Be Restored // Second Chances | Ps. Jamie Corcoran

Um now we are continue our series uh

called second chances and uh the real

thinking behind the series was man like

sometimes one of the push backs against

church is like it's only for perfect

people and it's all about pretending to

be great and having all together and

always showing up with with with you

know everything in order. And the truth

is that's not actually the message of

the gospel. In fact, the good news that

there is hope, help, and healing

wouldn't be good news if people didn't

need hope, help, and healing. And so, we

decided, let's let's take a few weeks

and let's unpack as a series what it

means, God's heart, his disposition when

it comes to our failures and his grace.

And so, back in week one, we had a great

friend, Pastor Andy Heis, talk us all

about the power of redemption, what it

means to be redeemed. And he used a

great example uh the example of the

story of the prodical son which I'm

going to come back to today and how

God's heart towards us. God is a

redeeming God. And none of us are ever

too far gone. If you're here not a

Christ follower, new to faith, you're

thinking, man, there's no way God could

ever love a person like me. That was my

story. Here's the good news of part one.

Go. None of us are beyond the saving

grace of God's arm. Week two, Pastor

Ronnie Bazette. Last we talked about the

idea of reconciliation that you know God

gives us second chances and gives us

grace and and even in our weakness even

our pain God is working on our behalf.

Now let me skip down. Next week as we

close the series we're start close the

series talking about how do we restart?

Like it's good to have have learned all

this and experienced all this but the

question is how do we start again? And

next week uh we're going to close the

series and talk to you all about that.

But today in week three I want to bring

you a message all about the theme and

the topic of restoration. Restoration.

Now, I want to start off being

vulnerable and telling you a story that

I really don't want to tell you, but I

want to tell you because it will

embarrass me, but deeply hopefully

encourage you, which is always uh a

privilege of mine. Not really, but I do

anyway. And so, I'm going to need

someone to help me. So, is my friend

Diego here? If Diego's here, come on

down. And while Diego's coming down.

Yeah, come on. Let's welcome Diego um to

my production team. Medie, the TV is not

in the right order. If you come look

real quick, it's in the same setup as

last week. Uh so I want to hide because

a really really embarrassing thing

happened to me a couple weeks ago. So

about a month ago I was uh going to

Halford's you all know Halford's here in

Blanch and there's a photograph

Halford's and I was going in to try some

roof bars and the reason why I went to

roof bars long story short total it's

father's day so let me just allow me to

indulge. So, I used to have a Land Rover

Discovery, which I loved and like an

unfaithful woman, she broke my heart too

many times. So, eventually I got rid of

her and I bought a sensible vehicle,

IKEA. And and one of the things I used

to love with my Land Rover is that there

was so much space in that thing. You

could fit me, my family, your family,

your neighbors, everyone fit in the Land

Rover. And then when you put a roof box

on top of it, you could move a country.

And so, whenever I go drive around

Ireland on my holidays, I'd always put

my roof box on with the problem car. And

of course, the roof bar fittings didn't

fit the Kia. And it turns out that it's

very hard to find roof bars for a Kia.

So I went to Halford's try to buy roof

bars. And I went in and I was kind of in

a rush. I wasn't having a bad day, but I

was in a rush. And I'm and number two in

line to get to the counter and there's a

person like Diego working behind the

counter. And the lady in front of me is,

you know, a bit suspicious. There's some

things going on. I'm watching all this

and kind of taken aback by it. And

eventually after like taking forever,

she leaves and gets out of the way. And

I walk up to the counter and the guy in

the counter says, "Hello." And he puts

his hand out. Show me how you put your

hand out. And I said, "Wait for it. I'm

not shaking your hand. I don't know

you." And of course, I could see the

shock on the poor Halford employer's

face like, "Oh my gosh." And then as

soon as I said I thought, Jamie, WHAT

DID YOU JUST SAY? LIKE, WHAT JUST

HAPPENED? NOW, time out. For those you

just so you understand, I'm not the most

awful person. For those who don't KNOW

ME, I'M ACTUALLY the person that's

always shaking the hands, ALWAYS FIST

BUMPING, ALWAYS HUGGING, ALWAYS LIKE,

"HEY MAN, HOW'S IT GOING?" THAT'S WHO I

AM. SO, IT WASN'T just rude. It was so

out of character for me to say to

someone the other side of the counter,

"I'm not shaking your hand. I don't know

you." And so we go through the process

of, you know, do you have roof bars? No,

we don't have roof bars. Thank you. I

said, ' Okay, let's sell for a fist

bump. And I gave a little fist bump and

I left. I got in the car and turned to

look and I said, "You're never going to

believe what just happened to me." She

said, "What?" Said, "The poor guy behind

the counter." As I walked up to kind of,

you know, give give him my my my

problem. He went to shake my hand and I

said, "I'm not shaking your hand. I

don't know you." And I was like, "YOU

DID WHAT?" I SAID, "I KNOW." AND SHE'S

LIKE, "That's terrible." I said, "I

know." AND SHE'S LIKE, "WHAT WERE YOU

THINKING?" I WASN'T. And of course,

being the good, encouraged spouse that

she is, she consider continued to beat

me up for the next 10 minutes about how

stupid I was. But it didn't end there.

