The Tale of Two Sons Luke 15:11-32

Welcome this morning, and glad you're all here. Before we go to the Lord in prayer, I just wanted to share a couple things, and I read that true worship is a valuing or a treasuring of God above all things.

You know, when we come together, we're worshiping the Lord, because he is worthy of our worship, and we are saying you are here above everything in our lives, and that's where he belongs.

He created us.

I think we do, he does deserve that, and he has given us the blessing of being able to worship him that way. And so this morning, let's remember that as we're praying, as we're listening to God's word, that that is who we serve.

He is preeminent, meaning he's in first place. Colossians chapter one, verse 13 says, "'He has delivered us from the power of darkness "'and conveyed us into the kingdom of the son of his love.'". That's good news for us that have put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

We can't ask for anything more. He's delivered us from the power of darkness, and we can be with him in the light. And so let's remember that as we listen to the words this morning, and of the songs, and just meditate on that as you sing them about the words.

So please join with me in prayer. Lord God, we thank you, Lord, that you are preeminent. You are above all, that you are in first place, Lord, over anything that is on this earth, Father. We get tied down with our earthly needs and desires and challenges, Father, but you are always there in our midst, helping us, Father, leading us and guiding us, that your hand is merciful and full of grace.

And God, we thank you for that. God, we pray for brothers and sisters that are not able to be here this morning, that are homesick, that are ill, that just don't have physical means of getting here, Father.

Lord, we pray for your work in their lives, that you would guide them, that you would help them to know you, that in the quietness of their room or wherever they're at, Father, that they would reach up to you, that they would lift their hearts and their voices in prayer to you, Father, because you do answer our prayers.

And Lord, we thank you for your faithfulness and for your goodness and grace. God, we pray this morning that our own hearts, as we prepare for communion after the service, Father, as well as hearing your word, that you would bless Pastor and the message that he's given us, that you've given to him to share with us, Father, that he is a minister of you, and we thank you for his faithfulness.

But God, guide him and direct his words, Father, so that each one of us might be challenged and be encouraged by you, Father, and by your word. So Lord, we thank you for all that are here today. We pray for our missionaries.

We pray for the Knox's, Lord, that you would continue to shed your goodness and grace on their ministry there. So God, thank you for being here. May you be glorified in all that we do, and we pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.

For us.

Let's turn to Matthew chapter nine,.

Verses 10 through 13. Matthew chapter nine, verses 10 through 13. Now it happened as Jesus sat at the table in the house that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples.

And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples, why does your teacher eat with the tax collectors and sinners? And when Jesus heard that, he said to them, those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.

But go and learn what this means. I desire mercy, not sacrifice, for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Dear father, thank you so much for your word. We know that it never returns void.

We give you this in Jesus' name, amen.

Please be seated as pastor changes, turns his hat around and brings a message to us.

Please turn to Luke 15. Luke 15, verses 11 through 32. Luke chapter 15, verses 11 through 32. One of the more famous parables. Then he said, a certain man had two sons 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. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land and he began to be in want.

Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate and no one gave him anything.

But when he came to himself, he said, how many of my father's hired servants have bred enough and to spare and I perish with hunger. I will arise and go to my father and will say to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and before you and I am no longer worthy to be called your son.

Make me like one of your hired servants. 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. 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.

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 and bring the fat calf here 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 begin to be merry. Now his older son was in the field and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant.

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. But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore, his father came out and pleaded with him.

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 may make merry with my friends.

But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him. And he said to him, son, you're always with me and all that I have is yours. 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. This is the word of the Lord. Let us pray.

Let us pray.

Father, we are very grateful for the parable that was just read. And Father, we pray that you would help all of us to experience the compassion of our heavenly father. Father, help us to delight in it, treasure it, and help us to know it and believe it in our lives.

And Father, we pray that you would wash away any lies that prevent us from knowing and coming to you with the full expectation that you will have mercy on us because of our faith in Jesus Christ. Help us to see you as the father in this parable who receives sinners who repent.

In Jesus' name, amen. This parable, often called the parable of the prodigal son, I think it's often mislabeled because, after all, there are two sons in play and the father. I think it's better named the parable of the two sons and the father.

They're all major characters here. This parable is arguably the most famous parable in the whole Bible. And this parable shows the immense joy that God experiences when a sinner repents and returns to him.

And this is important because this parable follows the two parables that were very similar in which God rejoices with the hosts of heaven when a sinner, a lost sinner, is found, when a lost sinner comes to God.

