Unwavering Love and Divine Grace: Lessons from the Prodigal Son

The Father never gave up hope. He never stopped scanning the horizon, hoping that this day might

be the day his Son would come back. Maybe this day? No, not today. He'd wake up. Maybe it's this day,

day after day after day. So the Father's waited, and He's waited, and He's waited for His Son's return.

So when He finally sees Him on the horizon, Jesus says He's filled with compassion and He runs to His

Son. Welcome to the City Light Church podcast. Thanks for joining us today, as we look into God's

Word and discover the hope and truth that He has for us. If you want to connect with City Light

Church, feel free to visit us at citylightnyc.com, that's citylightnyc.com. Pastor Boyan Jansik and his

team believe that the power of the Holy Spirit is already working in our hearts and minds. As you

listen to today's teaching, remember that you are deeply loved by God, that you are surrounded by

His grace, and that He has a real hope and a future for you. My name is James. I get the privilege

of sharing with you today, and I wanted to talk to you about the prodigal son. How many of you

heard the story of the prodigal son? A few of you. A few hands are going up. It's so familiar

that even in pop culture, people who don't follow Christ, people that don't read the Bible from

cover to cover, they've heard that story, right? They know about Moses, partying the Red Sea,

they know about the good Samaritan, they know about the prodigal son, they use these references,

usually out of context, but they know enough about it to mention it. And so I'm going to

assume today that you know enough about the story of the prodigal son, right? Every time we talk

about the prodigal son, what do we talk about? The prodigal son. So I'm going to assume you know

a lot about the prodigal son, and I want to spend a little bit of time diving a little deeper

into the Father. We just got done singing about the love of our heavenly Father. And I thought it

would be interesting to kind of take a different spin on this. Look at a different angle in this

story. We know about the younger son, we know about the older son, these two kind of guys, but

let's talk about the Father. So that's what I wanted to spend my time with you here doing today.

This guy, he had a going on. He was a wealthy guy who's probably one of the ones that, as Pastor

Rob pointed out, was on those tablets that had euths, euths, had a lot of wealth. He was a wealthy

landowner. He had lots of servants, lots of land, lots of livestock, a lot going on. He had a

place in the Hamptons, he had a penthouse in Manhattan. He had everything in between. He was very

comfortable and he had two sons. They helped him in the family business. And these two sons

knew that one day this business would be theirs. They knew that a father's father's passing,

this inheritance would be coming their way. So they were helping daddy in the family business

as they went on. So these two young boys grew up knowing great privilege. And I was just kind of

wondering, did you know anybody like that growing up? Anybody that just kind of was operating at

kind of a different level than the rest of us? I mean, we were all kind of shopping at Sears and

K-Mart for our clothes and they were like at Macy's. I mean, they were like designer clothes. I

mean, anybody have a friend like that? I had a friend like that. Maybe it was you. They grew up

a little more fluent that the rest of us were jealous about. We don't like you.

No, we do. He's our impact there. But there was always somebody that just was at a different

level. I had a friend like that. His name was Jason growing up. And this guy, I wanted to be Jason

so bad. His house was better than everybody else's house. It was nicer. It was fancier. When you

got to hang out at his house or having for bit, I mean, you get like invited to a sleepover,

like a growing up, like young sleepover with some friends at this house. It was like a five-star hotel.

He had everything going on at this house. He had motorcycles. He had four-wheelers. He had the

best bicycles. He had all the gaming consoles that you could think of. And with all the best games too.

Like I'm at home with a black and white TV playing pong. Bunk, bunk, bunk, bunk. Not him. He got

Sega Genesis. He got Atari. He got all the good gaming consoles. He wore designer clothes. He

was a good looking kid. He had it going on. And as we got older, it only got worse. You know,

you start to think, oh, maybe he's going to go through that awkward stage and we'll catch up.

