1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,320 From day one of this church, we've always said that we exist to call prodigals home 2 00:00:08,320 --> 00:00:11,480 and to adopt the spiritually homeless. 3 00:00:11,480 --> 00:00:13,120 Okay, but why? 4 00:00:13,120 --> 00:00:20,480 Well, because the story of God and people can be told like this. 5 00:00:20,480 --> 00:00:25,000 There was a father with two sons, but the younger son wanted to leave, to explore, to 6 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:32,200 attempt life on his own, to be adventurous, to take a risk, but it was contentious and 7 00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:39,680 offensive because he wanted now what shouldn't be his until later when his father would eventually 8 00:00:39,680 --> 00:00:40,680 die. 9 00:00:40,680 --> 00:00:45,560 But the father, still very much alive, opened up the doors to the son's curiosity. 10 00:00:45,560 --> 00:00:53,840 He gave him everything that he asked for, and the younger son left. 11 00:00:53,840 --> 00:00:59,840 When the son had journeyed far, he found himself in a troubling space. 12 00:00:59,840 --> 00:01:05,760 A pandemic had started taking lives, a recession had started killing jobs, inflation started 13 00:01:05,760 --> 00:01:11,500 stealing money, and his own foolishness had squandered a fortune. 14 00:01:11,500 --> 00:01:16,520 He was out, out of money, out of friends, and almost out of his mind because he started 15 00:01:16,520 --> 00:01:21,800 working for minimum wage in a job that was siphoning off his soul. 16 00:01:21,800 --> 00:01:27,840 And then he remembered his father's always had jobs, his father paid a living wage, his 17 00:01:27,840 --> 00:01:31,720 father's employees always seemed content. 18 00:01:31,720 --> 00:01:35,560 And so he changed his mind. 19 00:01:35,560 --> 00:01:39,600 He would go home, but he was sure he would be dead to his dad. 20 00:01:39,600 --> 00:01:41,400 So he plotted his plan. 21 00:01:41,400 --> 00:01:42,400 He would grovel. 22 00:01:42,400 --> 00:01:45,400 He'd bow, he'd beg, he'd say, just let me work here. 23 00:01:45,400 --> 00:01:50,080 I'm no son, but I can be a good worker. 24 00:01:50,080 --> 00:01:52,800 Give me just enough to give me a job. 25 00:01:52,800 --> 00:01:55,200 And so he went. 26 00:01:55,200 --> 00:02:01,440 When he could barely see the house, the father saw his son from a long way off, and the father 27 00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:02,440 came quickly. 28 00:02:02,440 --> 00:02:08,840 As fast as he could with these old knees and old feet, he ran. 29 00:02:08,840 --> 00:02:14,160 And the son started in, but the father stopped him in his tracks. 30 00:02:14,160 --> 00:02:19,620 Tried out, quick, give my son new clothes, give him new shoes, give him my ring. 31 00:02:19,620 --> 00:02:21,880 Right now we have to give him a party. 32 00:02:21,880 --> 00:02:22,880 And he did. 33 00:02:22,880 --> 00:02:24,780 It was lavish and expensive. 34 00:02:24,780 --> 00:02:33,640 He invited anyone who could hear, come, my son, who was dead, is alive again. 35 00:02:33,640 --> 00:02:36,640 But as it turns out, not everyone was happy. 36 00:02:36,640 --> 00:02:41,880 The older brother, the one that had never left, he was out working the land when the 37 00:02:41,880 --> 00:02:43,120 brother returned. 38 00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:48,600 So when he heard about it, about the party, his brow was still salty with sweat, his hands 39 00:02:48,600 --> 00:02:54,220 and clothes dirty from work, and he was covered in anger. 40 00:02:54,220 --> 00:02:59,500 He felt shorted because he came home every day. 41 00:02:59,500 --> 00:03:02,900 He had never left. 42 00:03:02,900 --> 00:03:04,800 He had never had such a party. 43 00:03:04,800 --> 00:03:09,000 He wouldn't have even asked for something small. 44 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:14,480 When the father found his older son wasn't there, he went out to where he was to find 45 00:03:14,480 --> 00:03:16,120 him. 46 00:03:16,120 --> 00:03:18,440 The older son let him have it. 47 00:03:18,440 --> 00:03:21,100 He unleashed years of resentment. 48 00:03:21,100 --> 00:03:23,900 Why would you waste this on him? 49 00:03:23,900 --> 00:03:27,600 Why would you welcome him back? 50 00:03:27,600 --> 00:03:30,680 Why would you celebrate his failure? 51 00:03:30,680 --> 00:03:33,160 When I've always been here, I have never left. 52 00:03:33,160 --> 00:03:35,480 I have never failed you. 53 00:03:35,480 --> 00:03:47,880 And the father who stopped one son's apology, listened as the other son spoke. 54 00:03:47,880 --> 00:03:52,640 And then he affirmed him. 55 00:03:52,640 --> 00:03:56,220 He agreed, you're right. 56 00:03:56,220 --> 00:04:01,640 You have always been with me. 57 00:04:01,640 --> 00:04:07,580 And everything that I have is yours. 58 00:04:07,580 --> 00:04:22,320 But joy must not be buried because your brother, the one we were sure was dead, he's alive. 59 00:04:22,320 --> 00:04:25,920 We have to celebrate. 60 00:04:25,920 --> 00:04:32,360 So we exist as a church to call prodigal's home and adopt the spiritually homeless because 61 00:04:32,360 --> 00:04:42,360 of this father, the father that gives one son everything so he could leave and gives 62 00:04:42,360 --> 00:04:46,040 the other son everything as he stays. 