Hugs & Kisses | Alex Gallien | "Red Letter Summer" Part 8

Now, if I'm not mistaken, today is also a kiddos move up day, meaning that for the first time in some of their lives, we have some kids who've officially graduated to big church.

Can we clap it up for anybody joining us today?

We love you guys.

And who would I be if I continued with one more word, if I tried to preach this sermon without acknowledging the fact that as of last Sunday night, Team Galleon, the kickball dynasty lives on.

Anyone on the winning team in here?

Come on.

This is four years, four tournaments, four championships, four up, four down.

You don't want to know who did not do that?

Michael Jordan never did that.

Steph Curry never did that.

Our team did that, didn't we, Jackson?

Uh-huh.

Yeah, I know.

It's good stuff.

Now, I could keep going on about this for days, but I've matured.

So I'm not going to.

And uh today is also week eight of a series that we're calling Red Letter Summer, where we're spending every Sunday covering Jesus and Jesus and more Jesus, parables from Jesus, stories from Jesus, teachings from Jesus, quotes from Jesus.

And we're doing that because our word for this year, the theme that we've built our entire year around as a church, is the word remember.

And uh we, because we've spent the first part of this year remembering the importance of spiritual disciplines that have been building Christians into disciples for thousands of years, and then we spent about 10 weeks remembering some of the weighty theological nuances hidden within the Apostles' Creed uh for a couple of weeks, such as soteriology and ecclesiology and eschatology.

And then after that, most recently, we've spent some time remembering the reality of the person, the role, and the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.

I thought, man, what would a year entitled remember be if we didn't take some time to also meditate on and remember the words of Jesus Himself?

And so that's what we're doing.

And given the fact that Jesus' words have historically showed up in red font within your Bibles, that's why the name of this series is Red Letter Summer.

And as important as all of those subjects that I just mentioned, all the subjects that we've been going over all year long, as important as they are, as important as it really is for you to begin digging into and learning some of the deep and maybe even more academic concepts of theology, it is just as important that in all of your learning, you never outgrow the simple truths of the gospel.

Because the deepest theology in the world is meaningless and ugly if it doesn't do the work of consistently bringing you back to the heart of God, to the love of God, the heart of the gospel, which is a God who deeply loves broken, imperfect, and sinful people like all of us.

And so if we're talking about parables that capture the heart of the gospel, I gotta be honest and say I think there's one that rises to the very top.

One story that has comforted the guilty and restored the wondering and reminded people through the ages of who God really is and what God is really like.

And that, of course, is the parable found in Luke chapter 15, known as the parable of the prodigal son.

Luke 15 · chapter mention

And so if you have your Bibles, I'd like to give you a chance to turn to Luke 15 today.

We're gonna, as soon as we get there, we're gonna post up there and stay there all day long.

So I think it'd be good if you went ahead and opened your Bibles.

Uh, as you're doing that, I want to correct an announcement.

The back to school bash is not on August 22nd.

It is on August 15th, all right?

Uh August 15th.

Don't show up on the 22nd.

We're not having it on the 22nd.

And then another announcement would be just a quick reminder our fast, our 21-day fast, starts tomorrow.

So eat your Taco Bell, get your pizza, enjoy your ice cream, because for the next 21 days, we go hard, and it's gonna be a lot of fun.

And I hope that you guys are excited for it.

Shout out to those of you who signed up for the pastor's fast.

We're gonna have a good time in that little community.

But if you're ready to go, we're gonna be in Luke 15, and we're gonna begin in verse 11.

Luke 15, starting in verse number 11, says, To illustrate the point further, Jesus told them this story.

A man had two sons.

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

And so his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons.

A few days later, this younger son packed up all of his belongings and moved to a distant land where he then wasted all of this money in wild living.

Well, about that time his money ran out, and a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve.

So he persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into the fields to feed the pigs, which is something a Jewish person would never do because pigs were considered unclean.

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

So when he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, Man, at home even the hired servants have enough food, and they don't just have enough food, they have enough food to spare.

And yet here I am dying of hunger.

I'm gonna go home to my father and I'm gonna say, Dad, I've sinned against both heaven and you, and I'm no longer worthy of being called your son.

Please just take me on as a hired servant.

And so he returned home to his father, and while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming and filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, he embraced him, he hugged him, and he kissed him.

And his son said to him, Father, I've sinned against both heaven and you, and I'm no longer worthy of being called your son.

But his father interrupted him.

He said to his servants, Quit, bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him.

Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet and kill that calf we've been fattening.

We must celebrate with a feast, for this son of mine was dead, and he's now returned to life.

He was lost, but now he's found.

And so the party began.

I want to use this parable as the backdrop for a sermon that we're gonna be calling Hugs and Kisses.

And so if you're taking notes, that's your title today.

