that his heart loved. I like to see him pouring

himself maybe a cool lemonade and just, you know, relaxing in

the cool of the day. But his heart's trained on where

is my son. And I also like to imagine that

there's a second chair on that porch where the oldest son might

have been sitting. And in my eye, I always see that

second chair as being empty, because while the oldest son

shares a home with the father, he's not yet learned to share

his heart with the father. I'm going to just leave that

there. Here he is on his chair.

There's his lemonade. He's got it in his hand.

He's taking a sip and his eye catches something.

So the young son settle for home.

From a long distance away, his father saw him coming, dressed

as a beggar, dressed in his filthy shame and great

compassion swelled in his heart for his son who was returning

home. If you've ever met a parent who

has a child who's addicted to drugs, and if you've ever looked

into their eyes and seen their breaking heart through their

eyes, you've caught a glimpse, a small glimpse of the father's

love for you when you've wandered away from him.

The father raced out to meet him, hitched his britches.

They didn't run. Old rich men never ran back in

those days. I've heard a part of the story

that says because of the son's great insult against his father

in liquidating his inheritance ahead of time, all of the

villages that live nearby had the right to stone this boy.

And, and one of the proposals is that was one of the reasons the

father was racing. He needed to get to him first

because if the neighbors reached him with the rocks, they would

have buried him. He races out, but it then he

swept him up in his arms, hugged him dearly and kissed him over

and over with tender love. The profusion of love in the

story, the outpouring of the grace of this old man who

contains such amazing love. Then the son said to the father,

I was wrong. I have sinned against you.

I could never deserve to be called your son.

Just let me be, the father interrupted.

He didn't want to hear the deal. He didn't want to hear the deal.

He interrupted him and he said, Son, you're home now.

Turning to the servants, the father said quick, bring me the

best robe man on that smelly pig garment, you know, bring cover

his shame and I will place it on his shoulders.

Bring the ring, the seal of sonship and I will put it on his

finger and bring out the best shoes you can find.

Let's prepare a great feast. I don't know why he doesn't put

it in the passion. Let's kill the fatted calf

because someone had to die for you to come home.

We have to remember that, right? Somebody had to die to bring us

home because blood was the price demanded by our rebellion.

For my beloved son was once dead, but now he's alive.

Once he was lost, and now he was found.

And everybody celebrated with overflowing joy when this Rascal

came home. Oh, my soul.

OK, So what is the way home? I love the fact that this guy

owns up to his mistakes. Father, I've sinned against

heaven and against you. This is essential.

How do we come home? How does he come home?

This is that great old word, repent.

There's quite a bit in the word repent.

The first thing is to admit that you duffed it.

That's like a big deal for repentance.

I messed up. The second thing is to change

direction. I always was told this when we

were growing up in church. Repentance is to do a 180.

I was headed towards darkness, now I'm headed towards light.

I was headed towards the faraway country, now I'm headed home.

I was headed towards the pigs, now I'm headed towards the calf.

OK, maybe that one didn't work. It's a 180° movement.

Later on, we've also been helped to understand that repaint.

Actually, it speaks about the paint, the top.

The thinking means to change the way you think about the world.

All of that is bound up in repentance.

Repentance means to actually say I'm done going that way, I'm

headed the other way and to acknowledge I daft it.

But more than repenting, there's something bigger.

It also begins with RE. He needs to receive.

What does he need to receive? He needs to receive an Amazing

Grace that he cannot afford. Do you think he wore this robe

easily? I don't think so.

Because you see, because of his repentance, he was clear eyed

about what he had done. Now here he is wearing his

Father's robe. Do you think he used this ring

of sonship that enabled him to do business in the father's

name? Do you think he would have used

it flagrantly? He's done flagrant and he saw

where it would bring him. I think he'd be more cautious.

Do you think he'd wear those sandals to go wherever he

wanted? I don't think so, but he does

need to receive. Please hear me.

You cannot afford the grace you need to save your soul.

I'm going to say it again. You and I, we cannot afford to

pay out of our own means of earning the grace that we need

to save our souls. In the end, our lives depend on

the ability to receive that which we have not earned.

Now I'm going to put something to you.

Often in our lives, Michelle and I have seen people in the

church. We we grow to be great givers

because that's you got to learn to give because our father is

generous. It's a family tray, right?