63 00:04:46,040 --> 00:04:51,320 We don't do our homecoming Sunday event that we had last week just so that we can have 64 00:04:51,320 --> 00:05:00,080 fun and get to know each other, but so we can celebrate that God has brought us home. 65 00:05:00,080 --> 00:05:08,440 To remind us to instill in our hearts and minds just what kind of father, what kind 66 00:05:08,440 --> 00:05:11,280 of God we believe in. 67 00:05:11,280 --> 00:05:14,040 So let's talk about that. 68 00:05:14,040 --> 00:05:17,480 Let's open up our Bibles to the book of Luke. 69 00:05:17,480 --> 00:05:23,680 And I know I just told the paraphrase of this story, but I want to read it word for word 70 00:05:23,680 --> 00:05:25,340 from the scripture. 71 00:05:25,340 --> 00:05:28,160 So Luke, we're going to start verse two. 72 00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:31,520 Luke 15 starting in verse two. 73 00:05:31,520 --> 00:05:35,520 If you don't have a Bible, we have them that are free on the bookshelf out in the lobby 74 00:05:35,520 --> 00:05:40,600 we can download from any of the digital app stores. 75 00:05:40,600 --> 00:05:49,280 Okay, Luke 15, we have a tradition of standing as we are able as we read the scriptures together. 76 00:05:49,280 --> 00:05:50,680 If you don't mind. 77 00:05:50,680 --> 00:05:55,240 Luke 15, I'll start in two and then jump ahead a little bit. 78 00:05:55,240 --> 00:06:00,680 It says this, but the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, this man welcomes sinners 79 00:06:00,680 --> 00:06:02,640 and eats with them. 80 00:06:02,640 --> 00:06:04,680 Now we'll jump to verse 11. 81 00:06:04,680 --> 00:06:07,240 And Jesus continued, there was a man who had two sons. 82 00:06:07,240 --> 00:06:10,720 The younger one said to his father, father, give me my share of the estate. 83 00:06:10,720 --> 00:06:13,640 So he divided his property between them. 84 00:06:13,640 --> 00:06:16,160 Not long after that, the younger son got together. 85 00:06:16,160 --> 00:06:21,280 All he had set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 86 00:06:21,280 --> 00:06:25,680 He had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country and began to 87 00:06:25,680 --> 00:06:27,760 be in need. 88 00:06:27,760 --> 00:06:31,840 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country who sent him to his fields 89 00:06:31,840 --> 00:06:33,160 to feed pigs. 90 00:06:33,160 --> 00:06:38,120 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave 91 00:06:38,120 --> 00:06:39,120 him anything. 92 00:06:39,120 --> 00:06:43,360 When he came to his senses, he said, how many of my father's hired servants have food to 93 00:06:43,360 --> 00:06:44,360 spare? 94 00:06:44,360 --> 00:06:45,560 And here I am starving to death. 95 00:06:45,560 --> 00:06:49,680 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him, father, I have sinned against 96 00:06:49,680 --> 00:06:50,920 heaven and against you. 97 00:06:50,920 --> 00:06:53,280 I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. 98 00:06:53,280 --> 00:06:55,960 Make me like one of your hired servants. 99 00:06:55,960 --> 00:07:01,680 So he got up, went to his father, but while he was still a long way off, his father saw 100 00:07:01,680 --> 00:07:04,880 him and was filled with compassion for him. 101 00:07:04,880 --> 00:07:09,120 He ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. 102 00:07:09,120 --> 00:07:12,240 The son said to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 103 00:07:12,240 --> 00:07:13,980 I'm no longer worthy to call your son. 104 00:07:13,980 --> 00:07:19,160 But the father said to his servants, quick, bring the best robe and put it on him. 105 00:07:19,160 --> 00:07:21,720 Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 106 00:07:21,720 --> 00:07:23,560 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. 107 00:07:23,560 --> 00:07:25,360 Let's have a feast and celebrate. 108 00:07:25,360 --> 00:07:27,720 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again. 109 00:07:27,720 --> 00:07:29,880 He was lost and is found. 110 00:07:29,880 --> 00:07:31,400 So they began to celebrate. 111 00:07:31,400 --> 00:07:34,420 Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. 112 00:07:34,420 --> 00:07:36,680 When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 113 00:07:36,680 --> 00:07:40,000 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 114 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:41,280 Your brother has come, he replied. 115 00:07:41,280 --> 00:07:47,000 And your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound. 116 00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:49,740 The older brother became angry and refused to go in. 117 00:07:49,740 --> 00:07:57,480 So his father went out and pleaded with him. 118 00:07:57,480 --> 00:08:00,880 But he answered his father, look, all these years I've been slaving for you and never 119 00:08:00,880 --> 00:08:02,240 disobeyed your orders. 120 00:08:02,240 --> 00:08:08,480 Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 121 00:08:08,480 --> 00:08:13,100 When this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, 122 00:08:13,100 --> 00:08:16,040 you kill the fattened calf for him? 123 00:08:16,040 --> 00:08:21,160 My son, the father said, you are always with me and everything I have is yours. 124 00:08:21,160 --> 00:08:27,200 But we had to celebrate and be glad because this brother of yours was dead and is alive 125 00:08:27,200 --> 00:08:28,200 again. 126 00:08:28,200 --> 00:08:31,400 He was lost and is found. 127 00:08:31,400 --> 00:08:32,400 Let us pray. 128 00:08:32,400 --> 00:08:36,600 God, I thank you that you are this kind of father. 129 00:08:36,600 --> 00:08:41,960 And I pray that you instill that in our hearts today. 130 00:08:41,960 --> 00:08:46,720 Whatever you have for us to learn that that would stick, that it would become a part of 131 00:08:46,720 --> 00:08:52,120 the framework of our faith, that our faith would become stronger because we are becoming 132 00:08:52,120 --> 00:08:54,960 more like your son, Jesus. 