A Modern Prodigal — E.A. Johnston

The Three Degrees of Loss in Luke 15

Chapter 15 of the Gospel of Luke is about the parables of the lost. The lost sheep, the lost coin, the lost son. But there are different degrees of loss mentioned here. The lost sheep goes out from the 90 and the 9.

The Lost Coin and the Increasing Cost of Loss

This represents a 1 loss. The lost coin represents a larger percentage of loss. As the woman having 10 pieces of silver loses one piece, which is a loss of 10%. Notice the progression in the text. With the first two items, they represent property.

A sheep, a coin, there is a common feeling attached to the loss of property. Though it has a loss, it can be replaced. But the third parable takes it all to a much higher level and a higher loss. The father had two sons.

The Personal Grief of a Wandering Child

One is lost. And this represents a 50 loss, which is felt deeply in what makes this loss so stinging. To the heart of the father is the fact that it is not merely a property loss, like in the first two parables, but this is a personal loss.

What can be more devastating, more wounding, more personal than a family loss? In this parable, friends, we have the universal emotion of fatherhood laid bare as a father yearns over a wandering child.

A 50 loss is a tragic loss. If you lose 50 of your money in the stock market, it will greatly impact your entire net worth. But to lose a child to the world who grew up in church and delighted in vacation Bible school and perhaps even attended private Christian school when they leave the church and turn their back on God and go into the world, it's a much harder loss to swallow.

Oh, how the godly parent's heart breaks to watch a child grow up and leave the church to go wander in the world, to drift with its tide, to experience its bruises and yet not turn back to God and their Christian testimony.

Oh, how this breaks a mother's heart. How it wounds a father's heart to have a backslidden child. We do all we can to pray for them. We witness to them. We are there for them, but yet they show no interest in returning to God.

And to top it all off, our fears are increased because they run with a fast crowd of friends. How many modern prodigals do we have out there now? The title of my message today, friends, is The Modern Prodigal, but I want to make a statement right here before I go any further.

The Prodigal as Lost Sinner and Backslidden Believer

I firmly agree with most Bible scholars who say the prodigal son represents the lost sinner. I believe if you read Luke chapter 15 about the prodigal son with that mindset, you will get all the rich meaning of the text.

However, it is permissible to read also into it as the prodigal being a backslidden Christian because God's mercy and grace is bountiful enough for both cases. The part of the passage which I feel best captures the heart of God toward a returning sinner is seen in verses 20 to 24, which read,.

The Father's Compassion for the Returning Prodigal

And he arose and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. Let me pause here to say, friends, notice the two little words and ran.

For I believe the entire love of the heart of God is bound up in those two little words. He couldn't wait to be reconciled with his son. He ran to him, and I believe he ran as fast as he could. Those two words are charged with emotion and ran.

Guilt, Grace, and Christ's Welcome to Sinners

The devil tries his best to load us down with guilt when we sin, and to stay away from God as long as we can. But it is God who is more than ready to receive the repentant sinner. Christ's reception of sinners is a master oil painting of a bloody cross.

The father, when he saw him, he had compassion and ran. Oh, how we parents would run to our own returning children. How we would embrace them and kiss them and rejoice over them. But here the father in our text fell on his neck and kissed him.

The Father's Restoration of His Son

And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe and put it on him and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet and bring hither the fatted calf and kill it and let us eat and be merry.

For this my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found and they began to make merry. I will stop there, friends. Oh, how God's love goes out to meet his returning prodigals. The gifts the father gives him are significant.

The Robe, Ring, and Grace of Restoration

Notice the robe is an emblem of character. The prodigal is treated like a high priest with a royal robe. The ring is a token of wealth, position and honor. The ring may have even had a family crest on it signifying a return to the family.

Either way, the father is liberal and is given to the penitent sinner. Them he also justified and whom he justified. Them he also sanctified. Grace is on display here. Notice that when Jesus was telling the first two parables of Luke chapter 15 about the recovered sheep and the found coin, he followed up each with the words, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.

Heaven's Joy Over One Repentant Sinner

We can translate that joy, friends, to the joy and merrymaking in the father's house at the return of the prodigal. I want to say something here, friends. I want to address a particular person here listening to me now.

If you've been away from God, friend, if you have backslidden away from God through sin and you are yet back in a vibrant love relationship with him, you're still back in your backsliding, fearful to face God like Adam in the bushes.

God's Invitation to Return

I want you to know one thing. God wants you to return to him more than you want to return to him. God says return to me and I will return to you. Gone is the closed heaven. Gone is the guilt of sin. Forgiveness awaits you, friend, no matter how badly you've sinned or how far you've gone away from God.

There's enough grace waiting for you right now. And God wants to welcome you back in his love and embrace. Say with the prodigal, I will arise and go to my father. God is full of expectation of your return, friend.

The Joy of Coming Home to God

He's been continually looking out the windows of heaven to see your return and figure on the horizon. Go to him now and ask him to forgive you. He is more than enough grace waiting for you to lavish upon you.

There's more than enough love in his father's heart that he wants to spend on you. You come back to God, friend, and he will throw a big party for you. The party will be merry because Jesus is standing at the door with his arms outstretched, beckoning you to come to him.

Let us pray.