This parable is more detailed than the others. And this parable really paints the picture of God's heart toward a repentant sinner very well. Remember, the context of this parable, the Pharisees were grumbling, they were complaining that Jesus was eating with the tax collectors and sinners, two of the lowest type of people in Israel, the ones that normal people would cringe at even by their sight.

And with that in mind, Jesus actually shows them how God views these type of people when they come to him, when they come to him in repentance. Repentance is a word that we throw around a lot and some people might find it uncomfortable, but it is an important doctrine in Christianity.

Repentance is to turn away from sin and turn toward God. And we can only repent because God is merciful in receiving us. There would be no point of repentance if God weren't merciful. It would be a futile effort.

By the mercy of God, a sinner turns away from their sin and turns to God in faith. And we do that by trusting in Jesus Christ who shows the full mercy of God on the cross by dying for our sin and suffering the wrath that we deserved.

That's the perfect picture of God's mercy. That's why we can repent. That's why we can turn to God because Jesus had died for our sin and rose from the dead. And when we do repent, we get to see this beautiful, compassionate picture of God and how he receives any type of sinner.

And this is important for us this morning because oftentimes people, even Christians, are hesitant to turn toward God. They're scared of the rejection. It may be because they have been rejected by their own earthly fathers whenever they try to turn and ask for forgiveness.

It may be that they have been abandoned by their earthly fathers. It may be some spiritual abuse they've experienced in their former churches. And they cannot fathom going to God after sinning. And they feel like they have to make it right with God to pay for it.

But this parable shows us the opposite. God will joyfully receive and celebrate when a single sinner repents. The main question of this text is how will you respond when God mercifully forgives a sinner who repents?

How will you respond when God mercifully forgives a sinner who repents? Oftentimes, it might not even be our own repentance that we have problem doing, but what someone that we look down upon turns to God.

And if you were here for the Bible study with Jonah chapter four, that's kind of what's going on in our hearts when we can't fathom, when we can't accept the fact that a certain person, certain sinner, would turn to God and receive his mercy.

That's the problem Jonah had when he is outside the city. His problem wasn't the Ninevites, that they were scary, although they probably were scary. They're brutal people, they're pagans. Jonah's main problem was that upon Jonah going to Nineveh, that God would forgive them because he knew that God was merciful and gracious and slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and truth.

For the church this morning, this parable teaches us that we must be joining God in his joy when a sinner repents. First, God joyfully receives any sinner who comes to him in repentance. God joyfully receives any sinner who comes to him in repentance.

After sharing the two parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin, in which we see God's tremendous joy when a lost sinner turns to God, Jesus illustrates a more detailed parable that depicts God's mercy towards sinners.

Verses 11 through 13 set the context of the story. We see that there are three characters, the father and the two sons. In this parable, the father represents God and the two sons represent two different types of people.

It's important to not make this a personality test, as in which son are you? It's to show how God receives a sinner and how we ought to receive that sinner. The story begins with a shocking request from the younger son in verse 12.

And the younger of them said to his father, father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me. This is even unthinkable in our less formal culture with our parents. In our informal, self-centered culture, even we would not think about asking our living father, give me the inheritance a little bit early even though you're alive.

How much more so in ancient Israel where children are actually commanded to honor their parents. And the society back then had a higher standard of obedience for the children. The younger son, in this case, would receive about the half of the inheritance that the older son would receive.

And if you do your math right, the younger son would receive about the third of the father's estate. And then the older son, the two thirds. Now rather than a smack on the head, the father graciously gives what the younger son requested.

So he divided to them his livelihood. Jesus uses the word livelihood rather than possession or wealth. In Greek, it's actually bios. That's where we get the word biology, study of life. So the father gives a part of his life away to the younger son.

It really emphasizes the scandalous event that just has unfolded right before our eyes. There's this bratty younger son who feels entitled to have the inheritance even before the father's dead. In one sense, the younger son only cares about what the father can offer him.

He cares about his wealth, not the person of the father. And this is confirmed by what the younger son does soon after the wealth is divided. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.

As soon as the younger son liquidates his portion of the inheritance, he abandons the father. He goes far away. Not only that, he squanders his father's wealth. He doesn't invest it, he squanders it. He wastes it in worthless living.

That's what prodigal means, wasting. Prodigal living is wasteful living. He didn't really care much for his father's inheritance at all. He just gave it all away to serve his pleasures. Now, verses 14 through 16 introduce a trial for the younger son as soon as the wealth dried up.

But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. He began to be lacking. Verse 14 shows the drastic reversal of the son's circumstance in the matter of few verses.

Not only did he waste all of the inheritance, but there happens to be a famine in the faraway land that he ended up. And we say this, when it rains, it pours. Not only is he out of money, but also he is away from his family.

