Good morning. How are you all doing today? Well, doing good. Well, we always like to
start off by welcoming any of you that are here for the first time in our sanctuary,
or for those of you joining us online, we like to say welcome to all of you. We're so
glad you're going to worship with us today. I am Pastor Nathan, and we do want to open
by saying happy Father's Day. Happy Father's Day. You know, this morning we're going to
be taking a break from Revelation to honor fathers, dads, papas, grandfathers, you know,
really all of those who have a fatherly role in the lives of children. We want to honor
you and honor that role today. And so we're going to be looking at a famous story from
Luke chapter 15. Most of us know this story as the Prodigal Son, the parable of the Prodigal
Son, but this story might be better titled the parable of the Merciful Father, because
this story is actually emphasizing, highlighting the nature of the Father. That's what it's
really about. Jesus is in this parable talking about who God is, who God is, how God in heaven
is willing to forgive repentant sinners. And really that story in context of today, you
know, the wonderful opportunity that fatherhood is, is an opportunity to teach your children
about who their father in heaven is. That's the opportunity fatherhood affords us. To
be an example of who God in heaven is, who their father in heaven is, by modeling the
attributes of God, by modeling who God is, our father in heaven, as we see in his word.
You know, fathers and fatherhood and fatherly roles, it's such an important thing. It's
so important on so many levels because how people see their earthly fathers often colors
how they will see God in heaven as God their father. And it's unfortunate that there are
some in this world today that have difficulty in their relationship with God because of
how their earthly fathers acted or treated them or were there or not there or fell in
the blank. You know, I read a story about a kid who was told by a family friend, you
remind me of your father. And that kid stuck out his tongue in disgust. Tells you a lot,
doesn't it? But then there was another kid told the same thing, you remind me of your
father. And that kid stuck out his chest proudly. So proud of the comparison, you know. And
dads this morning, I just want to encourage you to ask yourself a question. You know,
if at some point in your life if someone said to your kid or those that you have a fatherly
role in their lives, if someone said to them, you remind me of your father, would you want
them to stick out their tongue or to stick out their chest? Would you want their response
to be one of delight or one of disgust? And really the scriptures that we're looking at
this morning in Luke 15 are going to teach us four characteristics of our Father in heaven.
Four characteristics of God that set an example for all earthly fathers to follow. All those
who have fatherly roles, those father figures, it's an example that we are to follow in order
to really be the fathers that God is calling us to be. But I do want to make note because
sometimes these holidays, Mother's Day included, are difficult holidays for some people because
there's many reasons. For some it's, well, my father's not with me anymore. For some
it's, well, I had a really bad father. For some there's disappointments and hurts. But
for those today who would be like, you know, I struggle with Father's Day because it brings
up bad memories, please I encourage you today to pay attention to what your Father in heaven
wants you to know about Him, about who He is. Because although no earthly father is
perfect, our Father in heaven is perfect and He always will be. But before we get to the
scriptures this morning, we're going to spend time in worship and I just want to encourage
you guys to praise your Father in heaven for who He is, what He's done, how He's blessed
you, because He is amazing. He is dependable. He is everything we need and we just want
to praise Him for that. Amen? Let's pray. Father, we praise you today, God. Lord, we
are here today as a church, Lord, celebrating what we call Father's Day, Lord, a day to
recognize and honor those in our lives, God, who are our dads, who have, whether they're
biological fathers or who have acted as fathers, Lord. This includes grandfathers and the whole
deal, Lord. But God, in honoring them, this day is really about honoring you because you
are the perfect example of what a father should be. And God, even in the face of maybe letdowns
or disappointments with our earthly fathers, God, you are perfect and you never let us
down. And so God, we just want to honor the concept of fatherhood by honoring the example
you are, Lord, and to learn from the teaching that you gave here in this parable we're going
to look at this morning. But God, we want to start this day by praising your name and
giving you the honor that you are due. Lord, we love you so much and we're so thankful
for the lessons you teach us and the guidance you give us and the dependability that you
are, the approachability that you have because, God, we so desperately need you and we're
so grateful that you're there for us. We love you. It's in Jesus' name we pray this morning.
Amen. All right. We are in Luke chapter 15. We're going to be starting in verse 11, but
wanted to give you a little bit of background. You know, at the beginning of Luke chapter
15, as the story is there in the scriptures, the tax collectors and sinners were drawing
near to Jesus. And the people that were tax collectors and sinners, these were people
that were considered the bad elements of society. They were the cast off. They were the despised.
