You did so much for the name of our ancestors. Killed it. It's a true testament to homeschool moms everywhere. Thank you so much. And homeschool dads who teach their kids how to light fires. So there you go. He's the best at play right there. I love it.
So thank you for joining us this morning. I'm excited to dive into the word together. Raise your hand if you've ever experienced any type of regret. Raise your hand. Okay. About 50% of you. Good. Well, welcome to church. This is a place that you can tell the truth.
And so, no, seriously, most of you raised your hands. Why? Because we all have something that we maybe wish that we could go back in time and change. Maybe you said something or did something that you wish that you could just take back. It didn't happen, and you wish it could change. And so we live with these regrets. Sometimes things that we've hidden in our past, we've hidden in our present. And so we live with these past and some things that are known.
And we watch movies that are just littered with characters who have some sort of regret and then spend the entirety of the movie trying to make up for that regret. So if you're a kid parent and you've watched Frozen, right? Elsa and Anna have some regrets, and they try the whole movie to redeem themselves. And then you've got National Lampoon's Christmas, you know, family vacation, whatever that is, right? And Chevy Chase trying to, the whole movie, trying to redeem himself from the things that he did wrong.
We watch these movies and we relate to them because we live this out in everyday life. For Lauren and I, we were friends before we started dating. And so we knew each other for years and we had the same friend group. And so we knew a lot about each other. And then there was a day where I had been praying for my bride, for the one that God was going to bring me. And I really felt like the Lord had spoken clearly. Not that I could ask her to be my girlfriend, but that she was going to be my bride.
So we had this conversation, and then we started dating. And so I took her on our first date to Yard House in West Palm Beach. Really nice restaurant, right? I wanted to go big. And proceeded on our first date to throw up every mess up I ever had in my entire life. Because I was like, this is where you're getting yourself into. So here's everything I've ever done. And like, so I think she still has PTSD, like seeing Yard Houses. Like I think one just recently popped up around here and I remember passing it and she's like, right?
Because that was the moment where I just like threw up all of my sins just on the table. But we live with these regrets. We live with things that we've done in the past, and we're continually trying to redeem ourselves from our past.
This morning, we are going to talk about rebellion and regret. We're going to talk about repentance and restoration. So if you have a Bible, open it up to Luke chapter 15. We also have Bibles on the sides, in the back, and in the front. I want you to hold the Word of God in your hand. The YouVersion Bible app is a great app to have on your phone, so you could follow along. Luke 15.
And I want to give you some context. So this is a story that Jesus is teaching, and he's using it as an analogy. And so the context is that happens in verse 1, chapter 15 of Luke. It says, "Now the tax collectors and the sinners were all drawing near to hear him." We talked about this last week where tax collectors were seen, we're talking about the tax collectors as very vile people. They belonged to the people group of the Israelites more often than not, but they worked for the Roman government who was oppressing the Israelites, collecting taxes, and they were skimming off the top. So they were really stealing from their own people, working for the opposition and stealing from their own people. And so they were not looked highly upon in that culture and context.
And then he doesn't even need to describe it. He just says sinners. So the people that whoever comes to mind that you can think of when it says, "Oh, that guy's a sinner," right? What conjures up in your mind? That's who was there. They were hanging around, and people in that day tried to stay far away from those types of people, but yet those people were drawing near to Jesus as he spoke.
In verse 2, "And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled." Pharisees are the experts in the law, the religious leaders of that day. And the scribes were people who would scribe. They would write down and translate and write out different copies of the books. So they were experts in knowing what was said in the Torah, the first five books in the Bible. And so here's the scribes and the Pharisees, and they know the law, and they're grumbling against Jesus and against the fact that these sinners and tax collectors were drawing near to Jesus. I mean, they even went as far as to say, "Does this man even know that he's receiving sinners? That he's hanging out with sinners? Like, who is this guy? What is he doing this? We're supposed to stay away from them, yet he's allowing them to eat at the same table and in fellowship with him."
So he shares three different analogies, three different stories. Last week we talked about two of them. We're in this series of Advent, and so we're talking about a story of peace, a story of hope, a story of joy, and now we're looking at this story of love. And so this is the last parable that Jesus is articulating to these people.
