1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:10,500 Good morning. How are you all doing today? Well, doing good. Well, we always like to 2 00:00:10,500 --> 00:00:15,940 start off by welcoming any of you that are here for the first time in our sanctuary, 3 00:00:15,940 --> 00:00:19,980 or for those of you joining us online, we like to say welcome to all of you. We're so 4 00:00:19,980 --> 00:00:25,880 glad you're going to worship with us today. I am Pastor Nathan, and we do want to open 5 00:00:25,880 --> 00:00:32,360 by saying happy Father's Day. Happy Father's Day. You know, this morning we're going to 6 00:00:32,360 --> 00:00:42,240 be taking a break from Revelation to honor fathers, dads, papas, grandfathers, you know, 7 00:00:42,240 --> 00:00:47,620 really all of those who have a fatherly role in the lives of children. We want to honor 8 00:00:47,620 --> 00:00:53,240 you and honor that role today. And so we're going to be looking at a famous story from 9 00:00:53,240 --> 00:01:00,520 Luke chapter 15. Most of us know this story as the Prodigal Son, the parable of the Prodigal 10 00:01:00,520 --> 00:01:07,360 Son, but this story might be better titled the parable of the Merciful Father, because 11 00:01:07,360 --> 00:01:13,600 this story is actually emphasizing, highlighting the nature of the Father. That's what it's 12 00:01:13,600 --> 00:01:23,200 really about. Jesus is in this parable talking about who God is, who God is, how God in heaven 13 00:01:23,200 --> 00:01:28,440 is willing to forgive repentant sinners. And really that story in context of today, you 14 00:01:28,440 --> 00:01:36,480 know, the wonderful opportunity that fatherhood is, is an opportunity to teach your children 15 00:01:36,480 --> 00:01:44,000 about who their father in heaven is. That's the opportunity fatherhood affords us. To 16 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:49,480 be an example of who God in heaven is, who their father in heaven is, by modeling the 17 00:01:49,480 --> 00:01:55,040 attributes of God, by modeling who God is, our father in heaven, as we see in his word. 18 00:01:55,040 --> 00:02:02,560 You know, fathers and fatherhood and fatherly roles, it's such an important thing. It's 19 00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:09,960 so important on so many levels because how people see their earthly fathers often colors 20 00:02:09,960 --> 00:02:15,000 how they will see God in heaven as God their father. And it's unfortunate that there are 21 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:20,520 some in this world today that have difficulty in their relationship with God because of 22 00:02:20,520 --> 00:02:25,920 how their earthly fathers acted or treated them or were there or not there or fell in 23 00:02:25,920 --> 00:02:32,160 the blank. You know, I read a story about a kid who was told by a family friend, you 24 00:02:32,160 --> 00:02:39,360 remind me of your father. And that kid stuck out his tongue in disgust. Tells you a lot, 25 00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:44,400 doesn't it? But then there was another kid told the same thing, you remind me of your 26 00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:50,960 father. And that kid stuck out his chest proudly. So proud of the comparison, you know. And 27 00:02:50,960 --> 00:02:56,120 dads this morning, I just want to encourage you to ask yourself a question. You know, 28 00:02:56,120 --> 00:03:00,380 if at some point in your life if someone said to your kid or those that you have a fatherly 29 00:03:00,380 --> 00:03:05,520 role in their lives, if someone said to them, you remind me of your father, would you want 30 00:03:05,520 --> 00:03:11,400 them to stick out their tongue or to stick out their chest? Would you want their response 31 00:03:11,400 --> 00:03:18,040 to be one of delight or one of disgust? And really the scriptures that we're looking at 32 00:03:18,040 --> 00:03:24,440 this morning in Luke 15 are going to teach us four characteristics of our Father in heaven. 33 00:03:24,440 --> 00:03:30,760 Four characteristics of God that set an example for all earthly fathers to follow. All those 34 00:03:30,760 --> 00:03:36,680 who have fatherly roles, those father figures, it's an example that we are to follow in order 35 00:03:36,680 --> 00:03:43,040 to really be the fathers that God is calling us to be. But I do want to make note because 36 00:03:43,040 --> 00:03:49,400 sometimes these holidays, Mother's Day included, are difficult holidays for some people because 37 00:03:49,400 --> 00:03:55,640 there's many reasons. For some it's, well, my father's not with me anymore. For some 38 00:03:55,640 --> 00:04:01,400 it's, well, I had a really bad father. For some there's disappointments and hurts. But 39 00:04:01,400 --> 00:04:06,300 for those today who would be like, you know, I struggle with Father's Day because it brings 40 00:04:06,300 --> 00:04:12,020 up bad memories, please I encourage you today to pay attention to what your Father in heaven 41 00:04:12,020 --> 00:04:17,840 wants you to know about Him, about who He is. Because although no earthly father is 42 00:04:17,840 --> 00:04:24,520 perfect, our Father in heaven is perfect and He always will be. But before we get to the 43 00:04:24,520 --> 00:04:27,600 scriptures this morning, we're going to spend time in worship and I just want to encourage 44 00:04:27,600 --> 00:04:33,760 you guys to praise your Father in heaven for who He is, what He's done, how He's blessed 45 00:04:33,760 --> 00:04:40,400 you, because He is amazing. He is dependable. He is everything we need and we just want 46 00:04:40,400 --> 00:04:46,720 to praise Him for that. Amen? Let's pray. Father, we praise you today, God. Lord, we 47 00:04:46,720 --> 00:04:52,480 are here today as a church, Lord, celebrating what we call Father's Day, Lord, a day to 48 00:04:52,480 --> 00:04:58,320 recognize and honor those in our lives, God, who are our dads, who have, whether they're 49 00:04:58,320 --> 00:05:03,160 biological fathers or who have acted as fathers, Lord. This includes grandfathers and the whole 50 00:05:03,160 --> 00:05:07,960 deal, Lord. But God, in honoring them, this day is really about honoring you because you 51 00:05:07,960 --> 00:05:15,440 are the perfect example of what a father should be. And God, even in the face of maybe letdowns 52 00:05:15,440 --> 00:05:19,660 or disappointments with our earthly fathers, God, you are perfect and you never let us 53 00:05:19,660 --> 00:05:25,840 down. And so God, we just want to honor the concept of fatherhood by honoring the example 54 00:05:25,840 --> 00:05:30,400 you are, Lord, and to learn from the teaching that you gave here in this parable we're going 55 00:05:30,400 --> 00:05:35,600 to look at this morning. But God, we want to start this day by praising your name and 56 00:05:35,600 --> 00:05:41,280 giving you the honor that you are due. Lord, we love you so much and we're so thankful 57 00:05:41,280 --> 00:05:45,480 for the lessons you teach us and the guidance you give us and the dependability that you 58 00:05:45,480 --> 00:05:51,960 are, the approachability that you have because, God, we so desperately need you and we're 59 00:05:51,960 --> 00:05:57,600 so grateful that you're there for us. We love you. It's in Jesus' name we pray this morning. 60 00:05:57,600 --> 00:06:03,160 Amen. All right. We are in Luke chapter 15. We're going to be starting in verse 11, but 61 00:06:03,160 --> 00:06:07,040 wanted to give you a little bit of background. You know, at the beginning of Luke chapter 62 00:06:07,040 --> 00:06:13,480 15, as the story is there in the scriptures, the tax collectors and sinners were drawing 63 00:06:13,480 --> 00:06:19,520 near to Jesus. And the people that were tax collectors and sinners, these were people 64 00:06:19,520 --> 00:06:26,660 that were considered the bad elements of society. They were the cast off. They were the despised. 