They were the rejected. And at that time, the Pharisees and scribes who were the religious
leaders, the religious elite of that time, these were people who prided themselves on
being God, our Father's favorites, right? These were the Pharisees and scribes. They
complained. They were complaining about these tax collectors and sinners coming close to
Jesus because Jesus was recognized, at least by most people, as a teacher. For those, you
know, some already recognized Him as Messiah, but people that didn't necessarily recognize
Him as Messiah still recognized Him as a teacher. And so it was not good. It wasn't considered
socially acceptable for a teacher to hang out with these types of people in the culture
there. And so the Pharisees and scribes were complaining about that. They thought it was
wrong for Jesus to receive the tax collectors and sinners into fellowship and hanging out
with them. It was wrong for Jesus to be with them. And so as they were complaining, Jesus
then answers their complaints. They're discontent with three parables. And these are the three
parables that you'll see in Luke chapter 15. You guys will know them familiar as the parable
of the lost sheep, the parable of the lost coin, and the parable of the lost son. Some
time back, our worship leader, Elder Ron, did a study on all of these. And I encourage
you guys, if you missed that, it's on our YouTube channel and go look at it because
it was a great teaching through all three of these parables and what they are getting
at. But for summary's sake, all of these parables had the same lesson. There was a point behind
Jesus teaching these three parables. It really is that God is willing to forgive is kind
of the ultimate thing. God is willing to forgive. He is willing to go after the lost. He is
willing to seek out that which is lost to bring it back, to receive it back to himself.
And so by the time we get to the story of the lost son in verse 11, Jesus has been showing
us about who God is, his character. But the parable of the lost son specifically, or the
prodigal son, shows us something very interesting, very specifically interesting about our God,
God our Father in heaven and what is important to him. You see, because if you go through
the chapter, you'll look at the parable of the lost sheep. That was the first parable.
And that's the parable that says, look, there was a hundred sheep. One of them got lost
and the shepherd went out to go find that one sheep. But if you look at it mathematically
there, what the shepherd lost was one out of a hundred. So it was a 1% loss in what
was his, right? And what we see in that story there is really, it was about a loss of possession.
The shepherd lost something that belonged to him, the sheep. And the idea in that parable
is that we belong to God, right? We belong to God. We are his creation. We are his possession.
And when we are lost and when he seeks us out and finds us, great joy, great celebration,
great joy. Then you have the story of the lost coin. And in that parable there was 10
coins and one of them got lost. So now we see almost a greater loss in that story, a
10% loss, still very important. But what we see in that story is that there was a loss
of something valuable, not just a loss of a possession, but loss of something valuable.
And so the general idea of there is more than just belonging to God, we are valuable to
God. And so when we are lost and he finds us, great joy, great celebration. But then
you get to the prodigal son. And in that story there are two sons and one of them is lost.
That's a 50% loss, an even greater loss than the first two stories. But it's even a loss
of greater import because it's not just a loss of a possession, it's not just a loss
of something of value, it's a loss of relationship. And that is of greatest value to God. The
relationship that he has with us, his children, we are God's children. And as our father in
heaven the relationship between us and him is of paramount importance to him. And so
in this story we see that it's more than just possessions with value, it's his kids. And
when that relationship is damaged, when that relationship is severed, it's terrible. It's
of great, great concern to him. But when that relationship is restored, wow, what celebration
ensues when God's kids are restored in relationship to him. And so today what we're going to see
in this parable of the prodigal son is four characteristics of the father, which I believe
are four characteristics of God our father. And they're four characteristics that all
fathers on earth here are to follow. They're a great model to set for your kids because
of the great impact that your fatherhood has on how they will then see God in heaven. And
these four things are simply this. One of them, the first one is that he was willing
to let his kids make mistakes. And that may be an unpopular opinion and we'll deal with
that when we get there, okay? But he was also approachable. He was gentle. And he was impartial.
And again, these are four important characteristics for all fathers. For all father figures to
example for their kids or the kids that they have influence over in their lives really
in order to be the godly fathers that they are called to be, to rightly represent God
our father in heaven, to minister the love and the grace and the mercy that their kids
need, the grace that their kids need, and then really to create the best opportunity
to introduce your kids to God who is their father in heaven. So join me in verse 11 of
Luke 15. We start the story. It says, he also said a man has two sons, and it's speaking
of Jesus who's telling these parables. A man had two sons. The younger of them said to
his father, father, give me the share of the estate I have come into me. So he distributed
the assets to them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered together all he had and
traveled to a distant country where he squandered his estate in foolish living. Now that word
foolish there, that is the word that is rendered prodigal in some of the more traditional translations.