133 00:08:54,960 --> 00:08:55,960 Amen. 134 00:08:55,960 --> 00:08:56,960 Thanks, y'all. 135 00:08:56,960 --> 00:08:59,920 You can have a seat. 136 00:08:59,920 --> 00:09:06,340 So first thing is first, the only reason that Jesus tells this story and gives us this picture 137 00:09:06,340 --> 00:09:12,960 of the father is because certain religious people were upset that Jesus was hanging out 138 00:09:12,960 --> 00:09:17,480 with people seen as sinners. 139 00:09:17,480 --> 00:09:24,240 Jesus tells this beautiful story to make it clear that people that have committed either 140 00:09:24,240 --> 00:09:30,440 real or perceived sins are all invited home. 141 00:09:30,440 --> 00:09:36,360 We probably all know at least one person that says that they would never darken the door 142 00:09:36,360 --> 00:09:43,960 of a church because they're not good enough or they think they'd have to get their act 143 00:09:43,960 --> 00:09:49,000 together or because they think the church would reject them. 144 00:09:49,000 --> 00:09:53,960 But who told them that? 145 00:09:53,960 --> 00:09:56,760 I have some ideas. 146 00:09:56,760 --> 00:10:00,440 I think church culture told them that. 147 00:10:00,440 --> 00:10:03,080 I think some church folk told them that. 148 00:10:03,080 --> 00:10:07,120 Some people like the people that were upset with Jesus for hanging out with people they 149 00:10:07,120 --> 00:10:08,600 thought were sinners. 150 00:10:08,600 --> 00:10:14,280 But if you look back in the verses that we skipped before this parable, Jesus actually 151 00:10:14,280 --> 00:10:17,920 tells two other stories that have the same point. 152 00:10:17,920 --> 00:10:22,160 One is about a sheep that wanders off and one is about an extremely important coin that 153 00:10:22,160 --> 00:10:26,480 a woman has lost in her own home. 154 00:10:26,480 --> 00:10:36,080 In all three of these stories, Jesus makes it clear what condition God accepts us in 155 00:10:36,080 --> 00:10:42,760 as a wandering sheep still far from home, as a coin hiding under a couch, as an adventurous 156 00:10:42,760 --> 00:10:49,280 but offensive son that finds his way home for the wrong reasons, and as a resentful 157 00:10:49,280 --> 00:10:54,660 child that never left and is angry at the Father's grace. 158 00:10:54,660 --> 00:11:03,680 Let it be noted for the record that none of his examples are of perfect people. 159 00:11:03,680 --> 00:11:05,920 Did you wander off? 160 00:11:05,920 --> 00:11:07,120 God finds you. 161 00:11:07,120 --> 00:11:10,800 Did you feel lost yesterday? 162 00:11:10,800 --> 00:11:12,840 Do you feel lost right now? 163 00:11:12,840 --> 00:11:14,240 God will look for you. 164 00:11:14,240 --> 00:11:15,400 Did you run away? 165 00:11:15,400 --> 00:11:16,560 God welcomes you home. 166 00:11:16,560 --> 00:11:20,880 Maybe you never left, but you feel homeless in your heart. 167 00:11:20,880 --> 00:11:25,720 God says everything he has is yours. 168 00:11:25,720 --> 00:11:30,720 And there's a party to be had. 169 00:11:30,720 --> 00:11:36,560 Every one of these stories ends with a party, with celebration. 170 00:11:36,560 --> 00:11:44,880 Jesus describes the Father God as someone that is intrinsically capable of loving us, 171 00:11:44,880 --> 00:11:50,520 no matter what we've done or where we have gone. 172 00:11:50,520 --> 00:11:57,600 Stephanie Buchanan Crowder from the Chicago Theological Seminary wrote, God does not focus 173 00:11:57,600 --> 00:12:02,000 on why or how the person becomes lost. 174 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:06,840 God rejoices and celebrates the individual's homecoming. 175 00:12:06,840 --> 00:12:11,200 God beckons the lost one, come home to me. 176 00:12:11,200 --> 00:12:22,160 And God challenges the community, rejoice and do not judge. 177 00:12:22,160 --> 00:12:23,800 Let me jump back a second here. 178 00:12:23,800 --> 00:12:29,160 Isn't this what a baby dedication is about? 179 00:12:29,160 --> 00:12:36,960 That we will help guide our youth and we will always welcome them home no matter what? 180 00:12:36,960 --> 00:12:42,920 That whether they stay here and become confused about what it means or whether they run away 181 00:12:42,920 --> 00:12:52,240 and come back for the wrong reasons, that we will rejoice and not judge. 182 00:12:52,240 --> 00:12:54,500 So let's spend some time talking about this Father. 183 00:12:54,500 --> 00:13:00,920 Let's dig in to the character of this Father that Jesus is describing. 184 00:13:00,920 --> 00:13:07,140 Because if Jesus tells us what the Father does and what He is like, He is telling us 185 00:13:07,140 --> 00:13:13,320 to do what the Father does and what we can be like. 186 00:13:13,320 --> 00:13:23,520 First thing is this, the Father, in this story, if you read it, the Father is unaffended. 187 00:13:23,520 --> 00:13:25,680 The Father is unaffended. 188 00:13:25,680 --> 00:13:31,980 He does not seem offended at all and this is big because this was without a doubt an 189 00:13:31,980 --> 00:13:35,720 offensive thing for a younger son to do. 190 00:13:35,720 --> 00:13:40,720 In first century Hebrew culture, for a younger son to ask for their inheritance, it was the 191 00:13:40,720 --> 00:13:45,080 basic equivalent of saying he was ready for his father to be dead. 192 00:13:45,080 --> 00:13:52,400 Dad, I really was expecting your life expectancy to be a little shorter. 193 00:13:52,400 --> 00:13:54,200 I'm ready for my part. 194 00:13:54,200 --> 00:14:06,040 But Jesus, if you read this story, Jesus dedicates zero time showing the Father being offended. 195 00:14:06,040 --> 00:14:10,440 The Father's heart is unaffended. 