And we know that the word of God is inerrant. That means it's without error. But when we're translating it and when we're going through putting this book together, we've added page numbers, we've added verses and chapters, and we also add headings onto the passages of scripture to help us find context, right? Like, turn with me to Luke chapter 15. You know where to go.
I believe that this is probably one of the misnamed headings in scripture. Why? Because I don't believe that this story is about the son. I believe it's about the father. Because look at verse 11 with me. What does it say? It says, "A man who had two sons." The focus here is going to be on the father. And so as we journey into this, as we look at this story, this parable, I want us to understand that this is a story about the love and the generous grace and mercy of a good, good father and his two sons.
So let me pray for us, and then we're going to jump in.
Father, we love you. Thank you for your word. Thank you for every church that stands firm on your gospel, that we partner with, that we link arms with, so that this community may know the goodness of your name. God, in this season, we know that people are most receptive to hear, see, and respond to your gospel, to your good news, that you have come to save sinners. And so, God, I pray that you would empower and embolden us to share our faith with everybody around us.
God, I pray that we as a church would be a light in the midst of darkness, hope for the hopeless, and that even as we journey through this story, God, that you would illuminate in our hearts and our minds the beauty of who you are and what you have done for us. So, Father, we love you, and it's in your name we pray. Amen.
So the first thing we're going to see here is the start of rebellion. Look at verse 11 with me.
And he said, Jesus said, "There was a man who had two sons, and the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me a share of the property that is coming to me.' And he divided his property between them."
Now, just kind of at face value, you may look at that and say, "Oh, that's not too bad. That's not a big deal." But no, no, no. This was a huge deal. This was the younger son going up to his dad and saying to his dad, "Father, I wish you were dead. Give me what is going to come to me once you die so that I can go off and do whatever I want. I want to be in control of my own destiny, my own things. I want to do me, and I want no relationship with you. I just want your stuff."
That's a big deal for a son to go up to his father because normally a father would have all this inheritance. He would have land. He would have animals. He would have servants. And then when he passed, they would get split up amongst his children, his inheritance. Sometimes the older child would get a little bit more of his inheritance, but the younger child a little bit less, but they would split this inheritance throughout their family.
So this son decides to take it upon himself to go up to his dad and say, "Dad, I don't want to wait till you die. Just give me what belongs to me now, and I'm going to go off and do my own thing and spend it the way I want to spend it." That's a big deal. That's super hurtful. But the dad does it anyway.
And so we're seeing this rebellion form and take place. And now I know you think maybe you wouldn't do that, right? Read these stories and we think, "Oh, man, that's pretty big deal, right? Oh, that feels kind of gross that someone would do that to their dad." But we all have our own stuff. We all have our own rebellion against God. In fact, that's what it means to be a sinner. This inward attitude of rebellion against God.
When God speaks of man's rebellion against him, he calls it sin. But we have to understand that when he uses that phrase and that word, sin, he's using it in a singular context. What we tend to do is we tend to use it in a plural way. So we say sins. And by doing so, we kind of create this severity scale.
Here's what I mean by that. We have lying and, you know, the sarcasm, which is saying the truth without actually saying the truth, but kind of masking it with joking. Maybe some gossip. We throw in there jealousy, gluttony, right? We have those sins. And then we have murder and adultery and rock and roll, right? We put those in the major category.
But by separating these sins, what do we do? We end up stacking them, right? So it's the severity scale where it's like these things. I would never be that bad. I would never do these things. I'd never go to my father and say, "I wish you were dead, dad. Give me what belongs to me." But we're fine playing in the small stuff. And we think that that's okay.
When God speaks of sin in the Bible, he speaks about it singularly. So he doesn't separate them and say worse, better, better, worse. No, no, no. It's sin. Sin is sin is sin. Write that down.
And so we see this rebellion. The Bible reveals all people as sinners. This isn't levels of morality, but rebellion against God. And there's not one person in this room that could honestly say that they don't like being the king and the Lord over their life.