If you have a new King James version, it will say prodigal living there. Prodigal isn't
a term we use a whole lot in our modern language, which I believe is likely why the CSB, which
I'm teaching from, renders it foolish instead of prodigal because we tend to understand
the term foolish better. But the idea, the original word there means wastefully lavish
or self-centered living. Foolish, wastefully lavish. It's the idea of being able to expend
all of one's resources on a self-indulgent lifestyle. It's being willing to just spend
every penny you have just to party and feel good. That's the idea here. And so the younger
son in the story we're looking at really is a shining example of wasting your life. That
is the example we see in this son. Now this son here in this story was likely a teenager,
and I don't say that to be offensive to any teenagers, but I say that because there's
no indication that the son is yet married, so he's not leaving to go be with his wife,
which would indicate that he's younger. But it would also, we see that he's old enough
to demand his inheritance, and so he's not a young, young child, so likely a teenager
at this point. But as we'll see, the point of the story and what he does here is that
he demands his inheritance before the appropriate time. That was an incredibly huge act of rebellion,
and we're going to talk about that in a moment. So again, the picture here of this younger
son in contrast to the father is of the rebellious teenage son. That's the picture.
So now the cultural detail that adds to the drama, and really would have been a detail
that Jesus' listeners would have picked up on, has to do with Jewish inheritance law.
And so I'm not going to get too technical because it'll bore you to death. But really
to the point is, is in Jewish inheritance law, if there was two sons in a family, the
eldest son got a double share of the inheritance, and the younger son didn't get that. And so
the eldest son would get twice as much as the youngest son, which I always liked to
remind my brother of as we were growing up, because I'm the oldest son. So anyways, but
in this story, you have a family where the eldest son got two-thirds of the inheritance,
and the youngest son got one-third of the inheritance. But the most important detail
of this is that the inheritance was intended to be dispersed upon the death of the father.
The whole concept of inheritance was my father is dead, now we divvy up what is left behind.
By demanding it early, the son is expressing the highest possible degree of dishonor to
his father. By saying, give me my inheritance now, is tantamount to saying, dad, I wish
you were dead. That's what he's communicating. Give me my inheritance now means, dad, I wish
you were dead. I want you out of my life. I don't want to have anything to do with you.
I don't want to be a part of this family. I don't want to be a part of this community.
Bash me out now. Now remember, culturally, right? Culturally, Israel, the Jews were the
nation that were given the Ten Commandments, right? God's Ten Commandments. And one of
those commandments was honor your mother and father. And so in the cultural context of
Israel and really the people who are hearing the story and the story being told about,
honoring your mother and father was a huge, huge deal. Major deal in their culture. And
so the idea of cash me out while you're alive, wow, that was really at the top of the list
of disgraces. The son couldn't have done much more to be more dishonoring or disrespectful
towards his dad. Now another detail is if and when this did happen at the time in the
culture, if and when a son was so dishonoring and disrespectful to demand their inheritance
early due to the level of disgrace, there was three things that kind of took place when
this would happen. One, the father would make sure that he would take his son out to a public
place before the family and the community and he would smack his son across the face.
Pow! Because the disgrace was so huge. And then that son would be publicly scorned by
both the father and the community. And scorned means to be treated with derision, to be treated
with dishonor, to be despised. And so that son would then begin to be treated like a
pariah amongst all the people in the community, including the family. And then they would
actually hold a funeral service for that son because the disgrace of that level was so
bad that fathers would be like, you're no son of mine, you're dead to me. And so they
would actually hold a funeral for the kid. So what would happen in these instances is
the son that would do this would be put out of the family, would be put out of the community,
would be considered culturally to be dead and gone. And even though we don't necessarily
see those details here in the story, we do see the concept later that when the son returns,
the dad says, my son who is dead is alive again. And so we see the cultural context there.
But I want you to notice something in verse 12. Despite the great dishonor, the disrespect.
Verse 12, it says the father distributed the assets to them. We don't read of any discussion.
