By
Rev. Juliet Schimpf
Rev. Juliet Schimpf is the Minister of
First Baptist Church in Perth, Ontario:
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LINK to CFRA broadcast of
Sunday, August 3rd, 2014)
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Broadcast
Notes:
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'The Prodigal Son'
HOW DO WE UNDERSTAND GOD?
BY THE AGE OF 2-3 YEARS, CHILDREN DEVELOP A “GOD
CONCEPT”
“God is not
what you imagine or what you think you understand. If you understand you have
failed.” -Saint Augustine
“God is the perfect poet.” -Robert Browning
“Sir, my concern is not whether God is
on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always
right.” -Abraham
Lincoln
Richard Dawkins
(an atheist): “The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most
unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust,
unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a
misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal,
pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.”
We
all have a God concept; they’re just not all accurate. Thanks be to God for His
Holy Scriptures, which are, frankly, a ‘love letter’ written from the throne of
Heaven, to us. And these love letters, known to us as the Books of the Bible,
reveal to us who God truly is.
Before
be talk about parables, let me note that thirty-five percent of Jesus’ teaching
is in parable form. Two thirds of the parables are in the Gospel of Luke.
Notice that parables are about anonymous persons. Why is that? It’s because we
are supposed to insert ourselves into the story, and ask ourselves, “Which
character am I?’ Another point about parables is that they’re not about information.
They’re about transformation.
With
those preliminary words, let’s pray:
Father,
Thank you for this glorious morning! Thank you for your Word, which is a lamp
onto our feet, an anchor to our souls and honey to our lips.
Will you
now speak to us through your Word. And, Lord, we don’t just want information.
Today, we want transformation. And, so have your way, O Lord in our midst.
So,
friends, listen to what Luke, Chapter 19, Verse 10 tells us. It tells us that
Jesus said, “The Son of Man has come to seek and to save
that which is lost.”
Luke
15:11-32 New
International Version - NIV
The Parable of the Lost Son
11 Jesus continued: ‘There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, “Father, give me my share of the
estate.” So he divided his property between them. 13 ‘Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for
a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country,
and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent
him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but
no one gave him anything.
17 ‘When he came to his senses, he said, “How many of my father’s hired
servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have
sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your
hired servants.” 20 So he got up and went to his father.
‘But while he was
still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for
him; he ran to his son, threw his arms round him and kissed him.
21 ‘The son said to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against
you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.”
22 ‘But the father said to his servants, “Quick! Bring the best robe and put
it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is
found.” So they began to celebrate.
25 ‘Meanwhile, the elder son was in the field. When he came near the house,
he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 “Your brother has come,” he replied, “and your father has killed the
fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.”
28 ‘The elder brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went
out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, “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. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with
prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!”
31 ‘“My son,” the father said, “you are always with me, and everything I have
is yours.32 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.”’
Parables are
all about transformation—not information!
IN THE FIRST PART OF THE PARABLE, WE GET A TRADITIONAL DEPICTION OF SIN
IN THE SECOND PART OF THE
PARABLE, WE GET ANOTHER DEPICTION OF SIN
ONE GOOD SON, ONE BAD SON….
BUT BOTH WERE USING FATHER TO GET
THINGS THEY WANT: WEALTH AND STATUS….ONE
DID IT BY BEING BAD; ONE DID IT BY BEING GOOD
SIN KEPT ONE SON AWAY
SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS KEPT ANOTHER
SON AWAY
ONE SON CONTROLLED FATHER BY
LEAVING/DISOBEYING….BREAKING RULES
ONE SON CONTROLLED FATHER BY
STAYING/OBEYING…..KEEPING RULES
BOTH SONS ARE LOST! BOTH ARE ALIENATED FROM FATHER!
TWO KINDS OF LOSTNESS:
·
ESCAPE THROUGH
MORALITY AND RELIGION
·
ESCAPE GOD THROUGH
IMMORALITY AND IRRELIGION
WE THINK GOD WANTS GOOD PEOPLE; GOD
WANTS NEW PEOPLE
QUESTIONS FOR
REFLECTION:
A.
WHICH CHARACTER IN THE PARABLE OF THE PRODIGAL
SON DO I MOST RESEMBLE?
B.
DO I WANT GOD’S
BLESSINGS (HIS “ESTATE”) MORE THAN I WANT GOD HIMSELF? IS GOD ALONE ENOUGH FOR ME?
Let’s pray,
Dear God, I pray for the listener, this day, who
feels far off from God. And if they think that God has moved, I’d pray they
know this moment, that God never moves. And so, if He seems far away, perhaps,
we have moved.
God, bridge that gap, right now, through your blood
and your Cross. Draw near to us as we draw near to you.
Thank you that you are the father in this parable.
Run to the listener, right now, wrap your arms around them, bestow upon them
their grace, love them and be the father they’ve always longed for.
And we pray all this in the strong and precious
name of Jesus Christ. Amen
Rev. Juliet Schimpf
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To listen to the above
broadcast, click on the following link:
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