65 00:06:26,660 --> 00:06:32,200 They were the rejected. And at that time, the Pharisees and scribes who were the religious 66 00:06:32,200 --> 00:06:38,680 leaders, the religious elite of that time, these were people who prided themselves on 67 00:06:38,680 --> 00:06:44,880 being God, our Father's favorites, right? These were the Pharisees and scribes. They 68 00:06:44,880 --> 00:06:50,280 complained. They were complaining about these tax collectors and sinners coming close to 69 00:06:50,280 --> 00:06:55,920 Jesus because Jesus was recognized, at least by most people, as a teacher. For those, you 70 00:06:55,920 --> 00:06:59,560 know, some already recognized Him as Messiah, but people that didn't necessarily recognize 71 00:06:59,560 --> 00:07:06,360 Him as Messiah still recognized Him as a teacher. And so it was not good. It wasn't considered 72 00:07:06,360 --> 00:07:11,720 socially acceptable for a teacher to hang out with these types of people in the culture 73 00:07:11,720 --> 00:07:15,120 there. And so the Pharisees and scribes were complaining about that. They thought it was 74 00:07:15,120 --> 00:07:20,960 wrong for Jesus to receive the tax collectors and sinners into fellowship and hanging out 75 00:07:20,960 --> 00:07:25,440 with them. It was wrong for Jesus to be with them. And so as they were complaining, Jesus 76 00:07:25,440 --> 00:07:30,000 then answers their complaints. They're discontent with three parables. And these are the three 77 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:35,280 parables that you'll see in Luke chapter 15. You guys will know them familiar as the parable 78 00:07:35,280 --> 00:07:41,120 of the lost sheep, the parable of the lost coin, and the parable of the lost son. Some 79 00:07:41,120 --> 00:07:45,160 time back, our worship leader, Elder Ron, did a study on all of these. And I encourage 80 00:07:45,160 --> 00:07:48,800 you guys, if you missed that, it's on our YouTube channel and go look at it because 81 00:07:48,800 --> 00:07:54,440 it was a great teaching through all three of these parables and what they are getting 82 00:07:54,440 --> 00:08:00,040 at. But for summary's sake, all of these parables had the same lesson. There was a point behind 83 00:08:00,040 --> 00:08:05,080 Jesus teaching these three parables. It really is that God is willing to forgive is kind 84 00:08:05,080 --> 00:08:11,200 of the ultimate thing. God is willing to forgive. He is willing to go after the lost. He is 85 00:08:11,200 --> 00:08:16,760 willing to seek out that which is lost to bring it back, to receive it back to himself. 86 00:08:16,760 --> 00:08:22,680 And so by the time we get to the story of the lost son in verse 11, Jesus has been showing 87 00:08:22,680 --> 00:08:27,840 us about who God is, his character. But the parable of the lost son specifically, or the 88 00:08:27,840 --> 00:08:34,880 prodigal son, shows us something very interesting, very specifically interesting about our God, 89 00:08:34,880 --> 00:08:39,280 God our Father in heaven and what is important to him. You see, because if you go through 90 00:08:39,280 --> 00:08:43,480 the chapter, you'll look at the parable of the lost sheep. That was the first parable. 91 00:08:43,480 --> 00:08:47,780 And that's the parable that says, look, there was a hundred sheep. One of them got lost 92 00:08:47,780 --> 00:08:52,320 and the shepherd went out to go find that one sheep. But if you look at it mathematically 93 00:08:52,320 --> 00:08:57,560 there, what the shepherd lost was one out of a hundred. So it was a 1% loss in what 94 00:08:57,560 --> 00:09:02,720 was his, right? And what we see in that story there is really, it was about a loss of possession. 95 00:09:02,720 --> 00:09:07,800 The shepherd lost something that belonged to him, the sheep. And the idea in that parable 96 00:09:07,800 --> 00:09:13,460 is that we belong to God, right? We belong to God. We are his creation. We are his possession. 97 00:09:13,460 --> 00:09:19,080 And when we are lost and when he seeks us out and finds us, great joy, great celebration, 98 00:09:19,080 --> 00:09:23,580 great joy. Then you have the story of the lost coin. And in that parable there was 10 99 00:09:23,580 --> 00:09:29,080 coins and one of them got lost. So now we see almost a greater loss in that story, a 100 00:09:29,080 --> 00:09:33,920 10% loss, still very important. But what we see in that story is that there was a loss 101 00:09:33,920 --> 00:09:39,080 of something valuable, not just a loss of a possession, but loss of something valuable. 102 00:09:39,080 --> 00:09:45,400 And so the general idea of there is more than just belonging to God, we are valuable to 103 00:09:45,400 --> 00:09:52,200 God. And so when we are lost and he finds us, great joy, great celebration. But then 104 00:09:52,200 --> 00:09:58,880 you get to the prodigal son. And in that story there are two sons and one of them is lost. 105 00:09:58,880 --> 00:10:04,760 That's a 50% loss, an even greater loss than the first two stories. But it's even a loss 106 00:10:04,760 --> 00:10:09,580 of greater import because it's not just a loss of a possession, it's not just a loss 107 00:10:09,580 --> 00:10:16,720 of something of value, it's a loss of relationship. And that is of greatest value to God. The 108 00:10:16,720 --> 00:10:22,600 relationship that he has with us, his children, we are God's children. And as our father in 109 00:10:22,600 --> 00:10:28,080 heaven the relationship between us and him is of paramount importance to him. And so 110 00:10:28,080 --> 00:10:33,360 in this story we see that it's more than just possessions with value, it's his kids. And 111 00:10:33,360 --> 00:10:39,000 when that relationship is damaged, when that relationship is severed, it's terrible. It's 112 00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:46,040 of great, great concern to him. But when that relationship is restored, wow, what celebration 113 00:10:46,040 --> 00:10:51,500 ensues when God's kids are restored in relationship to him. And so today what we're going to see 114 00:10:51,500 --> 00:10:55,800 in this parable of the prodigal son is four characteristics of the father, which I believe 115 00:10:55,800 --> 00:11:00,000 are four characteristics of God our father. And they're four characteristics that all 116 00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:05,720 fathers on earth here are to follow. They're a great model to set for your kids because 117 00:11:05,720 --> 00:11:12,200 of the great impact that your fatherhood has on how they will then see God in heaven. And 118 00:11:12,200 --> 00:11:15,320 these four things are simply this. One of them, the first one is that he was willing 119 00:11:15,320 --> 00:11:20,160 to let his kids make mistakes. And that may be an unpopular opinion and we'll deal with 120 00:11:20,160 --> 00:11:27,320 that when we get there, okay? But he was also approachable. He was gentle. And he was impartial. 121 00:11:27,320 --> 00:11:32,260 And again, these are four important characteristics for all fathers. For all father figures to 122 00:11:32,260 --> 00:11:37,640 example for their kids or the kids that they have influence over in their lives really 123 00:11:37,640 --> 00:11:43,040 in order to be the godly fathers that they are called to be, to rightly represent God 124 00:11:43,040 --> 00:11:47,880 our father in heaven, to minister the love and the grace and the mercy that their kids 125 00:11:47,880 --> 00:11:54,080 need, the grace that their kids need, and then really to create the best opportunity 126 00:11:54,080 --> 00:11:58,780 to introduce your kids to God who is their father in heaven. So join me in verse 11 of 127 00:11:58,780 --> 00:12:05,000 Luke 15. We start the story. It says, he also said a man has two sons, and it's speaking 128 00:12:05,000 --> 00:12:10,260 of Jesus who's telling these parables. A man had two sons. The younger of them said to 129 00:12:10,260 --> 00:12:15,420 his father, father, give me the share of the estate I have come into me. So he distributed 130 00:12:15,420 --> 00:12:20,860 the assets to them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered together all he had and 131 00:12:20,860 --> 00:12:28,840 traveled to a distant country where he squandered his estate in foolish living. Now that word 132 00:12:28,840 --> 00:12:35,040 foolish there, that is the word that is rendered prodigal in some of the more traditional translations. 