We don't read of any pushback by the dad. We just see that the father distributed the
assets to them. He didn't have to do that. He didn't have to do that. He was well within
his rights to be like, absolutely not. But he did. What we see here is that he let his
son make a choice. And although he might have disagreed with it, in this instance, he honored
it. And that's really the first characteristic that I believe we see here in this father
that is in this story is that he was willing to let his son make mistakes. He was flexible
in that regard. He could have said, absolutely not. No, no way. I will not permit you to
make this decision. I will not allow you to make this decision. But instead he says, okay,
here you go. Now, what I'm saying might be an unpopular opinion. And I'm not saying that
in all cases we just let our kids make bad decisions. But there are times, especially
as they're growing up and as they're getting older, there are times where sometimes dads
can be a little overbearing and a little controlling. And as they are trying to grow and learn how
to make good decisions, we can stifle that by just saying, no, no, no, no, I won't even
hear you out. I won't even entertain your options or your thoughts. And so by willing
to allow his son to make mistakes, I'm not saying fathers that you compromise your own
values. I'm not suggesting that you lower your own personal standards of righteousness
and right and wrong. But there are times, as I said, specifically as your kids get older,
that you need to let them decide what values they're going to live according to. And sometimes
those values might grate against your values. But you need to allow them the opportunity
to think through and to make those decisions. You need to allow them the opportunity to
make their own choices. And sometimes you might not agree with those choices. Now again,
I want to be very careful and delicate here because sure, nobody wants their kids to hurt,
right? Nobody wants their kids to suffer the consequences of poor choices, which is the
very reason why we have the list of lectures, right? We tell our kids, right? Because I
want you to learn from all my mistakes so that you don't repeat those same mistakes.
But the reason I'm bringing this up is because as I was looking at this story and looking
at this father saying, okay, here's your inheritance, I was thinking about God. And I was thinking
about how God does this with us. God doesn't force us to love him. God doesn't force us
to live according to his will. He doesn't remove our ability to make our own free will
choices. He doesn't force us to be. He presents us with truth. He teaches us truth. He encourages
us to make the right choices. He's absolutely honest with us about the consequences of the
choices we're going to make. But God still allows us to choose. He still allows us to
choose. And then in that choice, in many instances, he honors our free will, which is hard to
fathom because, gosh, we make some dumb choices. We make some bad choices as his kids. Oftentimes
the choice is to flat out disobey God. I'm not going to do what you're telling me to
do. I'm going to choose the opposite. We saw that with Jonah, right? Jonah didn't run into
an invisible wall where God said, absolutely not. I will not allow you to choose the opposite
of what I'm telling you to do. No, he honored Jonah's choice and let Jonah go through the
consequences of his decisions and, you know, got threw up by a fish onto a beach. It was
a hard thing to do. And yes, by allowing our kids to make choices, to learn how to make
choices, yes, that means we risk much. And yes, that means some of their choices could
lead to hurt and regret. But the more I think fathers outright deny, just outright deny
the more rigid and inflexible that we are specifically in regards to them learning to
make their own choices, I think we create greater opportunity to provoke them to wrath.
It's interesting, I was looking through the New Testament trying to find out, you know,
what does the New Testament say to parents? There's only two verses in the entire New
Testament that are direct parenting instruction. Only two. There's a lot of indirect parenting
instruction, but there's only two verses in the whole New Testament that are direct parenting
instruction and both of them are to fathers. In Colossians 3.21 it says this, fathers,
do not exasperate your children so that they won't become discouraged. That word exasperate
means to make them feel resentment. And resentment is a bitter indignation in having been treated
unfairly. Right? Ephesians 6.4 is the second one, fathers, don't stir up anger in your
children but bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. Now stir up anger
is the word provoke, you might be more familiar with that in more traditional translations
of scripture, fathers don't provoke your children to wrath, right? The idea is to provoke them.
The idea is to put the kids in a place where they feel like they're being challenged and
so they're going to challenge back, right? That's the idea of stirring up anger and provoking.
It's the idea of a kid going, if you're going to treat me like I can't make any good decisions
then watch me make bad ones then, right? They challenge back. Now of course that's immature,
right? That's immature thinking, that's wrong thinking. But dads, didn't you and I have
our own seasons of immaturity and challenging the authority figures in our lives as we were
growing up? We thought we knew everything, right? We all meet that stage, right? There's
you know something about the genetics of the teenage years where suddenly your brain's
like I know everything. I am all wise and all knowing and anybody older than me is just
a dumb old fool, right? I mean it's just kind of like this thing that happens and we can
as young people think we know everything and the harder you try and force us to not do
the thing we're trying to do the harder we're going to fight back to do the very thing we're
being told not to do. It's a characteristic of our sinful fallen rebellious nature, sure.
But it says fathers don't provoke them that way. Instead it says bring them up in the
training and instruction of the Lord and that phrase bring them up it means to nourish them,
it means to feed them. The idea is feed them the training and the instruction of the Lord.
Why are you feeding them the training and the instruction of the Lord? Why? So that
they could learn how to make godly decisions on their own. Now again I'm not suggesting
that a father should never say no. That's ridiculous. You have to say no, right? Our
world would very rapidly fall apart if we did never say no to our kids. I'm not suggesting
to be so lax and careless to neglect supervision or guidance or authority, right? I'm not saying
to just like hands off on that but the idea is that when the kids become of the age to
begin to make their own decisions, when they're of that age to start exercising independence
and independent thought and learning, they're going through that whole process of through
practice learning how to make good decisions. I think what we see here is in this father
try not to make the decisions for them. Come alongside to them and help them come to a
good decision. Help them learn to make those decisions for themselves and sometimes that
might be letting them make the decision that you think is less ideal in the situation.