And then we can look down on Jason. No, it got worse. We all start driving. And it's not as

big a thing here in New York because you get old enough and your parents just say go ride the train

and just don't die. In the rest of the country, you're longing to get your drivers license and you

get a car because that's freedom. Okay. Here, it's like terror. If you drive in New York, it's like,

in the rest of the country is like wide open. It's kind of normal. You get a car. You get a driver's

license. We start driving just whatever we can afford. Anything with four wheels and a steering

wheel. And we are happy, right? It can have a hole in the floorboard like the Flintstones. You just

have to put your feet through to the cement. It's like stop. Like it's that bad. They're not

roadworthy. You never pass a state inspection. But you're just happy with whatever gelopy you can

afford. But not Jason. His first car was a fully restored muscle car. This thing was gorgeous. You

could see your reflection in the hood. The rest of us are oxidized, paints peeling off. Half of the

parts are missing. This thing was gorgeous. It could win like a car show, best of show. Any day of

the week hands down. This thing is amazing. And to make it worse, he had a, anybody have vanity

plates in here? I don't want to make fun of you if you do. He had a vanity plate with his last

name on his car. I mean, come on. That was amazing. This guy had it going on. I'm telling you,

I wanted to be him so bad. I mean, he may as well have had like a soundtrack playing behind him

every time he'd enter a room. Do you know anybody like that? He just has this walk and like time

stands still. Wind starts blowing. He's like. He was smooth. So smooth. I wanted his life so

badly. I mean, he even wore the best fragrances. Back in my day, if I wanted a little game, he'd

slap on a little old spice, okay? I get the gift set for Christmas. And that was my game, okay?

Every now and then, some of my friends would spring for a bottle of Dracar Noir. Remember Dracar Noir?

Oh, that was a good time right there. I didn't have Dracar. My friends had Dracar. Every now and

they're like, can I borrow some of your Dracar Noir right now? But not Jason. He had the designer

fragrances you could only get from the fragrance department in the mall. Yeah. The stuff that the

rest of us mortals would only every now and then sneak a spray from the sample bottle as we

walked through to the department store on our way to the food court. But he's living the dream

every day of his life. Unreal this guy. Just like these two boys, they grew up knowing great privilege

and they had the love of their father to boot. They had everything their heart could desire. So much

so that the younger son, and you know the story, he decides he gets the wild idea. He's going to

ask daddy if he could have his share of the inheritance even before his dad kicked the bucket. He

wants to get his money, go off and party like it's 1999, right? You remember that part of the story?

Some of you might be old enough like me. You've heard the saying, the old adage,

you've just wasted on the young. You ever heard that? As you get older, it makes a lot of sense.

You look at young people like you are so stupid. If I were your age with this knowledge now,

I would rule the world. Yeah. I used to be so, you know, like, I know everything. You've

wasted on the young people. He used to say it about me all the time and now I say it about other

people all the time. This kid decided he was going to live up to this saying you wasted on the young.

He was so dumb. He like, I have everything. The world on a silver platter, but I want more.

Hey, daddy, give me my inheritance and I want to leave the family business and go live my life.

Even before the father dies. Look at what it says in Luke chapter 15, verse 12, just the beginning

Luke 15:12

of that verse. He says, Father, give me my share of the estate. Father, oh father dearest,

can I have my share of the estate, please? The younger son he acknowledges his dad as father.

He does the right thing. Oh father, can I have the money? He doesn't just say, hey, oh man,

give me the cash. He knows better. He addresses him respectfully. But then what comes out of his mouth

is anything but respect, right? That's not a normal characteristic of a father's son relationship

right there. And we do that with God sometimes. Oh father, Heavenly Father, daddy God.

But then we live life our own way. We treat him like a magic genie that's just there to give us

everything that our heart desires, right? Bless me, bless me, bless me, protect me, protect me,

help me, help me. It's all about me on the center of the universe. A little bit like this guy.

Jesus even calls it out, Matthew 15, verse 8. He says, these people honor me with their lips,

Matthew 15:8

but their hearts, their what? Far from me. A little bit like the son. I think it's pretty interesting

that compared to the way we see the older brother, later in the story, addresses father.

Remember in the beginning of verse 28, the father is pleading with the older son to come into the

party and he won't come in because he's mad, right? And this is the way he addresses his dad. He says,

look, all these years, I've been slaving for you, never disobeying your orders. The older son

doesn't even give the courtesy that the younger son did and call him father, oh father dearest, he just

says, look, that shows kind of the disdain he has for dad. We know that's not a way of showing respect.

