- We've been in a series on family, and I want to back up a little bit and look at the model of the kind of love that we are to have and where that love comes from, the love that we are
to have in our family, and not just our immediate family, but in the family of
people that are around us. But I want to start by
asking you a question, a rhetorical question,
but something I want you to just be thinkin' about in this message. And my question is this: What does God think of you? What is God's opinion of you? When God thinks of you, does He just shake His head and think about all the
dumb mistakes you made and all the things you've done wrong? Or does He rejoice in the person that He
is making you to become? When God thinks of you, does He only think about your past? Or does He dream about your future? How you answer those questions, God's opinion of you, will profoundly impact how you see God. And how you see God will profoundly impact how you face God. If you see God as a harsh,
disinterested judge, then you'll face Him with hopelessness. If you see Him as a demanding task master, then you'll face Him with fear. But if you see God as a loving Father, then you have a choice to make. How will you face Him? Will you face Him with
love, with openness? Will you turn and run? How will you respond to Him? How you see God determines
how you face Him. And a lot of that is dependent on how you think God sees you. I want to talk, today, about how God sees us, what He thinks when He looks
at you and thinks about you. Because He thinks about you all the time. You're always on His mind. And I want to do that by looking at a familiar passage of
scripture, to many of us. Most of us have probably heard this story that we're about to look at in the Bible. Certainly, I would venture to say, every one of us has heard the title that we've given to this story. But I want to look at a familiar passage and maybe look at it in an unfamiliar way and see what we can discover about the heart of God for us. It's a parable that Jesus told. It's in Luke 15. We're gonna put all the words, here, on the screen, since they're, obviously, not in your notes.
(laughter) Some of you are like shaking, "There's no fill-ins!" You'll be all right, just calm down. (laughter)
But let's look at this passage from Luke 15; here's what Jesus said: "There was a man who had two sons. "The younger one said to his father, "'Father, give me my
share of the estate.'" Basically, what the son is saying, here, is, "I wish you were dead. "I want what's comin' to me "and I want it now. "I want you out of my life." That's what he's sayin' to his dad. "'Father, give me my share of the estate.' "So he divided his property between them. "And not long after that, "the younger son got together all he had, "set off for a distant country "and there, he squandered
his wealth in wild living. "And after he had 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 his fields to feed pigs. "He longed to fill his
stomach with the pods "that the pigs were eating,
but no one gave him anything. "And when he came to his senses, he said, "'How many of my father's
men have food to spare, "'and here I am starving to death! "'I will set out and go back
to my father and say to him: "'Father, I have sinned
against heaven and against you. "'And I'm no longer worthy
to be called your son; "'make me like one of your hired men.' "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. "And the son said to
him, 'Father, I've sinned "'against heaven and against you. "'I'm no longer worthy
to be called your son.' "But the father said to
his 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 was
dead and is alive again; "'he was lost and is found.' "And so they began to celebrate." Now, as I said, most of
us have probably heard that story before. We have a name for it. What do we call it? We call it The Parable of the what? - Prodigal Son.
- The Prodigal Son. A few years ago, as I was
sitting in that passage, thinking about it, pondering
it, meditating on it, I realized that nowhere in that story, nowhere in the text, nowhere in any translation, not even the original Greek, nowhere does Jesus call
this boy a prodigal. It's not there. We just read it; it isn't there. And I thought, "Well,
where's that come from? "Why do we call this
kid the prodigal son?" What does prodigal mean, anyway? And I realized that there's
a common misunderstanding. I had the misunderstanding of what prodigal means. We tend to think that prodigal means lost or rebellious or wayward. And you'll hear people in church, or in a prayer circle, "Pray for my son, pray for my daughter; "They're a prodigal." But that, actually, is
not what prodigal means. So, I looked it up in
my bright red dictionary and I found a definition of prodigal and I'm putting it, here, on the screen for you to think about. Here's what the word,
prodigal, actually means. It means exceeding generous, and lavishly wasteful. So, with the definition
of prodigal in mind, and if we have to find a
prodigal in the story somewhere, well, then, who is the
prodigal in the story? It's not the boy because he's just an idiot.