133 00:12:35,040 --> 00:12:39,840 If you have a new King James version, it will say prodigal living there. Prodigal isn't 134 00:12:39,840 --> 00:12:46,160 a term we use a whole lot in our modern language, which I believe is likely why the CSB, which 135 00:12:46,160 --> 00:12:50,860 I'm teaching from, renders it foolish instead of prodigal because we tend to understand 136 00:12:50,860 --> 00:12:56,420 the term foolish better. But the idea, the original word there means wastefully lavish 137 00:12:56,420 --> 00:13:04,640 or self-centered living. Foolish, wastefully lavish. It's the idea of being able to expend 138 00:13:04,640 --> 00:13:11,540 all of one's resources on a self-indulgent lifestyle. It's being willing to just spend 139 00:13:11,540 --> 00:13:17,040 every penny you have just to party and feel good. That's the idea here. And so the younger 140 00:13:17,040 --> 00:13:24,100 son in the story we're looking at really is a shining example of wasting your life. That 141 00:13:24,100 --> 00:13:30,900 is the example we see in this son. Now this son here in this story was likely a teenager, 142 00:13:30,900 --> 00:13:35,280 and I don't say that to be offensive to any teenagers, but I say that because there's 143 00:13:35,280 --> 00:13:40,500 no indication that the son is yet married, so he's not leaving to go be with his wife, 144 00:13:40,500 --> 00:13:44,180 which would indicate that he's younger. But it would also, we see that he's old enough 145 00:13:44,180 --> 00:13:48,780 to demand his inheritance, and so he's not a young, young child, so likely a teenager 146 00:13:48,780 --> 00:13:52,900 at this point. But as we'll see, the point of the story and what he does here is that 147 00:13:52,900 --> 00:14:01,460 he demands his inheritance before the appropriate time. That was an incredibly huge act of rebellion, 148 00:14:01,460 --> 00:14:04,980 and we're going to talk about that in a moment. So again, the picture here of this younger 149 00:14:04,980 --> 00:14:12,580 son in contrast to the father is of the rebellious teenage son. That's the picture. 150 00:14:12,580 --> 00:14:16,860 So now the cultural detail that adds to the drama, and really would have been a detail 151 00:14:16,860 --> 00:14:23,060 that Jesus' listeners would have picked up on, has to do with Jewish inheritance law. 152 00:14:23,060 --> 00:14:28,380 And so I'm not going to get too technical because it'll bore you to death. But really 153 00:14:28,380 --> 00:14:35,540 to the point is, is in Jewish inheritance law, if there was two sons in a family, the 154 00:14:35,540 --> 00:14:42,220 eldest son got a double share of the inheritance, and the younger son didn't get that. And so 155 00:14:42,220 --> 00:14:46,100 the eldest son would get twice as much as the youngest son, which I always liked to 156 00:14:46,100 --> 00:14:51,900 remind my brother of as we were growing up, because I'm the oldest son. So anyways, but 157 00:14:51,900 --> 00:14:56,900 in this story, you have a family where the eldest son got two-thirds of the inheritance, 158 00:14:56,900 --> 00:15:01,740 and the youngest son got one-third of the inheritance. But the most important detail 159 00:15:01,740 --> 00:15:10,300 of this is that the inheritance was intended to be dispersed upon the death of the father. 160 00:15:10,300 --> 00:15:16,580 The whole concept of inheritance was my father is dead, now we divvy up what is left behind. 161 00:15:16,580 --> 00:15:24,500 By demanding it early, the son is expressing the highest possible degree of dishonor to 162 00:15:24,500 --> 00:15:31,700 his father. By saying, give me my inheritance now, is tantamount to saying, dad, I wish 163 00:15:31,700 --> 00:15:38,480 you were dead. That's what he's communicating. Give me my inheritance now means, dad, I wish 164 00:15:38,480 --> 00:15:43,220 you were dead. I want you out of my life. I don't want to have anything to do with you. 165 00:15:43,220 --> 00:15:46,900 I don't want to be a part of this family. I don't want to be a part of this community. 166 00:15:46,900 --> 00:15:56,220 Bash me out now. Now remember, culturally, right? Culturally, Israel, the Jews were the 167 00:15:56,220 --> 00:16:01,380 nation that were given the Ten Commandments, right? God's Ten Commandments. And one of 168 00:16:01,380 --> 00:16:07,220 those commandments was honor your mother and father. And so in the cultural context of 169 00:16:07,220 --> 00:16:13,660 Israel and really the people who are hearing the story and the story being told about, 170 00:16:13,660 --> 00:16:19,140 honoring your mother and father was a huge, huge deal. Major deal in their culture. And 171 00:16:19,140 --> 00:16:25,300 so the idea of cash me out while you're alive, wow, that was really at the top of the list 172 00:16:25,300 --> 00:16:31,300 of disgraces. The son couldn't have done much more to be more dishonoring or disrespectful 173 00:16:31,300 --> 00:16:36,460 towards his dad. Now another detail is if and when this did happen at the time in the 174 00:16:36,460 --> 00:16:41,660 culture, if and when a son was so dishonoring and disrespectful to demand their inheritance 175 00:16:41,660 --> 00:16:47,420 early due to the level of disgrace, there was three things that kind of took place when 176 00:16:47,420 --> 00:16:52,020 this would happen. One, the father would make sure that he would take his son out to a public 177 00:16:52,020 --> 00:16:57,620 place before the family and the community and he would smack his son across the face. 178 00:16:57,620 --> 00:17:03,140 Pow! Because the disgrace was so huge. And then that son would be publicly scorned by 179 00:17:03,140 --> 00:17:09,180 both the father and the community. And scorned means to be treated with derision, to be treated 180 00:17:09,180 --> 00:17:13,740 with dishonor, to be despised. And so that son would then begin to be treated like a 181 00:17:13,740 --> 00:17:19,100 pariah amongst all the people in the community, including the family. And then they would 182 00:17:19,100 --> 00:17:26,380 actually hold a funeral service for that son because the disgrace of that level was so 183 00:17:26,380 --> 00:17:31,300 bad that fathers would be like, you're no son of mine, you're dead to me. And so they 184 00:17:31,300 --> 00:17:37,340 would actually hold a funeral for the kid. So what would happen in these instances is 185 00:17:37,340 --> 00:17:41,060 the son that would do this would be put out of the family, would be put out of the community, 186 00:17:41,060 --> 00:17:46,020 would be considered culturally to be dead and gone. And even though we don't necessarily 187 00:17:46,020 --> 00:17:51,940 see those details here in the story, we do see the concept later that when the son returns, 188 00:17:51,940 --> 00:17:58,100 the dad says, my son who is dead is alive again. And so we see the cultural context there. 189 00:17:58,100 --> 00:18:07,180 But I want you to notice something in verse 12. Despite the great dishonor, the disrespect. 190 00:18:07,180 --> 00:18:16,220 Verse 12, it says the father distributed the assets to them. We don't read of any discussion. 191 00:18:16,220 --> 00:18:21,860 We don't read of any pushback by the dad. We just see that the father distributed the 192 00:18:21,860 --> 00:18:28,460 assets to them. He didn't have to do that. He didn't have to do that. He was well within 193 00:18:28,460 --> 00:18:35,140 his rights to be like, absolutely not. But he did. What we see here is that he let his 194 00:18:35,140 --> 00:18:40,980 son make a choice. And although he might have disagreed with it, in this instance, he honored 195 00:18:40,980 --> 00:18:45,780 it. And that's really the first characteristic that I believe we see here in this father 196 00:18:45,780 --> 00:18:50,060 that is in this story is that he was willing to let his son make mistakes. He was flexible 197 00:18:50,060 --> 00:18:55,100 in that regard. He could have said, absolutely not. No, no way. I will not permit you to 198 00:18:55,100 --> 00:19:00,340 make this decision. I will not allow you to make this decision. But instead he says, okay, 199 00:19:00,340 --> 00:19:06,300 here you go. Now, what I'm saying might be an unpopular opinion. And I'm not saying that 200 00:19:06,300 --> 00:19:12,780 in all cases we just let our kids make bad decisions. But there are times, especially 201 00:19:12,780 --> 00:19:17,940 as they're growing up and as they're getting older, there are times where sometimes dads 202 00:19:17,940 --> 00:19:23,620 can be a little overbearing and a little controlling. And as they are trying to grow and learn how 203 00:19:23,620 --> 00:19:30,700 to make good decisions, we can stifle that by just saying, no, no, no, no, I won't even 204 00:19:30,700 --> 00:19:37,540 hear you out. I won't even entertain your options or your thoughts. And so by willing 205 00:19:37,540 --> 00:19:43,500 to allow his son to make mistakes, I'm not saying fathers that you compromise your own 206 00:19:43,500 --> 00:19:49,440 values. I'm not suggesting that you lower your own personal standards of righteousness 207 00:19:49,440 --> 00:19:55,380 and right and wrong. But there are times, as I said, specifically as your kids get older, 208 00:19:55,380 --> 00:20:01,740 that you need to let them decide what values they're going to live according to. And sometimes 209 00:20:01,740 --> 00:20:07,520 those values might grate against your values. But you need to allow them the opportunity 210 00:20:07,520 --> 00:20:12,860 to think through and to make those decisions. You need to allow them the opportunity to 211 00:20:12,860 --> 00:20:18,580 make their own choices. And sometimes you might not agree with those choices. Now again, 212 00:20:18,580 --> 00:20:24,140 I want to be very careful and delicate here because sure, nobody wants their kids to hurt, 213 00:20:24,140 --> 00:20:29,900 right? Nobody wants their kids to suffer the consequences of poor choices, which is the 214 00:20:29,900 --> 00:20:34,620 very reason why we have the list of lectures, right? We tell our kids, right? Because I 215 00:20:34,620 --> 00:20:42,260 want you to learn from all my mistakes so that you don't repeat those same mistakes. 