I mean, think about it. You want to be in control. Where are my control freaks? Right? I'm up here. We want to control our lives. We want to be the one sitting on the throne making the decisions. We end up being that spoiled girl in Willy Wonka who says, "I want a golden goose and I want it now." Like, we tend to want to be the ones to dictate how our lives play out. Therefore, we want to be God in our lives.
And so what happens is we rebel against God by playing this role in our own lives to be king and Lord of our lives. This is rebellion. And the younger son has this posture against his father.
"Father, I know that you are a good father. I know that you have worked hard your whole life to make sure that you're a good father. To generate and have this kind of success that you have seen in your life. But I don't want you to dictate what I do. I want to be my own man, my own woman. I want to do my own thing. And I want to make my decisions."
And so he has this posture of wanting to be the king of his own life. He says to his dad, "I wish you were dead." He takes it and walks away.
And here's where things shift from rebellion to regret. Look at verse 13.
"Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country. And there he squandered his property in reckless living. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country who sent him into the fields to feed the pigs."
Verse 16. "And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate. And no one gave him anything."
So here is where his regret started to set in. Regret is guilt from making choices that we wish that we hadn't. His regret led him towards seeing his rebellion.
And then, but like, just look at some of his initial regrets real quick. Just some of these initial regrets that we're seeing play out here. He wasted the money that he took from his dad. He made some foolish decisions. A famine arose. He had to work a terrible job because of all those things. And then he was hungry.
This regret was actually circumstantial regret. Circumstantial regret. I mean, just play this out in your mind. Think about him saying to his dad, "I wish you were dead," getting this pool of money and going off to a faraway land and becoming a billionaire. You think he'd be experiencing that much regret?
What if he goes off to the faraway land and takes that money and invests it properly? And then becomes super famous and popular. And then everybody loves him in that faraway land. There's no famine that takes place. And then he's just experiencing prosperity and fame for the rest of his days. Is there regret?
No, this circumstance has led to him actually having regret. And I think herein lies the problem. We dabble with sin and we experience sin. And when it benefits us, it doesn't necessarily cause in us true regret. It's just circumstantial. So if we sin and it goes bad, sadly, then we regret. Does that make sense?
Have you experienced that before in your life? You do something that you know God said you shouldn't do, and then it goes bad, and then you're like, "Ah, I shouldn't have done it." But you do something that you shouldn't have done, and it goes well, then you think, "Oh, you know, I won't do that again next time." Until the opportunity arises for you to do it next time, and you do it again because you saw a benefit from it.
I mean, this is just real talk right now. I mean, I know you weren't coming to church today thinking that you were going to be talking about these things. But this is what really happens in our lives. We really only regret the things that lead to bad circumstances.
That's not how God calls us to see our sin. That's not how we're supposed to have a posture towards a holy, loving, merciful, gracious God. Our regret shouldn't be circumstantial.
And so he's having this thing go on. And if we took a moment and we were honest, I'm sure you could think of some current sin, which is just rebellion against God that plays in your favor. That makes you feel good. It's temporary, but maybe you're enjoying it.
So maybe that's an inappropriate relationship. Maybe it's emotional. Maybe it's flirting. Maybe it's physical. Maybe it's financial gain. Maybe you're involved in some shady deals. And you're like, "Oh, when these get closed, I won't do that again." Maybe it's gossip.
Maybe the gossip is to make you look better. Maybe the gossip is because you're insecure in yourself. Maybe you just do the Christian gossip where it's like, "Hey, I need you to pray for my friend." Right? You know what I'm talking about.
Kids. Youth. Maybe it's like how you fight with your siblings because you've stolen something from them. They stole something from you. And you fight over the stuff that you guys are dealing with, right? I have four girls. They're constantly stealing each other's clothes and curling irons and all sorts of stuff that are, you know, just all around the house, and they just fight and argue.
When it's to their favor, it's fine, but when it's against them, then they hate it, and they never want it to happen again. Maybe it's jealousy. Someone has something, looks a certain way that you want, so maybe you make fun of them. Maybe you bully them.
