Learning the Lessons of Life

Luke 15:11. "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.'"

Now the younger son, of course, had an older brother. That would mean that the older brother got two-thirds of the estate and the younger brother got one-third of the estate. And according to the Jewish law the father could live off of this estate and use the proceeds of it even though the sons owned it.

"And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together." Literally, that means he turned his assets into cash. We can't prove this and I will not debate it. I have a suspicion he sold his part to his older brother, because the older brother would not want somebody outside the family to be in the estate.

So we will just assume that he sold what he had to his older brother, turned everything into cash, "gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with riotous living," prodigal living. The word prodigal means wasteful.

"But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. And then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine." How low can a Jew get? It's bad enough to work for a Gentile, but to work for a Gentile who raises pigs, that is low. "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 bread 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."'"

Let me pause to say that Jewish people were very careful not to mention the name of God. Gentiles are just the opposite. And so whenever he wanted to talk about God, he would say heaven. That's why you find the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God. "I have sinned against God and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants."

You must keep in mind that a hired servant was different from an ordinary servant. An ordinary servant was like a part of the family. The hired servants were hired from day to day to get the job done.

"And he arose and came to his father." Didn't just talk about it, he did it. "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.'"

Now he was about to finish his speech: "Please make me as one of your hired servants." But the father interrupted him. Someday I want to prepare a series of studies on the interruptions in the Bible. It's not good to interrupt people, but here's a good interruption.

"But the father said to his servants"—you see, when the servant saw the father out there running, they came running too—"'Bring out the best robe and put it on him, put a ring on his hand, sandals on his feet, and bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry.'"

Jewish families often kept a calf, fatted up just in case Uncle Ebenezer should show up or there was some other festive occasion. they couldn't go down to the supermarket and buy anything. They had to have it handy. And a fatted calf would feed a lot of people. If you're going to have a party, this would take care of a lot of people.

"'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 be merry." Now that is not the end of the story, but we'll finish, the Lord willing, tomorrow evening when we talk about the elder brother.

Now, the key word in what we call the parable of the prodigal son is not the word son. It's the word father. The word father is used 12 times in this parable. Actually, we should not call this the parable of the prodigal son. That is not a a bad title. But the emphasis in the story is not on the son. It's on the father.

We should follow the example of the late Dr. Helmut Thielicke, the great German theologian who called this the story of the waiting father. The emphasis in the story is on the word father; 12 times our Lord uses it. This story is not a revelation of the heart of a sinner. It's the revelation of the heart of the father.

Why? Because the people who had criticized Jesus did not understand the very God they pretended to worship. Luke 15:1, "Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to him to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes complained." They criticized him saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with them."

Our Lord makes an interesting statement to this same group of people, the scribes and Pharisees, over in John 8:19. You don't have to look it up. It says, "You don't know me, and you don't know my Father." Our Lord said to this group of religious leaders, people who studied the scriptures in the original Hebrew, he said to them, "You claim to be worshiping the Father. You don't even know the Father. If you knew the Father, you wouldn't criticize me for welcoming sinners, because that's what the Father does."

"Oh no, he is the lawgiver, he is the eternal judge." One of the popular names for God among orthodox Jews today is, "Oh, Master of the universe." That's a great name, but it says nothing about salvation.

The Lord Jesus said to the same people in John 5:17, "My Father has been working and I'm working." In other words, whatever you see me do, the Father does. That's interesting. Jesus had just healed a man who'd been sick for 38 years. Now the Father's always healing sick people; just takes him a little while to do it. Our Lord did it instantly. There are many people here tonight who used to be sick, and by the goodness of God, you were healed. It took a little time, some medicine, some therapy, some rest, but you're better today. Jesus did that instantly.

Our Lord turned water into wine. The Father's always turning water into wine. Takes him a few seasons to do it, but he does it. Jesus did it instantly. The Father is always multiplying bread. You put a few seeds in the ground, up come many seeds. He's always multiplying bread. It takes him a season to do it. The Lord did it instantly. The Father is always welcoming repentant sinners. And Jesus came and said, "I welcome repentant sinners. You people don't even know the Father." And that's why he gave this story, to reveal the Father's heart.