216 00:20:42,260 --> 00:20:45,460 But the reason I'm bringing this up is because as I was looking at this story and looking 217 00:20:45,460 --> 00:20:54,140 at this father saying, okay, here's your inheritance, I was thinking about God. And I was thinking 218 00:20:54,140 --> 00:21:03,800 about how God does this with us. God doesn't force us to love him. God doesn't force us 219 00:21:03,800 --> 00:21:10,340 to live according to his will. He doesn't remove our ability to make our own free will 220 00:21:10,340 --> 00:21:24,220 choices. He doesn't force us to be. He presents us with truth. He teaches us truth. He encourages 221 00:21:24,220 --> 00:21:31,100 us to make the right choices. He's absolutely honest with us about the consequences of the 222 00:21:31,100 --> 00:21:37,100 choices we're going to make. But God still allows us to choose. He still allows us to 223 00:21:37,100 --> 00:21:45,380 choose. And then in that choice, in many instances, he honors our free will, which is hard to 224 00:21:45,380 --> 00:21:53,540 fathom because, gosh, we make some dumb choices. We make some bad choices as his kids. Oftentimes 225 00:21:53,540 --> 00:21:57,260 the choice is to flat out disobey God. I'm not going to do what you're telling me to 226 00:21:57,260 --> 00:22:05,740 do. I'm going to choose the opposite. We saw that with Jonah, right? Jonah didn't run into 227 00:22:05,740 --> 00:22:10,380 an invisible wall where God said, absolutely not. I will not allow you to choose the opposite 228 00:22:10,380 --> 00:22:16,180 of what I'm telling you to do. No, he honored Jonah's choice and let Jonah go through the 229 00:22:16,180 --> 00:22:25,260 consequences of his decisions and, you know, got threw up by a fish onto a beach. It was 230 00:22:25,260 --> 00:22:34,980 a hard thing to do. And yes, by allowing our kids to make choices, to learn how to make 231 00:22:34,980 --> 00:22:41,260 choices, yes, that means we risk much. And yes, that means some of their choices could 232 00:22:41,260 --> 00:22:49,060 lead to hurt and regret. But the more I think fathers outright deny, just outright deny 233 00:22:49,060 --> 00:22:54,620 the more rigid and inflexible that we are specifically in regards to them learning to 234 00:22:54,620 --> 00:23:02,780 make their own choices, I think we create greater opportunity to provoke them to wrath. 235 00:23:02,780 --> 00:23:07,500 It's interesting, I was looking through the New Testament trying to find out, you know, 236 00:23:07,500 --> 00:23:12,500 what does the New Testament say to parents? There's only two verses in the entire New 237 00:23:12,500 --> 00:23:18,660 Testament that are direct parenting instruction. Only two. There's a lot of indirect parenting 238 00:23:18,660 --> 00:23:23,020 instruction, but there's only two verses in the whole New Testament that are direct parenting 239 00:23:23,020 --> 00:23:30,540 instruction and both of them are to fathers. In Colossians 3.21 it says this, fathers, 240 00:23:30,540 --> 00:23:36,860 do not exasperate your children so that they won't become discouraged. That word exasperate 241 00:23:36,860 --> 00:23:43,480 means to make them feel resentment. And resentment is a bitter indignation in having been treated 242 00:23:43,480 --> 00:23:50,780 unfairly. Right? Ephesians 6.4 is the second one, fathers, don't stir up anger in your 243 00:23:50,780 --> 00:23:55,820 children but bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. Now stir up anger 244 00:23:55,820 --> 00:23:59,560 is the word provoke, you might be more familiar with that in more traditional translations 245 00:23:59,560 --> 00:24:04,940 of scripture, fathers don't provoke your children to wrath, right? The idea is to provoke them. 246 00:24:04,940 --> 00:24:09,580 The idea is to put the kids in a place where they feel like they're being challenged and 247 00:24:09,580 --> 00:24:14,880 so they're going to challenge back, right? That's the idea of stirring up anger and provoking. 248 00:24:14,880 --> 00:24:18,300 It's the idea of a kid going, if you're going to treat me like I can't make any good decisions 249 00:24:18,300 --> 00:24:24,340 then watch me make bad ones then, right? They challenge back. Now of course that's immature, 250 00:24:24,340 --> 00:24:33,140 right? That's immature thinking, that's wrong thinking. But dads, didn't you and I have 251 00:24:33,140 --> 00:24:38,900 our own seasons of immaturity and challenging the authority figures in our lives as we were 252 00:24:38,900 --> 00:24:45,380 growing up? We thought we knew everything, right? We all meet that stage, right? There's 253 00:24:45,380 --> 00:24:49,480 you know something about the genetics of the teenage years where suddenly your brain's 254 00:24:49,480 --> 00:24:56,460 like I know everything. I am all wise and all knowing and anybody older than me is just 255 00:24:56,460 --> 00:25:04,300 a dumb old fool, right? I mean it's just kind of like this thing that happens and we can 256 00:25:04,300 --> 00:25:11,140 as young people think we know everything and the harder you try and force us to not do 257 00:25:11,140 --> 00:25:15,420 the thing we're trying to do the harder we're going to fight back to do the very thing we're 258 00:25:15,420 --> 00:25:25,540 being told not to do. It's a characteristic of our sinful fallen rebellious nature, sure. 259 00:25:25,540 --> 00:25:31,340 But it says fathers don't provoke them that way. Instead it says bring them up in the 260 00:25:31,340 --> 00:25:35,540 training and instruction of the Lord and that phrase bring them up it means to nourish them, 261 00:25:35,540 --> 00:25:39,140 it means to feed them. The idea is feed them the training and the instruction of the Lord. 262 00:25:39,140 --> 00:25:43,260 Why are you feeding them the training and the instruction of the Lord? Why? So that 263 00:25:43,260 --> 00:25:53,420 they could learn how to make godly decisions on their own. Now again I'm not suggesting 264 00:25:53,420 --> 00:25:58,300 that a father should never say no. That's ridiculous. You have to say no, right? Our 265 00:25:58,300 --> 00:26:05,020 world would very rapidly fall apart if we did never say no to our kids. I'm not suggesting 266 00:26:05,020 --> 00:26:12,040 to be so lax and careless to neglect supervision or guidance or authority, right? I'm not saying 267 00:26:12,040 --> 00:26:17,420 to just like hands off on that but the idea is that when the kids become of the age to 268 00:26:17,420 --> 00:26:22,740 begin to make their own decisions, when they're of that age to start exercising independence 269 00:26:22,740 --> 00:26:27,660 and independent thought and learning, they're going through that whole process of through 270 00:26:27,660 --> 00:26:34,220 practice learning how to make good decisions. I think what we see here is in this father 271 00:26:34,220 --> 00:26:39,620 try not to make the decisions for them. Come alongside to them and help them come to a 272 00:26:39,620 --> 00:26:44,100 good decision. Help them learn to make those decisions for themselves and sometimes that 273 00:26:44,100 --> 00:26:51,700 might be letting them make the decision that you think is less ideal in the situation. 274 00:26:51,700 --> 00:26:56,180 But again you know that process of guiding and protecting and being over them, yeah that 275 00:26:56,180 --> 00:27:05,540 never changes. But as we'll see later in this particular story, as I've experienced personally 276 00:27:05,540 --> 00:27:10,660 in my life with my God in heaven, as there have been times where he allowed me to make 277 00:27:10,660 --> 00:27:17,780 a really dumb decision, where he didn't come down and strike me down with lightning bolts 278 00:27:17,780 --> 00:27:24,420 and chastise me and condemn me to hell and say you're dead to me son. Instead as we'll 279 00:27:24,420 --> 00:27:29,620 see later in the story that this father was the place, the person, the dad that the son 280 00:27:29,620 --> 00:27:37,580 knew they could return to. That when they had made some mistakes, when they had made 281 00:27:37,580 --> 00:27:43,340 some poor decisions in their process of learning, they knew they could return to their father. 