That whole day, I couldn't shake the

conviction in my heart that I had done

something that not only didn't represent

me in my truest sense, but also didn't

represent God. And one of the things you

got appreciate about me and my role is

two things always concern me whenever

interact with people. Number one, this

person might go to my church. So, I'm in

traffic and you're in traffic and you're

not driving the way I want you to drive.

And I want to let you know that I have

to think, careful, this person might

know you. They might go to your church

and they might have a story one day of

the pastor beeping their horn and

flipping them off as they go to traffic.

So, I got to think of that. The other

thing I got to I think of which is

probably you know more important in a

sense is this person doesn't go to my

church and doesn't know Jesus and I'm

supposed to be the representation of God

to that person. So for both those

reasons I was conflicted like man I

treat this person bad in the shop like

oh my gosh. And so I was like Lord we're

going to do and I was praying Friday

Saturday I was inwardly disturbed

Saturday night was getting ready for

church thinking oh my gosh terrible. And

then I decide, you know, I'm going to go

to Halford this week and find that

person and apologize to them. I'm gonna

say, "Hey, man. I'm so sorry. You don't

know this, but I'm actually a Jesus

follower and the way I treated you is so

rude. So, my bad. Uh, please forgive

me." Which would have been great. It

would have been a better story except

when I got here in Sunday morning, to my

shock and horror, standing at the front

door of our church welcoming me was the

man that works in Halford's. It's Diego.

And I just had to go, "Oh, yes, of

course." You know, of course, he goes to

our church. Makes perfect sense, you

know. And of course, he had a crowd of

friends there. And I was like, "I have

to go over there and humble myself and

say sorry and apolog." And he was like,

"Well, no, it's okay, bro. It's okay.

Probably having a bad day." I said, "No,

I wasn't." "Oh, well, maybe you're going

through some things." I go, "I'm not

like, maybe you just weren't." I said,

"No, bro. There's literally no excuse.

There was no excuse. I just was just re

weirdly out of characteristically rude

and I'm sorry and I apologize and I hope

that you will forgive me. Yeah.

Bless you, man. Thank you. ONE MORE TIME

FOR THE EVERYBODY.

So I tell a story uh to your

entertainment and my EMBARRASSMENT

BECAUSE ALL OF US in life no matter how

good you are, how good you think you

are, how mature you are, how experienced

you are, how emotionally in touch you

are, how intellectually intelligent you

are, we all have moments in life where

we need to be restored.

Something's out of whack. Something's

not where it belongs. Something is not

right. And therefore, it necessitates

restoration. In this case, I had

offended someone. I had to own up to it

and apologize because not only am I,

like I said, motivated by my own sense

of, you know, pride like I'm I want to

be a decent person, but more

importantly, as a follower of Jesus, I

should never treat the creation of God.

Some made in the image and likeness of

God in that way. Now the word

restoration defined in the English

dictionary is defined as the act

of returning something to its original

condition, position or status. Meaning,

as someone said yesterday in when it

comes to maybe a device, if you want to

fix your phone, your phone something's

not working in your phone and you have

to fix, you have to restore it, you go

go to a professional and they will

somehow be able to reset or or fix or

address the issue, the bug and get that

phone to get back to its original. In

fact, sometimes what we do with devices

is we reset them. It's like an internal

restoration that goes back to its

original, you know, condition, position,

or status. Sometimes with a vehicle, you

know, a vehicle, something goes wrong

with a vehicle. It's like, for example,

right now my Kia, just so you know,

because it's Father's Day on top of

cars, they kind of were a couple weeks

ago, I was putting stuff in the boot of

a car and I hit my head off the off the

boot, you know? I thought, man, am I

growing taller? Like, am I still at 39

years old growing? Praise God. And I

thought, that's probably not happening.

And so I thought, maybe my tires need

air, right? Because of course like if

the you know and eventually I figured

out that the actual boom on my boot door

is not working properly. So my roof my

my boot is actually like an inch lower

it should be and I keep bumping into it.

