Luke 15:11-32
Sunday Morning Bible Study
April 12, 1998
Introduction
Jesus was often rebuked or misunderstood by the "religious" people of His day because He spent so much time with unclean, dirty, pig-dog sinners. The two issues Jesus is going to address in this story are:
1) God’s heart toward sinners, demonstrated through the actions of the Father in the story.
2) What our heart (those who are somewhat "religious") ought to be toward sinners, demonstrated through the attitude of the older brother in the story.
We often call this story the "Prodigal Son", but perhaps it would be better named, "The Father’s Heart towards Wayward Children".
:12 And the younger of them said to his father …
According to Jewish Law (Deut. 21:17), the firstborn (or elder) son would receive a double portion. Since there are only two sons in the story, the younger son would have received 1/3 of the father’s wealth. The older brother would be receiving 2/3 of the father’s wealth.
:12 And he divided unto them his living.
There is nothing in the Law about a father being required to give in to a request like this from a son. This is simply the character of this father.
Lesson:
God will let you go.
Some people have a silly idea that if God doesn’t want them doing their favorite little sin, that God is going to stop them.
No. God will let you go. He will let you see the outcome of your sin.
:13 there wasted his substance with riotous living.
We find out later in the story (Luke 15:30), that he probably spent his money on harlots.
harlots – porne – a woman who sells her body for sexual uses; a word related to porneia which is simply any kind of sex outside of marriage, a word where we get "pornography".
:16 And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat
NAS – "he was longing to fill his stomach"
he would fain – epithumeo – to have a desire for; to lust after. This is a form of the word that we usually translate "lust". We could say that he began to lust after pig food.
Lesson #1:
There’s no end to what we can lust for.
We get this idea that if we just satisfy our lust, that everything will be okay, and life will be wonderful.
But the truth is, our lusts are never fully satisfied, and all they want is more.
Pr 27:20 Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.
What starts off as a seemingly innocent little lust can become something monstrous.
Uncontrolled lust only takes you one direction, downhill.
Illustration
From U.S. News & World Report, February 6, 1989 –
Just before he was executed last week in Florida, serial killer Ted Bundy made a last-gasp grab for respectability as a crime expert. Asked by religious broadcaster James Dobson what made him turn violent, Bundy put the blame on graphic pornography. "Like an addiction, you keep craving something that is harder," intoned Bundy, "until you reach a point where... you begin to wonder if maybe actually doing it would give you that which is beyond just reading."
What seems to you to be a harmless little diversion can lead to only bigger and greater lusts. Don’t let it go any further. Don’t let it get to the point where you’re lusting after pig food yet.
Lesson #2:
Just say no.
God’s answer to lust is not to fill it, but deny it. This is contrary to our nature. Yet the Bible says,
(Rom 6:12 KJV) Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
The best way to deny the lusts of your flesh, is to fill yourself with something else:
(Rom 13:14 KJV) But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
Illustration
A man who drank heavily was converted to Christ and lived victoriously for several weeks. One day as he passed the open door of a tavern, the pungent odor drifting out aroused his old appetite for liquor. Just then he saw this sign in the window of a nearby cafe: "All the buttermilk you can drink -- 25 cents!" Dashing inside, he ordered one glass, then another, and still another. After finishing the third he walked past the saloon and was no longer tempted. He was so full of buttermilk that he had no room for that which would be injurious to him.
And there’s something even better than buttermilk to fill our lives with, and that’s the Lord Jesus Christ, who said,
(John 4:14 KJV) But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
:17 And when he came to himself
Here’s where it ended for the younger brother, when he finally woke up to the truth of where he was at.
Have you been fooling yourself? Thinking that you could handle it? Thinking that you were going to be okay without God?
:18 I will arise and go to my father
I will arise – anistemi – to cause to rise up, raise up; this is the same word that is used to describe the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
Because He is risen, we can rise up too!
(Rom 8:11 NIV) And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.
:18 Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee
Ultimately, sin isn’t just against the person you’ve hurt, but sin affects God as well.
(Isa 59:1-2 NKJV) Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear. {2} But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.
Lesson:
The first step home is admitting your sin.
The Bible says,
(1 John 1:9 KJV) If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
We need to come to the place where we are willing to admit that we were wrong. We need to admit that we are needy of God’s help.
:20 But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
Some of us have the wrong idea of what our Heavenly Father is like as apparently the scribes and Pharisees did.