All of this is sin. It's sin. Circumstantial guilt and shame can cause regret, but then there's another shift that takes place, and this shift moves us into repentance. Look at verse 17.
"But when he came to himself," I think that this begins to present on the identity that he has as a son, understanding and recognizing who his father was, remembering back to all the days that he spent with his father because he knew his father.
"When he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger?'" Still somewhat circumstantial. I'm still thinking, "Okay, how can I redeem my circumstance?"
Look at verse 18. "I will rise and go to my father, and I will say to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.'" He's realizing the weight of his sin. "I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Please treat me as one of your hired servants.'"
So he rose and went to his father. You know, without repentance, regret can trap us in toxic shame. Let me say that again. Without repentance, regret can trap us in toxic shame, causing relational paralysis.
Often when we're just living in regret, it could cause us to stay severed in whatever relationship that regret has formed in. But when repentance begins to sink in, and we begin to realize our fault in the situation, we begin to want to make amends for the things that we did.
Often when there's a problem, an argument, a fight between two people, we wait for the other person to say they're sorry. Jesus, when he's articulating this story, shows us a very clear picture of the father not being at fault, the son one being at fault.
So this is kind of cut and dry, but in our lives, it doesn't play out that simply because there's two sinners here, right? The father is representing God. In our circumstances, we're representing humans. So there's always 100% guilt on my side of the earth. There's always a lot of guilt on my side of the earth. There's always a lot of guilt on my wife's side. We're both sinners. We're both bringing sin to the table.
But what happens is regret can cause in us so much toxic shame and guilt that it severs relationship with people and ultimately with God. And so there has to be a moment where an ingredient enters into the equation. And you know what that ingredient is? Humility.
Where humility enters into the equation and causes us to realize, "I did something wrong and I need to go make amends. I need to go seek forgiveness." See, this is the movement from regret to repentance.
When we realize the weight of our sin and how it has impacted and affected everyone around us. And in fact, the word "worthy" that he says in verse 21 means not deserving of something. He realizes that even if he goes back home, he is not worthy of the Father's forgiveness.
He's not going back there thinking like, "He owes me." He's not going back there thinking like, "You know, oh, well, my dad's got a bunch of stuff. Like, he'll be fine and he'll just invite me back into the house. Maybe I can work my way back into the family." No, no, no. He says, "I'm not worthy to be called your son."
I'm not going to try to earn my way back in. And so there's this shift of humility that takes place in his heart and in his mind. Repentance requires humility.
But then we see this beautiful restoration. Look at verse 20.
"And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, what happens? The father runs to the son and embraces him."
I want you to think about the picture here that we're seeing in this story that Jesus is telling. His father would have had to been waiting and watching for his son for all of those days, hoping to catch a glimpse of his son on the horizon.
And soon as the shadow of a glimmer of something that looked like his son appeared, the father would have taken what would have been more robe-like clothing. He would have picked up his garments and tucked them up inside so that he could run. And then he would have run out, which is not something a normal father would do in this culture. It's not something a man of his prestige and his staff would have done to run like that, but he didn't care. He ran out to his son and threw his arms around him.
And before the son could even utter all of the apology and all the sorry and try to make up for what he did against the father, what does the father do? Look at verse 22.
"But the father said to his servants, 'Bring quickly the best robe and put it on him and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet and bring the fattened calf and kill it and let us eat and celebrate for my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found,' and they began to celebrate."
The beauty of the good news of the gospel, the forgiveness of a father to his rebellious son where he embraces him. And look at what he does here. There's four elements that he places in on this story. Jesus, the master storyteller, telling us this story.
First, he places on him a robe. A robe. It wasn't a robe that was sitting on the bottom of his closet, a robe that was shoved off into his corner. It was his best robe symbolizing restoration and righteousness. Restoration and righteousness.
Symbolizing to his son that his sin no longer defiles. He is no longer isolated from the family. He is no longer alone. In fact, hundreds of years before Jesus enters into this world, into our time, the author and the prophet Isaiah writes this in Isaiah 61:10. "For he, the Messiah, the coming Messiah, has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of what? His righteousness."