Now, you and I read this parable through Western eyes. What do we know about Jewish families in villages over in the East? Very little. What do you and I know about all of these intricate dynamics of a Jewish home? Very little. But if you'd read this story focusing on the father and read it through Eastern eyes, you're going to meet with some surprises. We read this story and say, "Oh, yeah, I know the story of the prodigal son." Oh, no, we don't. The story is loaded with surprises if you look at the father. Let's do that tonight.

Surprise number one: the father gave the boy his wealth. Now, suppose your son came up to you and said, "Dad, I'd like my inheritance." How would you feel about that? "I mean, I want it now." The now generation. The strange thing about the now generation is when you ask them to do something, they always say, "Later."

One of my favorite authors is Kenneth Bailey. Kenneth Bailey writes about New Testament themes, especially the parables. He went and lived among the Arabs and the Jewish people in the East. He lived with them, he dressed like them, he ate their food, he knew their language. And he would sit around the campfire at night with his Bible and he would read the parables to these Eastern people and he would say, "Now, what about this? What about that?"

He was reading the parable of the prodigal son to a group of people, Arabs, one night, and he read where it said, "And the younger son said to his father, 'Father, give me my inheritance.'" And these men went, "Huh!" And Bailey said, "What's the matter?" They said, "Do you know what that boy just told his father?" "No. What did he tell his father?" "He just said to his father, 'I wish you would die.' Our sons would not talk to us like that."

Now, imagine the pain in the heart of this father who had a son who wanted his wealth, but not his father, who wanted the money, but not the man. That would hurt. By the way, that little statement, "Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me," reminds me of something Jesus taught about prayer.

Now, you know the verse. You've quoted it to the Lord. Luke 11:9, "Ask and it shall be given you. Seek and ye shall find. Knock and it shall be opened to you." That's prayer. Prayer means I can ask for my Father's wealth. "Ask and it shall be given to you," but don't stop there. "Seek and you shall find"—that's the Father's will. God gives his wealth to those who want to do his will. "Knock and it shall be opened to you"—an open door in the Bible speaks of opportunity for service. Prayer means asking for the Father's wealth that I might do the Father's will and accomplish the Father's work.

Now, had this boy come and said, "Father, give me my inheritance and then tell me how to use it in the right way," that would have been different. He didn't say that; he just said, "Give me." And here's the surprising thing. The father did it. I don't think I would have. I think I would have said, "Son, I'm not dead yet. Can't I use my own material that I worked so hard for? Son, you don't know how to handle all this. You think you do, but you don't." The father gave him the wealth.

Now, I shouldn't be too surprised at that, because my Heavenly Father has given to everybody in this world his wealth. Look at Acts 17, please. Paul is preaching to those Greek philosophers in Athens. He's talking about the God they worship and do not know. Acts 17:26, "And he has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth"—so he's the creator, he made all of us, we all have the same blood—"and has determined their pre-appointed times"—he's the God of history—"and the boundaries of their dwellings"—he's the God of geography—"so that they should seek the Lord in the hope that they might grope for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us."

Now how do we know he's not far from each one of us? Acts 17:28, "For in him we live"—so he's given us life—"and move"—he's given us strength—"and have our being"—he's given us identity, we're all unique—"as also some of your own poets have said"—and here he quotes from the Greek poets—"'For we also are his offspring.'

Therefore, since we are the offspring of God—" Now, let me pause to say, he's not talking about regeneration. I am a child of God by creation. He made me in his image, but that won't get me to heaven. I must become a child of God by regeneration, by being born again. That is what saves me.

Now, God has made man and provided what man needs. Back in Acts 14, Paul is again preaching to the Gentiles. He said, "He sent us the rain, he gave us fruitful seasons, he gave us food to satisfy our lives." God has shared his wealth with man.