282 00:27:43,340 --> 00:27:49,980 They knew they could come back to him and say dad I've messed up, can I come back? And 283 00:27:49,980 --> 00:27:53,340 he knew his dad was that way instead of a father that he would need to avoid for the 284 00:27:53,340 --> 00:27:58,980 rest of his life out of fear of criticism or condemnation. So in verse 13 through 16 285 00:27:58,980 --> 00:28:05,940 the son we read in the story goes on to waste everything he was given, wastes all his inheritance 286 00:28:05,940 --> 00:28:11,740 on foolish living. He finds himself with nothing ending up as a pig feeder, which is a very 287 00:28:11,740 --> 00:28:17,320 specific detail because for a Jew pigs were considered especially filthy and disgusting 288 00:28:17,320 --> 00:28:23,380 unclean animals and so it was especially dishonouring for this son as a Jewish individual to find 289 00:28:23,380 --> 00:28:29,460 himself so broke, so destitute, so without nothing that he's feeding pigs as a job. And 290 00:28:29,460 --> 00:28:34,900 then we get to verse 17 it says when he came to his senses he said how many of my father's 291 00:28:34,900 --> 00:28:40,300 hired workers have more than enough food and here I am dying of hunger. Now this is the 292 00:28:40,300 --> 00:28:47,760 moment that I think all moms and dads are praying for when their kids are making poor 293 00:28:47,760 --> 00:28:54,020 decisions right that is the moment that every prayer is pointed at, Lord please bring them 294 00:28:54,020 --> 00:29:01,020 to their senses. And in verses 17 through 19 we see that as this kid is coming to his 295 00:29:01,020 --> 00:29:05,540 senses we see the second characteristic I want to point out about this father is not 296 00:29:05,540 --> 00:29:11,020 only was he willing to let his son make this decision and it ended up being a mistake but 297 00:29:11,020 --> 00:29:15,940 the father was also approachable. You see these verses 17 through 19 they're going to 298 00:29:15,940 --> 00:29:20,180 tell us a few details about the father. One we see that the father has hired workers because 299 00:29:20,180 --> 00:29:24,580 the son says how many of my father's hired workers have more than enough food. That tells 300 00:29:24,580 --> 00:29:31,260 us that the father was a businessman of some kind probably successful because he's able 301 00:29:31,260 --> 00:29:37,860 to hire employees and so he's a successful businessman likely hardworking probably wealthy 302 00:29:37,860 --> 00:29:42,540 because it says there not only does he have hired workers but the son says who have more 303 00:29:42,540 --> 00:29:48,380 than enough food so he's paying his workers enough to have more than enough food right 304 00:29:48,380 --> 00:29:53,500 his workers are well taken care of and so he has land obviously because we're going 305 00:29:53,500 --> 00:29:58,860 to see later that there's this house that he's in he's got workers he's got a business 306 00:29:58,860 --> 00:30:04,500 but the son must have thought you know my portion of the inheritance even though it's 307 00:30:04,500 --> 00:30:07,540 only a third wow that's going to be so much I'm just going to live like a king for the 308 00:30:07,540 --> 00:30:14,300 rest of my life give it to me now I know better so he gets his third he goes to a distant 309 00:30:14,300 --> 00:30:19,380 country and if you remember earlier it said he squandered it that word squandered means 310 00:30:19,380 --> 00:30:25,520 scattering money loosely over an area like scattering seed right sometimes you may have 311 00:30:25,520 --> 00:30:30,420 seen the picture of you know the person who comes into a lot of money maybe in a comedy 312 00:30:30,420 --> 00:30:33,540 or something and they don't understand the money but they're like thinking they're so 313 00:30:33,540 --> 00:30:38,140 important now that they're like hundred dollar bills every time oh thanks ballet hundred 314 00:30:38,140 --> 00:30:42,500 dollar bill thanks waiter hundred dollar bill right they're just like he's giving the money 315 00:30:42,500 --> 00:30:46,240 away lavishly without even thinking about it that idea here is that he just spread his 316 00:30:46,240 --> 00:30:52,300 money over over a wide area just blew it all on nothing important and the money dries up 317 00:30:52,300 --> 00:30:57,500 he's quickly bankrupt he's humiliated he's depressed and so verse 18 he says I'll get 318 00:30:57,500 --> 00:31:02,120 up and I'll go to my father and I'll say to him father I have sinned against heaven and 319 00:31:02,120 --> 00:31:06,420 in your sight I am no longer worthy to be called your son make me like one of your hired 320 00:31:06,420 --> 00:31:18,380 workers in this time this difficult time the son finds himself in having made his decision 321 00:31:18,380 --> 00:31:24,700 having seen his father honor that decision having gone out and wasted all of it and is 322 00:31:24,700 --> 00:31:33,860 now destitute where do his thoughts go in that difficult time back to his dad they go 323 00:31:33,860 --> 00:31:41,340 back to the warm home I imagine his hard-working father his thoughts go back to the one who 324 00:31:41,340 --> 00:31:45,660 would hear him out who he believed would hear him out because what we don't read in the 325 00:31:45,660 --> 00:31:51,380 story is that his dad didn't slap him publicly when he demanded his inheritance what we don't 326 00:31:51,380 --> 00:31:57,620 read is that that the dad didn't scorn him we don't read that the dad had a public funeral 327 00:31:57,620 --> 00:32:03,980 because you are dead to me you're dead to this family he wasn't rigid unyielding inflexible 328 00:32:03,980 --> 00:32:12,060 or condemning and in the time of need in the son's time of need his time of regret his 329 00:32:12,060 --> 00:32:18,460 time of recognition that he had chosen radically poorly what he knew is that he could rely 330 00:32:18,460 --> 00:32:25,060 on his dependable dad he knew he could rely on him he knew his dad took care of those 331 00:32:25,060 --> 00:32:29,180 under his watch he had watched him take care of his workers probably his whole life he 332 00:32:29,180 --> 00:32:33,840 knew his dad was trustworthy right because his dad again likely a successful businessman 333 00:32:33,840 --> 00:32:38,540 had see him be be be successful in all of these things and handle everything that he 334 00:32:38,540 --> 00:32:43,100 had he had watched him you know just do what he did his whole life he thought I could go 335 00:32:43,100 --> 00:32:50,260 back to my dad and maybe I could conduct business with him now even though the son's personal 336 00:32:50,260 --> 00:32:58,060 guilt may have colored his perception of exactly how his dad would receive him back right I 337 00:32:58,060 --> 00:33:05,780 messed up so maybe he'll just let me come back as an employee not a son but an employee 338 00:33:05,780 --> 00:33:09,700 even though he was thinking that what we don't see here is that the son for a second question 339 00:33:09,700 --> 00:33:15,540 and on whether or not his dad would hear him out whether or not he can approach his dad 340 00:33:15,540 --> 00:33:20,820 whether or not his dad would receive him back in this moment there's no indication that 341 00:33:20,820 --> 00:33:25,300 he thought his dad would refuse him or turn him away or say you're dead to me you can't 342 00:33:25,300 --> 00:33:31,460 be here you're just a ghost right and maybe the son thought maybe just maybe I could come 343 00:33:31,460 --> 00:33:36,000 back and just be one of the workers who in the care of his dad were way better off than 344 00:33:36,000 --> 00:33:41,400 he was as a pig feeder now it's interesting because you can see the dialogue the inner 345 00:33:41,400 --> 00:33:45,180 dialogue that the son is having right here right he's going through this mental rehearsal 346 00:33:45,180 --> 00:33:48,780 right how many times have we done that with our dads how many times do we do that with 347 00:33:48,780 --> 00:33:53,340 our father in heaven right we done messed up and we're like okay I gotta go talk to 348 00:33:53,340 --> 00:33:58,460 him so you start rehearsing right and you're going well I know this about him so I want 349 