Luke 15:11-32 (READ HERE)
After going to the Saturday night service at Resurrection Fellowship, one of my adopted mom's, Karla P., sent me a message suggesting that I listen to the message she had heard at church. Seeing as how deeply respect Karla's spiritual guidance and I was planning on having a half day (aka an all morning date with God), I thought it sounded great!
When I got online and started listening, the message really hit home; Pastor Mike Olson was talking about the orphan mentality. Now I know I must have heard sermons on this passage in the past or read it at some point in time because I could tell you exactly how it went. A father had two sons. The younger son got tired of living in his father's house and took his inheritance money and wasted it. When he ran out of money, he hired himself out to work feeding pigs while still starving himself. After a while, he remembered that his dad treated his slaves better and returned home to beg his father to let him be a slave. Once he returned however, his father took him back as his son and threw a big party for the younger son. This made the older brother mad because he had worked for his father all his life. When he confronted his father about why he was throwing a party for the son who had wasted his inheritance while never even giving him a goat, the father replied that everything he had already belonged to his son.
THE DADDY
Ahhh!!!! Just thinking about this story makes my heart happy because I can look at it and see the father as THE FATHER, my unconditionally loving daddy that delights in me. Before learning about the father heart of God, I somehow missed the point that the father = God. Instead, I thought of it as perfect example of what a parent should be and I compared the adults in my life to him. This sermon really highlighted one of the issues that I have been working on lately; I've expected perfection from my parents when I already have a perfect Father, but just like I've done in the past with this passage, I sometimes miss seeing Him in the story of life. For I know the verse "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23) but my head still judges and expects perfection from myself and the people around me.... but God and I are working on that :0)
ORPHAN #1
Now the next character that Pastor Mike talked about was the younger son. After taking his inheritance, he ran from his father's house where he went wild and crazy until he was left with nothing. Then, when he was starving, he remembered his father and tried to think up ways to work his way back into his father's house. Ding, Ding, Ding!!!! Does this sound like anyone you know? I know this sounds like me during periods of my life. I've run from God and used what He's blessed me with only to be left feeling hungry and starving for something more but not feeling like I deserve it so I feel like I need to "work" my way back to God. This is what you would call the orphan mentality. When the younger son goes to his father, he is planning on saying "I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants" (Luke 15:19).
When the father saw his son, he ran to him with compassion and hugged and kissed him. When the son gave his rehearsed speech about becoming a slave for his father, the father let him speak but the words fell from his ears and he didn't give the idea of his SON being a servant even one thought. Instead, he sent for the best robe to cover up his beloved son. The father placed his ring on his son's finger and shoes upon his feet. After his son had been clothed, the father ordered that the fattened calf be killed so they could celebrate the return of his lost son.
To me this just speaks volumes about the Father's heart. His first priority was to cover up stink and the filth of his child but not because he was embarrassed by it; the father was covering up his son so the son would not be embarrassed by it. The robe is like grace, completely covering the sin and filth that the devil uses to create this orphan mentality that we are not worthy of his love, but God steps in and gives us the best robe, aka Jesus, and says I love you. Then the father puts his ring on the son's hand. This is to show the son that he is family not an orphan, a treasured possession that he wants to lavish over and bless. The father continues to cloth his son by putting sandals on his son's feet. This is important because slaves did not wear shoes, yet again affirming that this was his son not a slave. Then, to top it all off, he has the very best animal slaughtered and prepared to feed the starving son and celebrate his return because the father is so ridiculously happy that his son has returned. This just goes to show no matter what we do, the Lord LOVES when we return back to Him. He loves us so much that He will provide for our needs and bless us with His best.
ORPHAN #2
After the party gets started, the older brother came in from working in the fields and asks what's going on. When he finds out that his brother has returned, instead of being ecstatic like his father, the son is angry and refuses to go in to talk to his father, so the father comes out to talk with the older son. In Luke 15:29-30 the older son says "Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!"
Now I don't know about you, but I can relate to this orphan spirit, too. Sometimes I look around and I feel cheated. I see people who can pick up a musical instrument and effortlessly make beautiful music and think "Why didn't you give me that gift Lord?" as I struggle to play chop sticks on the piano. Or I look at the people who have been blessed with money, waste it and then receive a windfall inheritance while many of my Christian friends struggle to keep more than a few cents in their bank accounts at the end of the month, but they faithfully give from what they have. Whether it is money or gifts, I often find myself looking at what others have and how they have used what they have been giving and get jealous. Just like the son in this story, I can be the stubborn one who refuses to go into the tent to talk to the father about it. Thank you Jesus for being willing to come to me!!!
The orphan mentality really gets in the way of this second son though. He tells his father that he was worked hard and didn't even get a goat to share with his friends. In his mind, his obedience and works have made him WAY more worthy of a feast that his younger brother who ran away and wasted his inheritance on earthly pleasures only to come crawling back. This is part of the orphan mentality because the son believes that he has to be obedient to receive blessings from the father. Obedience however does NOT equal a relationship! The father doesn't get mad at his son though, because he loves his oldest son just as much as he loves his younger son. After the father lets the son vent his anger and jealousy, he tells his son in Luke 15: 31 "...you are always with me, and everything I have is yours." The eldest son had never realized that everything his father had was his because his orphan mentality hadn't allowed him to and had made him believer that he had to work every day so that one day he would be worthy of his inheritance.
The JOY!
In the last verse of this passage, the father says to the older son "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." (Luke 15: 32) Now there are two major points I found when I was looking at this verse that I'd never noticed. First, the father said "this brother of yours" while back in verse 30 the son refers to his brother as "this son of yours". While the brother was trying to distance himself from his brother, the father wanted his eldest son to remember that this was his brother and he should be joyful that he had returned. Growing up with three sisters, I admit that I have not always been happy for them when I should have been. I have let my jealousy get in the way of loving them like Jesus would have but God understands my faults, makes them known to me so I can work with Him to correct them and then he forgives me; Thank you Jesus!
The other part that really stood out to me from this verse was how much the father just wanted to celebrate with everyone that his son had returned. He didn't go out to the older son and say "You know Jo Bob did this and this and this and I'm really disappointed in him but I'm his father so I have to love him anyways". Nope! God didn't do that. He didn't bring up the son's sins because they were forgiven. He simply cried out for his children to unite and celebrate together that one of them had turned back to him. God is so good, and He has every right to judge and cut down his children for their disobedience, but he just wants to love on them when they turn back to him. The Lord wants us to rejoice when people turn to him and become alive just like he does.
To sum it all up:
1. God is a perfect daddy
2. Even when we run away, God calls us back to be his children, not orphans
3. Obedience doesn't equal a relationship
4. We can't earn our given inheritance (heaven)
5. Rejoice and Unite when people turn to God because that's what He's doing
6. God is Fan-tab-u-lously Amazingly Awesome.... just throwing that one out there :0)
"Victory comes from you, O Lord. May you bless your people." - Psalm 3:8 Blessings <+3