Every once in a while somebody comes to me and says, "Now look, the parable of the prodigal son is not about unsaved people getting saved; it's about backslidden people getting straightened out with God, because he already was a son." That's not a very good interpretation of scripture. He was a son by creation, but you better become a son by salvation.

Now, the Father has given man his wealth. What do they do with it? The same thing he did with it: waste it. What are we doing to the air? What are we doing to the water? What are we doing to the food that we grow? What are people doing to their bodies?

A whole new area of legal study is now opening up. If any of you young men plan to go into law, or young women plan to go into law, go into prenatal law: the way a mother affects an unborn baby by drinking, or smoking, or using narcotics. What do we do with life, and being, and all the good things he gives us richly to enjoy? Waste it!

Well, then why did the father give it to the boy? He had to teach him some lessons. What did the father give that boy when he handed him the title deed to property, and the boy went off, and sold it all, and had that money? What did he give the boy? He gave the boy an opportunity to learn the difference between prices and values. An American is a person who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.

One hundred years ago, Henry David Thoreau said, "We now have improved means to unimproved ends." I can pick up my phone in Lincoln, Nebraska and punch the buttons a few times, and within a few seconds talk to my friends in Great Britain. We can bounce things off the satellite, and we can talk to people on the moon. Have we got anything to say? We can get there faster than we've ever gone before. Do we know where we're going?

Now, this boy had this money. Let's just talk about this for a minute. This boy had this money, and he said, "I have arrived," because he believed what most people believe about money. Now, I know we have to have a certain amount of money to pay our bills and live. No question about that. Nobody's going to argue that. God knows that we need certain things. Jesus said that, "Your Father in heaven knows that you have need of these things." Do you believe these myths about money?

Number one: money provides freedom. The boy said, "Hey, I've got money now. I can go to the far country." That's where his heart was. "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Where was the far country? Right next door it could have been, but it happened to be far away, geographically. The far country is in your heart, not in your atlas. He said, "I've got money. I'm free." No, you're not. Money doesn't give freedom. In fact, money can be the worst kind of bondage.

I recall when I graduated from seminary, and my wife Betty and I were going to be married, and I was pastoring a church, so I had to have a car. I went and bought a car. I thought, boy, I got a car. I'm free - oh, ho. The Indiana License Bureau put my name in their records, and they knew who I was, and where I was, and what I was doing. I had a car. I was free—yeah. I've got a Social Security number. I'm free—oh.

Money prevents problems. Oh? Didn't stop him from ending up working for the pigs, broke and hungry. Money solves problems. Now, I know an extra $25 or $30 might help some people. I'm not debating that at all. But I'm saying in itself, of itself, we think that money solves problems, or money prevents problems. It doesn't. Money guarantees success. No, it doesn't.

Now, if you've not heard one word I've said up till now, listen to this. Young people, write it down. You take what you want from life, but you pay for it. There are no free lunches. You take what you want from life, and you pay for it. He took what he wanted. "I want my inheritance. I don't want my big brother. I don't want my father. I don't want this house. I don't want this country. I'm going." Okay, you can do that. But nothing is free. You pay for it, and he paid for it.

Somebody says, "I've got to have a high." You can get a high. Smell the right thing, inject the right thing, drink the right thing. You can get a high, but you'll pay for it. "I want all the privileges of marriage, but none of the responsibilities." You can do that. But you'll pay for it. You take what you want from life, and you pay for it.

That's why the father gave it to the boy. He said, "Okay son, some people learn by listening. Some people learn by looking. Some people never learn except by living. And you're going to have to learn the hard way."

Before we move on, I'll say this. The greatest judgment God can bring upon me in this life would be to let me have my own way. Read Romans 1. "God gave them up. God gave them up. God gave them over." Said, "Okay, you want to do that? Go ahead." "He gave them their request, and he sent leanness to their souls."

