March 10, 2013  The Prodigal Son

Joshua 5:9-12

God is always saving people, leading them into new places and new possibilities.  Our passage in Joshua details how the forty years of wilderness wandering for the Israelites are coming to an end.  Moses has led the people this far, but in this new place they have a new leader named Joshua. They have been wandering for forty years, having escaped the oppression of the Egyptians.

Folks its time to get out of the wilderness and move forward. It s a time for a New Beginning. Onward and upward. (It is time to get out of the pigpen)

Psalm 32

Happiness is high on most people’s list of priorities. Hunger for happiness drives much of our lives. The ambitions we pursue, the relationships in which we engage, the professions we enter, the hobbies we love; the clothes we wear, the food we eat, and even the way we observe Lent reflect individual beliefs about what brings fulfillment and happiness.

In Psalm 32, happiness comes from being forgiven.  It comes not from being important, accomplished, organized, optimistic, or busy. Instead, being happy is a matter of being righteous, and according to Psalm 32, righteousness is not a matter of being sinless. It is about the ego-bruising work of Lent: acknowledging sin, accepting forgiveness, vigilantly attending to God’s teachings, trusting God more than self, and then being happy in the ONE who steers us toward paths of utter fulfillment.

Think about it: Resurrection Sunday is just around the corner. What a grand and glorious time is upon us. Spring is near. Soon Winter will be over.

2 Corinthians 5:16-21

Peter never gets credit for his intelligence.  The Gospel writers go out of  their way to make him into an idiot. Perhaps that is what happens when you associate with Jesus. You are never the smart one.  As far as I am concerned , Peter delivered the definitive line about Paul’s letters when he wrote, “There are some things in them hard to understand” (2 Peter 3:16).

Today we have an example from the Second Letter to the Corinthians on the Fourth Sunday in Lent: “ So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away, see, everything has become new! (5:17).

Not only is this statement hard to understand, it is hard to swallow once you do ----once you can handle Paul’s cosmology, once you comprehend how he thinks the world collapsed in Christ’s coming and a whole new one sprang up in its place.

“If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation.” It is a beautiful statement – almost impossible to preach.  The trouble hangs on the “anyone”. If anyone is in Christ; there is a new creation – a whole new creation.  Everything old has passed away; everything has become new – if anyone is in Christ.

For instance let us now look at the prodigal Son…..

 

Luke 15: 1-3 and 11b-32

II. THE PARABLE OF THE PRODIGAL SON. Luke 15 V11-24

A. Here was a man like us all. He desired the world and what it offered.

1. He thought it would bring pleasure and good.

2. So he took all he had and went after it.

3. For the man, woman boy or girl who seeks after the world...it cost you everything.

4. It was clearly a mistake, his father knew it, but he did not interfere. God gives a will and will not violate yours.

B. He paid a great price for his pleasure.

1. Cost him his home and family.

2. Cost him any of his true friends.

3. Cost him all his pride.

4. Cost him all his material possessions. (what a paradox that is)

5. Cost him his inheritance.

6. Cost him all his grand plans for his life.

Yes, it was very expensive. He thought he was doing right, he thought he was all right....but he was blind to the reality of what the course of life he had taken would bring.

C. His good times were short lived. Sure they were fun while they lasted....but the problem was they never last.

D. He still tried to help himself....went to the hog pen. That's where it always winds up. Eating with the hogs.

1. We think money solves problems...no it makes them worst. The money people are a proud lot, and most are self seeking. You need not but turn on the TV to see the life style the rich and famous live. Most die early, of AIDS and diseases brought on by a live or abuse of their bodies. That had a ball killing themselves. Url Brinner, died of lung cancer, but before he died he recorded and aired on TV an appeal to folks not to smoke.

2. He did all he could, yet he was still hungry!!

3. Have you ever been truly hungry? He was starving to death.

Spiritually, the world is starving for satisfaction, peace and for fulfillment. Yet, most take the road that leads to the garbage pile, and the hog pen. Most can not see that far...but God does and warns in his Word.

Yet, God seeks to tell men everywhere of His love and mercy. There is peace in knowing and being a child of God. That is the only place it is found.

III. PRODIGAL SON --- HE REMEMBERED HOME!

A. Sure he had failed. Sure he was ashamed.

1. But his failure..made reality clear.

2. He was no longer under the delusion that the world gave peace and satisfaction.

3. His mind was swept clear of the deception that Satan places there...

4. He realized how precious is home and abiding in his fathers house.

B. With his thinking now cleared...he arose from the hog pen...came home to his father.

VI. CONCLUSION.

1. What did his father do? Scold him? Rebuke Him?

2. No He with open arms rushed to him, hugging him and kissing him. How happy was the father!!!

3. The son confessed...Father he said, I've sinned against heaven and you. I'm not worthy to be called a son.

4. What was the father's second reaction? Bring the best robe, put it on him, put on his finger a ring and sandals on his feet, kill the fatted calf and let us rejoice and be happy.

"for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found"

Are you tired of wandering?  Are you tired of being in the pig pen? It is time today for a new beginning. It is time for us to go back to the Father that has been waiting all this time with open arms ready to receive us back.