This is the beauty of the gospel where the father is placing this robe over his son, symbolizing restoration and righteousness, and then places a ring on his finger. This would have been the signet ring, the family ring. It would have had their family crest on it, and that family crest had authority.
That family crest gave him an identity. And so he's restoring his authority as his son. He's giving him back his identity as a son, and helping him, and letting him receive belonging and sonship, where he is fully a part of the family with full rights of the family.
And then shoes. Now, these shoes symbolized freedom and dignity. Now, in a biblical culture, often slaves would be barefoot, but sons, sons would have shoes. Where he was telling his son that you're free from all of your past. You're free from all of your mistakes. You're free from all of your regrets. You are my son. Not a servant, but mine.
And then he kills this calf, which brings celebration and joy. We just saw this a few weeks ago, and we're gonna see this on Christmas Eve, that all of heaven rejoices when one sinner repents. The celebration that the Father and the Son are now experiencing in the fullness of joy, when we repent to our Father because of what we have done, and we humble ourselves before our God, and it brings worship, it brings joy, it brings celebration.
There's never been a moment of my life where I have repented from a humility where I didn't receive the fullness of joy in those moments. God, bringing these things together.
And so, what is the response? I'm gonna invite Christian to come back on up. My response to all of this is to receive God's love. Right in the beginning, I told you, this is a story of love. To receive God's love.
I mean, what did the Son do? Really, what did the Son do? I mean, the Father was the one who placed the robe of righteousness over his shoulders. The Father was the one that placed the ring of authority and identity back on his finger and put the shoes back on his feet and took and started celebrating with the friends and family and killing the fattened calf. The Father was the one who done all this.
Now, the Son's response could have been, "Oh, I don't wanna wear that. Oh, don't give me that." I know so many Christians and so many believers that will not receive God's forgiveness because they feel like they need to earn it.
He could have been like, "Oh, this robe? Really, Dad? The red one? I wanted the blue one. This isn't good enough. This isn't what I wanted." No, no, no. What's the Son's posture? He's just receiving all that the Father is placing over him.
I wanna read this to you, this quote, because it's so important for us to understand this, that the prodigal son didn't earn his restoration. He simply received it. God's love and grace are gifts freely offered through Jesus Christ. Jesus's robe that covers our sin, the ring that restores our identity, and the sacrifice that brings us back into the Father's arms.
This unmerited grace given freely through Christ is at the heart of the gospel, which proclaims salvation by grace alone through faith alone.
Listen, I think that there are many people who feel like they've done so many bad things that they are unworthy of God's forgiveness. This story that Jesus himself is articulating to the Pharisees with the sinners present helps us know and understand and recognize the grace of God, that no matter how bad you think you are, that God's forgiveness covers you.
But then there's an older son in this story. And I want us to see this because I think this is important because I think some of us think that we are unworthy and we think that we've done too many bad things. But I think that there's a whole other group of people that are more like this older son who feel like they deserve something.
Look at verse 25 through 32 because I feel like this serves for us as a warning. The older son already had all the things that belonged to the father. Remember earlier when I said that when a father passed away that his inheritance would be split between the kin, the children?
And so when he gave part of his inheritance to the younger son and he went off and squandered it, who owned all the rest of the stuff? The older son. It all belonged to the older son now. That was the older son's inheritance. He already had all the things that belonged to the father, all the robes, all the rings, all the calves, all the stuff.
And he is sitting here with this posture of being a spoiled brat expecting God to do more for him. Like, "God, seriously? You're going to forgive that guy? But look at all the things that I've done for you."
Don't have that posture with God. I think often we can come in in our religiosity, and this is where the Pharisees were, where they think that somehow that they've earned God's favor, that they've earned this place before God where they can stand up and say, "Look at me, look what I've done for you."
Do not have that posture with God. The Bible says all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And don't be someone who is trying post-salvation to pay God back.
Do you know what I mean by that? I think we could often live our lives in a way where we know that we're saved by grace alone through faith alone, but now we have to live in a way that's paying him back.