00:33:58,460 --> 00:34:02,300 to say this because I know this is important to him you start relying on the character 350 00:34:02,300 --> 00:34:07,900 of the person you're gonna go talk to as you're rehearsing your thoughts but the son we see 351 00:34:07,900 --> 00:34:13,260 that he knew what to expect from his dad he was comfortable approaching his dad and in 352 00:34:13,260 --> 00:34:19,940 dads God is that way with us God is that way with you the example then is we should always 353 00:34:19,940 --> 00:34:24,100 be that way with the kids in our lives our own biological children are the kids that 354 00:34:24,100 --> 00:34:29,160 we have fatherly roles with that that we should be approachable that they should be comfortable 355 00:34:29,160 --> 00:34:34,420 approaching us especially when they've done messed up when they've done something bad 356 00:34:34,420 --> 00:34:41,900 made a poor choice sadly though there are times when that's not what they expect right 357 00:34:41,900 --> 00:34:47,980 they don't expect that godly example instead what they expect well you know there's six 358 00:34:47,980 --> 00:34:52,660 lectures my dad always gives me so he's probably gonna pick number three this time because 359 00:34:52,660 --> 00:34:57,700 I've heard it a thousand times he's gonna give me lecture number three and he's gonna 360 00:34:57,700 --> 00:35:04,900 be angry and there's gonna be a coldness and a separation and you know and so they expect 361 00:35:04,900 --> 00:35:12,060 that and so they don't approach they don't come back they don't think they could come 362 00:35:12,060 --> 00:35:19,140 back those expectations are what keeps them away instead of what they really need is to 363 00:35:19,140 --> 00:35:24,340 know that they can come they can approach they could come back and so do you really 364 00:35:24,340 --> 00:35:30,180 do you want your kids to know that god in heaven their father in heaven is someone that 365 00:35:30,180 --> 00:35:35,380 they could approach and come to any time after any mistake do you want your kids to know 366 00:35:35,380 --> 00:35:43,240 that hopefully the answer is yes absolutely wouldn't you love to know that your kids are 367 00:35:43,240 --> 00:35:47,960 absolutely confident that they could boldly enter into the throne room of god at any time 368 00:35:47,960 --> 00:35:57,100 to receive the grace they need in any circumstance absolutely to be able to ask seek and knock 369 00:35:57,100 --> 00:36:00,620 to know that they could repent of their sin and come back and be received and forgiven 370 00:36:00,620 --> 00:36:07,180 by a loving father in heaven well to teach them that approachability they have to learn 371 00:36:07,180 --> 00:36:14,820 that they can approach their father from you they need to learn that from you you know 372 00:36:14,820 --> 00:36:18,740 there are many who say a child's first impression of what god is typically like will come from 373 00:36:18,740 --> 00:36:24,460 what they see in their father and that makes sense right jesus taught us to pray this way 374 00:36:24,460 --> 00:36:31,940 are what father in heaven right so the very concept very word then builds in all kinds 375 00:36:31,940 --> 00:36:38,540 of associations but it's also why many struggle with their concept of trusting god as their 376 00:36:38,540 --> 00:36:44,100 father because their earthly fathers have in many ways whether it been a letdown or 377 00:36:44,100 --> 00:36:50,980 been a place of hurt or coldness or detachment and so they think well if god is a father 378 00:36:50,980 --> 00:36:58,220 he's going to be the same way it can be hard for someone to believe that god is approachable 379 00:36:58,220 --> 00:37:02,540 like a father should be if their father was never approachable especially in times when 380 00:37:02,540 --> 00:37:07,940 they messed up and so the encouragement is is be approachable yeah you're still going 381 00:37:07,940 --> 00:37:14,820 to be corrective you're still going to be teaching you're still going to be encouraging 382 00:37:14,820 --> 00:37:21,380 but you need to be approachable because our god is approachable and so the idea is is 383 00:37:21,380 --> 00:37:24,740 you know for some dads and these are just you know things i've seen and observed over 384 00:37:24,740 --> 00:37:30,420 the years in different circumstances just the encouragement avoid letting bad days or 385 00:37:30,420 --> 00:37:35,660 you know job stresses or economic stresses or irritabilities of life avoid letting those 386 00:37:35,660 --> 00:37:42,900 things cut off access to you avoid letting those things create a wall between you and 387 00:37:42,900 --> 00:37:47,260 your kids and your kids are like oh no i can't approach dad with my concern with my with 388 00:37:47,260 --> 00:37:53,020 my struggle because the time will come where they need to be able to approach you and they 389 00:37:53,020 --> 00:37:58,020 need to know that they can approach their father even if they've messed up big time 390 00:37:58,020 --> 00:38:01,540 and this leads to the next characteristic i see here in the story is that when they 391 00:38:01,540 --> 00:38:07,940 do approach be gentle be gentle look at verse 20 so he got up and he went to his father 392 00:38:07,940 --> 00:38:12,860 while the son was still a long way off his father saw him and was filled with compassion 393 00:38:12,860 --> 00:38:16,940 and he ran and he threw his arms around his neck and he kissed him and the son said to 394 00:38:16,940 --> 00:38:22,380 the father okay i've rehearsed this right father i have sinned against heaven and in 395 00:38:22,380 --> 00:38:27,580 your sight i am no longer worthy to be called your son but the father told the servants 396 00:38:27,580 --> 00:38:32,740 notice he didn't even let the son get through his spiel father told the servants quick bring 397 00:38:32,740 --> 00:38:36,740 out the best robe and put it on him put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet 398 00:38:36,740 --> 00:38:41,700 then bring the fatted calf and slaughter it let's celebrate with a feast because the son 399 00:38:41,700 --> 00:38:49,660 of mine was dead and is alive again he was lost and is found and so they began to celebrate 400 00:38:49,660 --> 00:38:53,380 i imagine the Pharisees listening to this story probably like fell over at this point 401 00:38:53,380 --> 00:39:01,540 what are you kidding me i mean the way this father acts in this story is is is incredibly 402 00:39:01,540 --> 00:39:08,900 wrong from their perspective right this son is to be considered dead forever and cut off 403 00:39:08,900 --> 00:39:12,820 when this son tries to approach you don't even make eye contact you ignore them because 404 00:39:12,820 --> 00:39:18,460 they're dead that's what was expected and here's the son who visited this great disrespect 405 00:39:18,460 --> 00:39:28,260 toward his father with the audacity to come back and and expect to be received back and 406 00:39:28,260 --> 00:39:36,340 again typically in a situation like this culturally if a son did do this thing and then come crawling 407 00:39:36,340 --> 00:39:42,020 back to dad a few things would happen one there would be much public scorn right the 408 00:39:42,020 --> 00:39:49,660 whole community would rally together how dare you come back how dare you after what you 409 00:39:49,660 --> 00:39:57,460 did oh my gosh just treat him with this scorn right but then the the the child would be 410 00:39:57,460 --> 00:40:03,980 required to bow before their father and kiss their father's feet that was a requirement 411 00:40:03,980 --> 00:40:09,140 and then that child would then have to work be required to work as an employee for a time 412 00:40:09,140 --> 00:40:16,140 as a as a slave in the household and then the community would evaluate over time maybe 413 00:40:16,140 --> 00:40:21,660 then maybe just maybe they might be able to earn their place back into the family back 414 00:40:21,660 --> 00:40:26,420 into the community which is probably why that was the son's plan right okay i'm going to 415 00:40:26,420 --> 00:40:31,460 ask my dad to take me back as a worker and just let me earn my way back in but in the 416 00:40:31,460 --> 00:40:37,740 typical cultural scenarios here there was no grace there was no compassion there was 417 00:40:37,740 --> 00:40:45,820 no love there was no mercy but here we read it says the father was filled with compassion 418 00:40:45,820 --> 00:40:51,140 that word compassion there means that he felt the strongest emotions in his guts right you 419 00:40:51,140 --> 00:40:54,900 ever been so