(laughter) Doin' stupid things, makin' bad choices, and yeah, he's wasteful,
of course, he's wasteful. He's a party animal. But he's actually more like his father than we want to think that he is. Because after all, what does his father do when the boy comes home? He throws a party. The kid's a lot like his dad. And yet, we call this
kid the prodigal son. And I thought, "It's
like we're more disturbed "by his lifestyle, by his wastefulness, "then the fact that he's lost." I'm gonna say that again. It's as though we're more disturbed by his lifestyle than
the fact that he is lost. The boy is not the prodigal. The father is the prodigal in the story. Because the father is recklessly generous with his resources. He divided up the estate just
because the boy asked him to. And the father is lavishing his love on this undeserving boy,
as soon as he comes home. The story says that he said to the servants, he said,
"Bring him the best robe, "put sandals on his feet, "put a ring on his finger." What that means is he's restoring his identity, his dignity,
and his authority. The robe, the best robe, that's the robe that's
given to the favorite child. And that's his identity. He restores his identity. Then, he gives him back his dignity. That's what the sandals represent. Because slaves went barefoot. He says, "Put sandals on his feet. "This is not a slave." And he gives him back authority. That's what the ring was. The ring was like a signet that you would put into
wax to seal a contract. He's giving this boy the authority to conduct the family
business in the father's name. Dignity, identity, authority. And a father is pouring
out, lavishing this love on this boy. The father is the prodigal in the story. And so is our heavenly Father. Because He gives to us identity,
dignity, and authority. It is our heavenly Father
who lavishes his love on us even though we don't deserve it. In fact, look at this verse from 1 John 3. It says: "How great is love
the Father has lavished on us, "that we should be called children of God! "And that is what we are!" He calls us His children. And we can think of a million reasons why we should not be able to come home. We can think of a million reasons why God should be ashamed of us. Because we all know our stories. We all know our past. We all know our present. We all know our weaknesses, our sins, our mistakes, our habits. We all know the distant countries that we have wandered off to. The distant country, as
represented in this story, the distant country is any place you go in your heart or your mind where you don't want God
to know you're there. You don't want the Father to see you. And we all know our own distant countries. And so does God. None of that is a surprise to him. He knows all of it. And yet He loves you. Now, am I saying that it's not important? That it doesn't matter to God? I am not saying that. It matters very much to Him. God hates sin. Because that's what separates us from Him. That's what takes us away from home and drives us away from Him. But through Jesus Christ, God has made a way where there was no way. That's the path that this
boy has turned to walk on. He has made a way for us to be forgiven and to be restored to God. God is the one who receives us. God is the one who makes us holy. We think we have to straighten up and change our life in order to come home. I gotta behave myself a certain way. I gotta stop doin' certain things before I can go back to church or before I can pray or before I can be a part of God's family. We think that we have to clean up our act and start acting holy
in order to come home, but that is not how it works. Only God can make us holy. And He does it through
the gift of His grace, provided through Jesus Christ, His shed blood, His
death and resurrection. That is what makes a way
for us to become holy. Holiness is not what God wants from you. Holiness is what God wants for you. It's not your holiness
that He's lookin' for. It's not my idea of righteousness. The Bible says my idea of
righteousness is like filthy rags. It's His holiness in us and He provides it through His grace, through Jesus Christ. He just says, "Come." You don't have to change your life before you come home. Just come home and then we'll work on all that other stuff later. Just come home. You don't make yourself holy by changing your behavior. God makes us holy by making us innocent, washing it all away. And then, with the help
of the Holy Spirit, and through the power of God's Word, and in the fellowship
of the body of Christ, or the people of God, then, we begin that process of cooperating with God
in the character change of living out what He is birthing in us, of becoming the people He's
always wanted us to be. It's then, that we begin
to change the way we think, changing the way we live
and act and respond, living differently,
living as family members, not because we're trying to earn something from God, but we're
