Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Good morning, everybody. Let's start again.
[00:00:06] I feel a little bit like this morning, you know, when you have good friends and they perhaps had young children, and then you have a period of absence, maybe 510 years, and then you meet this family again, and your first thought when you see the children is what? Wow, you've grown. And as I look around this morning, I can see that both numerically, but also this building as well. So it's a real treat to be here and to join with you this morning and just to say, well done. What a great job. We've had the tour around some of the building and seen what's happened. We love the carpet tiles. They're amazing, aren't they? And we just. We're so thrilled. Just makes you wonder, what is God going to do with this facility that he's given, isn't it? And also on behalf of Elim, I'm looking the privilege of serving as the regional leader for Wales and the south of England and giving some oversight to that. Also serving on the national leadership team of Elim. And on behalf of Elim, I feel like I should say a big thank you for sharing your senior pastor. Please don't throw anything at me. Okay? But thank you for sharing Mark and Nita with us. And I just want to say they are doing a fantastic job. A month in, I don't think their feet have touched the ground. They've been that busy. But we love them. We can see God's hand in this and we're excited about what God's going to do in the future. Also with Shaun as well, moving on to youth for Christ and doing more work there, although I know he's a part of the church family, him and Emily. But we just want to say thank you. God is doing something, isn't he? And I wonder whether we can turn in the Bible this morning. Should we stand for the reading of God's word? You've been sat for a little while. I don't always do this, but if you have a Bible, turn to Luke, chapter 15, if you would, and we will start to read at verse one and two. Let me set some context here. Jesus is going about sharing the good news of God's kingdom. He's meeting with all types of people, and there's a little bit of a conflict going on. The Pharisees, the religious people, are getting critical of Jesus because they think he's hanging out with the wrong kind of people. That as somebody who's a Bible teacher, as a purported teacher of God's word, of the word of the law. They think he should be hanging out with them. And they're concerned that he's hanging out with some bad people. And Jesus then begins to share them a story about why he's doing what he's doing. And you will know this story really well. Verses one and two. One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched. There in front of him was a man. Oh, I'm in the wrong chapter. Sorry.
[00:03:05] We could do that as well. Why have I done that? Sorry, I'm on the phone. Here we go. Now the tax collectors and sinners.
[00:03:13] Chapter 15, verses one and two. Now, the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, this man welcomes sinners and eats with them. We then move on down. Then Jesus tells a series of different stories. About something that's lost, that's then found, and moves on to the third story. So he talks about a sheep that gets lost. And the shepherd goes and finds it. Talks about a coin that's lost and is found. And there's a great celebration. Then in verse eleven, he tells this story. Jesus continued, there was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, father, give me my share of the estate. So he divided his property between them. Not long after that, the younger son got together. All he had set off for a distant country. And there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to this field, to the fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating. But no one gave him anything. When he came to his senses, he said, how many of my father's hired servants have food to spare? And here I am starving to death. I will go back to my father and say to him, father, I have sinned against you.
[00:04:45] Sorry. I've sinned against heaven and against you. I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants. So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him. He ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. The son said to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. But the father said to the servants, quick, bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine that was dead is alive again. He who was lost has been found. So they began to celebrate. Meanwhile, the oldest son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. Your brother has come, he replied, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound. The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, look, all these years I've been slaving for you, and I've never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never give me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when the son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him. My son, the father said, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad because this brother of yours was dead and he's alive again. He was lost, and he is found.
[00:06:51] Amen. Lord, we thank you for your word. We thank you for your ability, Jesus, to communicate profound things in ways that we can understand. And so, Father, this morning, in these minutes that we have, where we would just look at what is for many of us, are really a familiar story. But I pray that it will come alive to us again and that we might get a glimpse again of the beauty of salvation, of grace. And for those who may be less familiar with the story, we ask that. That they might also have this understanding of the kind of God that you are. And, Lord, how you feel about them today.
[00:07:35] In Jesus name, amen.
[00:07:38] Please be seated.
[00:07:42] Father's day.
[00:07:44] If we're honest, it's a day of mixed emotions.
[00:07:49] In a congregation this size, there'll be some people that.