So this coming Friday it's going to be

restored reset put back to its original

condition position. Now that's true of

the world but when you look at the

theological definition for restoration

the theological definition goes even

further. Restoration from a scriptural

point of view means to repair what is

broken and make it even better than it

was before. Now think about this

definition. The definition of of of

restoration delivery isn't just to put

it back the way it was, but when God

gets his hands on our brokenness,

when God's when God gets his hand on our

lives, when we allow and afford God the

opportunity to work on our behalf, not

only does he repair and fix, but

actually somehow supernaturally, we are

better off than we were before. God does

not just patch things up. He brings new

life, heals pain, and restores what was

stolen or lost. Now, this is very

important especially on Father's Day

because when we think about fathers and

again I've already addressed that we may

have had good or bad examples but if

you're a man and you are a father,

grandfather, hope to be a father, an

uncle, a mentor figure, a manager, a

coach, one of the things I think that

makes a good father a good father is

that good fathers always have a heart to

restore. Maybe you thought your passion

for precision and engineering is just

like a gift. No, it's the heart of a

good father. Maybe you thought the idea

of of coaching people to play a game,

right, is just because you're passionate

about the sport. No, it's the heart of

the father. Maybe you think like justice

and and not allowing bullies to pick on

someone that's more vulnerable is just

like moral, right? No, it's also a

reflection of the heart of a father. In

fact, one of the most important and

primary characteristics of a good father

must be in my opinion that a good father

is motivated to act in ways that res

that restore the people they love. Now,

flip this on its head, what you get is

one of the reasons why we call bad

fathers bad fathers is because they're

not motivated to restore the things they

love. And in fact, maybe that's one of

your pains today as a son, as a

daughter, as a person. may also be one

of the reasons why especially if you're

not a Jesus follower, one of your major

push backs with church because often a

major push back to our heavenly father

and therefore the message of Jesus and

his church is in fact that God is a god

who disciplines. He disciplines. And so

we see this image of God, you know,

giving out and, you know, punishing and

and all these things. And it's like, oh,

how could I ever embrace a God or a

heavenly I mean, how can you describe

the heavenly father as being loving when

he is so interested and so passionate

and so committed to discipline? Another

way we can describe that is punishment.

But if you pay attention to the

scripture, not just what you think you

know about the scripture, what you

actually find is at the heart of God's

discipline is never just to punish

people for the sake of punishing. Listen

carefully. Bad fathers punish children

for the sake of punishing. But good

fathers reflect our heavenly father. And

the purpose of all godly biblical

discipline is to show love and restore.

God isn't just discipline. God

disciplines those he loves. He only

disciplines those he loves. If God

didn't care, then he wouldn't get

involved. Like if I see some kid out in

the street today being a little bit of

a, you know, insert word here, um, you

know, compassion will move me to say,

man, I really wish that kid, you know,

would learn or hopefully some hopefully

there's someone in his life that can

help him. But I'm not going to walk over

and grab him by the ear and say, "Come

here to you, me now, young man." And

worse, I'm not going to do that because

he's not my kid. But if it's my kid, my

kids have no ears anymore. You pay

attention. Look carefully. The hair is

no ears. Like, come here, YOU. BECAUSE I

DON'T WANT MY kids to be rude. And I

don't want my kids to be selfish. I

DON'T WANT MY KIDS TO BE UNLIKED. I

DON'T WANT my kids not to be uh uh uh

respected. Therefore, as a father, I

discipline because I love them.

Understand that. Even though sometimes

we fall into the trap of thinking the

purpose of God discipline is punishment.

No, the purpose of God's discipline is

always restoration. I said to me, Smithy

as a father, the purpose of our

disciplining our kids should always be

not for their punishment. The purpose of

godly discipline isn't to punish, it's

to restore. It's I want to help you get

to a place you need to be. Because if

you don't, God help you. Because as I

tell my kids, either I'll teach you or

prison will teach you. Either I'll teach

you or the world. Either way, you're

going to learn this lesson eventually

because life is hard. And so, as someone

who's trying to be a good father, the

purpose of my discipline is always

restoration. Now, here's the problem.

Discipline without compassion always

feels like attack.

And I think one of the reasons why

people in particular have a push back

going back to the church tension is

because you have these people these

these these representatives these

religious leaders pastors uh priests

nuns whatever you want to call them

reverends and they're supposed to be

like I said the represent not not not

perfection but representation of God to

the world and yet sometimes they're the

ones who are the meanest. And I I just

can't believe sometimes the stories I

hear. Just the other day I was talking

to some friends from uh an Eastern

European country and they were saying

the church they were in that if you

disobeyed or fell in line, you weren't

allowed to partake in communion

sometimes for years.

AND I'M LIKE, WHO EVER GAVE THAT DUDE

the right to weaponize the Lord's

supper? Like where's that in the Bible?

Are you kidding me? Crazy. And of course

over the years from different cultures,

different countries and even here in

Ireland, I've heard heard so many

examples of where people who are

supposed to present God punished the

people are supposed to care for without

compassion. It always feels like an

attack. Now I may ask a question. What

do you do when someone attacks you?

Well, depends your personality. We all

get to the same point ex eventually, but

some of us get there quicker than

others. And the point is defend

yourself, right? defend yourself at all

costs. If you're someone who's

peaceloving and easygoing and just, you

know, you absorb everything, you're an

empath, you're all in, like it takes a

takes a lot. You have to be pushed a

long way before eventually you lift up

your chest, say, "What'd you say?" And I

love people like you. I wish I wish my

dream is that one day I can be like you.

My problem is that's not me. I'm like

that. You brush on me. Come on. What did

you say? Let's go. What's that you say

about mother? Huh? I DIDN'T SAY YOU HAVE

A MOTHER. IT'S LIKE IT'S BRED IN ME FOR

MY CHILD. I'm always raring for like

who's at me now. In fact, one time a

friend of mine uh decided to surprise

me. So, I was working in my kitchen one

day and he jumped over my garden wall

and opened my patio door to surprise me

and I got up and went to punch him

straight in the face. HE'S LIKE, "WHOA,

WHOA, IT'S ME." AND HE WAS LIKE, "MAN,

THAT WAS like such a like an automatic,

bro. It's biological." Like, you know

what I'm saying? I am fight no flight

all day long. You know what I'm saying?