But you've got to be a great receiver too, because this

economy is an economy of giving and receiving.

So if you're the sort of person, when someone comes and they say,

I want to bless you and they hand you an envelope with money

in it, if you find yourself saying no, it's fine, I don't

need that, I'm all right, thank you.

I want you to check your heart. I want you to check your heart.

God wants you to practice receiving as well as giving.

You need to practice because if you're so tight hearted at not

receiving help from others, I'm a bit worried you're going to

not be able to receive what you need in the end.

Look, that's not theology, right?

That's just my thoughts. The Kingdom is about giving and

receiving. Just a thought over there for

free. And the Son has to receive.

This is a beautiful end to the story.

That's where the story could have ended.

But the story wasn't told for the tax collectors and the

prostitutes who were enjoying the feast with Jesus.

They were already home. He was telling the story for

somebody else. You see the tree of the

knowledge of good and evil, Which one kills you?

Is it the knowledge of evil that kills you, or is it the

knowledge of good? Now listen with all of your

ears. It's a South African saying.

Somehow, folks, both of these boys were lost.

The one who'd lived like the devil and the one who lived like

the Angel. It's the tree of the knowledge

of good and evil that kills. Hear what I'm saying?

Hear what I'm saying. The reason I'm driving this

point is because in Christianity we've often mistaken the tree

for the knowledge of knowledge of good and evil.

And we have taught ourselves and one another to be good boys and

girls. We have taught ourselves to be

like the oldest son. And I think it's quite

dangerous. But there's a wonderful,

wonderful invitation. So here we go with him, the

oldest son. What took him away from the

father's house? OK, I'm going to skip that one.

We'll come back to that one later.

Now the oldest son, now the oldest son was out working in

the field when his brother returned.

I'm not going to go to a scripture for this.

I've often wondered, you know what?

It takes quite a long time to prep a party like this back in

the day if you're living on a farm.

Quite a long time to kill the fatted calf.

The musicians probably have to come in from the farm next door

or the village that's like kilometers away.

This took time, right? By the time the oldest son comes

home, like the party's in full swing already.

Like the sun is set and everybody's going to care, the

fireworks lighting up the sky. How far away was he?

In my imagination, as I've meditated on the story, I

imagine this oldest son on the side of the farm.

What's he doing there? He's probably working the

hardest ground that you can find, probably establishing an

orchard, maximizing the father's returns, because of course, you

know, the youngest son took half of it away.

Now he's going to make everything work so much more

efficiently, and he's trying to get an orchard going in rocky

ground. I can imagine him out there with

two or three choice servants, picking away at like, unyielding

ground in the hot Middle Eastern sun, sweating himself almost to

death, blisters on his hands, blisters on his feet, and he's

walking home. But he knows he's doing what

he's meant to do, and he's making the farm work properly.

Why? Why, why is he not sitting in

the chair next to his father at lunchtime, watching the horizon?

Because he's got his duties. Oh, listen carefully here.

Our journey back home is not just to acknowledge how our

desires have taken us from our father's house, but it's to

acknowledge how duty takes us away from the father's house.

Here he comes trudging up. It's a long, hard day's work out

on the farm. It really is a long hard day's

work. And as he approached the house,

he heard the music of celebration and dancing.

He called over. Obviously this didn't happen

much at all because he's wants to know what's going on.

He called over his servant and asked what's going on?

The servant replied, it's your younger brother, He's returned

home and your father's take a party to celebrate his

homecoming. At which point the oldest son

you would have imagined would have gone inside because he was

the Co host of this party. And in Middle Eastern culture,

that was a very big deal and he was going to welcome his son.

And even if he didn't agree, you'd put a smile on.

No, no, no, no, no, no. The oldest son became angrier

and refused to go inside and celebrate, and thereby insulted

his father just as thoroughly as his brother had insulted his

father when he asked to liquidate his inheritance.

In Middle Eastern culture, this was a big, big deal, and so the

father came out for the second time that day.

The father leaves the porch and comes out to meet a lost son and

bleed it. Come, come and enjoy the feast

with us, the son said. Father, listen, father, listen.

How many years have I worked like a slave for you?

Can I just pause and say this is the symptom of being away from

home is that you think of yourself as the servant of God

and not the child of God. The youngest son came up with a

plan and the plan was I want to go home and be a hired hand.