196 00:14:10,440 --> 00:14:16,200 Some years back, I remember feeling like God was telling me that if I, and I've said this 197 00:14:16,200 --> 00:14:23,360 before, but if I really wanted to be someone that called Prodigal's home and adopted the 198 00:14:23,360 --> 00:14:29,600 spiritually homeless, that I'd have to get a lot better at letting people go. 199 00:14:29,600 --> 00:14:33,760 Because the God of this story that welcomes Prodigal's and adopts the spiritually homeless 200 00:14:33,760 --> 00:14:41,220 is also the God that let that son go with absolutely everything that he asked for. 201 00:14:41,220 --> 00:14:47,580 We spend so much time offended at the people that have left us that our hearts are unable 202 00:14:47,580 --> 00:14:54,520 to welcome them home. 203 00:14:54,520 --> 00:14:59,040 And I think it matters because how we send people off when we don't actually want them 204 00:14:59,040 --> 00:15:06,560 to go can shape if that person really feels like the door will be open if they ever want 205 00:15:06,560 --> 00:15:07,560 to return. 206 00:15:07,560 --> 00:15:12,560 Does that make sense? 207 00:15:12,560 --> 00:15:17,820 Jesus doesn't show us the Father kicking his son out in a fit of rage and anger. 208 00:15:17,820 --> 00:15:23,120 He gives us one sentence, one sentence about how he sent his son up. 209 00:15:23,120 --> 00:15:25,920 And so he divided his property between them. 210 00:15:25,920 --> 00:15:27,960 That's it. 211 00:15:27,960 --> 00:15:35,400 I wonder if maybe the Father isn't offended because he knows his son's heart better than 212 00:15:35,400 --> 00:15:38,440 the son knows his own heart. 213 00:15:38,440 --> 00:15:39,440 What do I mean? 214 00:15:39,440 --> 00:15:47,680 Have you ever thought about how easily it is for curiosity and rebellion to be confused 215 00:15:47,680 --> 00:15:48,680 with each other? 216 00:15:48,680 --> 00:15:52,240 I'll say that again. 217 00:15:52,240 --> 00:15:56,720 And maybe there'll be some hmm, oh after, okay? 218 00:15:56,720 --> 00:16:01,400 Have you ever thought about how easy it is for curiosity and rebellion to be confused 219 00:16:01,400 --> 00:16:04,200 for each other? 220 00:16:04,200 --> 00:16:08,000 Oh. 221 00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:14,480 I like to frame this part of the story as the son being adventurous and the Father opening 222 00:16:14,480 --> 00:16:23,600 the door for his son to have options because the Father isn't offended by his son's curiosity. 223 00:16:23,600 --> 00:16:32,400 Because very literally, this son could not have left without the help of his Father. 224 00:16:32,400 --> 00:16:38,560 God does not give us options if he doesn't think we might use them. 225 00:16:38,560 --> 00:16:39,680 This is important. 226 00:16:39,680 --> 00:16:43,320 God isn't offended by your curiosity. 227 00:16:43,320 --> 00:16:45,360 God is not offended by our curiosity. 228 00:16:45,360 --> 00:16:50,920 God will know the difference between your curiosity and your rebellion better than you 229 00:16:50,920 --> 00:16:51,920 will. 230 00:16:51,920 --> 00:16:56,840 I'd be willing to say sometimes we think that we are rebelling and God is going, man, I 231 00:16:56,840 --> 00:16:59,400 love this curiosity. 232 00:16:59,400 --> 00:17:02,420 I love that you are wanting to be adventurous. 233 00:17:02,420 --> 00:17:06,280 Let me give you everything you asked for. 234 00:17:06,280 --> 00:17:11,880 He may know that it's not going to work out very well sometimes, but that does not mean 235 00:17:11,880 --> 00:17:20,160 that he is automatically interpreting our curiosity and desire for adventure as rebellion. 236 00:17:20,160 --> 00:17:27,880 I just don't think that Father God is as offended by people that walk away from him as people 237 00:17:27,880 --> 00:17:30,840 think that he is. 238 00:17:30,840 --> 00:17:33,600 Because he knows our hearts better than we do. 239 00:17:33,600 --> 00:17:38,040 So the first thing here is that the Father isn't offended. 240 00:17:38,040 --> 00:17:43,560 Second thing is that when the son returns, the Father sees him coming. 241 00:17:43,560 --> 00:17:45,120 Why? 242 00:17:45,120 --> 00:17:48,920 Because this kind of Father never stops looking. 243 00:17:48,920 --> 00:17:50,920 Amen? 244 00:17:50,920 --> 00:17:54,020 Amen? 245 00:17:54,020 --> 00:17:57,120 This kind of Father never stops looking. 246 00:17:57,120 --> 00:18:01,600 Now theologically speaking, we believe in an omnipresent God that is everywhere all 247 00:18:01,600 --> 00:18:02,600 at once. 248 00:18:02,600 --> 00:18:06,600 So there's really never a place where we are not seen or in view. 249 00:18:06,600 --> 00:18:11,440 The psalmist says that if I rose above the heavens, if I sunk to the depths, that you 250 00:18:11,440 --> 00:18:12,440 are there. 251 00:18:12,440 --> 00:18:13,840 So technically we are always seen. 252 00:18:13,840 --> 00:18:20,400 But that doesn't keep us from feeling like God has stopped paying attention. 253 00:18:20,400 --> 00:18:24,280 Most of us have probably felt like God stopped paying attention. 254 00:18:24,280 --> 00:18:32,840 At some point in our lives, sometimes we feel like he stopped looking for us. 255 00:18:32,840 --> 00:18:34,960 Sometimes we feel that way when we've sinned. 256 00:18:34,960 --> 00:18:41,680 Sometimes we feel that way just because we're human. 