He can't be helped by people he knows. No one can help him. So verses 15 through 16 show what the younger son decides to do. He got a job feeding pigs. And for any Jewish listener, this would have been scandalous.

That would have made them squirm. Ritualistically, pigs were unclean. Jews did not keep pigs, which means this employer was a Gentile employer too. They did not deal with pigs. Touching pigs, eating pigs would have made them unclean.

This was a dishonorable job for the younger son. And it clearly shows what kind of dire situation he is in. He had no other choice. And in our modern context, it would be picking up human feces on the streets of San Francisco while being paid the federal minimum wage.

No one really would want to do that unless they had to. Verse 16 shows us the intensity of his trial. And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate and no one gave him anything.

The job itself is horrible, but his lack is even worse. The job is horrible, but the hunger is even more intense. So he starts to desire the swine's food. To eat with the swine, that would have been unclean at another level.

These pods were believed to be carob beans, and they're just sweet beans that mainly were fed to the pigs. He's working, but it's not working out for him. And despite this humiliating job, his needs are just unmet.

At this point, the son has hit the rock bottom. Hence, the son realizes his foolishness. Verse 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.

He came to his senses. What's amazing is that this son knows that his father is more gracious to his own servants than his current employer is to him. The younger son is aware of his father's compassionate heart.

And really, that is what triggers the younger son to turn around. It's the mercy of the father that causes the younger son, who has hit the rock bottom, to return to his father. Verses 18 to 21 show the process of repentance.

Repentance means to turn away from sin and turn toward God, leaving the life of sin and entering the life of Christ. And verses 18 to 19 show the internal decision to repent. I will arise and go to my father and will say to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.

This is what we call a full-on confession. Whenever we sin, when we wrong someone, it is true that we sin against the other person, but ultimately, we sin against heaven. We sin against God. In fact, any time someone sins, the most offended party is the holy God.

And this young man knew that, and he confesses it. Confession means to agree with God with the nature of our sin without minimizing, justifying, or blame-shifting. Minimizing means we make our sin into a little thing.

Well, you know, it wasn't that bad. It was just one time. It happens to everyone. Justifying means we try to make it right with our own effort. Well, I only abandoned my father because I was young and immature.

Right, all of a sudden, the responsibility shifts to his age and maturity level rather than his pride and entitlement. Blame-shifting means the sinner points the finger to someone else. Well, I only hate you because you were annoying.

From this young man, we do not get any of this. He agrees with God what truly happened. He sinned against God and his own father when he left and squandered all his inheritance away on worthless pursuits.

He does not bring up excuses. And verse 19 shows us that he will not even presume on his father's grace. And I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants. He doesn't presume that he will return back to his original status as the younger son.

The father does not have to receive him back. After all, he just lost 1 3rd of his estate. So now he's gonna have to lose another 3rd by bringing him back. He knows that he has no claims. He will assert no rights.

He does not assume that his sonship will earn him back. Forgiveness or privilege. He is not returning to his father with a sense of entitlement, but a total dependence on the father's mercy. And verse 20 shows the father's response to the son's repentance.

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. The father immediately initiates his display of mercy.

He is filled with compassion. This is an incredible image. The father does not wait for his son to come to him, but he runs to his younger son. The son does not even have to wait in suspense of the result of the verdict like a common criminal.

The jury goes out a couple hours later and then the sentencing is a few months away. He doesn't have to wait because the father lavishes his mercy and love on his son the moment he sees the son from afar.

While many modern translations render the father's responses an embrace, I think the NKJV version does well to literally show what happened. The father fell on his neck. The excitement and joy are palpable.

The father raced toward his son and could not and did not care to slow down before falling on his son's neck. Most of us may not even have seen our fathers run unless they run for exercise. How much rarer an ancient Israelite father who would be wearing a robe, not wearing shorts.

Yet this younger son witnessed his father's mercy right before his eyes. There was no question in his mind of his father's love for him even before he spoke to his father. The younger son had no question in mind how the father will respond.

The father received him before he even speaks. The younger son's repentance immediately leads to reconciliation with the father. And verse 21 is almost a verbatim confession of what we saw in verses 18 through 19.

Yet the son leaves out the part about becoming his father's servant. It is unclear why, but after such an affectionate embrace from his own dad, how could the son ask to be treated like a servant? The father would never do that to a servant, but a son any day.

Rather than a verbal answer to his son after the son's confession, we see the father's response in verses 22 through 24. The father is only eager to restore his son to his previous status. But the father said to his servants, bring out the best rope and put it on him and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet.