Here's what's interesting and we've got to pay attention to these details. In Jesus' day,

the listener knew that showing that kind of disrespect to an elder in public was literally a matter

of life or death. Today, we see kids disrespecting mom dad all the time and they get a Nintendo switch

as a reward. Oh, just be quiet. If you stop, I'll buy you something else. In this day, you disrespected

an elder and they kill you. That's how they purge that sin from the land. I think we need to bring

that back and we think, you know, I think we'd have fewer kids. I don't know about that. But Jesus

listeners knew that very clearly. His father has two sons, both whose hearts are far from him,

but he chases them both but in very different ways. I remember when I was in the seventh grade

and another friend, his name was Jeff and he decided one year for Halloween, he had this kind of

shed kind of thing, this other building on the back of his property that he and his older brother

had converted into a haunted house this particular year. They had put time and money into it.

I don't know how he's great rich friends. I don't know why I didn't have this kind of. And Jason

and Jeff, they had it going on. He had his own haunted house this year and he invited a group of

us over. He said, this is going to be amazing. It is going to blow your mind. I was so excited.

So the morning of, hey, dad, can I go to Jeff's house for the haunted house? And so my dad's response

was, we'll talk about it when you get home from school. Now most of you were young at one time.

Do you remember back when your parents said, we'll talk about it or I'll think about it? You know

what that's code for? No, it's not going to happen, right? So that's what I heard my seventh grade.

We'll talk about it when we get home like, no, oh my gosh. So all day, that's all we can talk about.

I hope we can get to go. I don't know why my dad won't let me go. I hope he's going to, how are we

going to convince him? We're writing speeches. We're not listening. We didn't learn anything that day.

I feel bad. Sorry, teachers. All we're talking about is how cool this haunted house is going to be

and how we can scheme our way to all get to the haunted house. So really maybe about lunch time.

Jeff has the brilliant idea. He says, James, look, if you just ride my bus home from school instead of

your bus, look how much time it'll save instead of you going home, talking to your dad, your dad

bringing you home. Look, let's cut out the middle man. Just ride my bus home. We start having fun

right away. Jeff, you're a genius. Like, you're going to be president one day or something. That's

amazing. I said, that's what we're going to do. So every hour that's ticking by minutes, we're like,

come on, come on, come on, come on. The bell finally rings. I make a beeline for the school office

and I ask the secretary if I can use the school phone. Let me call. I call my dad's office.

Hey, can I speak to my father? He's not here right now. Can you take down a message?

So I ask him to take a message. Hey, tell my dad when he gets back. I've taken Jeff's bus home

and I'm all good. Okay? So now I've left a message. In my seventh grade mind, I'm good to go.

I made the call. That's all you need to do, right? So I ride Jeff's bus home and it is everything

he said it was. This haunted house was over the top. Scared the spit out of me. I had nightmares

for weeks. It was awesome. So we are having the time of our lives. What I didn't know was the reason

my dad wasn't at his office when I called was because he had left work early to come home and

surprise me and take me to Jeff's house as soon as I got home. Yeah. Oh, don't you wish you had a

time machine and you could kind of go back and do things over. Hmm. Now you got to remember

this was before cell phones because I'm really old. This is before pages. We didn't have pages.

Remember beeper. This was before voicemail or caller ID. So my dad has no idea where I am.

All he knows is I didn't show up from school that day. So he's probably worried out of his mind.

But he also was probably a little hurt that I would disrespect him and dishonor him the way I did.

Disregard his instructions. Think about that. Multiply it by maybe like a thousand and we start

to maybe get a glimpse of what this father felt like when his son said, hey, oh man, give me my

cash. I want to go off and party and live life my own way. We start to might get it a sense.

We spend a lot of time thinking about the kid. What would I do with all that money and freedom?

What about the dad? What do you think he was feeling heartbroken?

And you have to understand in this day the traditional culture that Jesus listeners were speaking to,

it was not common at all for this father to act this way.

The listeners were already probably a little upset and irritated. Remember Jesus is telling this

story. So step back in some context. Jesus is preaching. He's telling. Let me tell you a little

story about a family. His father has two sons. So the listeners, their listening is so this

son disrespects the dad. Ask him for the cash. Wait, the dad what is what? Like even at the request

you should like beat him. Like disown him. Take him to the public square. Rip off his robe.