Hugs and Kisses.

Okay.

Now you've all got to participate in this exercise.

And if you don't, I'm kicking you out of the church.

And obviously, I'm kidding, I'm not gonna kick you out of the church, but I would like you all to participate by a show of hands.

How many of you vividly remember the COVID-19 era?

Oh yeah, everyone remembers that, don't you?

It's like all these kids that moved up today, they don't remember it at all.

They just played their switch the entire time.

They were like, this is the best, this is the best year of my life.

For the rest of us, we were like, that was a fiasco I never want to return to again.

Because if you're being honest, it's like we there were so many challenges in that time period.

It's like we had to learn something new every day.

Something new went wrong every week.

There was a new challenge for us to figure out.

And as many challenges as there were, one of the funnier challenges we were presented with during that time period was the challenge of greeting people in public.

You guys know what I'm talking about?

It's like pre-COVID-19, especially in the South, when you saw people in public, which just means Walmart, because there is no other public place.

I don't know, where these tiny movie theaters, Dollar General, Walmart, a funeral home, the football game that was canceled, so not that, and church, like that's it.

Pre-COVID-19, you saw people in public, you shook their hand, you gave them a hug, you did the best of both worlds, or you dapped them up and you gave them a hug, right?

But then in 2020, overnight, that whole process becomes so complicated because we go from shaking people's hands and giving them hugs to now suddenly we're we're greeting people with elbows in public spaces and we're giving grandma a fist bump at Thanksgiving.

It was odd, it was weird, and for me at least, it was awkward, and I'll tell you why.

It was awkward.

Um, most of you know this.

I'm a hugger, I am a natural born and bred.

It is in my DNA.

When I see you out in Walmart, I ain't giving you a handshake.

We're going in for the full-on frontal embrace.

There is no side hug in me.

It's a anybody else a hugger in the room, you guys know what I'm talking about?

Yes.

So you get it, and this is what would happen.

Even though I knew full and well that that was not what you were supposed to do, I'm talking about I got the mask on and everything for everyone else's mental health.

I probably didn't want to be wearing the mask, but I wore it for everybody else's sake.

And still, you see someone you know in public, and what's the first thing I go in for?

Hey! And then they're like, uh, and then I thought, oh yeah, that's right.

How are you doing?

And they're like, ah, like you can't do that either.

And then I'm thinking, okay, I'm doing this, and like, uh, they throw the elbow in, and I'm like, ah, it's weird.

It was weird, and it was awkward.

And believe it or not, a lot of times the love of God can be a lot like giving hugs was in 2020.

Sometimes we embrace it, no problem.

It is exactly what we were craving, it's exactly what we needed, it is everything we could have hoped for.

And then other times, even for really holy, aged, seasoned, and committed Christians, embracing the love of God can become something that we make more complicated than it actually is.

And this was especially true for the group of people that Jesus originally told this parable to.

And for those of you who are not sure who that is, this group of people were known as the Pharisees, and they were like the elite-level religious leaders of Jesus' time period, and they were really good at reminding sinners about how God's judgment is coming after them, but they were not as good about reminding people that God is also one who forgives sin, and that he's one that's ready to lavish mercy and compassion on the sinful.

And I get it, uh, as the people who outwardly wanted to seem better than everybody else, the people who knew the scriptures the best and prayed the nicest prayers and knew the most about God and spent the most time in church, the Pharisees taught this idea that if you wanted to encounter the love and mercy of God, then first you had to get your life right.

First, you had to stop living like you've been living.

First, you had to stop cussing, and you had to stop drinking, and stop getting high, and you had to stop lying to people and cheating on your taxes, and you had to stop being mean to your teachers, and you had to honor your parents, and you definitely had to stop sleeping with that person that you're not married to, and you had to quit watching porn, and you had to quit gossiping, and only then, of course, you also have to pray and read your Bible and give in the offering and serve on the team and wear the right clothes and tuck your shirt in when you come to church, and only then, once you started doing what you were supposed to do, what you'd known you're supposed to do this whole time, only then could you engage in a relationship with God because outside of you doing that, God just sort of sees you as repulsive.

God didn't really want anything to do with you.

And I know that none of y'all have ever been there.

Never had that thought about God, have you?

Uh, thoughts that sound like, man, I got hammered on Friday.

Uh, I made a real fool out of myself, and here I am in church on a Sunday morning.

It just feels weird right now.

Or thoughts that sound like uh I haven't read my Bible or prayed like personally in four and a half weeks, and I'm sitting here singing a song about how Christ is my firm foundation, and I don't even know if that's true.

Am I allowed to sing that?

Because I feel like a real hypocrite, because I'm not sure if I mean it, I'm not sure if I'm living it out, or thoughts that sound like you've ever heard this prayer before in your mind?