overcome with emotion your stomach hurts a little bit right and it could be a 420 00:40:54,900 --> 00:40:58,940 good thing or a bad thing but this is what the father felt he was so overcome with emotion 421 00:40:58,940 --> 00:41:04,780 his guts hurt and we see no hesitation by the father no stern looks no inquisition no 422 00:41:04,780 --> 00:41:09,100 sit him down at a desk with the one spotlight on him as dad stands in the dark corner and 423 00:41:09,100 --> 00:41:13,820 starts to ask him 50 questions about this or that we don't see any of that no i told 424 00:41:13,820 --> 00:41:23,100 you so no you should have listened to me no how dare you just compassion compassion a 425 00:41:23,100 --> 00:41:26,500 couple details here i think are very interesting in verse 20 it said while the son was still 426 00:41:26,500 --> 00:41:35,740 a long way off his father saw him this tells us that the father was on the porch looking 427 00:41:35,740 --> 00:41:42,680 for him waiting for him to come back from that bad decision keeping the door open keeping 428 00:41:42,680 --> 00:41:49,540 the lights on looking for his son longing for his return home and that phrase there 429 00:41:49,540 --> 00:41:55,700 when it says still a long way off that possibly indicates that he saw the son like before 430 00:41:55,700 --> 00:42:03,380 he entered into the boundaries of the town proper right that as he saw his son before 431 00:42:03,380 --> 00:42:08,340 he could get to the community before he started to endure the derision and the scorn and the 432 00:42:08,340 --> 00:42:12,660 dirty looks and the how dare you and oh look who's back and all that before that could 433 00:42:12,660 --> 00:42:24,340 even happen the father ran ran to meet his son he was gentle he was gentle the running 434 00:42:24,340 --> 00:42:28,780 itself was a very undignified thing for a grown man to do in those days so again Pharisees 435 00:42:28,780 --> 00:42:35,020 like he did what he ran that doesn't happen but we see there it says when the dad got 436 00:42:35,020 --> 00:42:44,420 to him there was no speeches no lectures just hugs and kisses hugs and kisses and the application 437 00:42:44,420 --> 00:42:51,020 can be hard it could be a difficult application but but you might not be fully approving of 438 00:42:51,020 --> 00:42:54,620 what your son or daughter might be doing right now they might be making decisions and you're 439 00:42:54,620 --> 00:42:59,420 like oh that's just that's terrible I can't stand that and it might be an incredibly difficult 440 00:42:59,420 --> 00:43:05,860 time and guess what that's that's fair that's that's right you're you're not wrong in going 441 00:43:05,860 --> 00:43:10,300 you shouldn't be doing it you're not right you're a parent right you've got to be guiding 442 00:43:10,300 --> 00:43:16,420 and directing you have a place to voice that you have absolutely every right to voice that 443 00:43:16,420 --> 00:43:21,380 but but in spite of the fact that they're choosing something wrong despite of the fact 444 00:43:21,380 --> 00:43:30,140 that you're like oh stop they're still your kid they're still your kid they are still 445 00:43:30,140 --> 00:43:37,700 your child and you as their father you were one of the very few if not the only person 446 00:43:37,700 --> 00:43:43,240 that has a key to their heart a key to their heart and when they come back in any capacity 447 00:43:43,240 --> 00:43:48,180 you don't want to waste that moment you don't want that moment to be a thing that crushes 448 00:43:48,180 --> 00:43:54,660 them further and drives them away again instead you want to be gentle in that moment there 449 00:43:54,660 --> 00:44:02,940 will be time to have conversations and evaluate and debrief and there will be times for that 450 00:44:02,940 --> 00:44:09,340 but in being approachable you got to be gentle when they show up because our God is gentle 451 00:44:09,340 --> 00:44:12,980 there's never been a single time where I came back to my father in heaven and said God I 452 00:44:12,980 --> 00:44:18,580 have messed up I have done something wrong and he just smacked me across the face you're 453 00:44:18,580 --> 00:44:27,180 not my son get out of here that hasn't happened every time he receives me with gentleness 454 00:44:27,180 --> 00:44:31,820 and yeah instruction will come and correction will come but it's always through that loving 455 00:44:31,820 --> 00:44:37,320 compassion lastly we see that the father was impartial because remember there's two sons 456 00:44:37,320 --> 00:44:42,900 in this story right verse 25 now his older son was out in the field and as he came near 457 00:44:42,900 --> 00:44:47,460 the house he heard music and dancing so he summoned one of the servants and questioning 458 00:44:47,460 --> 00:44:53,620 what these things meant your brother is here he told him and your father is slaughtered 459 00:44:53,620 --> 00:44:57,940 the fattened calf because he was because he has him back safe and sound and the fattened 460 00:44:57,940 --> 00:45:02,420 calf was like you know the one saved for the special occasion right some of you might have 461 00:45:02,420 --> 00:45:06,060 you know that bottle of wine right I'm saving that for a special occasion right so that's 462 00:45:06,060 --> 00:45:11,780 what the fatted calf was okay your brother is here he told him your father is slaughtered 463 00:45:11,780 --> 00:45:17,060 the fatted calf because he has him back safe and sound verse 28 then he became angry and 464 00:45:17,060 --> 00:45:22,340 didn't want to go in so his father came out and pleaded with him but he replied to his 465 00:45:22,340 --> 00:45:27,200 father look I've been slaving many years for you and I've never disobeyed your orders yet 466 00:45:27,200 --> 00:45:32,020 you never gave me a goat so I could celebrate with my friends but when the son of yours 467 00:45:32,020 --> 00:45:40,420 came did you notice that he didn't say my brother the son of yours who has devoured 468 00:45:40,420 --> 00:45:47,860 your assets with prostitutes you slaughtered the fatted calf for him verse 31 son he said 469 00:45:47,860 --> 00:45:56,620 to him you are always with me and everything I have is yours but we had to celebrate and 470 00:45:56,620 --> 00:46:01,240 rejoice because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again he was lost and is 471 00:46:01,240 --> 00:46:08,580 found the older son who never disrespected his father never dishonored his father in 472 00:46:08,580 --> 00:46:13,740 this way the one who didn't leave he didn't waste in his inheritance that his father gave 473 00:46:13,740 --> 00:46:21,400 him he's upset he's upset dad you're showing mercy to this other son of yours you're showing 474 00:46:21,400 --> 00:46:27,360 mercy to him and so he is accusing the father of playing favorites treating one kid differently 475 00:46:27,360 --> 00:46:32,740 than the other in verse 28 it says that when the son was complaining it says the father 476 00:46:32,740 --> 00:46:38,380 came out from the party to plead with him that word plead means to encourage or console 477 00:46:38,380 --> 00:46:45,020 right to encourage or console the idea here is that the father came out to his older son 478 00:46:45,020 --> 00:46:50,660 in a similar way that he ran out to the younger son to encourage and console you're welcome 479 00:46:50,660 --> 00:46:55,860 here I love you you're my son verse 31 he tells him son you're always with me and all 480 00:46:55,860 --> 00:47:01,160 I have is yours I mean come on remember you got two thirds you got your inheritance I 481 00:47:01,160 --> 00:47:10,500 divided it you you you have it it's yours he says you're always with me I'm with you 482 00:47:10,500 --> 00:47:15,260 but he says we had to celebrate and rejoice why because your brother whom I love as much 483 00:47:15,260 --> 00:47:22,460 as I love you is home the idea here as he's talking to this older son is I love you both 484 00:47:22,460 --> 00:47:31,980 equally I love you both the same there's no favoritism here you're both my sons you're 485 00:47:31,980 --> 00:47:37,500 both my kids who I desperately care about and this father wants them both to know that 486 00:47:37,500 --> 00:47:42,260 he loves them both that they're both special that they're both accepted that they're both 487 00:47:42,260 --> 00:47:47,820 important and in in dads yeah this is important on earth too if you have more than one kid 488 00:47:47,820 --> 00:47:54,980 it's important that that there's no partiality there of course I told my brother growing 489 00:47:54,980 --> 00:48:04,980 up