doing it out of gratitude because of His amazing grace and mercy to us. And that's what changes our behavior. It's not the other way around. And that truth, that you don't change in order to be accepted by God, you're just accepted by Him, then He'll work out the change in you. That truth can have a huge impact on how you see yourself, and on how we see other people who are not followers of Jesus. In fact, I want us to see
how this plays itself out in the rest of the story. So, picking up in verse
25 of this passage. The boy, now, is on his way home. The father has embraced him. And now, it says, "Meanwhile, the older
son was in the field. "And 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.' "And the older brother became angry "and refused to go in." And by the way, I made
another observation. There are actually two characters in this story who are unhappy
when the son comes home. The older brother, and the calf. (laughter) 'Cause the older brother became angry. He refused to go in the house. "'If the younger brother's in there, "'I'm not goin' in there.'" "So his father went out
and pleaded with him. "But he answered his father." "He said, 'Look! "'All these years I've
been slaving for you "'and I never disobeyed your orders. "'Yet you never gave me even a young goat "'so that I could
celebrate with my friends. "'But when this son of yours,'" anybody ever hear those
kind of words before? (laughter)
"'When this 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,'" 'cause it was, he'd already
divided up everything. Everything left belonged
to the older brother. He says, "'Everything I have is yours. "'But we had to celebrate and be glad, "'because this brother of yours was dead "'and is alive again; "'he was lost and is found.'" One of the things I want
us to see in this story is that both sons were lost. They both saw themselves as slaves. The younger son, the rebel, he's the one who said, "Look, "I'm not worthy to be called your son. "Just let me be one of your servants." The older son said, "All these years I've
been slaving for you." He's the self-righteous one. The younger one's the rebel. The older one's self-righteous. Neither one of them
understood who they were. The younger son left home, but the older son had
never really been home to begin with. And yet the father went out looking for both of them. Now, here's what else I
want you to see in this. And it's actually something
that we don't see. What we don't see is what happens next in the story. We don't know if this
younger son stuck around, if he changed his life, if he behaved himself, if he stepped into the role
as the son of his father. We don't know if he cleaned up his act. We don't know what happens next. And maybe that is the point because we never know
what's gonna happen next. And therefore, we cannot wait or hold back, withhold,
love and forgiveness from so-called sinners until we see how they're gonna behave themselves. And it's because our love and forgiveness just might determine what happens next, how they respond, how do we respond, how welcoming are we to
them when they come home? The father did not say, "Oh, sure, you can come
back and be a servant. "And if you change your life, "and if you prove yourself, "and if you can do it long enough "and work hard enough at it, "then, maybe, I'll let
you back into the family." That isn't how he responded. It was an immediate acceptance. I want us to see something
back in verses 20 and 21, something that's
absolutely critical to understanding the
father's heart in this story. Let's look again at verses 20 and 21. It says this: "While he was still a long way off." Let me ask you: Who do you know that's a long way off and is comin' to their senses? It says: "While he was
still a long way off, "his father saw him and was
filled with compassion for him." What are you filled with when you think of that person who is a long way off? Are you filled with doubt? Are you filled with hope? Does it fill you with anger? With love? With compassion, like his father had? "While he's still a long way off, "his father saw him, was
filled with compassion for him; "he ran to his son, "threw his arms around
him and kissed him." "And then the son said to him, 'Father, "'I've sinned against
heaven and against you. "'I am no longer worthy
to be called your son.'" I want to read those two verses again because it's really important that we get the order of things. Verse 20: "While he was
still a long way off, "the father saw him and was
filled with compassion for him; "he ran to his son, threw his arms "around him and kissed him." And then, "The son said, "'Father, I have sinned
against heaven and against you "'and I'm no longer worthy
to be called your Son.'" The father saw him,
ran to him, kissed him. And then the son said, "I've sinned." Get this; don't miss this. Wake up to this. The kiss came before the confession. The father received this boy before he ever said a word. The kiss came before the confession. He embraced the boy while
he was still dressed in his filthy rags. He didn't say, "Go clean
