Part 4 of the 6 part series: The Lost Son
Read Part 1 Read Part 2 Read Part 3
The Lost Son is part of the two-week study "The Lost Series
A common saying we hear is “home is where the heart is.” Just take a minute and apply it to this scenario. The son knows what he has to do, as discussed yesterday. So he gets up and heads home.
The home is the heart of our faith is Jesus and God, the son openly decided to take his inheritance and go on his own away from God to a distant land. But the epic part of the journey is when he returns to the heart, when he returns home to the father. You see when we return home to the Father he doesn’t care that we took everything we thought we needed and went away. He doesn’t care that we thought we knew better than he did. ALL he cares about is the fact that we are back home with Him.
“While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion.
God isn’t just sitting up there reveling in the fact that you are in this dark spot. He is so sad you are gone and sometimes even mad; just like any parent is when their children don’t want to listen and go do something when they shouldn’t. Clearly your child knew better than you did right? Well God is in that same position. We decided that we knew better, but upon our return He is filled with compassion for you. Why you ask? Because He loves you.
“He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him. His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son.’ “
Boom. There it is. This is the act of reconciliation that we were talking about yesterday.
“But his father ordered his servants, ‘Quickly bring the finest robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Take the fattened calf and slaughter it. Then let us celebrate with a feast, because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.”’Then the celebration began.”
I first want to focus on the fact that the father says, “because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.” Don’t you see, when we make that decision, sometimes unknowingly, we turn our backs to God. Our relationship with Him is dead. So those times that we place the TV before our prayer time, that sports come before going to Church and we don’t pay the due respect that our inheritance and God deserve… we are then lost and our relationship is therefore dead with the Lord.
So just as the son returns when we return to the Father he wants to throw us a feast, put us in the finest clothes and put a ring on our finger to show our committed relationship and to celebrate the return of one of His children.