I was the favorite I was like duh my parents never treated us that way they treated us 490 00:48:04,980 --> 00:48:11,500 equally they loved us both they showered love on both of us and and this is the picture 491 00:48:11,500 --> 00:48:16,020 that we see here but the older son is going to go on he pulls up all these comparisons 492 00:48:16,020 --> 00:48:19,300 you never did that for me but you're doing it for him you never did you know I never 493 00:48:19,300 --> 00:48:28,340 got a goat I never got the fatted calf and the dad is essentially saying you never asked 494 00:48:28,340 --> 00:48:31,020 all you had to do is ask and I would have slaughtered the fatted calf for you and your 495 00:48:31,020 --> 00:48:39,340 friends but you didn't ask and so we see just as as the younger son was like I know my dad's 496 00:48:39,340 --> 00:48:42,700 characteristics I can know I can come back to him we see in the older son he's completely 497 00:48:42,700 --> 00:48:49,900 misunderstood who his father is but dad is saying I love you both even though the older 498 00:48:49,900 --> 00:48:54,460 son is making these comparisons the father doesn't do that right the father doesn't 499 00:48:54,460 --> 00:48:59,940 say well maybe if you were more like your brother none of that you're always with me 500 00:48:59,940 --> 00:49:08,060 all I have is yours I love you the same I love you the same and so this father we're 501 00:49:08,060 --> 00:49:20,500 looking at today he was merciful he was loving patiently flexible approachable gentle impartial 502 00:49:20,500 --> 00:49:26,300 in this story he was the father of these sons needed in this world this is an example of 503 00:49:26,300 --> 00:49:33,300 fathers sons and daughters need it's a picture of who our father in heaven is who we so desperately 504 00:49:33,300 --> 00:49:39,180 need every single one of us and the story was all to show these Pharisees and the crowds 505 00:49:39,180 --> 00:49:47,060 listening what God in heaven is like who he is and the great call that we celebrate today 506 00:49:47,060 --> 00:49:52,900 the great responsibility the great opportunity that every dad here on earth has every father 507 00:49:52,900 --> 00:49:57,380 and father figure and grandfather and all who are serving and acting in that fatherly 508 00:49:57,380 --> 00:50:03,140 role the great opportunity we have is the same the same as what Jesus was doing with 509 00:50:03,140 --> 00:50:09,500 the story to show the kids in our lives what their father in heaven is like through how 510 00:50:09,500 --> 00:50:19,120 we father them and it's by being just like our father in heaven one who lets us make 511 00:50:19,120 --> 00:50:28,020 choices even if sometimes their mistakes that we would learn from those choices yeah there 512 00:50:28,020 --> 00:50:33,260 are things sometimes he just flat out says no to but there are many cases where he let 513 00:50:33,260 --> 00:50:38,700 us makes lets us make a choice that we would learn from that without condemning us without 514 00:50:38,700 --> 00:50:43,460 lecturing us without holding us at arm's length but instead always nurturing and always teaching 515 00:50:43,460 --> 00:50:50,440 and training and encouraging and comforting our God in heaven who is approachable even 516 00:50:50,440 --> 00:50:55,860 when we've made those mistakes receiving us back when there is repentance because he is 517 00:50:55,860 --> 00:51:01,660 so full of grace and mercy our father in heaven who is gentle and impartial and wants nothing 518 00:51:01,660 --> 00:51:09,740 more than the relationship between you and him to be whole and healthy all the time dads 519 00:51:09,740 --> 00:51:15,460 your desire to keep your relationship with your kids intact to keep the doors open and 520 00:51:15,460 --> 00:51:23,060 the lights on that will teach them about who God in heaven is who God their father is and 521 00:51:23,060 --> 00:51:30,580 that is a lesson they will need throughout their entire life the lesson of knowing who 522 00:51:30,580 --> 00:51:35,860 God is not just in coming to know him as God their Lord and Savior that initial moment 523 00:51:35,860 --> 00:51:40,360 but in walking with him without condemnation every single day of their lives as they learn 524 00:51:40,360 --> 00:51:47,420 to live the way God is calling them to live so be the good model be the good example that 525 00:51:47,420 --> 00:51:53,180 they need to see you can't do it perfectly you definitely can't do it on your own and 526 00:51:53,180 --> 00:51:58,900 so call to your father in heaven at all times and say God help me empower me teach me to 527 00:51:58,900 --> 00:52:04,260 be the dad that you you are to me to my kids so that they would then know you properly 528 00:52:04,260 --> 00:52:20,820 amen father we thank you we love you we trust you we know that you have the best for us 529 00:52:20,820 --> 00:52:33,300 in mind at all times in all times God Lord we honor you sometimes God we dishonor you 530 00:52:33,300 --> 00:52:42,900 sometimes we disrespect you sometimes we disobey you and God in your infinite wisdom there 531 00:52:42,900 --> 00:52:53,140 are times when you let us make dumb decisions and yet they're decisions we learn from they 532 00:52:53,140 --> 00:52:57,180 are decisions that often land us in a place where we say I have messed up big time and 533 00:52:57,180 --> 00:53:05,740 I need to come back to my dad because he's perfect and Lord we're able to do that because 534 00:53:05,740 --> 00:53:12,340 we know you're approachable we know you're gentle with us when we do and we know you're 535 00:53:12,340 --> 00:53:19,380 impartial God you don't treat any one of your kids any different than any other of your 536 00:53:19,380 --> 00:53:23,700 kids God and Lord it's just such a great example Lord you set for us and I pray God for the 537 00:53:23,700 --> 00:53:29,620 dads here today Lord as we are gathered in your church to study your word and to honor 538 00:53:29,620 --> 00:53:37,540 fatherhood Lord I pray God that your Holy Spirit would fall mightily upon every father 539 00:53:37,540 --> 00:53:42,260 every father figure Lord here in this church watching online God that your spirit would 540 00:53:42,260 --> 00:53:51,620 just fill them with who you are your heart your will your way that God their example 541 00:53:51,620 --> 00:54:00,580 of fatherhood to the kids in their lives God would represent you rightly and God I pray 542 00:54:00,580 --> 00:54:06,900 Lord that as they cling to you in that as they desperately depend on you for the filling 543 00:54:06,900 --> 00:54:10,700 to be everything you've called them to be God they would just see your glory shine through 544 00:54:10,700 --> 00:54:18,340 them Lord in those moments where they as fathers maybe drop the ball maybe mess up God I pray 545 00:54:18,340 --> 00:54:24,020 Lord that they would sense the approachability they have with you the gentleness from you 546 00:54:24,020 --> 00:54:28,620 the impartiality from you God that they could come to you and say father in heaven I've 547 00:54:28,620 --> 00:54:33,700 messed up and that as they experience the grace and the mercy and the forgiveness from 548 00:54:33,700 --> 00:54:40,880 you they would then learn how to just do that with their children God we do live in a world 549 00:54:40,880 --> 00:54:48,260 today where the very concept of fatherhood is under attack as the family is and God this 550 00:54:48,260 --> 00:54:55,780 world needs godly dance there are so many here today Lord and we thank you for them 551 00:54:55,780 --> 00:55:00,740 continue to bless them and work in them and to teach them that they would then do the 552 00:55:00,740 --> 00:55:07,280 same thing with their kids all that you would be glorified Lord that our kids would come 553 00:55:07,280 --> 00:55:11,500 to know you in their own personal life and their own personal independent decision making 554 00:55:11,500 --> 00:55:18,420 to decide to know you and to live for you and to learn what all that means God but Lord 555 00:55:18,420 --> 00:55:23,620 the example of who you are would be set in the very beginning by the dads you have raised 556 00:55:23,620 --> 00:55:30,580 up here in our fellowship Lord we're so thankful God I ask that you would bless the dads the 557 00:55:30,580 --> 00:55:35,420 fathers the father figures Lord today and every day Lord we thank you so much it's in 558 00:55:35,420 --> 00:55:46,620 Jesus name we pray amen well dads fathers papas grandpas all the above God bless you 559 00:55:46,620 --> 00:56:06,180 have a wonderful Father's Day.