You go to start praying, but before you ever ask God for anything, or before you pray, you just stop and you go, Well Lord, here I am again.

And I know I told you I wasn't gonna drink again, and I know I told you I wasn't gonna Snapchat that person again.

And I know I told you I wasn't gonna have sex with that person I wasn't married to again, and I wasn't gonna look at porn again, and I know I told you I was gonna read my Bible, I know I told you I was gonna pray, I know I told you I wasn't gonna gossip, and then and then I did it anyways.

I did the exact thing that I told you I was never gonna do again, and I don't even know nowhere to go from here because I sort of just feel pathetic.

I know you've never been there, but let's just say for kicks that you have been there.

If you have, just know you're not alone.

I've been there too.

And when Jesus tells us this story, what he's trying to communicate whenever you begin hearing this story, Jesus is trying to speak to those thoughts in your head and say, That is not how God feels about you.

That is not how God feels about your situation.

Now, is it true that God hates sin?

Well, certainly.

And he doesn't just hate sin in general, he hates your sin.

So let's be clear, he hates your sin.

Why?

Because your sin is destroying your life, and your sin is destroying the lives of the people around you, and it's destroying your family, and it's destroying your mental peace, and it's destroying you from getting to walk in God's purpose.

So, yeah, God hates your sin.

But despite that, the love of God is still available for every person in every situation, every single time.

Every time.

And the sun in this story is supposed to be a shining example of this.

Okay, now I know that some of you, most of you probably don't spend your days studying ancient Jewish life, because who does that except for uh me?

I don't know.

Um, I do that, and if you begin studying ancient Jewish life, what you know is when you read this story, is when the son approaches his dad and he asks for his share of the estate, he's asking for his inheritance early.

And to ask for your inheritance early would be the same thing as approaching your father and saying, Hey dad, I like your money more than I like you being alive.

Could you just go ahead and die already so that I could get what's coming to me?

Now I think we can all agree and say that is disrespectful to say to your dad on any level for any culture, but in this ancient Jewish culture, and this is where it goes back to you gotta read things like Leviticus.

When you read the book of Leviticus and you don't just put your Bible app on 1.5 times the speed and get through it as fast as you can and listen to it and then mark it off so that you can say that you read or listened to Leviticus, but you actually pay attention to it.

What you start learning is that it back then, for a child to disrespect their father like that, it didn't just get you in trouble, it could get you killed.

By the rule of law, you could be stoned to death for doing something like that.

This is a bad thing, I mean, this is a really intense thing.

Like this, this kid didn't just have a bad day.

This kid, like, he deserved to face some serious consequences for his actions, but you got to remember his actions didn't stop at asking for his inheritance.

He then gets the inheritance.

The dad doesn't bring down the sword on him, he gives him the inheritance, and you want to know what the you know what the kid does with it.

He doesn't invest it into a Roth IRA so that it can sit there and accumulate compound interest for the next 25 years so that he can set up his kids with uh generational wealth for whenever he passes away.

None of that happens.

It says he goes and he spends it in wild living.

And that term wild living, let me just say, some things never change.

2,000 years later, wild living still looks a lot like it did 2,000 years ago.

Wild living, uh week-long benders defined by drug and alcohol abuse, prostitution, rampant gambling, loads of shopping that you can't afford, buying a lot of stuff, charging it to a credit card that you know you're never gonna be able to pay back, right?

Expensive meals that you know you shouldn't be eating.

We call it sensuality, and this is sensuality at its finest.

This wasn't a mistake.

And I believe in mistakes.

I think people make actual mistakes, things that we didn't mean to do, they just sort of happened, and you look back and you go, oh, I probably shouldn't have done that.

That's not what this is.

This wasn't a mistake, this wasn't just a bad day.

This was public sin in the most embarrassing way and on the most embarrassing level.

This kid took the money that his dad had earned, had spent his life earning, and he wasted it.

And he does so in a way where they would have known who he was, meaning he drug his family's name through the mud the whole time.

This is happening.

It would be as if the kid left, went to go do his thing, went to go spend all this money in wild living, and then he posted about it on Facebook the entire time.

Everyone saw it, everyone knew what was happening.

This was not good, and this kid deserves to experience some consequences for his decision making.

And yet, when you start paying attention to like the narrative of the Bible, you come across these surprising verses.

One good example would be a verse that we see when Jesus' little brother James writes in James 2.13, and he says that God's mercy always triumphs over his judgment.

That's a pretty cool one.

But then, of course, you've got the most iconic one, John 3.16, right?

The prophet, the apostle, the disciple, he writes that before you went to church, before you started getting your life right, before you did anything good at all, even then, God doesn't just love the world, he so loves the world.

He doesn't just love you, he so loves you.

Isn't that a cool adjective to use?

He could have left that word out, but that word so man, that's a big deal.