Surprise number one: he gave them the wealth. Surprise number two: the father stayed home. He stayed home. Now, he should have, after a while, said, "Well, he's been gone 2 weeks. We haven't heard a thing from him. Nobody knows where he is. I'm going to go look for him."

After all, in the first story, the shepherd went and found the sheep. In the second story, the lady went and found the lost coin. So in the third story, the father should go search for the boy. He didn't. He stayed home. That's a surprise. Didn't he love the boy? Yes. Then why did he stay home? To give him time. Folks, some people never learn anything until they have time.

Think this through now. Why did the boy leave home? He wanted to find himself. I hear a great deal these days about the identity crisis. I'm sure there's some people who face that. I was the baby in the family. I had an older sister and two older brothers. Whenever I was not sure of my identity, they told me. He said, "I want to find myself." You know what happened? He lost himself. "This, my son, was lost."

By the way, the best place to find yourself is not out in the world with your peer group having a party. The best place to find yourself is right at home with your father saying, "Father, make me."

Here's a boy who wanted to get smart. He said, "I'm not going to learn much from this old man." Wasn't it Mark Twain who said when he was a kid his father was the dumbest person he ever knew, but when Mark Twain got to be a young man, he said, "It's amazing how much the old boy learned."

"I want to go out to the far country. I want to find myself." He lost himself. "I want to get smart." That's always the devil's trick. The devil said to Eve, "Oh, if you'll do this, then you'll know. Oh, you'll know." Well, instead of getting smart, he got dumb.

My Bible says he came to himself. Where was he up till then? Beside himself. He went out there to find himself; he lost himself. He went out there to get smart, and he got dumb. He went out there to live! "Living here at home, work to do, my grouchy elder brother. No, I want to live." And he died—not, not physically, but every other way. You see, death in the Bible is separation. He was separated from his father, separated from his brother. He was dead.

And the father stayed home suffering. Would have been easier for the father to pack his suitcase and say, "I'm going out to find the boy." At least he'd be doing something. He just waited and watched, and worked and waited and watched to give him time, not only to learn some lessons, but give him time to repent. Repent. And the boy did.

Would you please notice what it was that brought this boy to the place of repentance? Now, this is important. It was not the badness of the boy. It was the goodness of his father. "How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I am perishing with hunger. My father is a good and generous man." That's what brought him to repentance.

That's what Paul said in Romans 2:4, "The goodness of God leads us to repentance." How did Jesus attract and win this unsaved crowd of publicans and sinners? By telling them about the badness of man? They knew they were bad. He talked to them about the goodness of God. And they repented.

And this boy said, "I'm going home." This whole experience affected his emotions: "I'm perishing with hunger." His mind: he came to himself and said, "My father's a good man." His will: "I will arise and go." And he did arise and go. Now, if the father had come and argued with him, the boy would have gone away. Father just waited, prayed, watched.

Which brings us to our third surprise. Surprise number one: he gave the boy the wealth. Surprise number two: he stayed at home and waited. Surprise number three: he ran to meet him. "Well, that's no surprise. Because he said he had great compassion." "His father saw him and had compassion and ran." Wait just a minute. Men do not run in the East. Oh no. Too dignified. Children run, young people run. Men do not run. Married men who have grown sons, they don't run.

But the servants showed up. They saw the father pulled up his skirts around him and tied his belt and started running. "Afar off," afar off. And the servants said, "We better go with the master. What's he up to?" And the servants went running with him, and before long, the whole village was running. Because everything attracts attention over there. Men don't run.

Why did he run? Oh, you say he loved him. That's true. I won't question that. But there's another reason. Turn to the book of Deuteronomy, please. Deuteronomy 21:18. "If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and who, when they have chastened him, will not heed them, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him, and bring him out to the elders of his city, to the gate of his city.

"And they shall say to the elders of his city, 'This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey our voice. He's a glutton and a drunkard.' Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall put away the evil from among you, and all Israel shall hear and fear."