257 00:18:41,680 --> 00:18:46,000 But this unoffended God never stops looking for us. 258 00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:53,680 And I'd go a step further and say that this Father God never stops finding us. 259 00:18:53,680 --> 00:19:03,840 Because his heart isn't full of frustration like ours. 260 00:19:03,840 --> 00:19:10,680 God is not frustrated the way we are when we've lost something for the twelfth time. 261 00:19:10,680 --> 00:19:16,280 Because he always knows where we are. 262 00:19:16,280 --> 00:19:23,720 So third, I think it's also because his heart is full of compassion, it says that he sees 263 00:19:23,720 --> 00:19:26,480 him and his heart was filled with compassion. 264 00:19:26,480 --> 00:19:32,320 This word compassion literally means to suffer together. 265 00:19:32,320 --> 00:19:34,980 I'm guessing that most of us didn't know that. 266 00:19:34,980 --> 00:19:37,820 Compassion means to suffer together. 267 00:19:37,820 --> 00:19:40,280 Other authors describe it in this way. 268 00:19:40,280 --> 00:19:42,640 They spell it out a little bit more. 269 00:19:42,640 --> 00:19:48,160 Compassion is the feeling that arises in witnessing another's suffering, not that motivates a 270 00:19:48,160 --> 00:19:50,700 desire to help. 271 00:19:50,700 --> 00:19:56,200 Compassion is an empathetic, emotional response to another person's pain or suffering that 272 00:19:56,200 --> 00:20:01,720 moves people to act in a way that will either ease the person's condition or make it more 273 00:20:01,720 --> 00:20:03,200 bearable. 274 00:20:03,200 --> 00:20:07,980 You think about something called Compassion International. 275 00:20:07,980 --> 00:20:14,960 Suffer together with those who need their burdens to be lightened. 276 00:20:14,960 --> 00:20:17,080 See this in the Father. 277 00:20:17,080 --> 00:20:23,240 You see it when he runs because he wants to as quickly as he can ease the pain that he 278 00:20:23,240 --> 00:20:27,040 knows that his son is feeling. 279 00:20:27,040 --> 00:20:28,620 But there's actually more. 280 00:20:28,620 --> 00:20:32,840 So many parts of this story have so much more under the surface. 281 00:20:32,840 --> 00:20:35,800 Let's know what Thomas Aquinas wrote about compassion. 282 00:20:35,800 --> 00:20:46,480 He said, no one becomes compassionate unless he suffers. 283 00:20:46,480 --> 00:20:52,080 See this Father is filled with compassion, yes, because he wants to end his son's pain 284 00:20:52,080 --> 00:20:59,680 and because he has suffered with him. 285 00:20:59,680 --> 00:21:05,880 Because this has been painful for him as well. 286 00:21:05,880 --> 00:21:08,520 So let me circle back. 287 00:21:08,520 --> 00:21:21,680 The Father is unaffended, but unaffended does not mean unaffected. 288 00:21:21,680 --> 00:21:26,200 Just because he's not offended at what his son is doing does not mean that he is not 289 00:21:26,200 --> 00:21:29,000 also affected by what is happening. 290 00:21:29,000 --> 00:21:31,520 He is not indifferent. 291 00:21:31,520 --> 00:21:33,560 He is not unfeeling. 292 00:21:33,560 --> 00:21:36,720 This is something that is unique about the Christian God. 293 00:21:36,720 --> 00:21:39,840 We believe in a God that can be hurt. 294 00:21:39,840 --> 00:21:42,600 We believe in a God that can feel pain. 295 00:21:42,600 --> 00:21:47,200 The whole crux of the story of Jesus is the idea that he is God and he can be killed on 296 00:21:47,200 --> 00:21:55,540 a cross. 297 00:21:55,540 --> 00:22:01,760 He is unaffected, unaffended, but he is affected. 298 00:22:01,760 --> 00:22:06,260 He sees, he's compassionate. 299 00:22:06,260 --> 00:22:10,240 So then he runs. 300 00:22:10,240 --> 00:22:13,680 This is remarkably unexpected in this story. 301 00:22:13,680 --> 00:22:18,060 To us, many of us have heard this before, it's no longer unexpected. 302 00:22:18,060 --> 00:22:23,240 But if you were hearing this story from Jesus, it would be remarkably unexpected and this 303 00:22:23,240 --> 00:22:24,520 is why. 304 00:22:24,520 --> 00:22:29,360 Because it would have been completely undignified for a man of this Father's stature, a Father 305 00:22:29,360 --> 00:22:34,920 wealthy enough to split his land and still have an estate that would support his family 306 00:22:34,920 --> 00:22:37,320 and other employees. 307 00:22:37,320 --> 00:22:42,860 It would have been out of the ordinary for someone like this to run at all. 308 00:22:42,860 --> 00:22:48,440 But to run to a son that had sold off half his property and abandoned his family is completely 309 00:22:48,440 --> 00:22:51,440 unexpected. 310 00:22:51,440 --> 00:22:59,800 See, in the Hebrew culture of the Bible, a younger son could be expected to receive as 311 00:22:59,800 --> 00:23:01,480 much as one third. 312 00:23:01,480 --> 00:23:05,560 Sometimes if you've heard a sermon on this before, you would have maybe heard, well, 313 00:23:05,560 --> 00:23:08,520 he didn't have anything coming to him anyway. 314 00:23:08,520 --> 00:23:09,520 That's not true. 315 00:23:09,520 --> 00:23:15,000 In Hebrew culture, a second son could be expected to receive as much as a third of the Father's 316 00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:19,360 estate at the end of the Father's life or after his death. 317 00:23:19,360 --> 00:23:23,400 Maybe money if the family had that kind of wealth, but most didn't have their wealth 318 00:23:23,400 --> 00:23:25,440 in finances. 319 00:23:25,440 --> 00:23:29,480 Their wealth was in livestock and land. 320 00:23:29,480 --> 00:23:35,280 So for this son to ask for his inheritance would mean that the Father would have to split 321 00:23:35,280 --> 00:23:42,480 the land, as Jesus said, and make his son owner of that plot of land. 322 00:23:42,480 --> 00:23:43,480 I think that's clear. 