He doesn't just love you, he so loves you.

And what I found is that those are the kind of verses that we remind other people of when they do bad things.

When other people have a bad day, we're quick to go, hey, God's mercy triumphs over his judgment.

And God so loves you.

And while we were still sinners, Christ died for you.

But you want to know who we never remind those verses to when they mess up?

Us.

And some of you are like, no, no, no, no, no.

I do that.

I believe in God's love, I appreciate God's love.

I've never forgotten God's love.

Yeah, and you've probably read your Bible every day this week, you know, and you've prayed every day this week, and you haven't missed church in a long time, and you memorized all the verses, and you haven't been ill to your spouse.

But do me a favor, have one bad week and come back to me and tell me how you feel about your relationship with God then.

Because in my experience, make one real embarrassing public mistake, or have a few sketchy days back to back to back, or better yet, a few sketchy weeks back to back to back.

And you may not feel like God hates you.

You might think, you know, God's at least tolerating your existence, He's not striking you down with lightning.

But my bet is that if you're like me, you're probably also gonna find yourself reverting back to those old toxic belief systems about how if you really want to get back into God's graces, then you gotta be consistent for at least a couple of days.

I mean, tell me you haven't had that thought before?

Or it's like, I have been so inconsistent and unimpressive for days on end, for weeks on end.

What do you think?

I can just say I'm sorry, feel bad, and like receive God's love and just get up and keep moving like nothing happened?

No, no, no.

I gotta be consistent for a few days, at least, right?

For a few weeks, at least, right?

I gotta do, I gotta do the right thing for a while.

And you start at you ever tried to make a deal with God?

Then in a moment where you're trying to like strike a deal with God?

Yeah, I have.

I can promise you, uh, I've been there about a billion times, and this is exactly how this kid is thinking, too.

Look at verses 18 and 19.

Look at it.

He says, I'm gonna go home to my father, and I'm gonna say, Dad, I've sinned against both heaven and you, and I'm no longer worthy of being called your son.

So just take me on as a hired servant.

So here's what's happening.

This kid is, he's thinking, I'm gonna go home and I'm gonna show dad how much better I've been living.

And so during his four-day journey back home, four-day journey, I just make that up.

During his four-day journey on his way back home, he's writing his speech, and he's reciting it, and he's learning it, and he's saying it out loud, and he's getting ready, and this is how it starts, all right?

Dad, I'm a piece of crap.

And I did exactly what you told me not to do.

I know I'm in embarrassment to this family.

I embarrass you, and I embarrass mom, I embarrass our brother.

And if you want me to change my last name on Facebook so that people don't know that I'm in the family, I'll do it.

I I hate where I've been, and I just want to come back home, and I'll do whatever it takes.

I'll be a I'll be your servant.

I, you know, you've always wanted me to like keep my room clean, wash the dishes.

I'll do it.

I will I will do everything you tell me to do.

I for years you've been telling me the importance of reading the Bible and praying on my own.

I'll do it.

I that 21-day fast the church is about to go on.

I'm gonna do it.

It's gonna be hard too.

I'm gonna I'm gonna do the hardest fast I've ever been on.

I want to prove to you that I am serious this time.

Uh I want to I'll do whatever it takes.

I'll sing during worship, I'll jump up and down, I'll sit on the front row, I'll take notes, I'll give them the offering, do whatever it takes.

If you'll just take me back.

Again, trying to strike a deal with God.

And that's normal because I mean that that feels logical, right?

If someone does something bad to you and they go, How can I repay you?

You tell them exactly how they can repay you.

And we try to do that with God, but that's not how it works with God.

Look at verse 20.

It says this is after he's got his speech ready to go.

So he returned home to his father, and while he was still a long way off, the father saw him coming and was filled with love and compassion.

And you just stop right there.

It does not say once the son arrived home and he said all the right things in exactly the right way, and he convinced his dad to love him again, that then his dad loved him.

That the father loved his kid when the kid was still a long way off.

And I need you to know that on your own and in your own efforts, that is exactly where you stand in regards to your relationship with God as well.

You ain't even close, sweetheart.

You are a long way off.

You have never even come close to measuring up to all of God's standards.

No matter how old you are, how long you've been in church, how long you taught Sunday school, what kind of clothes you wear, how much you give in the offering, how loud you sing during the worship services, and what kind of spiritual gives you or how humbly you think think you.

Whether you are a teenager, a drumming, a successful business, one of our over the pastor, in our own efforts, and in our best men's, we all are and woman domestic and then close.

It is a long way of.

A long way of.

So let's do it.

He returned home to his father, and while he was still a long way off, not close, not impressive, the father saw him coming and filled with love and compassion, he didn't wait for his son to get it all right and to get back together and to convince him to let him back into the family.

No, he ran to his son, he hugged him and he kissed him.