It's just in me. And unfortunately, it

gets me in trouble. And I wish I was

more like just fly away Jamie for just a

few minutes and come back. The point is

when you're attacked sooner or later you

have to defend yourself. And what's sad

to me is there's so many people in this

world when it comes to the idea of God

or church or faith they're the they feel

like because of the attack of people who

are supposed to represent God like they

have to defend themselves. Listen

carefully. You have to defend yourself

from your heavenly father because he is

not attacking you. Secondly, discipline

without restoration

always feels like abuse

because the day and age is gone where

you can just punish people. My dad told

me like when he was a kid in Ireland

going to a Christian brother school if

he was late or didn't behave in the

classroom he would walk to school and in

that generation not everyone had shoes

and you can imagine walking to school

like in a bitterly cold January day in

Ireland you're freezing right of course

the school had no heating and what what

they what the priests would do to punish

these kids is they make them put their

hands out these little frost bitten

freezing hands six seven eight years OLD

AND THEY WHACK THEM WITH a ruler to

punish them for doing what they're

supposed to do. I'm like, "No wonder you

guys don't like church. If someone's

macking whacking my fingers when I was 7

years old, I would go up, get the stick,

AND WHACK THEM BACK."

It's because, man, the heart of what was

happening there wasn't to restore

people. It was to punish them. And we

know we we can we can we know we know

the difference. Even though we can't

articulate, we know the difference of

when someone we love is coming to

discipline us for our benefit. They want

what's best for we we don't like it. We

want to ignore it. But we know in our

hearts. But we also know when someone

has been us and it isn't to restore us

is to punish us. And this is why this is

such a fitting topic for Father's Day

because the heart of the father, the

father's heart is for the restoration of

the lost. The father's heart is for the

restoration of the broken. The father's

heart, as we're going to see, is it just

for those who fall in line and try to do

everything right, but it's even for

those who fall out of line all the time

and can never get anything right. So,

here's the question I want to try to

answer for the rest of the time we have

together. So, what does it mean to be

restored to or by the father? And what

we're going to do, like I said, is we're

go we're going to go back to the first

chapter we looked at in the very first

message. Pastor Andy Heis preached on a

well-known, in fact, um, you know,

people will tell you, uh, Google and

stuff, it's actually the most well-known

parable in all of scripture, the parable

of the prodical son. It's found in

Luke's gospel and chapter 15. Now,

Luke's gospel is often referred to as

Luke's, sorry, Luke chapter 15, I should

Luke 15 · chapter mention

say, is often referred to as being the

last chapter. Now, the reason why it's

called the last chapter isn't because

it's lost. We can't find it. It's

because in this chapter, Jesus tells

three parables, and they all involve

something being lost. What's a parable?

A parable is like a fictitious story

with a etern with an internal truth uh

tied alongside. In fact, the word

parabola, par means alongside, ble is a

verb to tro is this idea that you tell a

story to illustrate a truth. Jesus was a

master of this. And so he tells three

illustrative stories trying to convey to

the people listening to him the truth of

what God is like. And that ultimately

what is closest to the heart of God is

that those who are broken, hurting, and

far from him. Now, a couple of things.

When you open the chapter and you look

at the very first two verses, this is so

important. If you're like someone who's

like you passionate about scripture and

theology, this is so important. Watch

this. Or maybe you haven't seen this

before. It says in verse one and verse

two of the chapter, now tax collector,

the dead tax collectors and sinners were

all gathering around to hear Jesus, but

the Pharisees and teachers of the law

muttered.

This man welcomes sinners and eats with

them. Now, normally if I'm preaching

these verses, what I always focus in on

is two things. One, people who are

nothing like Jesus like Jesus. like

whatever your concept is of Jesus. Jesus

not the kind of person who all the

religious types with the robes and

regalia and all things like no it was

like the broken the hurting those who

are hang over those who are hanging on

those who were like morally destitute

those who were you know thieves who are

corrupt who were lying politicians who

were homeless outcasts social religious

like people who are NOTHING LIKE JESUS

LOVE Jesus and whoever you find Jesus

YOU FIND A CROWD OF PEOPLE who are

nothing like him, non-church people who

LOVE TO BE AROUND HIM, which makes me

wonder where have we lost Jesus? Like if

we have the real Jesus and we and we

talk about him and proclaim him and

share and people like, MAN, IF I HAD

HAVE KNOWN THAT'S WHAT JESUS LIKE, I

would have changed my mind a long time

ago. The second thing I always look at

is how he welcomed sinners and he ate

with them. That's important. Why?

Because in our culture, eating is just a

matter of like survival. Like you go to

Burking, you got to get that triple

whopper into you as soon as you can

because you don't know what's coming

next. But in the first century and for

most of history, eating was a deeply

intimate and profoundly spiritual thing.

And in this time in his culture, someone

of Jesus' status, someone of his

respect, someone who was considered to

be a teacher of God would never be found

sharing a table, let alone a meal with

people who were sinful. It wasn't done

because not only was it sharing a table,

but often times they would way they

would eat was they pass bowls and you'd

scoop stuff out your hand. And Jesus was

scooping his hand from the same bowl as

a prostitute or a homeless person or a

thief or whatever they were. And he was

so happy and so comfortable in his

setting that annoyed the religious

stabbins of the day. Powerful. I love

it. That's not today's sermon. What I

want you to notice is something else.