323 00:23:43,480 --> 00:23:50,200 But for the son to leave, it's not always completely obvious to us that for the son to leave, well, 324 00:23:50,200 --> 00:23:52,600 you can't leave with land. 325 00:23:52,600 --> 00:23:58,360 You can't put land in your pocket and then go buy things with it in a far off land. 326 00:23:58,360 --> 00:23:59,360 Now can you? 327 00:23:59,360 --> 00:24:05,240 No, for the son to have left, he would have had to sell the property that his father had 328 00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:13,200 just given to him and most likely to someone else. 329 00:24:13,200 --> 00:24:18,000 If the son had stayed, the family estate could have at least continued to operate as one. 330 00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:22,240 But when he leaves, the Father doesn't just lose his son, he loses legacy. 331 00:24:22,240 --> 00:24:24,680 He loses stature. 332 00:24:24,680 --> 00:24:31,640 He loses a bit of the honor that comes with being someone that owns that much land in 333 00:24:31,640 --> 00:24:32,880 a community. 334 00:24:32,880 --> 00:24:38,000 So it is remarkable that a man affected in this way would run to a son that has insulted 335 00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:40,200 him in this way. 336 00:24:40,200 --> 00:24:47,640 But we've established this Father is unaffended and he is full of compassion. 337 00:24:47,640 --> 00:24:53,880 So there's actually another reason that he runs. 338 00:24:53,880 --> 00:24:59,720 Author Kenneth Bailey explains that if a Jewish son lost his inheritance amongst Gentiles, 339 00:24:59,720 --> 00:25:03,160 which is what this story describes, right? 340 00:25:03,160 --> 00:25:08,600 Takes his money from his Jewish family, his Hebrew family, he goes off to a far off land 341 00:25:08,600 --> 00:25:13,360 which always meant Gentiles, meaning non-Jewish. 342 00:25:13,360 --> 00:25:16,000 And it very clearly says that he lost everything. 343 00:25:16,000 --> 00:25:22,400 In this culture, if a young Jewish man took his inheritance and lost it amongst Gentiles 344 00:25:22,400 --> 00:25:29,080 and then returned home, it was custom for the community to perform a ceremony called 345 00:25:29,080 --> 00:25:35,680 the Kesezah, where they would break a large pot in front of this son and they would yell, 346 00:25:35,680 --> 00:25:39,240 you are now cut off from your people. 347 00:25:39,240 --> 00:25:44,320 And they would turn him away. 348 00:25:44,320 --> 00:25:47,680 The community would reject him. 349 00:25:47,680 --> 00:25:51,720 So why did the father run? 350 00:25:51,720 --> 00:25:52,720 For love? 351 00:25:52,720 --> 00:25:53,720 Yeah. 352 00:25:53,720 --> 00:25:59,440 Out of excitement that his son had returned, yes, because his heart is full of compassion 353 00:25:59,440 --> 00:26:06,880 because he has also been in pain, yes, but also to protect him from the community, to 354 00:26:06,880 --> 00:26:16,560 save him from further rejection, to keep the community from saying, you can't be here. 355 00:26:16,560 --> 00:26:29,160 Man, if you wanted to boil down why I wanted to be a pastor in this community, that's it. 356 00:26:29,160 --> 00:26:33,160 Just run. 357 00:26:33,160 --> 00:26:41,960 When you saw someone just starting to come home to run, to get to them first, before 358 00:26:41,960 --> 00:26:47,960 an overbearing judgmental community could get to them and break a pot and say, you are 359 00:26:47,960 --> 00:26:50,960 cut off. 360 00:26:50,960 --> 00:27:04,960 I think that's what we're supposed to be. 361 00:27:04,960 --> 00:27:08,840 I think we're supposed to do what the father does. 362 00:27:08,840 --> 00:27:14,520 Because this father, when he gets to him, when he has gotten there first, it says that 363 00:27:14,520 --> 00:27:15,720 he embraces him. 364 00:27:15,720 --> 00:27:17,840 It says that he hugs his son. 365 00:27:17,840 --> 00:27:20,920 It actually says that he threw his arms around him. 366 00:27:20,920 --> 00:27:23,880 In older versions, it says that he fell on his neck. 367 00:27:23,880 --> 00:27:27,120 No, the father didn't trip. 368 00:27:27,120 --> 00:27:34,200 Fall on someone's neck means to embrace them heavily. 369 00:27:34,200 --> 00:27:43,200 Jesus is intentionally making this homecoming sound as dramatic as possible. 370 00:27:43,200 --> 00:27:49,320 Like other parts of this story, there's actually a deeper reason for this as well. 371 00:27:49,320 --> 00:27:54,920 See, this parable, this story wasn't new for Jesus. 372 00:27:54,920 --> 00:27:58,760 I know, gasp, oh, Jesus told a story that he didn't make up. 373 00:27:58,760 --> 00:28:04,280 See, there are actually 4,000 Jewish parables that are recorded that we know of from the 374 00:28:04,280 --> 00:28:08,880 hundred years before Jesus and the hundred years after the life of Jesus. 375 00:28:08,880 --> 00:28:14,000 When rabbis and teachers of the law, what they would do is that they would take a common 376 00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:19,920 story or parable and then they would put their own twist on it to make it their own, to make 377 00:28:19,920 --> 00:28:22,440 the point that they wanted to make it. 378 00:28:22,440 --> 00:28:27,560 In this case, Jesus is telling a story that they already knew. 379 00:28:27,560 --> 00:28:33,320 They'd heard this story before, but the records show that when other rabbis would tell this 380 00:28:33,320 --> 00:28:38,480 story, when the prodigal son, having lost everything in the land of the Gentiles, had 381 00:28:38,480 --> 00:28:44,760 come home, the rabbis always made it clear that the son was rejected not just by the 382 00:28:44,760 --> 00:28:54,760 community but by the father or that he didn't make it home because he had died. 383 00:28:54,760 --> 00:28:57,120 It was a cautionary tale. 384 00:28:57,120 --> 00:28:59,040 Don't run from God. 385 00:28:59,040 --> 00:29:02,680 Don't leave home. 386 00:29:02,680 --> 00:29:08,760 When Jesus is telling this story, listen, the teachers of the law, the people listening, 387 00:29:08,760 --> 00:29:13,660 they think they know how this story ends. 388 00:29:13,660 --> 00:29:15,280 Everything is the same up to then. 389 00:29:15,280 --> 00:29:16,920 Oh yeah, I've heard this one. 390 00:29:16,920 --> 00:29:18,480 There's a guy, he's got two sons. 391 00:29:18,480 --> 00:29:19,480 Uh-huh, uh-huh. 392 00:29:19,480 --> 00:29:21,960 Yep, he split up everything he had and he gave some. 393 00:29:21,960 --> 00:29:25,040 Oh, yep, that idiot's son ran off with all that. 394 00:29:25,040 --> 00:29:26,720 Oh, yep, he ruined his life. 395 00:29:26,720 --> 00:29:30,820 Oh, oh, can't wait for the best part of the story. 