Now, this is the moment where when Jesus is saying this out loud, the people here in this message give a collective and they start going, he ran?

Did you hear that?

The dad ran to his kid.

Have you ever seen your dad run?

No, I've never seen my dad run before.

I think my dad's fast.

I don't know.

I've never seen my dad run before.

Now, the reason they're having this conversation, this inner dialogue between themselves, is because a Jewish person, unless they'd gone to war, they'd never seen their dad run.

And here's why.

I want to remind you, they uh their clothes didn't look like our clothes.

The guys in this culture aren't wearing Levi's, they're wearing tunics, these big long robes.

And if you want to take off running and a tunic and not step on it and trip and embarrass yourself, you gotta hike it up a little bit and then take off running.

But here's the problem in ancient Jewish culture, if you hiked up your tunic, you showed your bare legs.

And for a man to show off his bare legs, it was considered shameful and humiliating.

And so when this father hikes up his tunic and takes off running after his son, he's not just communicating his insane, unreasonable, I don't care what anyone thinks of me, love that he has for his kid.

He's looking at his kid and he's saying, the shame that you deserve because of all of your inconsistency and your embarrassing decision making, that humiliation that you brought on yourself because of the choices that you made.

No, no.

If it means getting you back home with me, I'd be willing to take that shame and that humiliation on myself.

I'll take what you deserve, I'll experience it myself.

And the Bible says that in the same way.

When Jesus endured the shame of the cross and the humiliation of a criminal's death, mind you, the shame and the humiliation and the death that we deserve because of our sins, the Bible is saying that is his way of communicating his insane, unreasonable, scandalous, I don't care what anyone thinks of me, love, that he has for you.

The Father's humiliating run for the sake of his boy is Jesus' humiliating death for the sake of the world.

It's his humiliating death for the sake of you.

And as cool and wonderful and beautiful as that really is, that's not where this run stops.

Again, in this time period, if this event were to take place, let's say a Jewish kid receives an inheritance after their father passes away, because that's how you get an inheritance.

They receive the inheritance, but then upon receiving all this money, they take off, they leave the family behind, they leave the community behind, they leave God's law behind, and they go to a foreign land, they hang out with a bunch of pagans, they do a bunch of pagan stuff, right?

They waste all this money in wild living.

If that were to happen, but then, like the guy in this story, the son were to have a moment of clarity and go, Wow, I now know why people told me not to do this.

I don't want to be here anymore.

This is awful, I'm ruining my life, I'm clearly not in God's purpose, and I want to go home.

If he wanted to go home, he would have to go back to the gates of the city and ask the elders for permission to be reinstated with his family.

And the reason he'd have to ask the elders is because typically a dad was the only one who had the kind of permission, who had the kind of authority that could grant a wayward child a position back into the family.

But think about it, in the case of a missing inheritance or the case of a lost inheritance, there is no dad in the story because the dad has already passed away.

And so, therefore, the son would have to approach the village elders.

And if you've done any New Testament reading at all, you know that elder Jewish people at this time period weren't exactly known for their grace and for their mercy.

And so what would happen is just like the dad saw that son coming from a long way off, the elders would have seen that son coming from a long way off.

But unlike the dad, who takes off running after his boy, the elders would wait at the city gates.

And that's because in ancient Jewish history, the gates were kind of like the courtroom for the city.

It's where all the legal processes happened.

And they would sit there and wait at the gates until that son made a literal walk of shame and walked straight up to the gates and asked to be reinstated with his family and his community.

And then typically they would perform a ceremony called a kazeza, where they would take a piece of pottery and they would throw it at the feet of the son and it would break.

And in doing so, it was a representation of how his relationship with the community and the family had been broken, and it was their way of banishing him and saying, You're not welcome back here.

You made your bed, you go sleep in it, enjoy your life, get out of here.

That's what typically happens.

But there's a catch 22 with this son.

This son's dad wasn't dead.

And not only was this son's dad not dead, this son's dad wasn't mad.

And in an effort to reach his boy, before those elders reached his boy, and in an effort to communicate to his son and to everyone in that village that his kids are always welcome back home despite their mistakes, this dad hikes up his tunic and he takes off running after the son that he desperately loved.

And let me pause right here and say, like, I understand that this is the most familiar passage of scripture of all time.

I understand that you've heard sermons about this.

For those of you that have ever gone to a youth camp, you've heard someone preach about this 70 times already in your young age.

I know that there are some of you that the second we said we were going to be talking about the prodigal son, your eyes glazed over because you've heard me preach sermons similar to this one, but for once in your life, will you just be honest with yourself?

Are you exhausted from trying your best to measure up to God's standards and yet feeling like all you do is fail over and over and over again?

What comes into your mind when you get a picture of God?

Is it an angry old guy who is just perpetually frustrated and embarrassed of you?