Make a big speech about how this kid is horrible. He acts more like his mother than you. It's got to be

her fault. And then go on and regain some semblance of your honor. That's what they're listening to.

Like why haven't you done that? There's already this kind of depth of mystery to the story,

even at this point, as Jesus is telling the story. In our modern Western culture, it's not uncommon

for people that maybe grow up in a small town or out in the country to leave to the big city or

abroad, right? To go to school or to get a job or to find themselves. I'm going to go back,

back through Europe. I'm going to move to New York. If I can make it there, I can make it anywhere.

That's a very Western concept. In this culture and in many still today, that's very disrespectful.

You're saying, I don't want your way of life. I'm turning my back and rejecting you,

everything you stand for. I'm saying, I'm not going to care for you in your old age. So your

social security, your Medicare plan was me. You got to figure something else out. Sorry.

I'm going to go live my life for myself. Huge slap in the face. That was ultimate dishonor and shame.

The younger son's abandoning every obligation that he has, their tradition, their way of life.

So this father's been shamed, disrespected, dishonored. But he still grants his son's request.

Isn't that crazy? He liquidates enough of his estate to pay out the one third that he was going to

give his son as the inheritance. So the son goes off and he parties hard. We know that part of the

story, right? Because we all think, what would I do? Where would I go first?

But the story tells us that before long, all the money was gone. All the VIP tables at all the

right restaurants gone. All the status, all the friends that he was paying the bill for gone.

All the food and drink he had become accustomed to gone. Gone, gone, gone.

So do you think all those people that were around him, his entourage, were there to help a brother out?

Some hard times here, you want me to spot you this time? No, they were gone. Like cockroaches when

you turn on the light. I know they were there a second ago. It just disappeared. Sky has nothing.

So the story tells us that's when he's at his lowest. That's when he's getting a job as a Jewish

boy, mind you, feeding pigs. You know pigs are unclean to the Jewish people. So he's feeding pigs.

That's how desperate things are. He's fantasizing about stealing the food, the slop. He's giving the

pigs and filling his own stomach with it. Because the growl of his stomach is louder than his pride right

now. And he just can think about nothing else but eating that slop. And so he finally says, you know what?

The servants at my dad's house eat better than I do. I really messed up. Maybe I should go home and

ask daddy for a job as a servant in this house. Maybe he'll give me a job. Not really qualified for

anything, but maybe some nepotism will help me at least get a job. I'll feed his pigs, his youths.

So he decides he writes this little speech. He's going to go home and he's going to ask dad for a job.

I think it's interesting that the story doesn't tell us how much time has passed in this story for

all this to take place. When you read the Bible, I would encourage you to do it. I've talked to so many

of you. I said, get a get an archaeological study Bible. Get a Bible and journal and think about

the context. Step outside of our 2024 world and think of what must it have been like when this

was written, the culture, the context, the landscape. What did all these things really mean?

And so think about it. We just think, oh man, he got a whole bunch of money and he spent it. I mean,

if I give you a bunch of cash, probably by tomorrow, you could spend it all. But that's not really

what happened here. He had a lot of money. I mean, this was a sizable estate and he liquidated all

the cash. And the Bible says there was a big famine in the land, right? All the food was gone.

That's why he's feeding pigs. It's the desperate time. Most of theologians believe that for a famine

to have impacted the land, the way the Bible says, it had to have been years. Not weeks or months,

years that this son has been away for everything in the story to have taken place. That's a long time.

So look at what happens. Let's look at Luke 15, starting in verse 28. So he decides to go home.

But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him.

That's an interesting response. So we ran to his son through his arms around him and kissed him.

After years of waiting, waiting and watching, the father never gave up hope that one day he might see

his son again. Interesting response. Have you ever waited and wanted something so badly?

You waited and waited. I get impatient. Usually if there's something I want so much, I've given up

by lunch. Like, I didn't come. What else do I want? You have to want something and love something

pretty badly to wait and hope for it year after year. That's what this father does.

The father never gave up hope. He never stopped scanning the horizon, hoping that this day might

be the day his son would come back. Maybe this day. No, not today. He'd wake up. Maybe it's this day,

day after day after day. So the father's waited and he's waited and he's waited for his son's return.

So when he finally sees him on the horizon, Jesus says he's filled with compassion and he runs to his son.

