This morning, we continue our series on “The Parables of Jesus.” We will seek to glean “Pearls from the Parables.”
Before we get to the parable, let’s look at a scripture we have been looking at all year. This is something I believe the Lord wants us to meditate on.
(Psalm 126:4 TPT)
Now, Lord, do it again! Restore us to our former glory! May streams of your refreshing flow over us until our dry hearts are drenched again.
This is a season of refreshing and restoring for us.
The Parable of the Prodigal Son: (Luke 15: 11-32 NLT)
11 To illustrate the point further, Jesus told them this story: “A man had two sons.
12 The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons.
13 “A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living.
14 About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve.
15 He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs.
16 The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything.
17 “When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger!
18 I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you,
19 and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’
20 “So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.
21 His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.’
22 “But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet.
23 And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast,
24 for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.
25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working. When he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house,
26 and he asked one of the servants what was going on.
27 ‘Your brother is back,’ he was told, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf. We are celebrating because of his safe return.’
28 “The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him,
29 but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends.
30 Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!’
31 “His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours.
32 We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!’”
In many ways, I am still providing you with an introduction to this parable. Let’s get into it.
So, what does this mean to you today? A few things.
1. The father wanted his son’s love and obedience to be genuine.
— When children are young, we teach them to honor us as parents. The Bible teaches that sometimes, that instruction requires correction and punishment. We only chastise our children because we love them.
— When children are older, the time for “time outs,” spankings, groundings, etc., is over. As a parent, you would hope your child appreciates all you did for them to the point where you honor and respect them. You would even expect that they take your advice and submit themselves, even as adults, to your leadership and covering. But what you don’t do with young adults or adult children is try to force them to love you or listen to you. If it is forced, then it is not genuine.
— Think about it from God’s perspective. Obedience to God is not true obedience if it is forced. God will not force you to do anything because if He did, you would no longer be a free moral agent, and the repercussions would be vast. Our worship would be fake because worship is a matter of the heart, and our heart would not be in it. Submission would be phony because it would be coerced. Sacrifice would be worthless because it would be orchestrated. The point of true worship and pure obedience is that it is an act of our own free will. God wants you to want Him with your heart. Anything less is forced obedience, which is not obedience at all.
— It’s like people don’t appreciate what they have while they have it. Unfortunately, some people have to lose it all in order to appreciate what they have.
— The father did not try to make him stay, and the Lord won’t either. He will tell you when you are doing something wrong, but if you stubbornly want to do it anyway, He will be waiting for you when you get back with your “lesson learned.”
2. Parenting is not easy because, like God, we have to deal with children who are all different.
— When the boy asked for the money (in a very disrespectful way), notice that the father did not try to stop him. I am sure the father had already had countless conversations with his two boys, and he knew how different they were. He knew that trying to talk the boy out of it would be an exercise in futility. Still, the father could have refused the request, but he did not.
— Two children can be raised in the same environment and come out completely different.
— The father didn’t care that he was putting the money at risk because he knew the boy had to go through what he needed to go through in order to mature. The other son didn’t need to do it. This is why parenting is so challenging. Two children can be raised in the same household with the same parents and the same teaching and come out differently.
— This is a reminder that our children are ultimately God’s children, and He made them all unique.
— The way the father in the parable treated his boys is how God treats us. He loves us. He creates environments for us to thrive. But even with all of that, some receive His love, and others reject it.
3. The father was watching and waiting.
— While the father did not stop the boy from going on his journey (even though he knew it was a mistake), the father did watch and wait for the boy to come home. This is the heart of a parent. And this is the heart of our Heavenly Father.
— While it pains God to see His children make mistakes and go through things they could have avoided, if all His attempts to speak to the person fail, He has to let them go through what they need to go through to learn what they need to learn. The whole time, God is watching and waiting for us to repent and come home.
— Every day, the father hoped for his son’s return, showing a love that’s patient and hopeful. Similarly, God waits for us, hoping we choose to return to Him.
— If you are a backslider today and you are reading this, you know the Lord is saying, “Come back home, son (or daughter), I love you, and I will welcome you with open arms.”
4. The father chose restoration over retribution.
— When the boy came home, the father could have scolded or punished the son. Instead, he restored him, giving him a robe, ring, and sandals. This act magnifies God’s grace, which seeks to restore rather than condemn.
— The father did not ask the boy about the money. Many parents today would have wanted to know, right up front, “How much money do you have left?” But for this father, his son’s soul was more important than money.
— The father did not ask the boy about his conduct. Many parents today would have wanted to know, right up front, “What did you do while you were out there?” But for this father, his son’s soul was more important than his sin.
— The father did not ask anything about what the boy did because, at that moment, he did not care. All he cared about was the fact that his boy, who once was dead (to the family), was now back.
— This is a picture of the love God has for us and the grace and mercy He extends to us. When we come to Him, He does not ask us about our sin. He does not care about our previous conduct. He could care less about how we handled money or anything. He just wants our SOUL! Why? Because He is a loving, caring, and sharing Heavenly Father.
— Religious people don’t get this. They are more like the older son in the parable, who wanted to focus on what the boy did. Religious people are always focused on other people’s conduct as if they are perfect. And it’s like religious people want to clean the fish before they catch it.
— Not too long ago, there was a man in our church who was half-way drunk and who had somehow wandered into our Sunday Morning service. When I went up to him and introduced myself to him, he was wreaking of alcohol. I was so glad he was there. I hugged him, talked to him, and welcomed him into our church. But I know that some (hopefully not in our church) would not want to hug this man. Why? Because they are more concerned with things that don’t matter than the man’s soul. I don’t care if the man just left the club. I don’t care if the man just left the hotel room with a prostitute. I just want the man to be saved. I know a Pastor who said that he wants so many worldly people to come and get saved that he would love his church to be filled with people who, after he hugged them, left him smelling like sex, drugs, and rock and roll.
— The older brother in the parable was upset that the father chose restoration over retribution. This is how it is with many religious people today. They get upset with the goodness of God. They get upset with the fact that God is good and His goodness extends to all people, regardless of what they have done in the past.
I will close with this…
I remember when I used to preach in jail, and I mentioned to someone I love that “X” amount of men got saved while I was ministering to them in jail. Someone in my family had a problem with that. She could not understand the grace of God. She was like, “So these people can do whatever they want and still go to heaven?” And I was like, “We don’t go to heaven becuase of our actions or inactions. We go to heaven because of Jesus.” She had a hard time understanding the goodness of God. Please don’t be like the older brother in the parable. Receive the goodness of God for yourself and celebrate the goodness of God in other people’s lives as well!
Declaration of Faith:
Father, this is a season of refreshing and restoring for me! I boldly declare:
I acknowledge that true obedience to You is genuine and cannot be forced. I desire to honor and love You with all my heart, not out of obligation, but out of genuine love and appreciation.
I recognize the challenges of parenting, and I thank You for the unique design of every child. Just as You patiently deal with each of us, I ask for the grace to understand and guide my children in their unique paths.
Father, I am grateful that You are always watching and waiting for us, even when we stray. Your love is patient, hopeful, and never-ending.
I celebrate Your heart of restoration. You prioritize our souls over our sins, our hearts over our histories. I am thankful that You don’t focus on my past mistakes but on my potential in You.
I reject the judgmental spirit of the older brother. Instead, I embrace Your grace, mercy, and unconditional love. I will celebrate when the lost are found and when the broken are restored.
I declare that I am a recipient of Your goodness, and I will also be a proponent of it, sharing Your love and grace with everyone I meet.
Living with this mindset, I know GREATER IS COMING FOR ME! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
This is Today’s Word. Apply it and prosper!