I've heard liberal preachers say, "The story of the prodigal son, there's no cross in that, there's no sacrifice in that. Don't talk to us about sacrifice." Oh, yes there is sacrifice. Do you know why that father ran so hard to meet that boy? I'll tell you why. If that boy had stepped inside the boundaries of that village, he would have been dead. The men would have come out with stones and said, "There he is! You've disgraced our village. You've disobeyed your parents. You have brought disgrace upon God and upon us." And they would have killed him. The father ran out, threw his arms around him, and said, "Throw all the stones you want to throw; they'll hit me." Folks, that's Calvary.

Because if you'll look in Deuteronomy 21:22, the very next verse: "If a man has committed a sin deserving of death and he's put to death and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day. For he who is hanged on a tree is accursed of God." And Paul picks that up in Galatians and says that Jesus was made a curse for us because he was put on the tree.

Now look, when the father ran out and embraced the son, the men of the village dropped their stones. They said, "Hold it, wait a minute, something strange going on here." That's what Jesus did at Calvary. All the stones were about to hit me, and he came and said, "Okay, I'll take them. I'll take the licks." That's why the father ran. He was willing to bear the penalty of the boy's sin.

Now here's the father and here's the son, and the son is going to come to the father. Today how can you come to the Father? Through Jesus Christ. We all know John 14:6. Quote it with me. "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me."

Now follow. This boy was lost. Jesus says, "I'm the way." This boy was ignorant. Jesus says, "I'm the truth." This boy was dead. Jesus said, "I'm the life." And any sinner who is lost and ignorant and dead can come through Jesus Christ to the Father, and be taken into the family.

Now that leads me to my fourth surprise. I'll just mention it to you. You can rejoice in it. We're surprised that he gave his boy the wealth. We're surprised because he stayed at home. We're surprised that the father ran to meet him, and we're surprised that he gave the boy more than he had before.

The boy wanted to come in as a servant. You can't work your way into God's family. You don't make promises to God. We are not saved by making promises to God; we are saved by believing the promises of God.

I'm not surprised they had a celebration. I mean, if a son comes home who's been gone, a celebration is in order, but this is a big celebration. Kill the fatted calf; that costs money. Invite the whole village in. In so doing, the father was saying to everybody at one time, "Don't you ever say one word to me about my son. The past is gone. He is here. Now look at him. He's wearing my robe."

The best robe was the father's robe. But when I trusted Christ as my savior, he gave me his robe, his robe of righteousness. And look at his finger. He's got a ring on his finger, the mark of sonship. When I got saved, the Holy Spirit came into my life as the guarantee of sonship. "If any man have not the Spirit of God, he's none of his." He's got shoes on his feet. "Look at my servants. My servants don't wear shoes; he wears shoes. He's a son." And look where he is seated. He's seated at the feast, at the table with me.

That's what happened to me. I was dead; he raised me from the dead. I was lost; he brought me back. I was ignorant; he enlightened me and gave me his salvation, and then he seated me with Jesus Christ in the heavenlies. I want you to know that I have in Jesus Christ far more than Adam had when he was in the garden. Read Romans 5. Much more, much more, much more! Salvation is not restoring us to where we were before the fall. Salvation is lifting us up to where we are in Jesus Christ.

Oh, the father gave to him far more than he had before. In fact, everything the boy was looking for out there, he found at home. Parties and friends and food and clothing and jewelry. Everything he wanted out there, he found at home, because he changed his prayer from "Give me" to "Make me."

Well, the father's love helped this boy to learn the lessons of life. The far country taught him the lessons of death. Sin promises life; it always brings death. Sin promises freedom; always brings bondage. Sin promises joy; always brings sorrow. Sin promises success; always brings failure. Where are you getting your education? In the Father's house or in the far country?

Oh, Father, there's so much for us to learn, how good you are to us, how patient you are with us. If some sinner here tonight needs to come to the Lord Jesus, come to the Father by Christ, oh Lord, by your Spirit work. Use your word to bring conviction and conversion. We ask for Jesus' sake. Amen.