Pause right there. He runs to his son. Now again, step back out of where we are. Think of the first

century. The audience Jesus is speaking to. No self-respecting man would be caught running.

Now today it's cool. It's like, I read a 5K today. From the couch to a 5K, I'm amazing.

We got a peloton. We got an elliptical. We think it's cool to run. My dad used to make fun of me.

I go to the gym and he's like, why do you just do work? Why do you have to pretend to do stuff to

stay in shape? Just do stuff. I'm like, bro, because this is better. But in this day,

no self-respecting man would run. You didn't run if you had any cloud or status.

But the Bible says that he ran. They wore dresses. So you got to remember that too. He's not wearing

his velvet tracksuit. He's not looking all fly. He's wearing an ankle-length dress. He has to pick

up his dress and run. This looked weird. That's why they didn't do it. So the listeners just say,

what? He gives him the money. He doesn't disown him. Then he sees him. He's filled with compassion.

Did you see runs? He runs? What? They are flabbergasted at this father. They're like, what are you

even talking about? And then he embraces and kisses him? You're nuts. This is not a way a dignified

man would conduct himself in public. This father has been mortally offended by his evil son.

And then he's sprinting towards him with compassion in his heart and love to receive him. Look at

verse 22 through 24. Look what the father tells his servants. He says, quick, bring the best robe and

put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill

it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. For the son of mine who was dead is alive again. He was lost

and is found. What a response. He sees his son approaching and while he's still a long way off,

he recognizes that all familiar gate of his son. You got to really love somebody to know their gate,

to know their walk. But he knew his son's walk. Again, this is another detail that you have to

really dig in and understand the story. This was not like a little house on the prairie,

this little homestead out in the middle of nowhere and they never got visitors. This was a big,

important estate. There was a lot of traffic and a lot of people came to his land all the time.

So the fact that he saw someone in the distance was no big deal. That was nothing new. But he

recognized the walk of his son from a long way off. You got to really love somebody to know

their walk. I know your walk. She knows my walk. I got that. I got this smooth glide. I know,

I look stupid. But if she loves me, she probably knows my stupid walk. So while he was a long way

off, he said, could I know that walk? That's my son. And his heart was filled with compassion. He

picks up his skirt and he runs. That's his first response. Not anger. Not sit there and cross his

arms and withhold himself from his son. That insulin boy. I don't see any bags of cash. Did he

spend it all? Oh my gosh. Did he say, you know what? I'm going to wait. I'm going to make sure he

delivers a speech so I know he really knows that he messed up. I'm going to sit here and think

of 101 ways to make sure he knows I told you so. He didn't do any of that. He was filled with

compassion, ran to him and kissed him, shocking. Filled with compassion. Think about that word for

a minute. In Milan Kendra's book, the unbearable likeness of being, he says, for there's nothing

heavier than compassion. I thought that was an interesting thought. He goes on to say, not even one's

own pain weighs so heavy as the pain one feels for someone and with someone. Think about that for

a minute. It's intensified by the imagination and prolonged by 100 echoes. The word compassion

literally means to suffer with another. So you can have your own pain, but when you have compassion

for someone else, you're taking on their pain and suffering as well as your own. That's what

this father did. This son was tore up from the flow up. He had a rough time. He's coming beat up

and battered. This is not his finest hour. So he has nothing to offer the father, but the father

takes on all of his pain, his misery, his suffering through his compassion. That's an important thing

to note. We just hear, oh, we had compassion on that's awesome. What happened next? They had a party.

That's a big deal. To take on the suffering of someone, you didn't deserve the suffering. What

did the father do wrong? All he did was love his son. Did he deserve to take on the suffering

of his son's stupidity? No, but he did. Father was willing on to take his suffering and restore

him to a place of honor. He said, go get the best robe in the house and put it on him.

Which robe in the house do you think was the best robe? Daddy's robe. He didn't say, oh, go get one of

those old robes in the lending closet on the side. Get one of those that we use to clean the floors.

