TEXT: Lk 15:11--32.
(Luke 15:11-32 NKJV) "Then He (Jesus) said: "A certain man had two sons. (12) "And the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.' So he divided to them his livelihood. (13) "And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. (14) "But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. (15) "Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. (16) "And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything. (17) "But when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! (18) 'I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, (19) "and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants."' (20) "And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. (21) "And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.' (22) "But the father said to his servants, 'Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. (23) 'And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; (24) 'for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' And they began to be merry. (25) "Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. (26) "So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. (27) "And he said to him, 'Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.' (28) "But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. (29) "So he answered and said to his father, 'Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. (30) 'But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.' (31) "And he said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. (32) 'It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.'""
1. This story describes a person's departure from God and the church.
(The father represents God, and the family the church.)
a. Imagine: A Young person, raised in the church, in a Christian home, and when he gets grown, he wants to leave: leave his family, go back on his raising, go out into the world and live it up in sin.
b. Imagine the loneliness this young person might feel. Away from his family, away from those who love him and care about him. Away from God--as Paul said, (Eph 2:12 NKJV) "that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world." How lonely such a person should be.
c. BUT, NO! He's not lonely, because he fills his mind with worldliness and reveling! His life is so filled with partying and merriment; enjoying his newfound worldly friends, that he has no time to think of how he misses his father and family.
Sin has separated us from God; has broken our fellowship with the one who created us. Sin may have broken our fellowship with family and loved ones. There should be such a desperate, lonely void in our lives that we couldn't rest.
But to overcome his loneliness, the Prodigal Son begins to ENTERTAIN HIMSELF to the extent that he does not have time to think of his pitiful lost state and alienation from his loved ones.
HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A PERSON LIKE THIS? MAYBE YOU'VE EVEN BEEN THERE YOURSELF.
A person so miserable with himself that he seeks constant entertainment and amusement to keep his mind off his sad sinful state.
Do you reckon this is why our society is so entertainment and amusement starved? Could it be that they are seeking distractions to keep their minds off their lonely sinful state, their alienation from God and those who love them?
We seek constant entertainment and distraction through TV, Video Games, constant amusement and absorption in some trivia; we have to be listening to something, watching something or playing something every waking minute! Some going so far as to even use alcohol and all manner of drugs to keep them "high" and their minds off their loneliness and their lost state.
Then they wake up the next morning and find that they are still in the same condition that they were in the day before--just lonely sinful creatures, alienated from God and those who love them. (Eccl 1:8 NKJV) "All things are full of labor; Man cannot express it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Nor the ear filled with hearing."
Solomon said that he gave his heart to seek wisdom and to know madness and folly; but in much wisdom is much grief, and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. He said, (Eccl 2:1-11 NKJV) "I said in my heart, "Come now, I will test you with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure"; but surely, this also was vanity. (2) I said of laughter; "Madness!"; and of mirth, "What does it accomplish?" (3) I searched in my heart how to gratify my flesh with wine, while guiding my heart with wisdom, and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the sons of men to do under heaven all the days of their lives. (4) I made my works great, I built myself houses, and planted myself vineyards. (5) I made myself gardens and orchards, and I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. (6) I made myself water pools from which to water the growing trees of the grove. (7) I acquired male and female servants, and had servants born in my house. Yes, I had greater possessions of herds and flocks than all who were in Jerusalem before me. (8) I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the special treasures of kings and of the provinces. I acquired male and female singers, the delights of the sons of men, and musical instruments of all kinds. (9) So I became great and excelled more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me. (10) Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, For my heart rejoiced in all my labor; And this was my reward from all my labor. (11) Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done And on the labor in which I had toiled; And indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun."
Lonely alienated man is still trying to fill this void in life the same way that Solomon did, and finding little satisfaction! At the end of Solomon's writing in Ecclesiastes, he said, (Eccl 12:13-14 NKJV) "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man's all. (14) For God will bring every work into judgment, Including every secret thing, Whether good or evil."
Can't you just see the Prodigal son, after he has run away from home, trying to constantly keep so busy with merriment and worldly distractions that he doesn't have time to feel his loneliness and the void in his life that was caused from him running away from God and from those who loved him?
Men have been feeling this loneliness and emptiness in life ever since Adam and Eve disobeyed God and got expelled from the Garden of Eden. If this has been your experience in life, that you have felt alone, separated from God, with no purpose in life, just remember that the problem is that sin has separated us from that sweet fellowship with God, separated us from that peace that we once had with Him. Sin causes us to seek our own pleasures and become selfish in our desires so that we begin to serve self and fulfill the desires of the flesh.
Do you want to have peace in your life? Do you desire a purpose in life? Do you desire your life to affect others in such a way that they, too, will find peace and fulfillment? Then remember, "Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man."
Look at verses 14 thru 16 of Luke 15. The amusement and merrymaking seems to be working for a while, but then the bottom falls out. There is nothing more despicable to a Jewish boy than to find himself as a servant to some foreigner in a pigpen feeding swine!
Like this Prodigal Son, all people who run away from God will find the merrymaking and amusement soon running out when they finally his rock bottom and all the loneliness they should have been feeling all along suddenly hits them like a ten-ton truck! Look at verse 17 of Luke 15: The only way the young man could find happiness was to "come to himself" and resolve to do what he knew he ought.
He "came to himself." Some translations say he "came to his senses." Only then was he able to make a logical choice. And the choice he made was to ARISE, AND GO HOME.
The same is true with us!! We will not find happiness until we "come to our senses" and determine to come back to the church, and to God!
(Prov 28:13 NKJV) "He who covers his sins will not prosper, But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy."
I WILL ARISE AND GO BACK HOME! He was still hungry and ragged, but how much better he must have felt about himself while on the way home!
Look at verses 17 thru 24. He mustered the courage to confess his sin. "I have sinned against Heaven and in thy sight." He had to swallow his pride to say it, but what a load it must have taken off his shoulders!
Then he came back home--and just look at the warm welcome he received of the father.
Though we foolishly leave God, He is always overjoyed to see us coming back home.
The three stories of Lk. 15 (the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost boy) are all told to illustrate the same point: There is great rejoicing when the lost is found.
Upon finding the lost sheep: (Luke 15:5-7 NKJV) ""And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. (6) "And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!' (7) "I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance."
Upon finding the lost coin: (Luke 15:9-10 NKJV) ""And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!' (10) "Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.""
The father concerning the lost boy that was found: (Luke 15:32 NKJV) "'It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.'""
When the erring child comes back home:
God rejoices.
The angels rejoice.
The wayward child who has come home rejoices.
IT MAKES EVERYBODY HAPPY!
Is there one reading this who needs to make that move today??