up and then we'll talk." He embraced him, he kissed him. The kiss came before the confession. The Bible says this about that principle, in Romans 5:8, it says: God demonstrates His
own love for us in this: That while we were still
sinners, Christ died for us. He didn't die for us after we confessed. While we were still
sinners, Christ died for us. We do not change our lives in order to earn God's grace and forgiveness. We change our lives because
we have been forgiven. And it's out of a sense
of gratitude, not fear. Out of a sense of gratitude that we change the way we live. Because we have been so loved by God we have already been received by Him. If you think of the lost sons
and daughters that you know: people you work with, neighbors, old friends, they might even, literally, be sons and daughters in your own family. But think of the ones that you know who are in a distant country. They've run from home, run from God, and maybe they're just now
coming to their senses. And deep in their hearts, they would love to come home, but maybe they're afraid to. Maybe they're ashamed to try to come home. What would a lost son or daughter do if we respond with the
prodigal love of the father? What would a lost son or daughter do if we respond like the older brother? 'Cause you can just imagine what the older brother would have said if he'd been the first one
to see this kid comin'. "Who do you think you are? "What makes you think
you can come back here? "You don't belong here anymore. "After all you've done, "all the mistakes you made "and the way you hurt our dad, "and the way you have
squandered everything "and ruined our family. "What makes you think you
belong in a place like this?" You could just imagine what he would've said. I believe that one of the reasons that people do not come home, that they don't come to God, is because they're afraid of his judgment. They haven't heard
about his prodigal love. It's because of a fear of his judgment. But I also believe that even more people do not come home because they
are afraid of our judgment. The rules and regulations and all, they're just not gonna fit in around here. They're afraid they're gonna be judged by the older brothers in the church, the self-righteous people. That they're just not gonna fit in or measure up, it's not gonna work out. They're afraid of all of the
hurdles they gotta jump over, the hoops that they've gotta go through, the conditions. And so they stay away. "I don't fit there. "I don't belong there. "I'm not good enough." They stay away. Or maybe they're chased away. I know a woman who, for years, prayed for her husband to come to Christ. He was a lost man. She prayed for him to come to Christ. And when he finally came to his senses, and began to turn his heart toward the Lord, she became
impossible to live with. She made so many demands on his life. "Stop doing that. "You've gotta stop doin' this, "and you gotta stay
away from those people. "And you gotta get into this program "and be a part of this group, "and start doing these things, "and just behave yourself," and just went after him. He could not change fast enough. He's just tryin' to figure
out which way home is and she's expecting him to behave himself like some great, wizened saint. And the guy doesn't even know Jesus yet. He's just comin' to his senses and wanting to find where home was. And she was actually more unhappy as he was comin' to Christ than she was before. And finally, when he was on a work trip, she cleaned out the house and left him. She said it was
irreconcilable differences. Well, of course, they were different. She was behaving like the older brother. She was pickin' on him for every weakness, every mistake, until she finally, not only left him, but she chased him away from the church. She chased him away from the Father. He didn't belong. And it was absolutely infuriating to me. Because this man was just tryin' to hang onto God by his fingernails. And she was hangin' on to
his sins with her claws. And he walked away. He didn't come home. One of her kids said to me, "I guess we're just not
good enough for her." You see, we attract people to Jesus by attracting them to ourselves. Jesus doesn't call us
to a code of behavior. He calls us to a friendship. He calls us to a relationship. He calls us to Himself. And we attract people to Jesus by attracting them to ourselves. If we are mean-spirited, and judgmental, and harsh, and demanding, we're not gonna attract anybody to Jesus. But if our lives are filled
with the prodigal love of God, a love that is patient, kind, humble, gentle, generous, as the Bible says, a love that keeps no record of wrongs, a love that perseveres. If we're filled with that kind of love, if they can see that
kind of response from us, well, then, just maybe,
they can taste and see that the Lord is good. So, yesterday, at 1:28,
when I got that phone call, I was sitting in my car, I was about to leave to go run an errand. It would've taken me at least an hour. I'm so glad I got the call when I got it.