But again you know that process of guiding and protecting and being over them, yeah that
never changes. But as we'll see later in this particular story, as I've experienced personally
in my life with my God in heaven, as there have been times where he allowed me to make
a really dumb decision, where he didn't come down and strike me down with lightning bolts
and chastise me and condemn me to hell and say you're dead to me son. Instead as we'll
see later in the story that this father was the place, the person, the dad that the son
knew they could return to. That when they had made some mistakes, when they had made
some poor decisions in their process of learning, they knew they could return to their father.
They knew they could come back to him and say dad I've messed up, can I come back? And
he knew his dad was that way instead of a father that he would need to avoid for the
rest of his life out of fear of criticism or condemnation. So in verse 13 through 16
the son we read in the story goes on to waste everything he was given, wastes all his inheritance
on foolish living. He finds himself with nothing ending up as a pig feeder, which is a very
specific detail because for a Jew pigs were considered especially filthy and disgusting
unclean animals and so it was especially dishonouring for this son as a Jewish individual to find
himself so broke, so destitute, so without nothing that he's feeding pigs as a job. And
then we get to verse 17 it says when he came to his senses he said how many of my father's
hired workers have more than enough food and here I am dying of hunger. Now this is the
moment that I think all moms and dads are praying for when their kids are making poor
decisions right that is the moment that every prayer is pointed at, Lord please bring them
to their senses. And in verses 17 through 19 we see that as this kid is coming to his
senses we see the second characteristic I want to point out about this father is not
only was he willing to let his son make this decision and it ended up being a mistake but
the father was also approachable. You see these verses 17 through 19 they're going to
tell us a few details about the father. One we see that the father has hired workers because
the son says how many of my father's hired workers have more than enough food. That tells
us that the father was a businessman of some kind probably successful because he's able
to hire employees and so he's a successful businessman likely hardworking probably wealthy
because it says there not only does he have hired workers but the son says who have more
than enough food so he's paying his workers enough to have more than enough food right
his workers are well taken care of and so he has land obviously because we're going
to see later that there's this house that he's in he's got workers he's got a business
but the son must have thought you know my portion of the inheritance even though it's
only a third wow that's going to be so much I'm just going to live like a king for the
rest of my life give it to me now I know better so he gets his third he goes to a distant
country and if you remember earlier it said he squandered it that word squandered means
scattering money loosely over an area like scattering seed right sometimes you may have
seen the picture of you know the person who comes into a lot of money maybe in a comedy
or something and they don't understand the money but they're like thinking they're so
important now that they're like hundred dollar bills every time oh thanks ballet hundred
dollar bill thanks waiter hundred dollar bill right they're just like he's giving the money
away lavishly without even thinking about it that idea here is that he just spread his
money over over a wide area just blew it all on nothing important and the money dries up
he's quickly bankrupt he's humiliated he's depressed and so verse 18 he says I'll get
up and I'll go to my father and I'll say to him father I have sinned against heaven and
in your sight I am no longer worthy to be called your son make me like one of your hired
workers in this time this difficult time the son finds himself in having made his decision
having seen his father honor that decision having gone out and wasted all of it and is
now destitute where do his thoughts go in that difficult time back to his dad they go
back to the warm home I imagine his hard-working father his thoughts go back to the one who
would hear him out who he believed would hear him out because what we don't read in the
story is that his dad didn't slap him publicly when he demanded his inheritance what we don't
read is that that the dad didn't scorn him we don't read that the dad had a public funeral
because you are dead to me you're dead to this family he wasn't rigid unyielding inflexible
or condemning and in the time of need in the son's time of need his time of regret his
time of recognition that he had chosen radically poorly what he knew is that he could rely
on his dependable dad he knew he could rely on him he knew his dad took care of those
under his watch he had watched him take care of his workers probably his whole life he
knew his dad was trustworthy right because his dad again likely a successful businessman
had see him be be be successful in all of these things and handle everything that he
had he had watched him you know just do what he did his whole life he thought I could go
back to my dad and maybe I could conduct business with him now even though the son's personal
guilt may have colored his perception of exactly how his dad would receive him back right I
messed up so maybe he'll just let me come back as an employee not a son but an employee
even though he was thinking that what we don't see here is that the son for a second question
and on whether or not his dad would hear him out whether or not he can approach his dad
whether or not his dad would receive him back in this moment there's no indication that
he thought his dad would refuse him or turn him away or say you're dead to me you can't
be here you're just a ghost right and maybe the son thought maybe just maybe I could come
back and just be one of the workers who in the care of his dad were way better off than
he was as a pig feeder now it's interesting because you can see the dialogue the inner