Get one of his old clothes that we just haven't taken to good will yet. No, get the best one. Get my

best one and put it on him. Another interesting detail, if you read between the lines, it doesn't say

that from the time he was feeding the pigs to the time he came and daddy saw him on the horizon and

then he embraced him and put the robe on him that he had time to take a bath. He's been rolling

around with the pigs. Who knows the last time he had a nice hot bath? Would you put your best

jacket on somebody who had been rolling around with pigs? I wouldn't. Sometimes I'm making a

b-line for the hand sanitizer station after just like spending a little bit of time with someone

you ain't gonna say. I'm not putting my jacket on. But he puts his best robe on him without

even a second thought. And then he says, put a ring on his finger. You know what that meant?

The Signet Ring. It says, I'm restoring his sonship. I'm giving him access to the family fortune.

You remember what he did the first time, right? Do you think that's smart? He's making him a sign or

on the checking account. The one that blew all the money. That's like hiring a banker up the

accountant. It's not smart in case you're doing it. But he does it. He says, I'm making you a son

again. I'm giving you access to the family fortune. Then he says, bring some sandals, put some sandals

on his feet. You know why that's important? Because the servants and the hired hands, they didn't

wear sandals and shoes. Couldn't afford it. And you remember the son's plan? He had his whole

speech. He was going to come back and ask daddy if he could have a job as a servant on his estate.

So by putting sandals on his feet, the dad's saying, you're not a servant. You're my son.

You got to look at these little details. He is speaking volumes with each one of these things. He

did with the robe, with the ring, with the sandals. He's restoring him to a place of honor. How crazy

is that? Now these listeners listening to Jesus, they're thinking, this dad is absolutely nuts. He's

lost his mind. First, he gives the cash to this insubordinate, ridiculous son. And then this

in-great comes back. And then he treats him with compassion and love. It almost seems reckless.

I kind of think that was Jesus's point. He was showing us the extravagant, reckless love of a father.

Defies all logic. Defies all reason. Now we hear stories like that and I know in a room this size,

some of you may kind of bristle and struggle at hearing some of that. You think,

talking a lot about dad, that's great. Maybe you didn't have the best relationship with your dad.

Maybe you didn't have a great dad. Maybe he wasn't around. Maybe he was emotionally abusive. Maybe

physically abusive or worse. I get that. But what I want to tell you today, I want to make sure you

understand is God's father ship is lacking nothing. Everything you're kind of superimposing on

father God because of an inadequacy from your earthly dad, it's inaccurate. So just free yourself

from it. Throw it off. Say, let me start from scratch. That's why Jesus told this story. I want to

show you about a father that loves unconditionally, makes no mistakes, doesn't harm you, has only the

best for you so that you had a comparison now. You didn't have to spend all your energy comparing

him to your earthly father that might not have measured up. God's fatherhood is perfect.

All he wants from us is for us to choose to love him back.

That's what he wants. Here's a little secret. Even when we don't choose to love him back,

he still has compassion for us. That's why God gives us freedom. You ever wonder? I do all the time.

I watch the news and I say, why? Why do you even let us have free will? We're stupid.

If I were God, I'd make us all mindless robots. The hive mind all comes down. We all march and lock

and we do what we're supposed to do and make this world a better place. But no, we have free will.

We mess up. We hurt each other. We do damage. Why does God give us that freedom?

He gives us the freedom so we have the freedom to choose him. That's the whole point.

The freedom to choose him. He wants our unforced, uncoerced love. That's all he wants.

Funny thing is that all we have to offer the Father is shame.

Think about it. What do you really have to offer a perfect Holy God? Nothing is shame.

He still gives us honor and unconditional love. Just like this loving Father waited and watched day

after day for His Son's return. That Halloween back in the seventh grade, I had a Father who was

watching and waiting for my return. I kept looking out the window wondering if I'd come back. But

unlike this Father after a few hours, my dad went out looking for me.

And here's the interesting thing. This again, you got to think of the day. This is way back when

he didn't know Jeff's last name. He didn't know Jeff's address. He didn't know Jeff's parents names.

Where's the guy going to start? We didn't have find my phone or track my kid. He wasn't slipping air

tags in their lunch box. I know where my kid is. He has no idea where to start. But that didn't stop him.

