Coming Home
Luke 15: 20, "And he arose, and came to his father. But uwhen he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and wran, and xfell on his neck, and ykissed him." [1]
I. Defeated
A. Paternal
B. Prodigal
C. Protector
II. Dejected
A. Paternal
B. Prodigal
C. Protector
III. Delighted
A. Paternal
B. Prodigal
C. Protector
Introduction: Small Crowd, Old News, Deafening Silence. Only Choice, Pretty Ugly, Awfully Good, Home Coming. These are examples of a figure of speech where opposite meanings within a word or phrase creates a self-contradiction. An oxymoron can be used to illustrate a point or to reveal a paradox.
Today we are here for a special service called Home Coming. You know that home does not come to you but you go to it. So the title of today’s message is as it should be. We are coming home. At least that is what the Prodigal Son did. If this is where your family heralded from maybe today you too are coming home to Merry Oaks Baptist Church. No matter where you go if this is home to you then you can carry it in your heart and remember but to go home requires a decision that you alone must make.
I hear parents of grown children make claims of how important it is for the parents to always be there for their children and generations beyond them. “No matter what, I am going to be there for my kids!” What does there mean? Women especially believe that and it is good because that is the way God natures mothers. The question is this; you have got to be where for your kids? If you have left home and have run to them in their Prodigal state of church absence they will have no home to return to. You are the parent. They are a wayward child. They will never return if you remove the place that is home. Coming home means that home stays home.
Where do you suppose God wants you to be? The devil hates church so much that he often uses church people to turn those who rightfully assemble from assembling as Christians. They have no problem assembling anywhere else but not church. This new god, with a little “g”, has taken the place of everything else in the hearts of many people especially those who are political leaders. If you die now the first thing that is asked is did they have covid. The only question that really matters is did they have God. Did God have them?
Recently we were back at the church that one of my mentors helped to plant out on Cape Hatteras. There were many young families there with small children. It was fun. Russ called himself the “Guest Pastor.” Before he began the sermon he explained that people have upended the relationship that adults should have with children. He told the truth. Parents wrap themselves around their kids and that’s backwards. Parents lead children; this was a church of young families. Nobody was offended because they knew that they had heard the truth.
My grandfather Stacy was an old Greek patriarch. My maternal grandmother, his wife, died before I was born. My parents moved in with him to take care of him and he gave them the house that we were raised in up north. Momma would cook the meal, place the bowls and one plate on the table, feed Grampa, and then we would come and eat. Now the kids are fed first and therefore are made to believe that they matter more than the ones God used to bring them into this world. Backwards! And we wonder why respect for the values that we once knew and are dear to God Who brought us into this world are gone.
Scripture: The scripture today is Luke 15:20. Please stand if you can for the reading of God’s Word.
Prayer: Please be seated.
Message: This is going to be familiar and long. Follow as we read Luke 15:11-32. Most everybody has either read or heard it. The three main characters here; the father who is represented in the sermon outline as the Paternal, the wayward son that abandoned his family who is known as the Prodigal, and the faithful son to his dad who acted almost like a Protector.
There are several questions to consider in this parable from Jesus. We will discuss the three phases of this event. In the first phase we see a young man defeated by temptation. He made up his mind to leave and nobody persuaded his decision. Nobody dissuaded Him either. He clearly owned his choice.
But wait! There is someone not mentioned. Where is Momma? Was the father an elderly widow? Let’s think about this for a minute. If the mother was on the scene, don’t you suppose that when the kid left she would have told her husband that he should entice the kid to stay?
Isn’t that what mothers do? What did you do Jim? What did you say to make Jimmy leave? You better go get him or you’ll be sorry! Maybe that’s why the mother wasn’t mentioned. If you convince someone to relent from a decision that they are not ready to repent from, they may change for a time but they will not be fully into a decision that is not theirs.
In the first phase we find a defeated Prodigal. He had given up on the values that he had been raised to cherish. The true treasure was in being his father’s son as God had made him but now he had fallen into the trap of distraction of wanting what he already had. Somehow he was convinced that stuff was better than selflessness.
So in what frame of mind was the Protector son when the Prodigal left? There is no mention that he tried to talk his brother out of leaving. The Protector son was involved in the relationship with his dad. He stayed! Inheritance was not what he was after because inheritance is what you receive when you lose the one you love. He did not want that! He was home. His dad was home. That is where he wanted to be.
Now to the Paternal; when do you think the father decided to forgive the Prodigal? I’ve heard preachers say and most everybody assumes that the father was ready to forgive when he saw the Prodigal coming from a distance. Well I am here to tell the truth! If you are a Christian parent you know that forgiveness was available for you when you first decided to be wayward. The decision to receive forgiveness is owned by the same one who decided to leave the relationship in the first place. The dad was ready to forgive when the kid left.