Too often we have strange, perverted ideas about the Father. Sometimes it’s because the only thing we know of fathers is a bad father we might have had.
For some of you, the word "Father" conjures up images of someone who is always angry with you, someone who only likes you if you’re good, someone who will abuse you if you even get near him, or someone who’s simply not there, someone who has abandoned you.
This is not what God the Father is like. Not at all.
Lesson #1:
Get a good look at your Father.
1) He’s waiting.
his father saw him
He’s waiting for you to come home. He’s watching for you.
God isn’t off doing His own thing, thinking "good riddance" about you.
In fact, if you are feeling like you’re a long ways away from God, guess who it was that left home? It wasn’t God.
2) He understands.
had compassion – splagchnizomai – to be moved in one's bowels, where the ancients thought the emotions of love and pity came from.
God understands. He cares. He’s moved with compassion towards you.
(Psa 103:13 NASB) Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.
3) He’s anxious.
ran – trecho – to run; of persons in haste
You may think that you’re still a "great way off" from coming home, but you’re only as far as it takes to turn around and start back.
You’ll find Him running to you. He wants you home.
4) He loves you.
kissed – kataphileo – to kiss much, kiss tenderly, kiss again and again.
God has such tender affection toward you. He loves you so much.
This isn’t the kind of affection that is conditional. This isn’t only when you’re good. Note that the son has yet to say that he’s sorry. The Father starts loving on the son before he even gets a word out.
Lesson #2:
Don’t give up on the prodigals.
Some of you have Prodigals, some even in your own family. Stay close to the Father’s heart and don’t give up on them.
This is from Sitting By My Laughing Fire, by Ruth Bell Graham, and I wonder if it was written for her once wayward son, Franklin –
She waited for the call that never came; searched every mail for a letter, or a note, or card, that bore his name; and on her knees at night, and on her feet all day, she stormed Heaven's Gate in his behalf; she pled for him in Heaven's high court. "Be still, and wait," the word He gave; and so she knew He would do in, and for, and with him, that which she never could. Doubts ignored, she went about her chores with joy; knowing, though spurned, His word was true. The prodigal had not returned but God was God, and there was work to do.
:22 But the father said to his servants
Notice that the father doesn’t even answer what the son has said. Just because the son doesn’t feel "worthy" to be a son, doesn’t make it so.
All the father cares about is that the son is home!
:22 Bring forth the best robe …
The son was dressed as a slave, barefoot and in rags. Now he’s going to be dressed like a prince.
:23 And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it
kill it – thuo – to sacrifice; to slay, kill
Could it be that there’s more than just a feast going on here? Could there be a sense of sacrifice as well?
It would seem that this would be a "Peace Offering", since the whole family is going to have a feast.
One of the reasons for having a "peace offering" was when you had made a vow to the Lord, perhaps something like, "Oh God, if you will bring my son back, then I will offering up a calf to You." This is a Father who really, really wants His son back.
:24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again
is alive again – anazao – live again, recover life; again a word used to describe the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Without Jesus, we are spiritually dead, but because He lives, we can have new life in Him.
:28 And he was angry, and would not go in
Jesus is addressing the scribes and Pharisees here, the ones who are in the place of the "older brother".
They are the religious ones who never left the Father’s house. They don’t understand why Jesus bothers to hang around publicans and sinners (Luke 15:1).
:29 these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment
This is the attitude of the Pharisee, one who has tried hard to obey God in all things, not breaking any commandments.
:30 as soon as this thy son was come …
The Pharisee has a hard time understanding why God would even bother caring about those who have not made the kinds of sacrifices they have made. They have a hard time showing any kind of compassion towards those who don’t work as hard as they do.
Lesson:
Don’t lose the joy of your relationship with God.
If you have come to the point where you resent those who don’t work as hard at their relationship with God as you do, you’re beginning to sound like a Pharisee.
A proper relationship with the Lord is not just about obedience, it’s about joy in His presence.
(Psa 16:11 KJV) Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
Yet too often we get like Martha (Luke 10:38-42), so busy serving that we don’t remember to stop and sit at the Lord’s feet, listening to His Word, and enjoying His presence.
God’s invitation.
Some of you are like the Prodigal.
You’ve been away from home.
I have a message from God for you this morning.
Come home. The Father is waiting.
Some of you are like the older brother.
Learn to enjoy your Father. Get back the joy in your walk with God.