There's two groups of people that Jesus

is talking to. at the very beginning of

chapter is so crucial. Okay? Because

what I want to show you is the parables

that Jesus tells. The power of the lost

sheep, the power of the lost coin, and

the power of the lost sons, as it should

be called. That's sons. I'll tell you

why in a second. He tells these three

parables in response to this moment. So

Jesus is hanging around with all these

broken people. people who don't go to

church. People who don't know the Bible,

people who are living their lives in the

opposite direction of God. The kind of

people that if they were here in mass

numbers, we would all be freaked out.

What do you do with those people?

Because they don't know the words. They

don't know the etiquette. They know the

rules. They don't sing Christian song.

Like, you know, we've tried so hard as a

church to be a church that welcomes

everybody. In fact, the reason why it's

so important to me is because I was

this. I wasn't raised in this. I didn't

inherit this. I was so far from God, so

lost, so broken, SO THE OPPOSITE OF JES.

I USED TO LIKE have Marilyn Manson

posters in my bedroom playing in a

grunge rock band. I was delinquent,

always breaking, arrested, suspended.

LIKE I WAS THE LAST PERSON EVER TO COME

TO CHURCH, let alone lead one. And here

I find myself. Don't tell anybody. So I

know I know the power of being in the in

the presence of Jesus. I'm so passionate

and I want to create a church where

everybody how far they are or how much

disagree that they feel like they're

welcomed.

>> That's right.

>> But the second crowd, well these are the

guys who actually we are now. If you're

a Christ follower, if you're a Christ

follower today, you have faith, you love

Jesus, then actually in the story, we're

no longer this. We're here because we

know some things and we know the

etiquette and we know their standards.

And what happens is is those who know

were so frustrated at how Jesus was

treating those who don't know that they

muttered. And it's in response to this

that Jesus began to tell these parables.

Now in verse 11, watch this again. So

two groups. Yeah. In chap in chapter 15

11 Jesus continued and this is the big

this is literally the beginning of the

parable of the prodical son which I'm

saying should be sons. It says Jesus

continued there was a man who had how

many sons? Interesting.

Two groups, a parable about two sons.

Now, the one son, you guys know it,

Pastor Andy did a great job preaching

it. Um, he was the one who took his

father's inheritance, basically to his

dad, I wish you were dead. Like, just

give me what I'm old now. I'm out of

here. Went to a foreign land, you know,

basically, you know, first century Las

Vegas. Like, just squandered everything

he had in prostitutes and gambling and,

you know, trying to live it up. And of

course one day he woke up with a massive

headache and no money and was desperate

and so ended up working for uh you know

work taking the the lowest paid job in

the in the enemy's country and to the he

got to the point where one day he was

feeding pigs and if you know anything

about you know Jewish culture you know

Jewish people don't like pigs I couldn't

even touch them and so he's like

literally working feeding pigs and and

he got so desperate not only was he

feeding the pigs but actually he longed

to eat what the pigs were eating which

is like the lowest of the low and he

thought to himself man even the servants

in my father's house have better

treatment and a better life at this so

maybe I should l says he came to his

senses and he went home and again I

won't go over everything but he comes

home and you're thinking oh if if you're

listening to the story for the first

time think oh yeah and what's the father

going to say going to give him a bait

and is he going to give him a hiding is

he going to do the Irish thing ignore

him for 10 years and act like he's not

there and one day at Chris dinner go

well on that's the Irish way of dealing

with things like what's he going to do

you know and the truth is it was

shocking then shocking now we find that

not only was the father looking forward

for him coming home he was looking for

him he was literally there waiting he

saw him at a distance which means every

day at some point he was looking and

waiting and anticipating and expecting

and hoping that his son will come back

which is amazing and his father actually

ran out and hugged him and kissed him

and clothed him and it's just a

beautiful story that's the prodical son.

But the reason why I think it's

incorrectly labeled so much should be

sons is because there is another

brother. And the reason why there's

another brother is because there were

two audiences. Now watch in verse 25.

Meanwhile,

the older son was in the field.

When he came near the house, he heard

music and dancing. So he called one of

the servants and asked him what was

going on.

Your brother has come, he replied, and

your father has killed a fattened calf

because he has him back safe and sound.

Now, that Greek word safe and sound

literally means whole, like integral,

like your father has your brother's

back. He's he's he's beaten up. He's

tattered. He's he's shamed. He's he's

disgraced. He's been through some

things. But but in the all in all, he is

well. And your father is so happy and so

pleased to have him back that he's

throwing a party. Now, as we're going to

see,

everybody in the house, the father, not

really told us, but the mother, the

staff, I MEAN, EVERYBODY in the house

was absolutely delighted that the

brother was back for two reasons. One,

because the brother was back, and two,

because now we're going to throw a big

party. There's two people in this text

who are not happy about the bird's

return. One is the older brother and the

second is the fattened calf. He's like

really today because he's about to be

killed. And the reason why the fattened

calf is significant because it's like

for example, I don't know if you um uh

partake of the heavenly nectar that is

sweet red wine. But uh I have a small

collection. I mean 15 bottles at home.