So I'm out living it up, having the time of my life with my friends, scaring each other over and over

in this haunted house, thinking this is the best thing ever. We even were having so much fun. We

all decided in our seventh grade wisdom when our parents did finally arrive. We were going to ask

him if we could spend the night and let the party just keep on going all night long. Because that's how

smart we were. So somehow by sheer will and determination, my dad finds Jeff's house. I still don't

know how. I need to call him today and ask him, Dad, how did you find me that day? God must have

just led him there. He pulls up front and Jeff's driveway to collect his son. And in all my wisdom,

the first thing out of my mouth, Dad, can I spend the night so we can hang out and keep having fun?

I still remember my father's response like it was yesterday. He just so calmly looked at me and

said, not this time. And we started our drive home. Now I'm furious. I'm in the back seat. I can't

believe it. I've got the only dad that's not cool. It's not letting me spend the night. I'm sure

everyone else is going to get to spend the night. They're going to have stories. I'm not going to

have the stories. I'm going to be out of the cool kid group. How come my dad doesn't get it?

Oh, my dad. So I'm ranting and fuming in the back seat. But after a while,

my stupidity, my frustration, it turned a humility and gratitude.

Because I started to understand that the way I was being treated didn't match what I deserved.

You see, my father wasn't yelling at me the whole way home. He was eerily silent,

which is worse. Parenting tip 101, if you really want to scare him, just be quiet.

They hate that way more than yelling. He wasn't driving with one hand,

reaching back, smacking me and beating me with the other. We didn't get home and he grounded

me for the rest of my life. He didn't do any of that. I wouldn't have deserved all of it,

by the way. But he didn't do any of it. What I realized that day

was just how grateful my father was to have a son back.

Exactly. It was just the love of a father.

His son, who was lost, was now found. I still remember that to this day. I was over 35

years ago and I think of that and it still brings me to tears because I realized just how much my

father loves me. That's what this father shows his son, unconditional love. Didn't matter the mistakes

he had made. He was just happy to have his son back. But then look at the older son. Now we're

celebrating the return of the younger son and the older son is so upset and has anything but

unconditional love for his father. Now he's showing his father disrespect. Everything he has for

his father is performance based. It's conditional. If I do this, I expect that. I stay here and work

for you. I expect this from you. So the father celebrating the return of the younger son,

the older son doesn't want to come in, disrespects the dad. So what does the dad do with now

another son's disrespect? He chases him too. He leaves the party to go talk to his son. Again,

context. A host would never leave the party. That's unheard of. Right now the host is like bopping

around, taking codes, working the room. That's not how it was back in this day. You sat in a prominent

place. Everybody came and greeted you. You didn't leave that place of position and prominence.

He leaves the party to go chase after his older son now.

Jesus guy. How does he deal with this son's disgrace? Let's look beginning of verse 29.

Here's the son talking to his father, but he answered his father. He said, look, all these years,

I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never even gave me a young goat

so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property

with prostitutes comes home, you killed a fat and calf for him. Not even a shred of grace or

understanding for what the father's done. I think it's interesting that this older son tells the

dad that the younger son spent all the money on prostitutes. Isn't that interesting? Because the

passage never tells us that's what the son spent his money on. We just assume this guy went out

food, drink, and women. We don't know that. The people that assume that are the ones that are

more like the older brother. This gives us a little insight into his heart. He says he went out

spending his money on prostitutes because that's what he would have done. I think he was just upset.

The younger son went out and did what he wishes he could have done. It's telling.

So once again, being dishonored and disrespected by a son, what does the father do? Look at verse 31

and 32, my son, the father said, you were always with me and everything I have is yours.

But we had to celebrate and be glad because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again.

He was lost and is found. He is alive again. Worship team can come up.

Well-known author and pastor Max Locato, he tells the story of a Brazilian girl named Christina.

She grew up in a little shanty town. Maybe you've been on a mission trip or you've seen

documentaries where these people, these towns, they're literally made out of cardboard boxes.

These people live in no amenities or creature comforts. Their bed is literally a palette on like a

dirt floor. And that's the way Christina lived in this small Brazilian little town, this little village.

But she longed for so much more. She would often think about and fantasize how much better life

would be in the big city. So one day her discontentment got the bed better of her and she decided to

run away. Well, her mother, Maria, was completely distraught at her young daughter's decision to run

away. She knew she was going to the big city. She knew her daughter had no way of making any money.

She also knew her daughter was way too stubborn to give up.