"Okay, so you give me grace and mercy and all your favor and forgiveness and salvation. So now I'm going to try to pay you back with doing these good things, putting this money in the basket. I'm going to serve in this way and I'm going to play in the band," and whatever it may be. And we try to earn back or pay back God for the things that he has blessed us with.
God has given us a gift, and that gift is free of charge. He left eternity to be born as a baby so that he could grow up and be murdered on a cross so that he can defeat death, hell, and the grave for you. You can't pay that back. You can't earn that.
So stop trying and receive it. Receiving his love, receiving his robe of righteousness, receiving his ring, receiving his shoes leads us to celebrate.
And here's the beauty of this because I think that when I want to reaffirm what Lewis said and shared. In this season, the people around you, everywhere you live, work, play, neighbors, coworkers, friends, family, this season statistics would show that people are most receptive to hear the gospel.
And so I want to reaffirm what Lewis said and shared. And I think as Christians, too often we use inviting people to church as a cop-out from sharing the good news of the gospel with them instead.
My challenge and my encouragement to you is enjoy Jesus in such a way. Celebrate Jesus in such a way in this season that it overflows into the lives of everybody around you. Enjoy, receive, and enjoy the goodness of the gospel in such a way that the people around you notice that something is different.
And when they ask, don't say, "Well, come to church and find out." No, no, tell them about Jesus. Tell them how good he is. Tell them how God has transformed your life through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
And then if they want to hear more, sure, invite them to come to church. But God has made you as an ambassador, a royal priesthood, a holy nation to go therefore and make disciples.
So in celebration, when we stand and we sing, we celebrate. When we pray together, when we lift each other up, we celebrate. When we encourage one another, we celebrate. When we share his good news, we celebrate all that he has done forever and ever.
So here's the question. Where are you in this story? Are you running in rebellion? Are you stuck in regret? Or is God calling you to humbly return and receive his love? Today, he is madly in love with you.
So let's fall more in love with him. Amen.
Can I pray for us?
Father, thank you for your love and your grace that you give us. God, this season when we pass by houses that have manger scenes and we walk into the store and we hear our favorite Christmas music, God, I pray we wouldn't just let this season go by. We wouldn't just open up gifts and take down Christmas lights without remembering how amazing you are and using this season as an opportunity to draw near to you.
God, we are sinners. We need a savior. And you are that savior. And so God, I pray that we would draw near, that we would receive the fullness of joy in our relationship with you and that we would share that joy and that love with everybody around.
God, if there's anybody here today that doesn't know you as their Lord and savior, God, I pray that today would be their day of salvation. I pray that your Holy Spirit would do only what your Holy Spirit can do, which is to transform a life and bring them from death to life.
And so God, I pray that you would illuminate in their hearts of darkness light and it would cause in them the beauty of salvation and surrender and humility and repentance to you. Amen.
And that they would celebrate the goodness of who you are in this season, not just as a story of a baby in a manger, but the story of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords coming so that we may have life and life to the full.
God, for people who have walked with you for their whole lives and maybe have had the posture of the Pharisee, posture of the older brother, God, I pray that they would realize they can't pay you back and so that they need to enjoy you more.
They need to experience you more. So I pray that they too would fall more in love with the Father and join the invitation that the Father gave the older son, which is to come into the party, come into the party and enjoy and celebrate when the lost is found.
God, I pray that we would be a church that celebrates, that experiences you to the full. We love you. It's in your name we pray. Amen.
At this time, we do have some prayer team down here. I do think that the holidays are really stressful and I think they bring a lot of anxiety. I know they do in my own life. So our prayer team is here to pray for you. And so I would encourage you. I think sometimes we think if we come forward, we have to have some big grand thing going on. No, just come receive prayer.
If you're with somebody and they brought you, pray with them. And if you want to know more about Jesus and how to start a personal relationship with him, any of these people down here would love to have that conversation with you.
So you can come during this music or at the end, just come pull one of them aside and ask them what it means to have a personal relationship with Jesus. Sounds good? Would you stand with us, and hopefully we'll see you on Christmas Eve. God bless.
on Dec 22, 2024