Do you feel like you're further from God than you've ever been?

Or maybe further from God than you've even been willing to say out loud?

If so, I got the best news ever for you.

Because according to Jesus, no matter how far gone you might feel, no matter how pathetic or messy or sinful or broken or unimpressive you might feel, God doesn't just love you, He's chasing you down like a hound dog chases down his prey.

According to the Bible, our heavenly Father, who mind you, is never recorded as moving quickly in the scriptures when it comes to showering you with mercy and grace and patience, the Bible says that he is sprinting, he is running after you.

And why is that?

The scriptures are clear.

God, despite what you've been told, he is slow to anger, and his judgment walks.

But his mercy, his mercy runs after you, man.

You gotta imagine this prodigal son, he assumed that he was coming home to punishment, if nothing, at least a lecture, and then he doesn't get any of that.

He arrives to an array of hugs and kisses from a dad who really loves him.

And today, that's exactly what God's telling some of you.

Yes.

You drop the ball, you are unimpressive, you didn't do everything that you said you were gonna do, you're very imperfect.

Sometimes you feel embarrassing, you're still struggling with sins that you feel like you shouldn't be struggling with anymore, and yet your dad is still in the business of hugs and kisses.

God is still in the business of hugs and kisses.

I would love for someone in here who has some grown kids to tell me the moment you quit wanting to hug and kiss them.

In my experience, my mom has never stopped wanting to hug and kiss me.

God hasn't stopped.

You don't, you don't, you're not in the family so long that suddenly now you don't get hugs and kisses.

No, no, God's still in the business of hugs and kisses.

Let's let's read it again.

I want this to sink in for you.

Look at verses 20 through 22.

The son returned home to his father, and while he was still, stay in here real quick.

For those of you getting baptized, I'm gonna tell you when you can leave.

I know that's the worship team walking out.

I just didn't want you guys to get any ideas.

So he returned home to his father, and while he was still a long way off, very unimpressive, not even close, has missed the mark a long way off.

His father saw him, just like God sees you, and filled with love and compassion, not anger and vitriol.

He ran to his son, he hugged him, and he kissed him.

And the son says to him, he tries to recite his speech that he worked all those hours on.

Father, I've sinned against you in heaven, and I'm no longer worthy of being called your son.

But then his father interrupts and he says to the servants, Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him, get a ring for his finger, and put the sandals on his feet.

Now keep in mind, this kid deserved to be punished.

He deserved by the word of God, by the legal law of the land, to have to endure the consequences that are now happening to him or should happen to him because of choices that he's actually made, and yet instead he gets tackled by a dad who is so happy to see him home, he greets him with a warm embrace and a kiss, but it doesn't stop there because after that, the dad then brings him a robe that of course represents his dignity, because if he brought him a robe, that means that he didn't have a robe on.

He didn't have any clothes on, he was naked, he was ashamed.

Nakedness in the Bible always represents shame.

It's what represents shame from Genesis chapter one.

This is a good moment for some of you.

You think that God's idea of punishing you and getting you back is that he wants to expose your sin.

He wants to let everybody in your life know all the bad things that you've been doing.

God's not interested in exposing you, He has always been a God who covers us.

What happens when Adam and Eve sinned?

It says he covered them with leaves.

When this son was in sin and he was full of shame, it says the father robes him with dignity.

Well, next, the father then puts a ring on his finger, and that ring, that ring, of course, represents the son's welcome back into the family because to give the son that ring, it likely had a signet on top of it that was the family seal that meant the second you got that ring, you had all the privileges of being in the family.

He didn't have to you know endure his grounding for two years to get the privileges back or prove himself to get the privileges back.

The father said, No, you're back in the family, you get all the privileges of being back in the family.

And then he put sandals on his feet.

You want to know who doesn't get sandals?

Slaves and servants.

And what was it?

The son said, I'm no longer worthy of being called your son, but if I could come back, I'll be a I'll be a servant.

And the dad says, I'm not receiving you back as a servant, I'm receiving you back as a son.

And sons get sandals because sons are full of worth and sons are full of value.

And this is your reminder, whether you experienced the love and mercy of God a long time ago, whether you've yet to experience it, and you say yes to following Jesus, you are immediately infused with dignity.

You're immediately a part of the family.

You don't have to earn your way into the family, you're just in the family.

Kids don't earn their way into the family, kids are just born.

And then third, you are given worth and you're given value, even though maybe other people in your life have told you you're worth nothing, you don't bring anything to the table.

God says, No, you're worth a lot of stuff, you bring everything to the table.

This is what it means to be accepted back into the family of God.

You contrary to what some of you have been force fed your entire Christian lives, God is not obsessed with vengeance, God's not obsessed with sending people to hell, God's not obsessed with giving people what they deserve.

