Pastor Greg Laurie opens up significance of prodigal son parable
What makes 13- to 24-year-olds happy? You might be surprised by the answer. According to an extensive survey by the Associated Press and MTV, what makes 13- to 24-year-olds the happiest is spending time with family. The next thing that makes them happy is being with friends or a significant other.
Deep down inside, we all want to belong. We all want to connect. That is why we are always updating our Facebook pages, tweeting, texting and posting on Instagram. We want be connected to one another. We want to belong. We want to love, and we want to be loved.
That is what one son realized after he had been away from home for a while. He realized that everything he was looking for was in his father's house. Jesus told his story in Luke 15. As the story begins, we find this young man leaving home. He wasn't leaving an abusive home; it was a loving, affluent home, with servants who worked for the family.
But this son basically said to himself, What does my old man know? He is so lame. I am going to go have some fun. I am tired of waiting for him to die. I want my share of the estate now. Then he went and demanded it from his father.
In this culture, under normal circumstances, the oldest son would get two-thirds of the estate, and the youngest son would receive one-third. This was the younger son, and he didn't care about that or how it worked out. He was essentially saying to his dad, "I wish you were dead. Why don't you just kick the bucket already?" This son was a spoiled, selfish brat. He didn't care how it affected his father. His dad could have stopped him. He could have said, "Son, I am not going to do that for you." But he gave his son the ability to choose.
So his son left home. He decided to do everything he had always wanted to do. He was living a supposedly great life. He had friends everywhere. But eventually his money was gone, and he went from the penthouse to the outhouse. He was so impoverished that he had nowhere to go. Certainly there was no family around because he had left them. So he ended up feeding pigs.
Miserable and far from home, he came to his senses. He said to himself, "At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! I will go home to my father and say, 'Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant'" (Luke 15:17-19 NLT).
So he started the journey back home, willing to take responsibility for what he had done. He thought about what home was like. He thought about those home-cooked meals. He thought about the love of his father. Notice that he said "I will go home to my father." It wasn't "I will go back to my room," though he would. It wasn't "I will go back to my friends," though he probably had a lot of them. No, he said, "I will go back to my father."
And as he was on his way home, here's what happened:
"While he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. His son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.'
"But his father said to the servants, 'Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.' So the party began." (verses 20-24)
I love this story. It's a picture of us as we try to run from God. God says, "I love you, so you are free to go." God won't make you believe. God won't force you to go to heaven. He gives you a choice in the matter: you can follow him, or you can run away from him. He warns us about the consequences of sin, but he also gives us a choice. God won't make you believe. God won't force you to go to heaven.
A lot of times we want to blame everyone for our problems. We have problems at school, and it is the fault of the teachers. We have a problem at work, and it is the fault of the boss. We have problems at home, and it is the fault of the parents. I came from a dysfunctional home, and now I am the head of a dysfunctional home. We are all dysfunctional. We need to stop blaming whatever or whomever and take responsibility for our actions. The prodigal had to say, "I have sinned," and we need to say the same thing to get right with God.
As a child, I lived with my grandparents. When I would go out to play, my grandmother would say, "Now, Greg, get home before dark." And I always did. I am hoping that you will get home before dark, because you don't know how long your life will last. My oldest son, Christopher, is in heaven now. He died in an automobile accident in 2008 at the age of 33. For a time, he was a prodigal son. He always believed, but he was living in two worlds. God got his attention and turned his life around. Then suddenly, he was called to heaven. Though I miss him every day, I am so thankful that I will see my son again. He got home before dark.
You might say, "Greg, I don't really have a family to go back to. I don't have a father to go to." I know about that. I've experienced it myself. But I have good news for you. You have a Father in heaven who loves you and will forgive you today. And you have a family as well - that family is called the church. The father accepted his prodigal son as he was. And God will accept you as you are.
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