And and these bottles are bottles that I

bought like over the last 10 years. And

I'm saving these things. And actually

also have a small whiskey collection,

too. And so every couple of weeks, I

don't know why, but someone told me to

do this. I just turn the bottle a little

bit so it does whatever it's supposed to

do. I'm not really a snob, but I'm just

trying my best. And I'll never forget

when my dad had a significant birthday,

I kind of said, you know, that this

bottle, this bottle is like so rare.

It's x amount of years old. It's like

really hard to get. It's really

expensive. But I'm saving this bottle

because I want to give you motivation

that if you live to see 70, we're

opening this bottle. Now, this bottle,

this is even better than that bottle.

This is like ne You can't This is like

literally if if angels came down from

heaven with wine, this is the B. It's

actually from Kaa. This is actually the

last bottle of wine that Jesus like it's

so I said, if you reach 80, we'll crack

open that one. You with me? Like it's

like that thing that's always there, but

no one touches and no one really knows

why. Why are we saving this thing for a

special occasion? What? Who knows? And

even sometimes the people who own the

thing, they don't even know. But they

know when they know with me. And his

father is like, "Man, I have been

feeding this cow, protecting this cow,

walking this cow, whatever you do with a

cow, and this is the day we slaughtered

a fattened calf." Now, you would have

thought that the older brother, imagine,

imagine your young I'm the oldest of

four. Imagine if one of my brothers like

lost his mind, you know, disrespected my

dad, took his inheritance and left to a

foreign country. And all I'm getting is

like little tidbits of like, oh yeah, do

you hear this? Oh, he's lost his job.

Oh, he's on the street. Oh, he's mixed

up with the wrong crowd. Oh, you won't

believe it. Like, imagine the pain and

turmoil and maybe embarrassment you

would feel. Well, this order felt none

of these things because we're told in

verse 28, the older brother became angry

and he refused to go in.

So, he's out in the field, which is so

interesting because if you think about

it, neither son was where they were

supposed to be in the house. Which is

why, by, by the way, as a pastoral

caveat. That's why coming to the church

matters because there's a time for the

field and there's a time to party, but

we always come back to the father's

house. And both these sons, one wild,

sinful, mad living, one trying to do his

best, trying to HONOR FATHER, BUT BOTH

were outside. Both were distant from the

father's heart. That's why I submit to

you, they're both prodigals. Even though

one was in physical pro physical

proximity as we're going to see he

completely missed not just his father's

heart in general but his father's heart

for himself.

So his father again which would have

been a big cultural no went out to him

like in these days the father did not go

out to the son. I mean there's there was

an order some of you come from cultures

where you understand that like you don't

the father is not go outside to the son

the son comes to the father otherwise

he's getting a stick or a flipflop or

whatever it is your culture used to be

kids like he there's going to be

discipline you know what I'm saying and

so the fact the father came out to him

was as shocking as significant as the

father running to the first prodal he

comes to him and watch this and he

pleads now listen up guys I I I I'm a

father I got so many kids Um, I don't

plead with my kids. You know what I'm

saying? In fact, um, yesterday we I was

walking out a meeting with with another

one of our of our leaders and both of us

have teenage boys the same age. And it

was so funny because he was in front of

me and I was with him. We both looked at

our kids at the same time. They were in

conversation like across the room, but

our kids somehow knew their father's

eyes were on them. My kids looked at me,

his kids look at him, and we both went

and they came straight away. And we all

walked out and I laugh said your KID

SAID I DON'T PLEAD WITH MY KIDS. I look

and I nod and occasionally I grunt and

if I have to have a conversation I'm

going to make that conversation such a

conversation that my kids never want to

have that conversation again

with me.

This father, this leader of this culture

went out of the house and pleaded with

his son. This is as shocking as him

embracing

the first prodal and clothing. And

actually in a sense, what was the father

doing when he was embracing the shameful

son? He was covering him, protecting

him, shielding him. But at the same time

he was also going out and and reaching

and endeavoring to to connect with and

to bring in the older son. But his son

answered, "Look, all these years I have

been slaving for you." Like this is so

burned. Why? Because this is remember

the two audiences. There was the sinners

and there were the religious people.

This is the mindset of religious people.

They somehow confuse the good work of

God and the gift of God WITH I HAVE TO

EARN THIS. I have to be a good person.

So they do the same things those who are

saved by grace do but they're doing for

the wrong reasons. They don't worship

because I am so blown away God that you

love me and have called me. I just want

to worship you. They don't read their

Bible because, you know, I'm just amazed

that you hear my prayers and you can

speak to me and give me guidance and

direction, encourage my soul that you

would even care. God, I'm amazed. They

don't give because God, WHEN I REALIZE

EVERYTHING YOU'VE GIVEN to me, you've

given to me so generously and to return

my tithe and BE GENEROUS TO LIKE what a

blessing. Like nothing of what they do

is for grace reasons. And she goes, "If

I don't, I'll be in trouble. If I don't

go to church, if I don't read my Bible,

if I don't give, if I don't, then then

God's not going to be happy with me. And

what it creates is is rather than father

son relationship,

it creates a master slave relationship.