[00:07:53] That when they think of today, they are full of gratitude in their hearts for an amazing dad, a dad that's modeled for them what it means to be faithful and consistent and generous and kind and all the other wonderful attributes that some fathers exhibit. For others of you today, the day is marked with sadness because that you're remembering maybe a dad that's no longer with us and with you. And you remember him. And you remember some of the fond things about your father. And again, your heart may well be filled with gratitude. That's where I am this morning. My dad passed away about four years ago. And today I'm grateful for him because he was a good dad. And I learned how hopefully, to be a reasonable dad myself because of him. And I think of some of those positive memories, and I'm grateful for God for bringing him into my life from the fact that I'm his son. But I'm conscious also as well today that some of you don't have that experience. For some of you this morning, that you didn't ever know your dad, he was an absent dad. And therefore, when we start talking about fathers, it is territory that's not comfortable for you, and it's not easy for you to navigate even a passage like we've just read, that a story that Jesus told is perhaps a difficult one because you don't have any grid to kind of understand the passage. For others of us here, it might even be worse than that. And you may have had a dad that did some things, was kind, unkind, sorry, it was maybe even abusive. It was hurtful and damaging in some ways. And therefore, I get it this morning. So we probably got all of those things in the mix this morning, and I can't deal with all of those issues, but maybe God can. But I want to bring us before this morning, in this short time that we have available, and once again try and describe to you, with the help of the words of Jesus, how our father in heaven is that no matter whether our experience of an earthly father was good, medium or really bad, that we have this morning a heavenly Father who loves us and cares for us. And it's really important we don't allow some of our experience of our earthly fathers, particularly if they're negative, to reflect how we see God this morning. And this morning. I know that this parable that we've just read is the parable that we call christians call the prodigal son. It's not actually say that in the Bible, but it's a story of a son that went away. And we'll look at that in a minute. And I know that the meaning of the parable is a warning to the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who were critical that Jesus is spending time with people that they thought were sinners, they were bad people. The pharisees saw them as being good and pure and right. And how could Jesus hang out with these people? And Jesus is effectively saying, hey, that's the reason why I've come. I've come. It's not the, you know, the healthy that need the doctor, a doctor. It's the sick people. I come for those who are far away, and I come with open arms to welcome them. And I think he's saying to the Pharisees, hey, don't miss out. You're close. You're like the elder son in the story.
[00:11:26] You're close. You know, you know the Torah, you know the Old Testament scriptures, but I've come to fulfill those. But just because I don't look like what you're expecting, don't dismiss. Come be a part of the celebration.
[00:11:43] Come and be a part of the party. I think that's our overarching goal this morning. God is saying to you to rediscover, hey, come and be a part of what I'm doing. Come and be a part of the celebration. Come and receive my grace and my love. I like what one writer said about this parable. He described it and said it in this context. He said, the real hero in this story is not the sons, one of the sons, it's the father.
[00:12:18] And actually, when you look at this parable, we could as well as call it the parable of the prodigal son. We could call it the parable of the father's heart. We could call it. We could look at this parable in a slightly different way than we've done before. And that's what we're going to do this morning. And I want us to ask the question, what does his passage tell us about God the Father? What characteristics do we see in this that will help us understand more fully the kind of God that we worship and the kind of God that we serve? Because let's not forget, these are the words of Jesus. And when it comes to describing Father God, he knows what he's talking about because he and the father are one. And so I want to encourage you this morning, just very quickly, this morning, as we look at this, to come and see afresh, come and gaze afresh on our Father in heaven, and that we'll try and leave some of our misconceptions aside. And you might say to me this morning, well, Steve, that's not been my experience of God. I don't see God this way. Well, can I challenge you if your experience conflicts with what I'm saying? What's going to change? Should we change the Bible? Should we kind of just rewrite that a little bit? In other words, so that it matches with your experience of God or your experience of the Christian? Or are we gonna change our thinking and bring it in line with what the Bible says about our amazing heavenly Father. So very quickly this morning, first thing I want to say as we look at this passage is, number one, that God the father is kind. He's patient.
[00:14:07] Kind. That God the father is patient and he's kind.
[00:14:14] He really is. He's patient and he's kind. Let's illustrate that from the passage. It says here, Jesus continued, there was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, father, give me my share of the estate. So he divided his property between them. Not long after the younger son got together, all he had set off for a distant country, and there squandered his wealth on wild living.
[00:14:40] Friends, let's get into this story. We know it well, but come with me as we journey a bit deeper into this. Imagine here we have a situation where a cheeky younger son, an arrogant younger son, is going to his father and he's effectively saying to his dad, dad, I wish you'd hurry up and die, because I want what's coming to me and I can't wait.