(laughter) I turned off the engine, and as I was steppin' out of my car, I thought of a man, a man that I had seen
more than 20 years ago. I was speaking at a men's conference in Denver, Colorado. It was at the Pepsi Center, there was 16,000 men in this conference. We started on a Friday night, then we went all day Saturday. And I was preparing for my message 'cause I was off to the side of the stage, and we always started with worship, and we started with a song that night, an old hymn, All Hail
the Power of Jesus' Name, and when the song started, I walked out from behind the stage, I just wanted to get into the middle of it and worship with the guys and see how they're connecting and so, as I walked out, I saw, in the front row, there was a man who was in his early 50's. And seated next to him was his teenage son in a wheelchair. And at first glance, it
was so dreadfully obvious that this young boy was
severely handicapped. He was, basically, he was paralyzed from the neck down, he was blind, he couldn't speak, and I found out later that
he had broken his neck playing football in high school. And there he is with
his dad in this meeting of all these men. And as the worship started
and all the men stood up to sing this hymn, and you gotta hear 16,000
men sing a hymn like that, it'll change your life, the father got up out of his chair and he turned to his son, put his hands underneath this kid's arms, and he picked him up out of the chair and sort of plopped him on
his feet and held him there, lookin' right into his face, this blind boy, he was
lookin' into his face, holdin' him, and he started singing, singing to his son, singin' this hymn. All hail the power of Jesus' name. Let angels prostrate, fall. Bring forth the royal diadem
and crown him Lord of all. And he's singin' at the top of his lungs, singin' to this boy. And his kid, he couldn't
see his dad's face, but he could hear his voice, and he could feel his touch. And as this dad is singin' to this boy, this smile came on to this kid's face. It was like watchin' the sun
break through the clouds. This huge, beautiful smile
came on this kid's face as his dad is standin' there holdin' him. The men around him are now reachin' up, they're supporting this kid 'cause it's like a full-grown teenager. His dad's holding' him, so all these guys around
are kinda holdin' him up, tryin' to support him. And I thought, "Wow, there's
a sermon, right there, "of people supporting this kid "while he's in the father's hands." And they're smiling
and this dad is singing and the men around him are all cryin'. And it wasn't just sweet little sentimental oh-isn't-that-nice tears. It was like ugly snot
bubbles kinda cryin'. (laughter)
It was a mess. And they stood there for 10 minutes, 'cause we sang three songs. This father singing over his son. And as I watched this incredible picture of the love of a father, of the love of our Father, there was a verse from scripture, an obscure verse from
an obscure little book in the Old Testament, but this verse popped back into my mind and I put it, here, on the screen for you. It's from the book of Zephaniah. I told you it was obscure.