396 00:29:30,820 --> 00:29:34,800 They thought they knew what was coming and when Jesus gets to the part where the father 397 00:29:34,800 --> 00:29:40,600 is supposed to throw him out, instead he throws his arms around him. 398 00:29:40,600 --> 00:29:44,960 Imagine you're hearing a story that you've heard a hundred times and that happens instead 399 00:29:44,960 --> 00:29:48,880 of what you expected. 400 00:29:48,880 --> 00:29:53,480 Instead of kicking him out, he clothes him. 401 00:29:53,480 --> 00:29:56,840 Instead of spitting in his face, he kisses him. 402 00:29:56,840 --> 00:30:01,880 Instead of banishing him, he takes a ring and he puts it on his finger saying, you are 403 00:30:01,880 --> 00:30:04,360 now fully my family again. 404 00:30:04,360 --> 00:30:12,200 Can you imagine that then he throws a party? 405 00:30:12,200 --> 00:30:20,040 This son that took a third of all the father had and lost it comes home and is given more. 406 00:30:20,040 --> 00:30:25,640 He's given more. 407 00:30:25,640 --> 00:30:29,480 People that are afraid that people are going to take advantage of God's grace do not understand 408 00:30:29,480 --> 00:30:36,160 God's grace. 409 00:30:36,160 --> 00:30:40,800 I think that anytime we read a parable, any parable, maybe especially this one, we should 410 00:30:40,800 --> 00:30:44,820 ask where we fit into this story. 411 00:30:44,820 --> 00:30:46,220 Who are we? 412 00:30:46,220 --> 00:30:51,680 Because in this story, Jesus makes it perfectly clear where the stodgy religious folk are 413 00:30:51,680 --> 00:30:54,160 and where they fit. 414 00:30:54,160 --> 00:31:05,840 This may come as a surprise to you, but what he says is that they belong to. 415 00:31:05,840 --> 00:31:13,360 Because after all of this, he doesn't end the story where it normally ends. 416 00:31:13,360 --> 00:31:17,080 He says, people like you, they're out hard working in the fields. 417 00:31:17,080 --> 00:31:19,000 You've never left. 418 00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:21,160 You've given everything you have every day. 419 00:31:21,160 --> 00:31:25,080 He says, the father has something to say to you as well. 420 00:31:25,080 --> 00:31:30,000 And in the reading of this story, the father doesn't go out and chide him. 421 00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:32,280 The father doesn't go out and slap him. 422 00:31:32,280 --> 00:31:36,000 The father doesn't tell him, get back to work, you good servant. 423 00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:39,600 No, he says, he affirms him. 424 00:31:39,600 --> 00:31:41,600 He further affirms his identity. 425 00:31:41,600 --> 00:31:43,720 He further says, yes, you are my son. 426 00:31:43,720 --> 00:31:45,760 Yes, you have always been here. 427 00:31:45,760 --> 00:31:49,420 And yes, everything I have is yours. 428 00:31:49,420 --> 00:31:55,560 He just tries to change his mind about how he should think about his brother. 429 00:31:55,560 --> 00:32:01,720 In the life of any church, a church that is as good or bad as you think it is, there are 430 00:32:01,720 --> 00:32:05,280 always going to be these two kinds of people in that church. 431 00:32:05,280 --> 00:32:11,240 The people that come asking for more, that someone thinks are undeserving, and the people 432 00:32:11,240 --> 00:32:16,840 that think they've given too much and have not been given anything in return. 433 00:32:16,840 --> 00:32:22,840 And the father will always be there trying to remind us who we really are, who you really 434 00:32:22,840 --> 00:32:26,920 are. 435 00:32:26,920 --> 00:32:29,520 You are my child. 436 00:32:29,520 --> 00:32:32,040 You are here. 437 00:32:32,040 --> 00:32:34,920 Everything that I have is yours. 438 00:32:34,920 --> 00:32:39,720 It's just we don't know how to do that sometimes. 439 00:32:39,720 --> 00:32:45,040 We don't know how to accept the words of God the Father in our ears saying, I have everything 440 00:32:45,040 --> 00:32:47,640 you need. 441 00:32:47,640 --> 00:32:50,080 Everything I have is available to you. 442 00:32:50,080 --> 00:32:53,320 All of who I am is yours. 443 00:32:53,320 --> 00:32:56,320 You belong. 444 00:32:56,320 --> 00:33:03,240 Not because of how hard you worked or how quickly you came back when you made a mistake. 445 00:33:03,240 --> 00:33:09,320 You belong because you are mine. 446 00:33:09,320 --> 00:33:15,560 So, as we normally have to ask, we have to, well what do we do with any of this? 447 00:33:15,560 --> 00:33:17,280 And Greg's really emotional today. 448 00:33:17,280 --> 00:33:23,640 I suppose I should do something. 449 00:33:23,640 --> 00:33:26,080 First thing is this. 450 00:33:26,080 --> 00:33:29,960 If I could encourage you to do anything, you got to be ready to run. 451 00:33:29,960 --> 00:33:38,760 I mentioned in a past sermon, oh gosh dang it, that this summer Wallace got hit in the 452 00:33:38,760 --> 00:33:41,080 face with a baseball. 