THE PRODIGAL FATHER
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How we see the Father - Perhaps THE MOST significant concept where there is power, potential, and promise, and thus we can expect opposition.
The enemy works overtime to get us to think that God is distant, heavy handed, unfair, uncaring. How we see God doesn’t change who He is, but is greatly affects our ability to:
1. Relate to Him
2. Receive from Him
Malachi 4:6 NLT
6 His preaching will turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the hearts of children to their fathers. Otherwise I will come and strike the land with a curse.”
Luke 1:17 NLT
17 He will be a man with the spirit and power of Elijah. He will prepare the people for the coming of the Lord. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and he will cause those who are rebellious to accept the wisdom of the godly.”
John 14:1-5 NLT
1 “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. 2 There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 3 When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.” 5 “No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
John 14:6-11 NLT
6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. 7 If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know him and have seen him!” 8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” 9 Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show him to you? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me. 11 Just believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Or at least believe because of the work you have seen me do.
If you’ve met Jesus, seen Jesus, experienced Jesus, according to Jesus you have met, seen, experienced the Father!
Humble servant. Compassionate for lost and hurting people. Willing to sacrifice and lay down His life. Healed the hurting and brought hope to the hopeless. Spent time with sinners, stooped down to forgive them and bring them faith to change and live differently.
Luke 15:11-19 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.”’
Luke 15:20-27 NLT
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.’
Luke 15:28-32 NLT
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!’”
Two groups of people listening to Jesus speak:
Tax collectors and sinners, and the Pharisees and religious leaders. Represent two common ways people search for meaning, significance and belonging in life:
1. Self discovery and self gratification.
2. Religion and its rules and rituals.
The unfortunate truth: Both alienate us from God and His best.
The GOOD NEWS: The father ran after both sons.
A. The Ring represents authority and provision restored.
Synonyms: wasteful · imprudent
2. Having or giving something on a lavish scale, giving or providing abundantly and profusely. Synonyms: generous · lavish · unsparing · bountiful · copious · profuse · rich bountiful
2 Peter 1:3 NLT
3 By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.
Good fathers are providers but not enablers.
B. The Robe represents royalty and relationship restored.
Colossians 1:11-14 NLT
11 We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy, 12 always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light. 13 For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, 14 who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.
Good fathers are present, not passive.
C. The Sandals represent position, purpose and peace restored.
Ephesians 6:15 NLT
15 For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared.
Romans 5:1-2 NLT
1 Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. 2 Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.
Good fathers are protectors but are not over-protective or controlling.
D. Fattened calf represents God’s willingness to give his very best. Good fathers prioritize their families. The don’t presume or procrastinate to give their all and their best for their families.
Colossians 1:15-23 NLT
15 Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, 16 for through him God created everythingin the heavenly realms and on earth.He made the things we can seeand the things we can’t see—such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.Everything was created through him and for him. 17 He existed before anything else,and he holds all creation together. 18 Christ is also the head of the church,which is his body.He is the beginning,supreme over all who rise from the dead.So he is first in everything. 19 For God in all his fullnesswas pleased to live in Christ, 20 and through him God reconciledeverything to himself.He made peace with everything in heaven and on earthby means of Christ’s blood on the cross. 21 This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. 22 Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. 23 But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. The Good News has been preached all over the world, and I, Paul, have been appointed as God’s servant to proclaim it.
Jesus is the big brother that came searching for us, to bring us back to the royal family of God! He rejoices over each of us when we “come to our senses” and come back the the Father!
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