[00:15:01] And rather than get, you know, respond to him with harshness and say, don't you be so cheeky, just get on with what you've been called to do today. If you don't watch yourself, you're not going to get anything, what happens? The father divides his estate and gives his son that which he asks for. Friends, I want to illustrate today that God is kind. Even when we're unkind, even when our motivations are not good, our father's love towards us is consistent. Excuse me. He is kind, he is loving, he is gracious, he's patient with us. I think one of the most difficult things about being a father, we have three grown up children now and one grandchild.
[00:15:46] But as we've journeyed through that as imperfect parents, we have some of the difficult, most challenging times are when you have to release your children to make choices that you don't think are maybe the best ones. Anybody else struggle with that? You know, when you kind of think, I don't think that's kind of the best thing, but we love you enough to release you to do that. And course, you know, you can give your advice, you can try and do that, hopefully in a sensitive way, in a helpful way. But it's hard, isn't it, when you can see perhaps a child, somebody that you love, taking a decision, you kind of think maybe in your spirit. You also know, I don't think that's going to work. But we love you and we don't want to control you. Friends, that's our God.
[00:16:37] Some people would see God as controlling that. You know, he's like we're puppets on some sort of string and he's directing our paths. Friends, I could I once say today you couldn't be further from the truth. Our God is a God who permissions us. He gives us free will, doesn't he? You know, we like to blame him sometimes, but if we're honest, some of the things that have gone wrong in our life are not his fault, but they're our fault. There are choices. There are things that we chose to do that then ended up wrong or bad things, as Linda's told us this morning, bad things that happened because others mistreated us or did us wrong. It's not God. But God has permission. He's given free will and he knows the pain of that and the pain of wrong choices. And that's what this story is sharing with us. John, chapter one says this. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive it. The Bible says all have sinned and fall short of God's glory. That we have all like sheep that have gone astray. Each of us has gone to his own way.
[00:17:43] And that's the story today in our world around this big globe. Hearing exoder friends, we just need to say that we're all a bit like this prodigal son, that we've all gone our own way and God has allowed us to do that. But that's not the end of the story. I want to say today that God is very patient and he's very kind. Number two, I want to see that the story illustrates for us this, that he is compassionate and loving, that God is compassionate and loving. Anybody want to say amen to that today, to reinforce it? He is compassionate and loving. And many of us have experienced the goodness, the love, the compassion, the grace of God. In the story, we see this verse 20. So he, that's the prodigal son, as we might call him, got up and went, his father. Okay, there's been a big gap in the story, which I need to fill in a little bit. So the son goes away, he squanders all that his father has worked hard for, has built up. The son receives it and he goes away and he squanders it in fairly quick time by the sound of it. Then right at that moment, there's a famine in the land. There's no work, there's no food. And so they send him to go and feed pigs for the jewish audience that Jesus is speaking to. They're going, oh, my goodness. That's like the worst job anybody could imagine. And then the son is in that place where he's feeding the pigs. They've got more food than he has. And he reminds himself, hey, what about, what am I doing here? I love that phrase where it says, he came to his senses. In other words, one day he wakes up and he kind of thinks to himself, what am I doing here when my father has a better farm than this one? What if I go back to my father and I ask him, I say, sorry, and I don't expect to become a son, but I go, and maybe I can become a hired servant. At least I'd be better off than I am now. And it feels like he's prepared. If you look at the words of the scripture there, it feels like he's prepared a bit of a speech to deliver to his dad, saying, sorry, dad, you know, I admit I've done wrong. Please, could I be a servant in your household? Please take me back. That kind of thing. And then he goes back, makes the long journey back to his father. Verse 20, it says, so he, the prodigal, got up and went to his father while he was still a long way off. His father saw him and was filled with compassion for him. He ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
[00:20:30] It's a beautiful picture.
[00:20:33] Let's remember right now that God's speaking to you today. That's how he sees you.
[00:20:40] The son didn't get showered and changed and buy a new outfit. He came as he was.
[00:20:45] You know, when the father embraced him, I'm sure that part of him was. Was overjoyed, but it wasn't because of the way that he looked. He was probably smelly. You know, he was unclean and may have in some ways, been difficult to love, but the father didn't care.
[00:21:04] That's how he sees there's a lie that the devil tells us, and that is this. Hey, look, you can't go to God the way that you are. You can't go to the father like that. You need to clean yourself up a bit. You need to get your life sorted, and then maybe you'll be good enough to come to church or you'll be good enough for God. But I want to tell you, the Bible says the exact opposite. It tells us to come as we are. It says, today is a day of salvation. Don't wait till you got it all together, because probably you never will, but come as you are, and maybe that's for somebody here today. Thank you for coming to church. Maybe it was really difficult for you to walk through the doors of this church. Maybe you are feeling like, oh, I feel like I'm the odd one out in this room of good people. But I want to say that if we could see heaven right now, we would see that the father, the God in heaven, is looking down, and he's so pleased that you're here today. He's so thrilled that you had the courage. And he wants to welcome you home, not just here, but into his heart. He wants to restore and forgive, and we'll come on to that in a minute. But it's an amazing story. We learn about compassion and love. We see from this story the compassion, the compassion and the love of God. It waits, hopefully.