The best rope would have been a formal attire. As you can see, the son probably wasn't wearing much. Think a tuxedo or a suit in our context. The ring represents authority. Possibly the family seal would be on that ring.

It's an outward sign of the son's familial identity. He did not lose a rung or two by coming back. He's coming back to where he left off. Sandals show that the son was so poor that he came back barefoot, but his father would have none of that.

From head to toe, the father will not hold back in publicly declaring his son's restoration. This father is not ashamed to call his once wayward son his son. This father is not embarrassed to receive his own son back, but will publicly parade him around.

At this point, no one in the community would question whose son this is, and that's the result of repentance. Verse 23 shows the party that the father is throwing for the son. And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry.

A fattened calf was a delicacy reserved for special occasions. In fact, it's fattened for that purpose. That fat takes a while to build up, and it just melts in your mouth, and it's for this son who just came back.

This command would have taken hours to fulfill, yet for his little boy, it was worth it all to the father. The father is not calculating what he lost, but he's rejoicing at what he gained. And why is the celebration necessary?

Verse 24 spells out the reason. For this, my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found, and they begin to be merry. The son was thought to be dead. The father did not expect to see his son again.

After all, he left to a far country, yet he has returned alive. The son's repentance, the act of returning to the father with a contrite heart, in one sense, was a form of resurrection. He's back. He's alive again.

The dead son was returning. The son's repentance then resulted in restoration, a new life. And this morning, what is your view of God when you confess your sin? Does he have his arms folded? Is his foot tapping?

Do you hear, I told you so? Or, again, do you hear the loud groaning of sigh, turning away in shame and embarrassment? If any of the images appear that I just described, you have the wrong picture of God.

That may have been your parents. That may have been your teachers. But that's not God. In this parable, Jesus shows the glimpse of God's compassionate response to a repentant sinner. When a sinner returns to God in repentance, he joyfully receives and celebrates his return.

God eagerly longs to lavish his mercy and grace to a sinner who repents. His mercy is not just limited like our fuel tank in our car where we can just run it down over time. No matter how full it is, you sin a lot, it just runs down.

That's the opposite. His mercy is never-ending. And not only never-ending, he's eager to pour it out because there can be stingy people who are wealthy, but not this God. He will pour it out. He will lavish on the sinner who repents.

Repentance is the act of turning away from sin and turning toward Jesus. And whenever we sin, we can access the throne room of mercy because Jesus is the one who took on all of our guilt and shame and died for our sin on the cross.

This is why we can repent and be extravagantly received by God. Our reception is dependent on our only trust in Jesus' accomplishment on the cross and on his resurrection. Our repentance does not depend on how little our sin was.

Our repentance does not depend on how good we have been before. It does not depend on our track record. It only depends on what Jesus had done. Now, how can you have assurance that God's favorable disposition toward you, even after your sin, for the umpteenth time?

The author of Hebrews tells us what Jesus experienced when he was suffering on the cross in Hebrews 12 too. Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Oftentimes, people think the joy is that God, Jesus, was looking forward to being seated at the right hand of God. That's not true because even before he came to earth, he was seated at the right hand of God.

He experienced the fullness of joy at the right hand of his father. So what is this joy? It is the joy that the cross would accomplish. It is the joy of receiving forgiven sinners. God longed to forgive you so much that he endured the shame of the cross.

He despised the shame, but it was for the joy that was set before him. Jesus looked forward to seeing you forgiven so much that he carried the cross and stayed there. Jesus eagerly awaited to lavish his mercy on you.

That's the joy that he looked forward to when he suffered on the cross. How much more so when he's not staying on the cross, when he didn't remain on the cross, but seated at the right hand of God? How much more so is he approachable?

Now, how must we respond to the repentant sinner? God's people must rejoice with God when he celebrates a repentant sinner. God's people must rejoice with God when he celebrates a repentant sinner. The older brother's response shows us what not to do.

From the younger son's journey, the camera turns toward the elder brother, the elder son. Verses 25 to 26 set the context of the older son's response to his younger brother's return. Now, even on the day of his little brother's return, the older brother was responsibly working.

Now, his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. Only when he got close to his house after a hard day's work, he noticed something was off. What's this noise of celebration?

Who's playing music? So he asked his servant, and his servant tells him, your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf. The servant answers matter-of-factly, your younger brother, whom we thought was lost and dead, has returned safe and sound.

That's why we're celebrating, of course. The servant depicts it as a natural course of event, and rightfully so. However, the older son finds it the most unnatural thing, but he was angry and would not go in.