dialogue that the son is having right here right he's going through this mental rehearsal
right how many times have we done that with our dads how many times do we do that with
our father in heaven right we done messed up and we're like okay I gotta go talk to
him so you start rehearsing right and you're going well I know this about him so I want
to say this because I know this is important to him you start relying on the character
of the person you're gonna go talk to as you're rehearsing your thoughts but the son we see
that he knew what to expect from his dad he was comfortable approaching his dad and in
dads God is that way with us God is that way with you the example then is we should always
be that way with the kids in our lives our own biological children are the kids that
we have fatherly roles with that that we should be approachable that they should be comfortable
approaching us especially when they've done messed up when they've done something bad
made a poor choice sadly though there are times when that's not what they expect right
they don't expect that godly example instead what they expect well you know there's six
lectures my dad always gives me so he's probably gonna pick number three this time because
I've heard it a thousand times he's gonna give me lecture number three and he's gonna
be angry and there's gonna be a coldness and a separation and you know and so they expect
that and so they don't approach they don't come back they don't think they could come
back those expectations are what keeps them away instead of what they really need is to
know that they can come they can approach they could come back and so do you really
do you want your kids to know that god in heaven their father in heaven is someone that
they could approach and come to any time after any mistake do you want your kids to know
that hopefully the answer is yes absolutely wouldn't you love to know that your kids are
absolutely confident that they could boldly enter into the throne room of god at any time
to receive the grace they need in any circumstance absolutely to be able to ask seek and knock
to know that they could repent of their sin and come back and be received and forgiven
by a loving father in heaven well to teach them that approachability they have to learn
that they can approach their father from you they need to learn that from you you know
there are many who say a child's first impression of what god is typically like will come from
what they see in their father and that makes sense right jesus taught us to pray this way
are what father in heaven right so the very concept very word then builds in all kinds
of associations but it's also why many struggle with their concept of trusting god as their
father because their earthly fathers have in many ways whether it been a letdown or
been a place of hurt or coldness or detachment and so they think well if god is a father
he's going to be the same way it can be hard for someone to believe that god is approachable
like a father should be if their father was never approachable especially in times when
they messed up and so the encouragement is is be approachable yeah you're still going
to be corrective you're still going to be teaching you're still going to be encouraging
but you need to be approachable because our god is approachable and so the idea is is
you know for some dads and these are just you know things i've seen and observed over
the years in different circumstances just the encouragement avoid letting bad days or
you know job stresses or economic stresses or irritabilities of life avoid letting those
things cut off access to you avoid letting those things create a wall between you and
your kids and your kids are like oh no i can't approach dad with my concern with my with
my struggle because the time will come where they need to be able to approach you and they
need to know that they can approach their father even if they've messed up big time
and this leads to the next characteristic i see here in the story is that when they
do approach be gentle be gentle look at verse 20 so he got up and he went to his father
while the son was still a long way off his father saw him and was filled with compassion
and he ran and he threw his arms around his neck and he kissed him and the son said to
the father okay i've rehearsed this right father i have sinned against heaven and in
your sight i am no longer worthy to be called your son but the father told the servants
notice he didn't even let the son get through his spiel father told the servants quick bring
out the best robe and put it on him put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet
then bring the fatted calf and slaughter it let's celebrate with a feast because the son
of mine was dead and is alive again he was lost and is found and so they began to celebrate
i imagine the Pharisees listening to this story probably like fell over at this point
what are you kidding me i mean the way this father acts in this story is is is incredibly
wrong from their perspective right this son is to be considered dead forever and cut off
when this son tries to approach you don't even make eye contact you ignore them because
they're dead that's what was expected and here's the son who visited this great disrespect
toward his father with the audacity to come back and and expect to be received back and
again typically in a situation like this culturally if a son did do this thing and then come crawling
back to dad a few things would happen one there would be much public scorn right the
whole community would rally together how dare you come back how dare you after what you
did oh my gosh just treat him with this scorn right but then the the the child would be
required to bow before their father and kiss their father's feet that was a requirement
and then that child would then have to work be required to work as an employee for a time
as a as a slave in the household and then the community would evaluate over time maybe
then maybe just maybe they might be able to earn their place back into the family back
into the community which is probably why that was the son's plan right okay i'm going to
ask my dad to take me back as a worker and just let me earn my way back in but in the
typical cultural scenarios here there was no grace there was no compassion there was