We hear about this happening and immediately we judge the parent. The parent did not make the decision to break from the relationship. Hear this! Parents, it is not your fault! We are scolded into believing that we are in the wrong because we don’t offer forgiveness before a person is ready to confess and repent. Society has impressed that this is a “do your own thing world” and if we make a decision to honor our eternal parent, our Heavenly Father, then we are intolerant oafs to be ignored.
The next phase of this parable is maybe the most important phase and most people certainly want to leave it out and ignore it. Unless we feel dejection as this young man felt, we might never return. The world can be a hard place but if we are confused into believing that anything goes is right we will never know what is wrong.
What if the hog farmer had made the Prodigal half owner in his business? Would the Prodigal have felt dejection and made the right decision. Society teaches that we should find someone else to blame for your bad decision. Society says to coddle the confused so they don’t feel bad about the place that they have put themselves. Dejection is the right feeling when you have decided to reject right for wrong.
Keep in mind that the father was still there and he was patiently waiting yet he was not going to be distracted away from Holiness. You see, the father here represents our Heavenly Father. He is Holy. Thank God that He can always be counted on as our only standard in whose image we were created.
This father did not leave home to go after the prodigal because if he had left there would be no home to come back to. The Protector son knew that too. There is something special about home. It’s the place where God placed you. Thomas Wolfe was a good old Asheville, NC boy who graduated from UNC Chapel Hill. He is famously quoted for saying, “you can’t go home again.” Some of his popular books are based on the premise of losing your way trying to find home. Thomas Wolfe knew the importance of home.
Do you suppose that the Protector son was concerned for his Prodigal brother during the dejection period? In times of prayer maybe the Protector son thought about the comfort of home that he felt and wondered about his brother. Yet he didn’t go after him either. They had made their choices and he was comfortable in his choice. Why should he feel ashamed for the decision that he didn’t make? Is that fair?
Russell is about to turn on the runway lights so I better get to the last phase which is Delighted. We’re about to land so fasten your seatbelts. The world was not kind to the Prodigal. He was in some pretty rough turbulence and he knew there was a safe landing port somewhere. Is it still there? What was I thinking for taking off in a storm? I’m doing a 180. Get me out of this turbulence.
You know the story as well as I. He’s on final approach. There’s the runway light ahead. It’s Daddy and he’s waving me home with open arms. Truth is his arms were always open. It was the Prodigal that closed his arms. Now that has all changed. Now there is Delight.
Dad is having a throw down. If it was me there would be a pig on a grill but there it was a fatted calf. That’s OK too. I like brisket. Apparently so did the Protector son. After all that son of yours did and now you give him a welcome like this! He gets the fatted calf and you never even cooked a goat for me. Don’t you care that I never left? What’s in it for me?
Nobody in church who has been faithful ever felt like that, right? Let them leave. Good riddance. I hope they don’t come back. They only caused division in the church anyway. We never hear things like that here do we?
The Protector son might have had some reasonable doubts. Is Prodigal here for a visit or is he truly home now. I can’t stand to see dad hurt again. He might not be able to take another rejection. These things are valid concerns if you love home, if you love where you came from. Surely you don’t want to see it messed up again do you?
Dad knew better. Protector son, you have always been with me because my home is your home. Yes he is my son but he is also your brother too. You don’t know what is to come. I only know this, “He was lost and now He is found.” Rejoice with me my son. Your brother is home now. Today is the day that The Lord has made. Let us pray.
Prayer:
Invitation: We are so quick to look at other’s broken relationships around ours and size them up as we compare theirs to ours. We compare others stories because somehow it makes us feel better about ourselves thinking that others are messed up worse than we are.
Truth is; we are all Protector son. We don’t trust God with the decisions others make. If that were my kid I’d at least try to have a relationship with them. Or maybe; if that was my kid they wouldn’t ever be allowed in my house again. If you have ever had either of these thoughts, give it up and give it to God; especially if it is not your problem. If it is not your problem then pray for the one who owns the problem. They are your Christian siblings! If it is your problem then stay ready for what God will do. How can we have revival? By putting off our judgment for the brokenness of others and trusting the Holy Spirit to fill us with His love for each other. Let us come home Sweet Spirit. Come Lord Jesus, come.
u See Acts 2:39.
w Comp. James 4:8.
x Gen. 45:14. & 46:29. Acts 20:37.
y See 2 Sam. 14:33.
[1] The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Lk 15:20). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