[00:22:22] It waits, hopefully. Why did the father see the son when he was a long way off?
[00:22:30] Because he was watching.
[00:22:33] Because he was watching. I don't know. I might be reading into the scriptures a bit much here, but I have this picture of this father who's heartbroken that his son has gone away, he hasn't heard of for weeks or months or years. And every day he goes to the corner of his property that overlooks the road with the best view of both directions. And he stands next to the fence and he looks up and down the road, wondering, waiting. Is today the day when my boy is going to come home? He hopes in his heart that one day he's going to see his son again. And every single day, he goes to the edge of this property. He looks down the dusty road and he looks and he looks and he looks and he waits until it's dark, and then he goes home. And then the next day, he comes and he looks. And on this day, he sees a solitary figure maybe coming with his head down and kicking the dust up in front of him. He looks like he's not in a good place. And the father looks, I think, well, yeah, that could be my son. It could. It could be my son. He's about the right height. It could be my boy. I can't see right now. And as that son gets closer and closer, then it comes to the point of realization, this is my boy. That's my son.
[00:23:52] And the story tells us this, doesn't it, that the father, what does he do in response? Even wait for the boy to get to the gate and say, hey, son, shake your hand. He runs.
[00:24:06] We worship a God who runs. We worship a God. This morning, who runs the Bible says, he ran to his son. He put his arms around him and he kissed him.
[00:24:19] He's a God who runs. Verse 20, the literal translation, is, moved with pity and running. He fell on the neck of him and his son and fervently kissed him.
[00:24:36] He moved with pity, so the father's heart is broken. Why is my son. Look at him. Look. He looks so pathetic. He looks so broken. He's so dirty, and he's so. You know. You know what I mean? He's not my son, but he is my son. He's full of pity. And that moves the father to run to his son, and he falls on his neck. That means not a wrestling hold. It means he grabs him so tight and he. What? It says he fervently kisses him.
[00:25:08] He fervently. I mean, that's a bit much for some of us british people, isn't it? Like something over the top guard, you know, tone it down a bit. But no, you can. You hear the joy. You hear the joy that this son that was dead is alive again. He's home.
[00:25:24] Friends, I wonder how we view the world around us.
[00:25:28] That's God's heart for the people of Exeter right now. It really is. God's waiting. He's waiting by the gate. He's saying, who's come on home. Come on home. I'm waiting. I know I'm getting excited, but that's the heart of God.
[00:25:44] He doesn't say, wait until you get it all together. Change it. Outfit. Have a shave one, though, maybe not in that context. Don't have a shave, but, you know, smarten yourself up, get something clean to wear on, and then come now, he says, come as you are. He says, come as you are today. And that's a beautiful thing about this church. I think the church is saying, hey, look, God's given us more room here in this space. Why is he giving you more room? So that you can welcome more people home, so that he can do an awesome thing in this place. I believe that the words, it's time to come home. That's the word that's going out. That's the gospel of Jesus, that God is kind and loving and gracious, and he wants loads of people to come home. He's giving you a bigger warehouse and a bigger barn so that you can bring more and more people into his kingdom for such a time as this. And I believe that people are looking for hope, aren't they? Right now, they're looking for forgiveness. You don't need to tell people that their lives are a little bit messy. They know they're already messy. What they need is a way out of the mess. What they need is a chink of light in the end of the dark tunnel. And I want to say that that person is Jesus and what amazing message we have. But that's the heart that the heart of God is compassion. Today, you know, that's how God feels about you. You might say, well, that's not really how I do my Christianity. I don't really have that experience of God. Well, I want to tell you, maybe your experience needs to change. Change. That's how God. That's why we get excited in this church is because God has got excited about us, and we get excited about the father that loves us. The father waited for the Son and embraced him as he came. What Bible says, and I know my time is going, the Lord is gracious and compassionate. He's slow to anger, but he's abounding in love. Psalm 145. The Lord is good to all, and that all means all. He has compassion on all he has made. I'm going to jump to the next one. So we have seen already this morning that he is patient and kind.
