What the Prodigal Son did Right!
A modified excerpt from a recent message to our student ministry.
In Luke chapter 15 we see Jesus eating with sinners and tax collectors. This not only makes the Pharisees and scribes uncomfortable, it angers them. Jesus responds to them by telling some stories. One of these stories is the familiar parable of the prodigal son.
WHAT THE PRODIGAL SON DID WRONG:
This parable begins with a father of two sons. The older son is respectable and faithful. He acts, as one would expect a son to act. On the other hand, if you were to make a list of characteristics of a good son, the younger son would not fit the mold.
1. The younger son dishonored his father.
“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land your LORD is giving you.” Exodus 20:12
The picture painted for us of the father is not one that is short on blessings. He has land, animals, money, and servants. While living under his roof, his sons want for nothing. They are loved and well taken care of. However, this was not enough for the younger son.
The younger son rejected the idea that his father was providing enough for him. He believed he could provide a better life for himself. All he needed was money…his father’s money. So, he requested his inheritance early. The gall. What utter disrespect this son shows his father by making this request.
Unfortunately, all too often, we also live as if the Father’s blessings are not enough for us. We look at God’s provision, spit at it, and say, “I can do better on my own.”
2. The younger son was selfish.
“Father, give me…” Luke 15:12
If two words could sum up the younger son’s attitude leading up to his departure, it would be the two words, “Give me.” He didn’t care how this request would impact his father. He didn’t care how this request would impact his older brother. He cared about only one person, himself. “Give me.”
I am reminded of Veruca Salt from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Like a good musical, I can picture the prodigal son looking at his father’s wealth, his future inheritance and bursting into song, singing the familiar words, “Give it to me. I want it now.” Fortunately, for the prodigal son, he wasn’t immediately determined to be a bad egg and dropped to the furnace below.
Where has this attitude of selfishness crept into my own heart and life? While ultimately the story of the prodigal son is a picture for us of someone prior to salvation (remember, the reason Jesus is telling this parable), it does serve as a great reminder to the believer to continually reject selfish attitudes that strain our relationship with the Father.
3. The younger son gave himself over to foolish living.
“…the younger son gathered together all he had and traveled to a distant country, where he squandered his estate in foolish living.” Luke 15:13
We aren’t told everything that the younger son spent his inheritance on. Verse 30 tells us that one of the ways the younger son squandered his inheritance was with prostitutes. This gives us an understanding that the younger son spent his father’s wealth on temporary and earthy satisfactions.
Even though he had disrespected his father and even showed great selfishness, it is plausible that the son could have actually used his inheritance for positive purposes. He could have invested it or even used it to do something great in the world. But, he doesn’t. His selfishness runs deep and his ability to think long-term seems non-existent. He takes the money he’s been given and uses it up quickly fulfilling every whim and pleasure he might have.
It is the error of many to live as if today’s pleasures will last for eternity. How devastating it will be to discover the longevity of eternity in comparison to the shortness of our worldly pleasures gained by foolish living.
The son’s predicament:
In his disrespect, selfishness, and foolish living the son has removed himself from his father’s provision and realized his own inability to take care of himself. Now working as a hired hand, taking care of animals, much like the atmosphere of the farm he is working on, he realizes the life he has provided for himself stinks. His own father’s servants live lives better than his own.
WHAT THE PRODIGAL SON DID RIGHT:
“So he got up and went to his father…” Luke 15:20
There was much the son had done wrong. But, in this moment it no longer mattered what the son had done wrong, it only mattered what the son did right. The son could have looked at his sin, believed it was too much for the father to forgive, and simply continued to try to make it on his own. He could have accepted the life he had provided for himself, the life that was worse than his own father’s servants’. This son could have said, “I’ve been disrespectful, selfish, and foolish. There’s no hope for me.”
But, he did not do these things. Instead, he realized how great his father’s love was and decided to get up and go to his father. He decided to ask for forgiveness. He decided to repent of his sins. He decided to trust that his father could do so much more for him than he could do for himself, even if his father only allowed for him to be a servant.
And the father’s response was unexpected! The father didn’t reject his son because of his sins and he didn’t even receive him as a servant. When the prodigal son turned back, he was celebrated and received as a son.
What you can do right, today:
As you look at your own life, you may have your own laundry list of sins. Maybe you’ve been disrespectful, maybe you’ve been selfish, maybe you’ve squandered many years of your life away, or maybe you’ve done much worse. You may see the sin in your life and believe you’ve done too much. You may feel like forgiveness and acceptance are unattainable from our Heavenly Father.
But, regardless of what you’ve done wrong, like the prodigal son, you can do what’s right. As you look at and recognize the sin in your life, you can also recognize that the love and forgiveness of the Father that is so much greater! Today, you can turn from your sin… You can get up and go to the Father. And when you do, His response will be surprising.
Get up! Go to the Father and today, experience His surprising and abundant love.