no love there was no mercy but here we read it says the father was filled with compassion
that word compassion there means that he felt the strongest emotions in his guts right you
ever been so overcome with emotion your stomach hurts a little bit right and it could be a
good thing or a bad thing but this is what the father felt he was so overcome with emotion
his guts hurt and we see no hesitation by the father no stern looks no inquisition no
sit him down at a desk with the one spotlight on him as dad stands in the dark corner and
starts to ask him 50 questions about this or that we don't see any of that no i told
you so no you should have listened to me no how dare you just compassion compassion a
couple details here i think are very interesting in verse 20 it said while the son was still
a long way off his father saw him this tells us that the father was on the porch looking
for him waiting for him to come back from that bad decision keeping the door open keeping
the lights on looking for his son longing for his return home and that phrase there
when it says still a long way off that possibly indicates that he saw the son like before
he entered into the boundaries of the town proper right that as he saw his son before
he could get to the community before he started to endure the derision and the scorn and the
dirty looks and the how dare you and oh look who's back and all that before that could
even happen the father ran ran to meet his son he was gentle he was gentle the running
itself was a very undignified thing for a grown man to do in those days so again Pharisees
like he did what he ran that doesn't happen but we see there it says when the dad got
to him there was no speeches no lectures just hugs and kisses hugs and kisses and the application
can be hard it could be a difficult application but but you might not be fully approving of
what your son or daughter might be doing right now they might be making decisions and you're
like oh that's just that's terrible I can't stand that and it might be an incredibly difficult
time and guess what that's that's fair that's that's right you're you're not wrong in going
you shouldn't be doing it you're not right you're a parent right you've got to be guiding
and directing you have a place to voice that you have absolutely every right to voice that
but but in spite of the fact that they're choosing something wrong despite of the fact
that you're like oh stop they're still your kid they're still your kid they are still
your child and you as their father you were one of the very few if not the only person
that has a key to their heart a key to their heart and when they come back in any capacity
you don't want to waste that moment you don't want that moment to be a thing that crushes
them further and drives them away again instead you want to be gentle in that moment there
will be time to have conversations and evaluate and debrief and there will be times for that
but in being approachable you got to be gentle when they show up because our God is gentle
there's never been a single time where I came back to my father in heaven and said God I
have messed up I have done something wrong and he just smacked me across the face you're
not my son get out of here that hasn't happened every time he receives me with gentleness
and yeah instruction will come and correction will come but it's always through that loving
compassion lastly we see that the father was impartial because remember there's two sons
in this story right verse 25 now his older son was out in the field and as he came near
the house he heard music and dancing so he summoned one of the servants and questioning
what these things meant your brother is here he told him and your father is slaughtered
the fattened calf because he was because he has him back safe and sound and the fattened
calf was like you know the one saved for the special occasion right some of you might have
you know that bottle of wine right I'm saving that for a special occasion right so that's
what the fatted calf was okay your brother is here he told him your father is slaughtered
the fatted calf because he has him back safe and sound verse 28 then he became angry and
didn't want to go in so his father came out and pleaded with him but he replied to his
father look I've been slaving many years for you and I've never disobeyed your orders yet
you never gave me a goat so I could celebrate with my friends but when the son of yours
came did you notice that he didn't say my brother the son of yours who has devoured
your assets with prostitutes you slaughtered the fatted calf for him verse 31 son he said
to him you are always with me and everything I have is yours but we had to celebrate and
rejoice because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again he was lost and is
found the older son who never disrespected his father never dishonored his father in
this way the one who didn't leave he didn't waste in his inheritance that his father gave
him he's upset he's upset dad you're showing mercy to this other son of yours you're showing
mercy to him and so he is accusing the father of playing favorites treating one kid differently
than the other in verse 28 it says that when the son was complaining it says the father
came out from the party to plead with him that word plead means to encourage or console
right to encourage or console the idea here is that the father came out to his older son
in a similar way that he ran out to the younger son to encourage and console you're welcome
here I love you you're my son verse 31 he tells him son you're always with me and all
I have is yours I mean come on remember you got two thirds you got your inheritance I
divided it you you you have it it's yours he says you're always with me I'm with you
but he says we had to celebrate and rejoice why because your brother whom I love as much
as I love you is home the idea here as he's talking to this older son is I love you both
equally I love you both the same there's no favoritism here you're both my sons you're
both my kids who I desperately care about and this father wants them both to know that
he loves them both that they're both special that they're both accepted that they're both
important and in in dads yeah this is important on earth too if you have more than one kid