[00:27:49] He's not irritated with you this morning.
[00:27:52] He's not irritated with you. You're not driving him nuts this morning. He loves you. He might have taken a long time to get to where you are right now, but he's patient and he's kind.
[00:28:03] He's not rushing you. But he's full of grace, he's full of compassion. He's loving. I want to say as well, number three, he is generous and he's extravagant.
[00:28:13] You know, look at what it says here in verse 22. But the father said to the servants, quick, bring the robe. Nuh uh. The best robe servants get. You know, the wedding robe, the one that I get out when it's a really special occasion, when there's a, you know, get that one and bring it and put it on my son and do it quickly. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. In other words, this was communicating to the son, even though he had his little speech about by being a hired servant, that the father's communicating to the son, you're not a servant, you're a son. That you are restored. You may have messed up, but you are being reinstalled. You have been reinstated. You are my son. You've got the best robe. You've got the ring of authority. It was a mark of authority. The ring. You see your documents with that it was the father's. Given the authority back to the son. He's putting sandals on his feet. What's that about? It means, hey, you're not going to be working in the fields. You're going to be helping me run this thing. I'm bringing you back. I'm restoring you. What a message.
[00:29:21] That's how God sees you today. No matter broken and damaged. You might be like Linda was, sharing stories of those amazing young girls who's had their lives taken away in many respects. But what happened? God restores.
[00:29:36] He gives back, he replenishes.
[00:29:40] He doesn't just kind of make it. He restores, he reinstates. And I want to encourage you with that. That's the God that we serve, and that's what he wants to do to you today.
[00:29:51] And finally, I think if we rush on, number four, we learn this about the father and his heart. Number one, he's patient and he's kind.
[00:30:02] I think some of us give ourselves a hard time when it comes to the things of God. We go, God, I've been trying to do this, but I keep on failing. You know, I've been a christian next number of years, and I should have it licked by now. I should have this mastered. But we get it wrong. We stumble and we tell ourselves that, oh, God must have given up hope with us. I want to tell you today, he's patient and he's kind.
[00:30:24] He's long suffering. He's there for the long haul. He's not like some father that just kind of exit when it gets difficult. He is there for the tough days and the easy days. He is patient, he's kind, he's compassionate, he's loving, he's generous, and he's extravagant. And number four, we see he's overflowing with joy. We sung about that earlier this morning, didn't we? The kingdom of God is characterized by joy.
[00:30:56] It's joy. And where does the joy come from? It comes from God. It's not as different from happiness as circumstantial. We can all be happy when everything's running in our direction, when everything's great. But a joy comes from inside, no matter what the circumstances. And effectively, it means, I know that I'm right with God. The circumstances may not be good. They may not be conducive to happiness right now, but I have the joy because I know I belong to him. And we see this. What does the father do? He says, hey, kill the fattened calf. Bad day for the fattened carpet. A good day for everybody else. And he says to him, come, let's celebrate.
[00:31:41] Let's celebrate, because this son that was dead is alive again.
[00:31:48] And the older brother's got a problem with that. And we see some of his heart. The Bible says, out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. And we see something of the condition of the older brother's heart when he tumbles out. All of this kind of, you know, all of these negative traits. Feels like he's been taken for granted.
[00:32:07] You know, he's bitter, he's resentful, critical of his brother. He's accusatory, accuses him of spending the money with prostitutes. We don't know that's what he's done, but that's what his brother thinks. And he's full of kind of venom at this stage. But do you know what happens? The father says, uh uh, I'm not going to descend to your level. Come. Come and join us. Come and join the party.
[00:32:33] Come and join the celebration. Come and join with me. And that's his invitation to the Pharisees and the sadducees of the day. Hey, don't stand there being critical. Don't stand there thinking you're better. But come. Don't miss out. Come and join the celebration. On the final slide, there's a quote, and I wonder whether we could just read that. As I click close, it says, this here is a picture of grace.
[00:32:59] Talking about this parable. His God's grace is almost undignified in its exuberance.
[00:33:09] See, wealthy men didn't run in the time of Jesus. The crowd would have been shocked.
[00:33:16] Here is a God who runs and rejoices and embraces. Here is a God who not only accepts the dry cleaned and the sanitized, but runs to the filthy, the wayward son who has turned his.
[00:33:31] Sorry, I can't say turned his heart towards home. Here is a God who, as time will make clear, gives not his best robe, but his one and only son. Here is a God who shouts to the returning rebel. Welcome home.
[00:33:51] Shall we pray?
[00:33:55] Close.
