The Lost Son

Thank you for reading this sermon from Christ Fellowship. I hope and pray that this sermon will be a blessing of grace and truth to you. With that said, let me encourage you not to use this sermon as a replacement for your local church. Christ Jesus did not establish his Church simply for us to consume content. Instead, He calls us to be part of a real, covenant family. 

We’re in Luke 15, where Jesus shows us God’s heart for lost people. He tells a story about a lost sheep and another story about a lost coin. Now he tells us a story about a lost son. But we’re going to split the story into two sermons. We will look at the younger brother today and the older brother next week.

11 And he said, “There was a man who had two sons.

12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them.

It is difficult for us to understand how offensive this request would have been. The younger son was entitled to one third of the family estate, but not until his father died! His father is still living! This is deeply offensive, unloving, and rebellious.

Shockingly, the father grants his request – something that would not have been easy to do. This wasn’t a withdrawal from a bank account. Livestock must be sold. Family land must be sold. The whole family suffered to make this possible. The whole family suffered the shame of this request.

13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living.

He left the Promised Land and wasted everything he had.

14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need.

15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs.

Not only did he leave Israel, he’s now the servant of a Gentile – feeding unclean animals.

16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.

Perhaps you are starting to feel sorry for this young man. Most of us have heard this story before… we know what happens next. You know he’s going to be welcomed home. And even though we know he’s suffering the consequences of his own actions, we are starting to feel sorry for him.

But I need you to know that the audience listening to Jesus would have been disgusted by this man. No one had ever heard a story so shameful. Jesus has managed to invent a person that even the tax collectors and sinners would despise, not just the Pharisees.

And so, if we’re going to rightly understand the point of this story – we need to think of someone we would despise. Think of the kind of person that cuts against the grain of your most important values… and then you’re getting close to understanding how offensive this man would have been.

17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger!

18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.

19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’

This is basic repentance. He came to his senses. He confesses his sin. He knows he deserves nothing. He knows he will be at the mercy of his father.

But the audience of Jesus is getting nervous. Perhaps they can guess where this story is going. But you have to understand, there was not a Jewish family in all of Israel would receive this son back into their household!

20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.

Jesus tells this story as if the father is waiting and watching and hoping that his son would return home. He feels compassion before he even hears the son’s confession! He runs (something dignified Jewish men never did) and publicly displays affection for someone he could have rightfully disowned.

21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

This is his rehearsed speech! But the father doesn’t even let him finish.

22 But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet.

23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate.

24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.

Remember the shepherd threw a party for a lost sheep, something no one would have done. The woman threw a party for her lost coin, a party that surely cost her more than the lost coin, also something no one would have done.

But this time it is absolutely scandalous! Ridiculous in the minds of his Jewish audience. No father would do this. They would sooner have a funeral for this young man than throw a party. He had committed actions that you don’t come back from.

Much more likely in that context is that the father would have him beaten and thrown out on the street, or he would refuse to see the son at all.

And so, Jesus has now invented a story about a man that even the worst sinners would despise, being shown a kind of compassion that even the most righteous people would question. But if we are to understand God’s love for sinners, this is where we have to go.

Notice that the father doesn’t start loving the son after he repents. He has always loved his son. He never stopped loving his son. Notice also that the son’s repentance isn’t even that good. He underestimates his father’s love. And so do we.

In our heart, we struggle to believe God is a good Father. We are more likely to think of God as a hard and emotionless father, the kind of dad that might take us in a candy store and let us buy nothing to teach us a lesson.

But Jesus tells us about the Father he knows – a good Father, merciful and full of love and compassion… the kind of father that runs to us and hugs us back into his favor.

Do you know God to be this kind of Father? Did you know He is the kind of Father who wants us back in the family, even the worst of us… the ones who have run the farthest from Him?

But it is not without cost… the Father gives the younger son a lavish party with the best robe, a ring, and a fattened calf. All of these items were costly and significant.

But the younger son has already squandered his inheritance. And do you know what that means? It means this lavish welcome-home party comes at the expense of the older brother’s inheritance.

We will meet the older brother in the story next week and he’s not happy about this.

Thankfully, Jesus is our true older brother. It was the willing sacrifice of Jesus that secures and proves the Father’s love for us.

Romans 5:8 – “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Nothing more costly could be given. The shocking cost of a robe, a ring, and a slaughtered animal pales in comparison to the death of God’s only true Son.

But that is exactly what was given. And it pleads with us to recognize the depths of our sin – that it would cost so much to bring us back into the family – and the depths of God’s love – that He was willing to do it.

What does this mean for us? Well, first it is an invitation to return to the Father. It does not matter how far from God you have wandered! Come to your senses, confess to him, return to Him, and know that He loved you before you ever sought forgiveness, even before you were born.

Second, the story of the younger brother challenges us to show compassion to people we personally find hard to love, even people who have deeply wronged us. It will never be easy… Forgiveness will always cost us something, just as it cost God something. But knowing our own sin and God’s forgiveness will soften the way we respond to other people in their sin.

Some of you may have read the book The Hiding Place, the story of Corrie ten Boom, a Christian woman who survived a Nazi concentration camp during World War II.

After the war, Corrie traveled the world sharing her testimony about God’s love and forgiveness. One day, while speaking at a church in Germany, she encountered a man who had been a guard at the concentration camp where she and her sister were held. This man had been particularly cruel and seeing him brought back painful memories. After her talk, the man approached Corrie, thanked her for her message on forgiveness, and extended his hand, asking for her forgiveness for the atrocities he had been part of.

In that moment, she felt the weight of bitterness and anger. She realized she could not forgive him on her own strength. She silently prayed, asking God to help her. As she extended her hand, she felt a powerful sense of God’s love flow through her. She forgave the man, not just in words but from her heart.

Afterwards, she described feeling a profound sense of peace and freedom. This experience deepened her worship of God, as she understood His grace in a new way.
Forgiving this man also became an act of worship, because it demonstrated her own trust in God’s forgiveness and justice.

And that is how the Gospel transforms lives.