The oldest son is saying, I have worked as a slave for you,

performing every duty you've asked as a faithful son, and

I've never once disobeyed you. He's a good son, but you've

never thrown a party for me because of my faithfulness.

Never once have you even given me a goat that I could feast and

celebrate with my friends as the son of yours is doing.

You can just feel the gall. Look at him.

He comes back after wasting your wealth on prostitutes and

reckless living and here you are throwing a great feast to

celebrate for him. This is like soap opera stuff

over here. It wasn't just the fireworks

back home that was going off that night.

What's keeping the oldest son from the father's presence this

evening? How would you describe this guy?

He's raging. He's raging.

He's filled with bitterness. Let's just read the father's

last words in the story. The father said, my son, you're

always with me by my side. Although he wasn't, he was on

the far side of the farm. But they shared life and it's an

interesting part of the story. Everything I have is yours.

Like you didn't need me to give you a goat.

I gave you the farm. It's you, like your names on the

title deeds. You own the goat.

You own the sheep. You own the pigs.

I should have asked for your permission to take the calf.

You know what I'm saying? They didn't own pigs.

Jewish farm. Jewish farm.

Sorry. I'll keep tripping on the pig

thing. It is only right to rejoice and

celebrate like this because your brother was once dead and gone,

but now he's alive and back again.

He was lost and now he's found what is needed for the older son

to come home. The first one is a really big

one. The first thing he needs to do

is he needs to release his younger brother.

He needs to forgive. He needs to forgive.

Now we're going to go to an awkward verse because it's Jesus

again, Matthew 612 and then 14 to 15.

It's in the Lord's pray. And there's that, that tricky

line. Forgive us the wrongs we have

done, just as we ourselves release forgiveness to those who

have wronged us. And later Jesus says in When you

pray, make sure you forgive the faults of others so that your

Father in heaven will also forgive you.

For if you withhold forgiveness from others, your heavenly

Father withholds forgiveness from you.

That is probably one of the most substantial lines in the New

Testament. I want you to contemplate what

Jesus paid to be able to forgive you, and I just contemplate what

he paid. How important is it to Jesus to

forgive us? Here?

He's saying I will withhold what I paid for from you if you

refuse to forgive your brother or your sister.

This is substantial. It's the only condition that He

puts on His forgiveness. Jesus does not say I will

forgive your sins if you climb Crow Patrick without your shoes

on. He does not say I will forgive

you if you walk the Via della Rossa on your knees.

It does not say I will forgive you if you say 150,000 Hail

Marys and 12,000 our Fathers. No way I want you to forgive

Ephesians 2 verses 1 to 10. And Christ's fullness fills you,

Ephesians 2:1–10

even though you were once like corpses, dead in your sins and

offenses. It wasn't that long ago that you

lived in religion, customs and values of this world, obeying

the dark ruler of the earthly realm, who fills the atmosphere

with his authority and works diligently in the hearts of

those who are disobedient to the truth of God.

The corruption that was in us from birth was expressed through

the deeds and desires of our self life.

We lived by whatever natural cravings and thoughts our minds

dictated, living as rebellious children, subject to God's wrath

like everyone else. But God still loved us with such

great love. He's so rich in compassion and

mercy. Even when we were dead and

doomed in our many sins, He united us into the very life of

Christ and saved us by His wonderful grace.

Believe this, He raised us up with Christ the Exalted, 1 and

we ascended with Him into the glorious perfection and

authority of the heavenly realm. For we are now Co seated as one

with Christ. Throughout the coming ages we

will be the visible display of grace that you've been saved,

the display of the infinite riches of His grace which he

shot upon us in Jesus. For by His grace you have been

saved through faith. Nothing you could ever do would

earn the salvation, for it was a love gift from God that brought

us to Christ. So no one will ever be able to

boast, for salvation is never a reward for good work and human

striving. We have become His poetry, a

recreated people that will fulfill the destiny has given

each one of us, for we are joined to Jesus the Anointed. 1

Even before we were born, God planned in advance our destiny

and the good works we would do to fulfill it.

Thank you for listening to the Triumph Church podcast this

week. If it was a blessing to you,

share it with someone you know. For more information on Triumph

Church, you can visit us at www.triumphchurch.ie.