it's important that that there's no partiality there of course I told my brother growing
up I was the favorite I was like duh my parents never treated us that way they treated us
equally they loved us both they showered love on both of us and and this is the picture
that we see here but the older son is going to go on he pulls up all these comparisons
you never did that for me but you're doing it for him you never did you know I never
got a goat I never got the fatted calf and the dad is essentially saying you never asked
all you had to do is ask and I would have slaughtered the fatted calf for you and your
friends but you didn't ask and so we see just as as the younger son was like I know my dad's
characteristics I can know I can come back to him we see in the older son he's completely
misunderstood who his father is but dad is saying I love you both even though the older
son is making these comparisons the father doesn't do that right the father doesn't
say well maybe if you were more like your brother none of that you're always with me
all I have is yours I love you the same I love you the same and so this father we're
looking at today he was merciful he was loving patiently flexible approachable gentle impartial
in this story he was the father of these sons needed in this world this is an example of
fathers sons and daughters need it's a picture of who our father in heaven is who we so desperately
need every single one of us and the story was all to show these Pharisees and the crowds
listening what God in heaven is like who he is and the great call that we celebrate today
the great responsibility the great opportunity that every dad here on earth has every father
and father figure and grandfather and all who are serving and acting in that fatherly
role the great opportunity we have is the same the same as what Jesus was doing with
the story to show the kids in our lives what their father in heaven is like through how
we father them and it's by being just like our father in heaven one who lets us make
choices even if sometimes their mistakes that we would learn from those choices yeah there
are things sometimes he just flat out says no to but there are many cases where he let
us makes lets us make a choice that we would learn from that without condemning us without
lecturing us without holding us at arm's length but instead always nurturing and always teaching
and training and encouraging and comforting our God in heaven who is approachable even
when we've made those mistakes receiving us back when there is repentance because he is
so full of grace and mercy our father in heaven who is gentle and impartial and wants nothing
more than the relationship between you and him to be whole and healthy all the time dads
your desire to keep your relationship with your kids intact to keep the doors open and
the lights on that will teach them about who God in heaven is who God their father is and
that is a lesson they will need throughout their entire life the lesson of knowing who
God is not just in coming to know him as God their Lord and Savior that initial moment
but in walking with him without condemnation every single day of their lives as they learn
to live the way God is calling them to live so be the good model be the good example that
they need to see you can't do it perfectly you definitely can't do it on your own and
so call to your father in heaven at all times and say God help me empower me teach me to
be the dad that you you are to me to my kids so that they would then know you properly
amen father we thank you we love you we trust you we know that you have the best for us
in mind at all times in all times God Lord we honor you sometimes God we dishonor you
sometimes we disrespect you sometimes we disobey you and God in your infinite wisdom there
are times when you let us make dumb decisions and yet they're decisions we learn from they
are decisions that often land us in a place where we say I have messed up big time and
I need to come back to my dad because he's perfect and Lord we're able to do that because
we know you're approachable we know you're gentle with us when we do and we know you're
impartial God you don't treat any one of your kids any different than any other of your
kids God and Lord it's just such a great example Lord you set for us and I pray God for the
dads here today Lord as we are gathered in your church to study your word and to honor
fatherhood Lord I pray God that your Holy Spirit would fall mightily upon every father
every father figure Lord here in this church watching online God that your spirit would
just fill them with who you are your heart your will your way that God their example
of fatherhood to the kids in their lives God would represent you rightly and God I pray
Lord that as they cling to you in that as they desperately depend on you for the filling
to be everything you've called them to be God they would just see your glory shine through
them Lord in those moments where they as fathers maybe drop the ball maybe mess up God I pray
Lord that they would sense the approachability they have with you the gentleness from you
the impartiality from you God that they could come to you and say father in heaven I've
messed up and that as they experience the grace and the mercy and the forgiveness from
you they would then learn how to just do that with their children God we do live in a world
today where the very concept of fatherhood is under attack as the family is and God this
world needs godly dance there are so many here today Lord and we thank you for them
continue to bless them and work in them and to teach them that they would then do the
same thing with their kids all that you would be glorified Lord that our kids would come
to know you in their own personal life and their own personal independent decision making
to decide to know you and to live for you and to learn what all that means God but Lord
the example of who you are would be set in the very beginning by the dads you have raised
up here in our fellowship Lord we're so thankful God I ask that you would bless the dads the
fathers the father figures Lord today and every day Lord we thank you so much it's in
Jesus name we pray amen well dads fathers papas grandpas all the above God bless you
have a wonderful Father's Day.