And again, that perhaps for many of you

who are not Christ is another reason why

you just struggle to embrace

Christianity because like man, I don't

want to be no slave to some master. This

son has been living in close proximity

to his father the entire time. Yet he

has missed his heart just as much as the

younger brother who left for a foreign

land. You never gave me I never dis you.

You never yet you never gave. So that's

the spirit. If I can't have you can't

have. If I have to, you have to. If I

couldn't wear an earring, you're not

wearing an earring. If I couldn't have a

tattoo, you're not having a tattoo. If I

COULDN'T WEAR CHURCH, YOU'RE NOT WEARING

CHURCH. IT'S LIKE I NEVER HAD AND SO

NEITHER WILL YOU. And that is not the

heart of the father because what the

father says next is like he goes on to

say and this son of yours I think is

very funny verse 30 because it's like

you know if you're a parent you know

this line sometimes when your kids are

giving you a hard day you turn to your

wife or husband and say this child of

yours this child you made this son like

you. This guy this son. Yeah. Yeah.

Right. It's like, you know, everyone in

the story calls him brother, but the

brother's like, "No, this son of yours

who has squandered your property with

prostitutes." Really trying to rub it

in. Comes home and you crack open the

shot enough to pop 2012 and just

liberally share everybody like, "What's

going on?"

And the father responds, watch this. I

love this because you can you can hear

the the paternal empathy in a story

that's designed to reflect the reality

of a heavenly father. My son, the father

says, you are always with me and

everything I have is yours. Watch this.

We don't know if there's other siblings,

so we just we just have to go with what

we're told. There's two sons, right? The

first son demands his inheritance which

is half right of what his father owns

and takes it and waste it. Therefore,

what the father is living on all this

time is the utter son's inheritance.

He's enslaving for his father. He's

living out and working in his own

inheritance. HE MISSED IT EVERY SINGLE

DAY. IT WAS HIS FIELD, HIS COW, his

crop, his harvest because his FATHER WAS

GOING TO DIE. AND EVERY THAT WAS LEFT

WAS HIS ANYWAY.

BUT HE WAS SO CAUGHT UP BY THE RELIGIOUS

SPIRIT THAT HE COULDN'T SEE. AND

EVERYTHING IN FRONT OF him was already

his. And so he became bitter and he

became angry and he hated despised his

word of return. This is and the reason

why Jesus is saying this because he's

trying to say to the religious leaders,

hey, you're missing out. You already

have everything. I'M RIGHT HERE. BUT

rather than enjoying and leaning into

and experiencing everything I have for

you, all you can see is these people,

these sinners and taxers, and you're

jealous of them. The fact is we had to

celebrate and be glad because this son

of mine, this brother of yours, I love

that, was dead and is alive again. He

was lost and is found. See the father

what he's actually doing in this chapter

is so powerful is he's restoring both

sons.

He's restoring the younger brother who

is a particle in the classic sense in

the way that we understand of her

before. But he's also restoring the the

older brother because his religious

pride his self-sufficiency his sense of

I've got it together. I'll be the good

son also caused him to be distant from

the heart of the father. Now this was

captured brilliantly by the Dutch

painter Rembrandt in the year 1669. He

actually painted uh this scene called

the return of the prodigal. It's a very

it's actually I think it's one of the

most famous and most viewed paintings in

all of history. It sits in a I believe

an art gallery in St. Petersburg today.

And what's so brilliant, what's so

massive about this painting, a number of

things. First of all, you'll see this

the the the first particle, the one that

we classically know. And um you'll

notice that you know he has no shoes

symbolizing, you know, this childish

need of like I'm so I'm so desperate. I

have no shoes. You can see these rags

that would have been at one time like

really well like Gucci like really

well-known branded clothes but over time

are tattered. His head is shaved. His

beard is gone symbolizing disgrace. In

fact, he's got patches missing. And he's

leaning into his father with such shame

and such regret. What's the fire doing?

Well, we're we're told that the right

hand is painted in a way that it's

delicately and gently consoling while

the left hand is actually pulling him

really close. Cover the father is using

his strength and his stature to cover

his son's shame and guilt and remind him

that he is welcome and that he is loved.

The brightest part of the whole painting

where the artist focused the light is

actually on the father's face. That's

the center point. That's what Rembrandt

wants to see. The disposition of the

father. Why? Because the pro the chapter

of the prodical son isn't actually about

the prodical son our sons. It's all

about the prodigal father. The whole I

believe this chapter was mislabeled.

It's all about the father. The father

the father. He is the hero because he is

the one who restores both. Now there's

some other people in in the story. You

don't know who they are. Maybe staff or

workers. This guy right here. This this

is why it's so brilliant because

Rembrandt understood this tension and he

caught in frame the older brother. He

wears the same regal gown as the father.

The brother's lost his. Rather than

jumping in the on the group hug, right?