Outside the house, where the party has begun, the elder son chooses to remain. Ironically, the son who remained with the father refuses to celebrate with the father by staying outside. Now, equally merciful, the father comes out for his other son.

He also initiates. Therefore, his father came out and pleaded with him. The father tries to persuade the older son to join the celebration. He probably has explained how much the younger son has changed.

He's repented.

He's not the same immature, self-focused baby anymore.

He's changed.

Son, you gotta come meet him.

It's different now.

Despite the father's plea, the older son is unmoved, and he states his argument. Lo, these many years I have been serving you, I never transgressed your commandment at any time, and yet you never gave me a younger goat that I might make merry with my friends.

His first point of argument is that his father is unjust in celebrating the younger son. After all, he is the one who stayed, yet he's never even received a goat. A goat would have been a much cheaper meal than a fatted calf, as you might imagine.

The size and also even the amount of effort and devotion that's required to raise a fatted calf. A modern interpretation would have been, you never got me a Big Mac all this time. I stayed with you, but you just bought the wayward son a Wagyu steak.

The irony is that the elder son stayed not because he loved his father, but just like the younger son, he loved his father's stuff. It just showed differently. One left with it, the other stayed for it.

The elder son, although he stayed, was focused on his father's wealth just as much as the younger son when he, and the real problem rears its ugly head in the next verse. But as soon as the son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.

Notice how he calls his younger brother. At no point does he refer to him as my brother, the son of yours. He distances himself from his younger brother. He does not want anything to do with his younger brother.

You know it's not about the goat, but the father's mercy toward the younger son. He does not deserve your mercy because he's wasted your wealth elsewhere sleeping around with the prostitutes. Yet you reward him, but that's precisely the point of mercy.

It's not earned, it's given. Mercy of God is not earned by good works. It's freely given to the undeserved. Absolutely right, the son, younger son did not deserve a fattened calf. It was graciously given.

Ironically, the one who thought was doing his father's will by staying, obeying all the commandments, not transgressing, that son has a problem with the father's will of how he dispenses his mercy, even toward his own brother.

Instead of a harsh rebuke, the father gently responds to his elder son. Son, you're always with me and all that I have is yours. He first answers his son's argument regarding the goat, regarding my stuff.

All I have has been yours. You could have taken the goat anytime. What's mine is yours. If you wanted it, it was yours to take at any time. You could have celebrated with your friends at any time. You didn't have to earn it from me.

And regarding the reception and celebration of his younger brother, the father tells him the reason. 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.

It is in fact the same reason that the father gave in verse 24 except he changes one thing. From my son to your brother. We are celebrating your brother's return. It is not about the party and the fattened calf.

It's about your brother. That's what we're celebrating. That's what we've gained. That's whom we gained. This parable abruptly ends here. We don't know whether the elder son responds to the father's plea.

We don't know whether the elder son joins the party to welcome his younger brother. This sudden end places the weight on the listeners. How will you respond to God's mercy toward the undeserving? How will you respond to God's forgiveness toward those you look down upon?

Those you vilify. Those you cannot possibly stand. And this morning we have to consider whether our God's mercy extends to the least deserved. Will you be okay if a former transvestite sits next to you during next week's Sunday service?

Will you rejoice if a former drug addict comes to the Bible study? And he's not all cleaned up. He didn't have a chance to take a shower yet. But he's just heard the gospel. He heard that Jesus died for him and he wants him.

He wants Jesus. He doesn't want the drugs anymore. I just want Jesus. Where's the closest Bible study? Will you offer him a seat next to you? Will you welcome a former radical Islamic terrorist whom you know has killed your family members?

That may not be relevant to us right now, but that's the type of question that many people in different countries have to ask. You just pointed a gun at me a few weeks ago. I saw my son die before my eyes because of your bullet.

Does God's mercy extend farther than your immediate circle of friends and family? But not only that, will you celebrate with God when his mercy does? That's the question that we're left with at the end of this parable.

It's not only are you okay with that, but will you rejoice with him? When the least deserved people are granted God's compassionate forgiveness. May God work in all of our hearts to long for that. Let us pray.

Father, we're grateful that you are the God of mercy. And sometimes you are even too merciful for our own stubborn hearts. And Father, we pray that you would soften our hearts to rejoice at any dispensing of your mercy to the very people that we may believe are least deserving.

Help us to be wise and discerning, of course, of repentance. And also when there is true repentance, that we would celebrate with you of how glorious it is that a sinner who mocked God would turn to him in humility.

Help us to love you and love who you are. Help us to delight in your mercy even if it goes to someone else. In Jesus' name, amen.