453 00:33:41,080 --> 00:33:47,040 I was during an All-Star game and I was coaching and so I was over by the dugout and it happened 454 00:33:47,040 --> 00:33:54,400 and you heard the sound and it was dramatic and later, I don't remember if it was that 455 00:33:54,400 --> 00:33:58,960 night or if it was the next day, but Wallace said to me, dad, when I got hit, you ran really 456 00:33:58,960 --> 00:34:02,360 fast. 457 00:34:02,360 --> 00:34:12,360 Listen, he didn't say this because he didn't think I cared or that I wouldn't run. 458 00:34:12,360 --> 00:34:19,520 He said it because he knows that my knees always hurt. 459 00:34:19,520 --> 00:34:28,920 He said it because he knows that I can't really run anymore. 460 00:34:28,920 --> 00:34:37,800 And yet he saw a father run to him as fast as he could, regardless of the pain. 461 00:34:37,800 --> 00:34:45,400 Listen as Christians, as a church, I don't want people to just be grateful that we welcome 462 00:34:45,400 --> 00:34:48,800 them home. 463 00:34:48,800 --> 00:34:58,080 I want them to notice how fast we accept them, how fast we run to them, how we ignore their 464 00:34:58,080 --> 00:35:05,080 apologies, how we hand them identity. 465 00:35:05,080 --> 00:35:15,240 It means that, I pray that for those who have ears can hear, it means that some of us are 466 00:35:15,240 --> 00:35:23,040 going to have to grow into deeper levels of grace to learn how to accept people that you 467 00:35:23,040 --> 00:35:35,640 were always taught to reject and to accept them quickly, without question, without apology, 468 00:35:35,640 --> 00:35:38,640 without expectations. 469 00:35:38,640 --> 00:35:46,100 Second, I just wrote hugs. 470 00:35:46,100 --> 00:35:49,720 For some of us, nothing feels more affirming than a hug. 471 00:35:49,720 --> 00:35:56,160 When I was a child on Sunday morning, there was a few people that would always give me 472 00:35:56,160 --> 00:35:57,160 hugs. 473 00:35:57,160 --> 00:36:05,480 Rosalie Stair, LaVon Williams, not my family, and yet my family in Christ every single Sunday, 474 00:36:05,480 --> 00:36:06,480 all ages. 475 00:36:06,480 --> 00:36:13,360 I didn't ask for these hugs, but they gave them to me anyway. 476 00:36:13,360 --> 00:36:15,720 Some of us, there's nothing more affirming than a hug. 477 00:36:15,720 --> 00:36:16,720 And I get it. 478 00:36:16,720 --> 00:36:18,920 Some of us, we don't like to be touched. 479 00:36:18,920 --> 00:36:21,280 That's fine too. 480 00:36:21,280 --> 00:36:27,720 Maybe at the end of this service, maybe some of you need to hug somebody. 481 00:36:27,720 --> 00:36:33,120 Maybe some of you need to realize that you've never been embraced inside of this building. 482 00:36:33,120 --> 00:36:35,880 Sure, you've been accepted. 483 00:36:35,880 --> 00:36:38,240 You know, someone like, oh yeah, I'm kind of friends with that person. 484 00:36:38,240 --> 00:36:41,440 Oh, I kind of know that person. 485 00:36:41,440 --> 00:36:44,120 But maybe you just need to be hugged. 486 00:36:44,120 --> 00:36:45,480 Maybe you need to be embraced. 487 00:36:45,480 --> 00:36:54,080 Maybe you need someone to fall on your neck so that you really know that they're happy 488 00:36:54,080 --> 00:36:56,200 that you're here. 489 00:36:56,200 --> 00:37:03,200 So if you can, let's offer someone that affirmation that they belong, that we're in this together, 490 00:37:03,200 --> 00:37:05,120 that they are family. 491 00:37:05,120 --> 00:37:09,400 And the last thing is I want to encourage you to be a part of a community table and 492 00:37:09,400 --> 00:37:16,440 to invite someone to that space that doesn't know yet what it means to be family. 493 00:37:16,440 --> 00:37:18,920 A community table, they're going to start up in a couple Sundays. 494 00:37:18,920 --> 00:37:22,960 We're going to have a few of them, two on Sunday nights, one on Wednesday night. 495 00:37:22,960 --> 00:37:28,840 It's just a very social opportunity to talk to each other, talk a little bit about God, 496 00:37:28,840 --> 00:37:34,040 to eat food together and to get to know each other and to learn that you really are a part 497 00:37:34,040 --> 00:37:35,040 of this family. 498 00:37:35,040 --> 00:37:36,760 There's sign up sheets out in the lobby. 499 00:37:36,760 --> 00:37:38,200 I encourage you to look at those. 500 00:37:38,200 --> 00:37:40,800 If you have any questions, put them in your connection card. 501 00:37:40,800 --> 00:37:44,880 I encourage you guys, be ready to run. 502 00:37:44,880 --> 00:37:49,960 For some of us, be ready for a hug after the service is over today. 503 00:37:49,960 --> 00:37:54,520 For others of us, sign up for something like a community table and you know what? 504 00:37:54,520 --> 00:37:58,600 I'm going to go a little deeper into what it means to be a part of this community, to 505 00:37:58,600 --> 00:38:00,440 get to know each other. 506 00:38:00,440 --> 00:38:06,600 Because I want us to understand that the point of all of this is for us to be a church like 507 00:38:06,600 --> 00:38:10,280 the Father is a Father. 508 00:38:10,280 --> 00:38:13,960 So welcome people home. 509 00:38:13,960 --> 00:38:14,960 Let's pray. 510 00:38:14,960 --> 00:38:25,000 God, I thank you that you, again, are the kind of Father that you are, that you love us, 511 00:38:25,000 --> 00:38:30,040 that you have compassion for us, that you run to us, that while you always see us, you 512 00:38:30,040 --> 00:38:32,080 still seek us. 513 00:38:32,080 --> 00:38:41,160 I pray that our hearts would seek you and that we would feel found like true children 514 00:38:41,160 --> 00:38:42,160 of your family. 515 00:38:42,160 --> 00:39:02,560 In the name of Jesus, amen.