You want to know why we know that?

Because if God wanted to give you what you deserved, he wouldn't have sent Jesus.

He didn't deserve that.

God wants to heal you, He wants to make you whole.

God wants to bless you, He wants to forgive you, He wants to complete you.

God, you know what God wants to do?

He would love to exchange your anxiety and those suicidal thoughts and that depression.

He'd love for you to exchange all of that for his peace.

He'd love to grant you the kind of peace that surpasses understanding, the kind of peace that you're not even supposed to have.

It doesn't even make any sense that you have peace in this situation, other than man, God must have done this for me.

God wants to infuse you with fresh hope and with purpose in a way that you've never had it before.

You know what God wants to do for you?

He wants to set you free.

He wants to set you free from that addiction that everybody knows about.

He also wants to set you free from those sins that you haven't told anybody about.

The sins that you've been too afraid to confess out loud to your spouse or to your prayer partner or to anyone else.

Now, God wants to set you free from that.

For some of you, He wants to set you free from that guilt that you've been carrying around for way too long now.

From the decisions that you made in high school, from that first marriage that didn't go the way that you wanted it to.

God wants to set you free from that stuff.

From those things that you did when you told him you weren't gonna do it again, and then you did it again.

Now you've got all this guilt every time you get in the presence of God, He wants to set you free from this thing called shame.

The shame that is infringing upon your relationship with your spouse.

The shame that makes you feel nervous every time you walk into church.

I bet some of y'all experienced that today.

You came to watch someone in your family get baptized and you stepped into a church and you went, I don't know if I belong here.

I don't know if I'm welcome here.

God wants to set you free from that, because none of that's true.

He wants to set you free from that shame that you feel when you open up your Bible and it's the first time you've opened it up in seven weeks.

You know that shame?

You know that you're supposed to be reading and that it's good, but you're like, you open it up and you just go, gosh, this has been way too long since I've done this.

Ah, that's not God talking to you.

That shame that when you go to try and pray for the first time in a while, that shame that when you made that decision on a Saturday night and you show up at church and you go to raise your hands in worship, and you're like, ah, can I do this?

God wants to set you free from that.

Okay, so no one tells you this.

You are afforded as many fresh starts with God as you will ever need.

You're afforded as many as you will ever need.

The Bible says that his mercies are new every single day.

Every morning.

You want to know why they're new every morning?

Well, newsflash, you need them every single morning.

This isn't greasy grace, and it's not watered down theology, it is the simple gospel of Jesus that we deserve nothing, and he gives us everything.

We spend our lives letting him down, and he spends his days chasing us down.

It is the greatest message in the world.

It is only, it only stays the greatest message, though, when you remember the very beginning of verse 20.

Let's reference it one last time.

I'd be doing you a disservice if we didn't reference it.

Verse 20 says, So he returned home to his father.

This is what we call repentance.

Repentance is when you are moving one direction, and then you have a change of mind that then causes you to move in another direction.

Repentance is the moment that your sin starts breaking your heart in the same way it's been breaking God's heart this whole time.

Repentance is the realization that man, my way ain't cutting it.

And my truths have not gotten me where I need to be, and my lifestyle is certainly not pleasing to God.

And so, Lord, today I choose to adopt your ways, and I choose to adopt your truths as my own, despite what culture says about it.

And I choose to walk in your lifestyle.

Repentance is when you take Jesus up on the call of discipleship, which is to die to yourself, to take up your cross and to follow him, come what may.

Don't let anyone sell you short.

You do not get to receive God as your rescuer without also submitting to him as your ruler.

Repentance is not you just feeling bad and saying sorry.

Repentance is you making Jesus Lord and not just Lord of your eternity.

That's where we want it.

We want to we want Jesus to save us from an eternity in hell.

He wants to save you from a lifestyle of hell.

He doesn't just want to be Lord of your eternity, he wants to be Lord of your life, Lord of your habits, Lord of your decisions, master of your finances, the way you spend your money.

He wants to be Lord over the words that come out of your mouth, over the tone that you take when you respond to your spouse.

He wants to be Lord over your sexuality, Lord over anything that you consume, Lord over how you spend your time, Lord over your dreams, Lord over your ambitions, Lord over every relationship in your life.

He wants to be Lord over every decision that you're ever gonna make.

Remember this, okay?

Sometimes we don't talk about this enough.

I think we should though.

The son didn't come back home expecting the father to continue financing his reckless lifestyle.

The son knew that living with the family meant living like the family.

God will take you as you are, but he will not leave you that way.

That's the good news of the gospel.

It's not just that God will take you as you are.

If that's all you've been sold, you've been sold a false gospel.

The good news is not that God takes you as you are, it's that he takes you as you are, but he will not leave you that way.

He will transform you, he will save you, he will change you, he wants to change you, and you need changing.

And that's exactly what repentance is, and that's what this scripture means when it says the son returned home to his father.

Here in a moment, I'd like to give everybody in the room the opportunity to make that same move and to return home.

So do me a favor, without rustling all your stuff around, without talking to anybody, and without leaving out the back doors, unless you're getting baptized.

This is your moment to walk out the back doors.

For the rest of you, without walking out the back doors, I want to invite you to stand up on your feet.

Today we're gonna do it a little bit differently.

In the same way that the son had to make a move and to physically return home to his father for the first time in a while.

I want to give some of you the opportunity to make a physical move and to meet me down front.

We're gonna have what we call an altar call.

This is a moment where you leave the comfort of your chair and the comfort of your security concerning what your friends and your family members who are thinking about you, whatever.

When you leave that behind, and you say, I don't care about any of that as much as I just care about having a moment with the love of God.

Let me tell you who this altar call is gonna be for.

Number one, this is for those of you who are here today, and you know you've never had a genuine or authentic, sincere moment where you gave every part of what you went over to the Lord.

You've never had a moment where you placed your faith in Jesus as a sinless Son of God who died on the cross and rose from the grave so that you can be saved and you're ready to do that.

You're ready to be saved from a lifestyle of sin and saved into the kingdom of God.

You're ready to give him everything and experience his love and his mercy for the first time.

That's the first group of people.

The second group of people that this is for is for those of you who you had that moment, and you can talk me through that moment, you can walk me back and tell me how it felt, but in this moment of your life, that feels like light years away.

It feels like you were a part of the family, but then maybe along the way you made some choices and like the sun, but you left the family, and you haven't been living like the family, but you're ready to come home.

You're ready to return, you're ready to experience the love and immersing the hugs and the kisses of the father once again.

The third group of people, this is for them.

For those of us who have not left the house.

We've been loving God this entire time, not perfectly at any at any point in time, but like you love God, but you also realize that you're just as imperfect as everyone else.

You have just as much sand for as anybody else.

And you'd like a fresh touch from God.

You'd like a fresh reminder of his love and his mercy, and you're not ashamed to say that you love that and you live and you breathe for it.

That's who this is for today.

And so on the count of three, this is what we're gonna do.

On the count of three, that's you.

I want you to come down here.

And of course you can get on your knees, you can lay on your face, you can stand up, you can sit down, but we're gonna pray.

We're gonna pray, we're gonna acknowledge ways that we've fallen short, but you're not just gonna do that.

This is not just a moment of weeping and crying.

This is also a moment of you allowing the Holy Spirit to meet you down here, of you receiving and experiencing the love, the mercy, and the patience of God that wants to wash you clean of your sin and your shame and thrust you into a lifestyle of righteousness.

That's what's gonna happen.

All right, and up front, this is not a church where we judge people for like answering moments like this, okay?

We're a group of people who actually appreciate this thing called repentance.

We celebrate repentance.

In fact, let me say this I think it is a wild notion that even one human being in this room wouldn't answer this altar call if I'm being honest with you.

How many of you out there would say, I have nothing to repent for?

I've done so good, I'm amazing.

God is pleased with me because of my works, and I have no need for a fresh touch of his love.

So, this is my invitation.

I think we have some men of God in here, but it's time for you to put your money where your mouth is.

You say you want to be the leader of your family, so start right here.

Lead the way in repentance, be the first people down here.

You serve on a team, you're a leader here, but no, no, you're gonna lead the way.

We got some women of God in the room.

It's time for some of you to be the first to leave that insecurity of yours in that seat where it's at and come down front and have a moment with God.

All right, I'm gonna encourage you guys to do this.

And for those of you that feel a little bit nervous, and you're like, man, I don't want to be the first.

No worries.

You don't have to be.

I'm the first down here.

Are you kidding me?

I need this as much as anybody in the room.

Matter of fact, let me show you what this is gonna look like.

Lord, you have heard my thoughts, you know my nasty motives.

You've seen every moment where I went right and you told me to go left, and I'm sorry about it.

I repent for that.

Lord, I pray that you tower me with your love and your mercy, and on the count of three, if that's what you want, if that's what you care about, if that's something you're interested in, I want you to meet me down here.

You ready?

One, two, three.

Your children's running after me.

It's running too.

Come on, you're not down here to prove yourself.

You're just receiving.

I want every voice raised, every hand raised.

With every breath that I will see of the goodness of God.

Come on, like you mean it.

And all my life you have to have this.

Come on, every voice by Jesus!

Thank you, thank you, thank you, for your patience, for your mercy, for putting up with us, thank you for the cross, thank you for your blood, your broken body, thank you for every prayer answered that we didn't deserve.

Oh Lord, we love you.

Come out of your mouth.

I love you.

I love you, man.

I love you, Lord.