(laughter) But it says this: "The Lord your God is with you, "He is mighty to save. "He will take great delight in you; "he will quiet you with His love. "He will rejoice over you with singing. Those words came to my mind because what I saw that night was the Word in the flesh dwelling among us. I saw a father taking
great delight in his son, comforting and quieting him with his love, and rejoicing over him with singing. I saw grace embracing brokenness. I saw joy triumphing through tragedy. There was absolutely nothing
that that boy could do to make his dad proud of him. Nothing. The kid was helpless. But even though he was broken, he was beautiful in his father's eyes. In that son, I saw myself, and you, and millions of other
broken sons and daughters, where there's nothing we can do to make our Father proud of us. That's not why He loves us. But in that father, I saw the love of our own Father, the prodigal love of our Father, lavished out on us, regardless of what we can do for Him, that's not what is important. And like that man, your heavenly Father loves you. He takes great delight in you. And He rejoices over you with singing. So, I come back to the question I asked at the beginning of the message: What does God think of you? What's His opinion of you? How do you see Him? If you see Him as a
loving, heavenly Father, then you have a decision to make. What do you do with a love like that? How do you respond to
the prodigal love of God, the lavished, underserved, outpouring, that offering of identity, dignity, and authority, the forgiveness, the kiss that comes before the confession? How do you respond to a love like that? Well, you can choose to walk away from it, to ignore it, to say, "Oh, it's too good to be true," or, "That's for other people. "That's not for me." Or, you can surrender, you can give yourself over, you can allow yourself to be loved by your heavenly Father and let Him sing over you. It's your choice. You can come to your senses and come home or you can stay in your distant country. But the Father loves you and He's waiting for you to come back. All of us have a decision to make. And I'm sure there's some of you in this place who have
not made the decision yet and I want to give you that opportunity, right now, to choose to come home. You're not coming home
to the anger of God. You're coming home to the love of God. All you gotta do is come to your senses and turn your heart to Him and you will find Him running to you, embracing you, and receiving you. So, I want us to pray together and let's deal with this, right now. Would you bow your heads with me? And in this moment of prayer, first, I want to address those in the room who maybe, as you've heard this message, you actually relate more to
the older son in this story, that perhaps you've been too harsh, too demanding, and maybe
God is speaking to you. He might be bringing some
conviction into your heart. Let me ask you a question. Are you standing between a lost son and a prodigal father? Are you blocking the way or are you showing the way? Are you guarding the door or opening the door? Are you pointing a finger of judgment or are you extending a hand of compassion? If God is speaking to you about how you see the
lost ones in your life, then take a minute and deal with that. Confess it to God. Tell Him, "Yes, I see I've been wrong." And apologize to Him. And you just talk to God
about that for a minute and ask Him to give you the
Father's heart for the lost. But if you are seeing yourself
more like the lost son, today's the day for you to come home, to come to your senses, to turn from the distant country, and to allow yourself to be embraced by the love of God, to let Him sing over you, to experience the joy that He has for you. And if that's you, then I want to invite you to pray with me. Not to say anything out loud, just pray in your heart
and your mind, right now. Just say: Heavenly Father, I want to come home. I've been in a distant country. I've run. I've been doin' things on my own. I don't want to do it that way anymore. I want to be a part of your family. I want to experience your love for me. I want my dignity back, my identity, my authority. And so, I just want to tell you, even though I'm not worthy
to be called your son, or your daughter, I'm receiving your gift, right now, of salvation, of forgiveness through Jesus Christ. You provided the way. And Lord, even thought I
don't understand all of it, I just know how desperately I need you. So, with all that I have, and am, and with all that I
understand at this moment, I open my heart to you, I come home to you, I ask you to receive me. I receive your gift of
grace and forgivness through Jesus Christ, and I ask you, Lord, to put me on a pathway of life that will partner with You to live according to your purposes and Your plan for my life. And I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. (upbeat music)
- Thanks for checkin' out this message on YouTube. My name is Jay and I'm
Saddlback's online pastor. I want to invite you
to take your next step by checking out our online community, or help get you connected to
a local Saddleback campus. Three things we have to
offer you, right now: First, learn more about
belonging to our church family by taking Class 101. Second, don't live life alone and get into community with others by joining an online small group or a local home group in your area. Third, join our Facebook group to be more engaged with
our online community throughout the week. Take your next step and learn where a local campus is near you by visiting saddleback.com/online, or email online@saddlback.com. Hope to hear from you soon.