When pride and desperation collide, it's amazing what a human will do that before you

might have thought unthinkable. And that's exactly what Maria knew. So she decided to go chase after

her daughter. She went to the bus stop and before she hopped on the bus to the big city, she stopped

by a little drugstore and she got in with those little photo booths where you get in, you pull the

curtain, put in your quarters and take a bunch of pictures. She took as many pictures as she could

afford. Little bunch of black and whites of herself. And then she got on the bus headed to Rio

de Janeiro. While she knew that again, her daughter had no way of making money. So her first thought

was to go to places that were known for prostitution and street walkers. So she started going and

everywhere she went, she left a picture of herself. Little phone booth, lobby bulletin board, mirrors

at a bar or a restaurant. Each one had a little note from her on the back. Well she went from place

to place to place. And before long, all the pictures and her money had run out. She had to go back

home. So weeping, she boards the bus. She says one final prayer for her daughter as she heads back

to her small village. Well a few weeks later, Christina descends the stairs of a hotel.

Her brown eyes that once danced with joy and promise spoke of fear, horror and pain.

Her dream had become a nightmare. She would trade these hundreds of beds for one more night

in her safe little palette, in her shanty and her little little village.

She's descended the stairs. She looked across the lobby and she saw familiar face looking back at her.

It was a picture of her mom. Her eyes started to burn, her throat started to tighten.

She slowly made her way across the lobby to that picture.

Her, she pulled the picture from its spot and she looked and on the back wasn't

known from her mom. And it simply said, whatever you've done, whatever you've become,

come home, come home. So she did.

And I've got to think that's what our Heavenly Father is telling each one of us.

He's looking at you lovingly saying, whatever you've done,

whatever you've become,

doesn't matter if you've run as far away from me as you possibly can to live life on your own terms,

you think you know better, making a mockery of everything that I hold dear.

Or maybe you sit in church on Sunday and you think you're all right and you're living a good life

and you're holding on to your holiness and your piety. Whatever you've become,

come home. We have a loving Father who's always scanning at the horizon, waiting for you to come

home from whatever it is that's keeping you from his loving embrace. For some of us it's in,

some of us it's pride.

But he says it doesn't matter. I'm waiting to bring you back, to call you my son, to call you my

daughter. I want to put my best robe on you.

Come home, let's celebrate. Father, thank you for not leaving us, not for saking us.

No matter what we do, no matter how far we've run, how much we break your heart. Father, thank you

that you're always there with compassion and love. And you don't just look and wait for us to

approach you but you run to us. You pursue us with reckless abandon. Thank you for that kind of love.

Thank you that whatever we've become, whatever we've made of ourselves, we've never gone so far

that you can't reach us. Thank you for that kind of love.

So while we're here, which for their eyes closed, just take the next moment.

And if there is something that you feel like is keeping you from the intimate relationship with

your Heavenly Father, maybe you're a Christian, you're a Christ follower, you come to church, you

try and do good, but there is something that you know is just keeping you from that true intimacy.

Something you're holding back, something in your life that you've said, I'm going to keep this

for myself. You say, oh, Father, I love you, but this one area, I'm going to keep

because I want it for me. Maybe today is the day that you put it down. You give him everything,

make him Lord of all. So nothing is between you and him and you truly feel the embrace

of your loving Father. So my hope for you is that you'll ask him what it is and that you'll have

the courage to lay it down at his feet. So I surrender it all. This is yours. Everything I am,

everything I hope to be. I'm not pretending that I'm good enough. I'm super Christian.

I'm going to just be honest. He knows already. He wants you to choose to be honest

and then give it to him. Maybe you're here and you've never accepted him. Maybe someone invited

you here. Maybe you've found us. Maybe you just wandered in. Maybe you've been listening,

checking it out for a while. You say, all that's great, but I know I'm not a son. I know I'm not a

daughter. Sounds cool. I'd like to be in that family. There's an easy way to do it.

You just have to give up and come home. All you have to do is confess with your mouth that Jesus

is who we said he was. He died for your sins and you accept him as your Lord. Now give

you a chance to do it. Just write where you are. You just say, Heavenly Father, I need you.

I know I'm a sinner. I know Jesus died for my sins. I accept his forgiveness.

Come into my life. Make me yours. Thank you for bringing me into your family.

In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen.