The Two Lost Sons - Our Father

Well, Father, we praise you.

We thank you.

You're such a good God to us.

And just for adopting us as your kids and being part of your family, we praise you for that.

Holy Spirit, we thank you for teaching us.

And we ask you to teach us this morning.

I just uh ask specifically that that all of us will leave today knowing that we uh had a an experience with you, that we heard something from you for us.

And Jesus, we just thank you for making this all possible, for showing us what our fathers like, for paying the price for for our weaknesses and mistakes.

And so we thank you for saving us and loving us and we love you.

It's in your name we pray.

Amen.

Well, this morning's got a small goal.

Um what we'd like to do is change our lives forever in an instant, and uh, or at the very least, confirm that our life has changed, and so we won't ever have to wonder about it again.

And we're gonna do this in kind of a strange way.

We're gonna talk a little bit about how we got here, all of us today, on the on the 28th of August, and sitting here together in in the big room.

Um we're gonna talk about uh the last part of the story of the prodigal son, uh, and look a little bit closer at the father part of the story.

And then we're gonna finish by experiencing a little part of that story um for ourselves.

As a group, we're coming up on our six-year anniversary.

Uh, we started at uh Dave and Buster's on September, I think it was September 18th, whatever six years ago it was.

I guess that was 2005.

And uh we met first at Dave and Buster's over in Marietta.

How many uh of you were ever part of his hands when we were over at Dave and Buster's?

The uh I don't know if I should thank you or feel sorry for you.

Um it was something, man.

We so we don't know what we're doing now, but man, we really didn't know what we were doing um then.

And and the idea of starting at Dave and Buster's was kind of to make a statement, you know, because to to get a hold of this idea that God's not stuffy and church shouldn't be be boring, and it really should be more um like a celebration.

And that's where the party on Sunday kind of came from.

It came from the story of the in the prodigal son.

It also came from uh Deuteronomy 14 in the Old Testament.

If you've never read that chapter, it's pretty eye-opening.

That's where they uh God talks about tithing, and they took a third of their their tithe, and they took care of other people, and they took two-thirds, and they literally had a huge party with God.

And it explains that in Deuteronomy 14, and you get to the end, and it's it's uh especially um eye-opening.

And so that was kind of the point, you know, and I we didn't want to start at a school or or or that type of thing.

We just kind of wanted to make a statement, and so why not a fun type of place where Jesus would have uh would have hung out.

And the the first Sunday we talked about the tree of life versus the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and how God's real desire is a relationship for us to connect with Him, not to learn all the rules and then try to be godly or like God ourselves.

And uh I remember that first Sunday, or actually I remember many Sundays at David Buster's, and um I remember the worship team would practice in our basement, then we'd get up early and we'd haul all the equipment over there and then then haul it back, and so many people helped in so many ways.

And I remember being scared to death is uh the main thing.

Um I remember that first Sunday because I I mentioned this before, but I really have a fear of of public speaking.

So it was uh, you know, I was really uptight, and uh not just in my uh like nervous or fearful, but I was uptight in general.

You know, I uh had dressed apart, you know, had the slacks on and the button-down shirt, you know, and and uh um top behind this glass or plexiglass podium thing.

And um I really wasn't comfortable being my being myself.

And you and and then uh Susan kept getting on me to dress like I normally would.

And so finally I took a chance.

I just felt like the earth was gonna stop if I wore jeans uh talking on on Sunday morning.

But and then another Sunday, uh the sound system went out in this room that we had at David Buster's.

And and so there weren't that many of us, and we all kind of got together close, and so I just grabbed a bar stool and sat on that, and I felt so much more comfortable rather than standing up and and doing that.

So really I've been doing that um ever since.

But the cool thing about David Buster's is that in order to rent the room, you could either kind of do it one one of two ways.

You could rent the room, or you could uh kind of purchase a buffet and you got the room for free.

And as it turns out, it's the same, it's the same price.

So every Sunday we had a buffet afterwards, and we got to know each other and we hang out and ate.

And and the shocking thing is we met at a super fun place.

We had a free buffet every Sunday after church, and there still only were 65 or 70 of us that uh that came.

But nine months from the day that we started, we moved over here.

And then we'd we had bought this building before we even started, and we're renovating it, and we moved over on the on the high school um side, and there's about 75 of us, including kids, that moved over there.

It was nine months to the day.

So to me that was a you know kind of symbolic because God was something new was being born, you know.

And um and so the first thing that we well, and then we moved from there.

We grew to about 150 of us uh uh between then, which was June and October, and then we all moved in here.

And um you can just imagine like 150, 200 people in this big room.

And and the thing I remember the most about that first Sunday is how loud it was.

I mean, uh, if you think the music is loud now, I mean it was ear splitting.

And um the people were crying and not because God was speaking to them.

It was because it was because their ears hurt, you know, and so we and so we learned two things.

One is we needed to get a decibel meter in this in the sound booth, and the other is we need to stock uh earplugs at the infodesk, which uh which we still do if you ever need them or or bring someone that that does.

But over that time, we really kind of had a focus, and that's really where I want to get to, is that uh God has grown us all a lot individually, but he also grows us as a as a church.

And so when we started, we had a uh kind of a particular focus that we talked about quite a bit, and that was that uh I guess that the religion is not a good thing.

And then what when I say religion, uh you know, not how many of us have come to know it, but really when we're talking about religion, is how Jesus talked about it some is the idea of taking our rules and our regulations and then teaching them like that's what God wants us to do, and and somehow we have to do all these things in order to um to please God.

And that's now that probably seems like a small thing.

Back then it was actually a pretty big thing.

And and really in the South in this area, we're kind of live on the buckle of the Bible belt, and uh and there's a lot of religion in Christianity, and and so it felt like a uh a fight.

Uh like when I'd speak at Sunday, you just for me to see the looks on people's faces, and sometimes you know the anger and the pushback, and and um but it was important, it was important for us as a church to to kind of get that square.

It's the tree of life versus the tree of knowledge of good and evil, that God's about the relationship and us being in a life-given relationship with Him.

It's not about God, show us all the rules and regulations, and then you know, I'll just go and and and do that.

Uh in Matthew 15, Jesus said, their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.

And and we've learned, I think, in our culture, just to accept that.

That when you go to church, people are going to put a lot of rules on you that may or may not be in the Bible, but it's what they think is right, and it's just part of the deal.

But it's not acceptable to God.

You know, and it's what happens naturally.

This isn't really a knock on.

I mean, there's so many great churches uh here in this area.

It's just, you know, in in general, what seems like a small deal is really uh a big deal to God, and we've had a couple thousand years to try and improve on the original.

And uh so we just uh instinctively try to do that, I guess.

In Galatians 1, Paul said, I can't believe your fickleness, how easily you have turned traitor to him who called you by the grace of Christ.

By embracing a variant message, it is not a minor variation.

And see, what he's talking about is that in the church uh in the city of Galatia, they were saying, hey, you have to do this and you have to do this to please God.

And the the this was circumcision.

You know, it seemed it seemed right.

It had been part of the Jewish culture and it was something from God, and so they're saying, well, it was good then, it's good now, and so in order to please God, you have to have to do that.

And it seemed like a kind of a small thing.

Paul says, it it's not a small thing.

Um, you know, it's completely other, an alien message, a no message, a lie about God.

Those who are provoking this agitation among you are turning the message of Christ on its head.

Let me be blunt.

If one of us, even if an angel from heaven were to preach something other than what we preached originally, let him be cursed.

I said it once, I'll say it again.

If anyone, regardless of reputation or credentials, preaches something other than what you have received originally, let him be cursed.

And so when we add our rules and we add our regulations and what we think God forgot, or what we you know think is just good for us, it is a lie about God.

It's not a small thing.

To say that you have got to do this and and you've got that, and you can't listen to this music, and you uh you can't drink, you know, and you can't dance, and you can't smoke, and you've got to do this, you gotta do that.

Those are all lies about God.

Because God's not like that.

God's not like that.

We are.

You know, God's about get into relationship with me, and then I'll show you.

You know, some of us can drink, some of us can't.

I'll show you, and I'll change you, and I'll strengthen you, and and and we'll go on this walk together.

Um says, Christ is as free to live a free life.

So take your stand.

Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you.

Okay, so we started by really kind of celebrating freedom, which isn't celebrating you know wildness and lack of restraint and all those types of things.

It's celebrating the truth about our relationship with God.

That this isn't a servant-master relationship, an employee-boss relationship.

This is a father-daughter, father-son type of relationship.

And that made a lot of people mad.

You know, and there'd be a lot of Sundays people would walk out, you know, just even something simple like wine in the Bible is really wine, which it really is.

I mean, and um things like that, it would really um kind of freak people out, and I'd get mean emails, and and I didn't always handle it well.

I mean, there was times I was too aggressive or didn't say things the right way, and but it was like this battle was going on.

It just kind of felt like it's us, and we got to get this religious thing um solved, and so we could be ourselves, and so we're not having to fit into somebody else's box, you know?

And and and so we can just kind of be be real.

And so I ended up talking about circumcision almost every Sunday, and uh including Mother's Day.

And um and so I'm sure that was a memorable Mother's Day for many.

Um But that was kind of the big issue at their day, is whether or not you had to do this to please God, and and we've got a bunch of our own.

Do you have to do this or not do this in in order to please God?

Now that's not the most important thing in our lives, you know, but but it is important, and it was important for us as a church, because uh we've got to a place where we can just be ourselves and w wear what we want and and and be transparent and not have to pretend we have it all together.

And and so it allows us to help each other and allows us to allow God to help us.

So now we've got a really cool church, and and it's not uh it's not cool.

The reason it's cool is because nobody's trying to be cool.

You know?

That's what makes it cool, is that people we're all just being ourselves, and and you're such a great bunch of people, and it's really an important um an important thing.

And so we kind of had this foundation set.

Um and and then we kind of moved on to something even more important, and that was getting our Father God's love inside of us, and really getting our arms around that.

And I'd say for the past two or three years, that has been, if there's been a primary emphasis, that has been it.

We talk about it a lot, um, and um it's I think the most difficult truth to get in our hearts.

Um it's a supernatural miracle if we even understand that.

If you understand that you're God's child and he loves you just like you are, that is a supernatural thing.

We don't even have the capacity, I don't, I think, to understand that.

It's a spiritual thing.

It's something God does inside of us and shows us and teaches us.

In Ephesians 3, um, it says, When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the creator of everything in heaven and on earth.

I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources, he will empower you with inner strength to his spirit.

Then Christ will make his home in your heart as you trust in him.

Your roots, your roots will go down into God's love and keep you strong.

And you may have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.

We need God's power to even understand it.

It's beyond our comprehension.

Um this morning, in a way, we're gonna acknowledge that miracle.

That for many of us that has happened, that we have gotten that.

You know, we've gotten our hearts around that idea.

And I can tell, you know, the uh in the past, as we do most Sundays, and we'll keep doing, we talk about, you know, that that God's not mad at you, that God hasn't given up on you, that He really loves you, He's got great, great care and compassion for you.

Um it used to be when I'd say that there would be looks of disbelief.

How could that be?

Or there'd be a lot of looks of almost hunger, if you will.

You know, can that be true?

Some of us have gone our whole lives without anyone really uh expressing love to us in a loving way.

And to think that the creator of the universe that w loves us, it's such an amazing powerful thing.

And I'd see it in our actions.

You know, it's just how how God's love, you know, we can't just decide to be loving.

We first need to be filled with God's love, and then it overflows from us into other people, and I see that all around us.

Just uh how much good you're doing for each other and for other people, and it was such a a uh a loving um attitude, you know, I guess.

And so I I tell you all that and kind of get through that history because I really feel like we're getting that, you know, and and we'll constantly you know remind ourselves of that.

But I think it's time again to move on.

Not not to forget that we don't want to be religious and we don't want to bind uh God's rules on us, not to forget that the most important thing is understanding deep in our hearts that God our Father loves us.

Um but we talked a couple uh Sundays ago about how when looking at the story of the prodigal son, we we tend to think, boy, am I more like the the younger son or am I more like the the older son?

But where we're gonna go together is just to be more and more like the father.

You know, now that we got it, he loves us just like we are, all of our junk, totally messed up.

Then we just want to ask him to keep changing us.

You know, changing us from the inside out.

He does the heavy lifting, it takes effort and desire on our parts.

But I think over the next few weeks we can really get on a great track of growing more and more like our father.

Because we want to be that one, the one that's compassionate, the one that's loving, the one that embraces somebody who's down and and uh and hurting.

Um to be like uh the father is to simply follow Jesus.

To be like the father is to be like Jesus.

He is our model.

You know, they're one of the same, but he is our model.

Philip said to Jesus, show us the Father.

And uh Jesus said to Philip, anyone who has seen me has already seen the Father.

Because they act just the same.

Their hearts just the same, their attitudes are just the same, their love is just the same.

I'm gonna be gone next Sunday.

We're uh Susan and I just had our 28th anniversary, and um the uh it's uh Man, I tell you, if you're struggling at all in your marriage, hang in there because uh it gets greater and greater the longer you go.

Um but I say that because we're gonna we're gonna be out of town next Sunday.

But when we come back, we're gonna start looking at something together.

I'm pretty excited about.

And and it's it's gonna be the letter to the church in Corinth.

Now, that may not sound very exciting, but it's a cool city.

It's a lot like Atlanta.

It had been destroyed by war, it had been rebuilt, it was young, it was vibrant, it was kind of uh exploding economically, and a lot of the issues they faced trying to follow Jesus are the same issues that we face.

And so we'll look a lot about their culture and kind of where Paul's coming from and all those type of things, but we'll look at a lot of things that are everyday, things in our families, things in our works, things at school, and we'll just ask God to take that and help us to grow and continue to be more and more like our uh our father.

And it all starts with getting God's love inside of us.

To really get our hearts, not just our minds, but to really get our hearts understanding that we're God's kids.

And thanks to God, you know, I think we're really getting that.

Um that is the most important point that Jesus is making in this story of the prodigal son.

Uh the secondary point is that we should celebrate the fact that we're God's, that we're God's kids.

Um, it's it's amazing.

It's something to celebrate.

And so Jesus shocked the Pharisees when he told this story.

This rebellious son demands his inheritance now, uh, basically says, Give me my money and my stuff, and I'm leaving forever.

And he goes to a to a faraway um faraway town.

You know, according to their laws, the the boy should have been killed by being that rebellious and dishonoring to uh his father.

But instead, the father does as he's asked, and he goes ahead and gives it to him.

And we all know the story of how he lost everything, how he's literally starving, how he's broken, emaciated, and he stumbles, you know, back home.

And it says in Luke 15, so he returned home to his father, and while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming, filled with love and compassion.

He ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.

In these few verses, Jesus describes what our father is really like.

How far is a long way off?

You can imagine a father recognizing him a long way off.

I mean, what what would that be to you?

I mean, a hundred yards?

I mean, that's not really a long ways.

I mean, to me, I'm picturing miles.

And you know this, his son didn't look like himself when he left.

You know, when he left, it was in fine clothes and he was healthy and strong.

And here he is stumbling back in rags, you know, uh starving to death, broken, grieving.

How could he recognize him?

The only person that could have recognized him was his dad or his mom.

It's because he was his son.

He recognized him a far way off.

And he runs to him, and that doesn't seem like that impactful to us, but in in their culture, the Jewish culture, um, a a man over 40, they kind of had two sets of rules.

They had uh 40 and under, or 39 and under and 40 and over.

And so if if a man is over 40 years old, it was a disgrace for them to run.

It was uh dishonorable that if you needed something, then you would have somebody run for you.

You know, it just it was a humiliating thing for an older man um to do.

But not got not our God, not our father, the way Jesus, who knows him, it describes him.

He runs.

However far it was, he runs full out.

Grabs the boy, hugs him, kisses him.

Filled with compassion, it says.

It's how he feels about you.

Running to you, filled with compassion, love, embraced, kissed.

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 said to the servants, Quick, 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 the calf we've been fattening.

We must celebrate with a feast.

For this son of mine was dead and is now returned to life.

He was lost, but now he is found.

And so the party began.

The finest robe, new ring, new sandals, ring.

Ring was a big deal.

It wasn't just jewelry.

It was a sign of honor.

It was actually a sign of authority.

In Genesis 41, which is when Pharaoh is given Joseph authority over the kingdom.

He says, Pharaoh said to Joseph, I hereby put you in charge of the entire land of Egypt.

Then Pharaoh removed his signet ring from his hand and placed it on Joseph's finger.

And so that's the way they would sign contracts in those days.

It was with the family ring.

And what the dad is saying by putting a ring on his finger is that you are completely restored.

Completely.

As if you never left.

You don't have to earn back my trust.

I love you.

Here's your ring.

It's all back.

You're part of the family.

I trust you.

And so as far as his dad was concerned, it was like he never left.

He had new clothes, he had new shoes.

He had his ring.

And they were having a party.

It's the same for us.

We don't have to earn God's love.

We have it.

And so many of us, when we get connected with God, we still are trying to earn it.

You know, trying to earn his trust, trying to earn his love, constantly wondering, boy, have I blown it, or how did it take, or any of those types of types of things.

What we're doing now is the way God intended it.

We live in response to that love.

Not to earn his love.

We've got it.

We're completely restored.

He loves us.

He trusts us.

We're his kids.

And so we live in response.

We live with that position.

And it changes our lives.

To get a hold of that really does.

The instant we get a hold of that, our lives are changed forever.

The head basketball coach at Oregon State University is kind of famous in college basketball circles.

Oregon State's in Corvallis.

It's actually like real close to where I grew up.

So maybe that's why I know.

But he's kind of famous.

His name's Craig Robinson.

And he's famous not just because he coaches basketball at a Pac-12 school, but he's Michelle Obama's brother.

And so he's President Obama's brother-in-law.

That's probably not helping him a lot right now.

But it has helped him.

You know, in recruiting and it's given him unusual status in the coaching community, in the sports community.

Because he's related to the President of the United States.

It's sort of a big deal.

See, you are the daughter or the son of the creator of the universe.

It's a very big deal.

It's a very big deal.

It has a dramatic effect on our lives.

We don't have to earn his love.

We can rest in it.

We can actually wallow in it, if you will.

We can soak in his love.

We don't need to take things from other people.

We don't need things from other people.

We're filled by God.

We don't need people's approval.

God's approval.

We don't need people's money.

Our Father will take care of us.

We don't even have anything to fear.

We don't even fear dying.

We can just live lighthearted and with freedom, knowing who we are.

God's son, God's daughter, his family.

And so what I want to do this morning is acknowledge that we live with dignity and with generosity as God's as God's children.

And so if the worship team will come up, don't leave.

Sometimes that's a signal for uh if you're volunteering in a different spot afterwards to rush over there.

But uh don't leave.

We're gonna have a group activity.

Um what we want to do is symbolize relationship with our father by letting him put a ring on our finger.

Just like in the story of the prodigal son.

You know, it's good for us to do things, so we never forget.

You know, the Old Testament story of Joshua, um, the Israelites have been traveling and they finally get to the land of Canaan, but they got to cross the Jordan River before they can uh can get there.

So they take the Ark of the Covenant and and God pushes the water back as the Ark steps into the people carrying the Ark step into the river.

And they all walk across on dry land.

They get to the other side, and God's asked someone from each of the twelve tribes to get a big stone and to stack them on the other side of the river.

And he says, Do this, so when you see these stones, you'll remember.

You'll remember that I'm the one that brought your home.

And even when your children ask you, what are those stones?

Remember to tell them that God was the one that brought them home.

So what we have is we have a ring for everyone.

And I'm hoping it'll serve as a remembrance to us when we mess up, remember that we're God's kids.

It's okay.

When we're afraid, we feel unloved.

We remember that we're loved, and we remember that God does take care of us.

What we have is we've got rings over on the Lord's Supper table.

And obviously, you don't have to if you don't want to, but if you do, they are sized, anywhere from, I think, six to thirteen.

And um in a minute, we're just gonna go over like we do in the Lord's Supper and quickly as possible, but you know, try a couple on if you if you want and find one that fits and and don't put it on back.

We'll put them on um together.

Uh please only take one if you've got someone that that you wish was here.

Uh we'll have some more rings that they can get at the info desk um next week.

Um but if you want to do that now, uh just go grab a uh ring and come back and we'll put them on together.

You know, God does not adopt us as his children begrudgingly.

It it's something that he is so excited to do.

And what happens is we see other people, and we're just like, okay, I can see why God would love them, because we just see their outsides, but we see our insides.

And sometimes we feel pretty unlovable and just feel like, you know, there's just no way.

But but there is a way.

I mean, God loves you no matter what you've done, what you're doing.

It's not about that.

If you've ever loved a child and changed their dirty diaper, you'll know it's not about that.

God loves us uh because he's our children.

And he literally gave everything.

It's so important to him.

He gave everything for us to be reunited with him.

That's why Jesus came.

You know, he accomplished a lot of things.

He showed us what the Father's like, and he showed us what love really looks like.

But he came so we would get another chance at the tree of life.

And so instead of saying, hey, I can do this myself and my own strength, just tell me the rules, we're saying, no, God, I need you.

I need to be connected to you.

I need a savior.

And that's what Jesus is.

And and if you've never accepted that offer, boy, today would be a really cool time to do that.

Just accept that offer.

Let God put a ring on your finger.

Be his child, be his daughter, um, be his son.

I think for many of us that have, it's just a re a reminder.

You know, you don't feel like you need to wear this ring.

I really only wear this my one wedding band.

It's really more for our hearts that it is for our hands.

And that we'll just kind of wrap this up inside of us.

That it's different now.

We're part of God's family.

We're his son, we're his daughter.

And so, really, what I want to just tell you is what Jesus told us through the story of the two lost sons.

That is, God would tell you, I love you.

I love you.

I'm not mad at you.

In fact, when you mess up, I have great compassion for you.

Great compassion.

I'm not hiding from you.

I'm running to you.

I'm running to you to embrace you, to hold you, to kiss you, to tell you that I love you.

Everything I have is yours.

Everything I have is yours.

And so I clothe you and I take care of you and I trust you.

And I put this ring on your finger.

We can do that.

Because you're my daughter, because you're my son, and I love you.

I love you.

I'm just glad you're home.

And it's something for us to celebrate.

Or as Jesus said in Luke fifteen, and so the party began.