Come on, fam. Group hug. He stands

distant. Not just from the son, but also

the father. Arms folded. What do we know

psychologist have arm folded? It's

defensive, right? I'm defending myself

from this whatever this is. His face is

distant. He's not looking at he's not

looking at the son. He's looking at the

father. Why? because deeperly and

inwardly he's longing for this embrace

and this manation. The point is what he

missed is that it was there all the

time. At the heart of our father is a

heart to restore. Not to condemn, not to

bully, not to attack, not to destroy,

but to res to restore. Yeah. Come on.

It's worth celebrate now.

It was the late great Dr. Timothy Keller

said the gospel, the good news about

Jesus isn't just about forgiveness. It's

about restoration,

God's work to make all things new

through Christ. So, as we close, I'm

going to response time. What does it

mean to be restored to the father?

Number one, here's what it means. To be

restored to the father means that we

recognize that we are wanted,

not tolerated,

not even just accepted, but that we are

wanted. The father looks out for both

sons. And I want you to know especially

if you're a man because sometimes one of

the things that happens us as men is we

have to grow up and become independent

and eventually become the man of our own

house and and there gets a point in life

where maybe your father good or bad

passed away and you're like you're you

are the covering. You are it. And that

can sometimes give birth to a lie that

you are all you have and you are all you

need and you can't count on anyone

else's world because you're it. And that

is not true. Listen carefully man.

You are wanted.

Your earthly father may not have wanted

you, but your heavenly father does. He

wants you. He wants you. And when you

decide when your moment comes to take

off your cap and bow your knee and say,

"God, I'm so sorry that I just tried to

do this for myself, my own strength, and

I recognize that how can I be a good

father if I don't have a good father?

How can I reflect to my kids what I

haven't seen reflected to me?" Like, I

need you. The point is your father

embraces you. One hand gently just rec

reassuring consoling. The other hand

pulls you in close because you wanted.

Number two, God restores us by showing

us that we have been forgiven.

Ultimately, the story ends with the fact

that the father forgave both sons. The

one who left and one us were both

forgiven. The father sacrificed

everything he had for both of his sons

pride and folly. And yet in the end,

like in that painting, everything comes

back to that father's faith, his

disposition. Why? Because he forgives.

And if you're here, you're like, "Man, I

I have I have failed as a parent. I've

failed in life. I've said things to my

kids that I regret, and I wish to go

back and take my time." And and the

reason we can't go back and change time,

but we can accept today, right now in

the present tense, that God is a God who

forgives.

And his forgiveness doesn't just

liberate us, but it also empowers us to

go and seek forgiveness where and when

we have wronged others. One of the most

powerful things I do for my kids as a

father is when I get it wrong, I

apologize

and I ask for forgiveness. I learned

this from my own dad. Despite all his

imperfections, and there were many, and

all the the the things that happened

that were not worth mentioning because

they're too painful, the one thing my

dad seemed to get right is after a few

days

been drunk or a bender or gone, my dad

for some reason would always come back

and apologize. And I can remember being

a a broken teenager thinking, man, I you

know, my dad is this, that, and the

other, and oh, you know, all the rage

against my dad. But I was thinking, but

he can't. I mean, something in him is

trying. Something in him is trying.

I thought, man, if there's one thing I'm

going to do when I become a dad, I'm

going to keep that inheritance and be a

strong man who when I get it wrong, I

get down on one knee, I look at my kids'

eyes and I say, "I'm sorry." And this is

applied to my kids. If I find myself in

a shop like Halford's,

I do something that I shouldn't have

done, I am the same person. I want to go

find that person and ask forgiveness.

God's forgiveness isn't just liberate

us. It also empowers us to forgive and

be forgiven by others. And lastly,

we're restored by the heavenly father.

And what that means is we are loved. And

it's so funny because again as a dude

probably more on the masculine end of

the spectrum it's like love

you know really what you want to do hug

me now like come on and the truth is

that's one way of understanding love but

love is acceptance.

Love is value. Perhaps the most

meaningful thing my father could ever

tell me is not Jamie I love you. Jamie

I'm proud of you. Proud of you. Listen

to me man. Your heavenly father says to

you, "He is proud of you." What? Me? How

is he proud of me? It's like sometimes

I'll say to my kids, I've told before,

I'll say to my kids, I'll slap one in

the head and I'll say, "Hey, I love

you."

Why? I say, "Well, not because anything

you've done, obviously."

And they'll say, "Why do you love me?" I

said, "Because before you were born, I

decided

I DECIDED I'M THE DAD. I CAN DO THAT

SUPERPOWER. I DECIDED BEFORE you were

born before YOU CAUSED ME ALL THIS

STRESS.

THAT MY LOVE FOR YOU IS NOT based on you

and your performance but in me and how

proud of you I am.

Your heavenly father is proud of you.

What could it look like if you left this

service today

profoundly transformed the knowledge but

your heavenly father wants you?

He forgives you and he loves you and is

proud of you. What could that do you?

Come on. that do for our relationships,

our marriage, our our own kids, they

could change the world. Last thing I'm

going to pray because next week we

finish the series. The last benefit of

the father's love, his restoration is

that we can be made new. And next week

we're going to finish up the series talk

about what does it mean to be made new,

to restart, to change things, put into

practice all the things we've learned,

God's help, and live a different