Grace Thoughts

Guest (Male): God loves you. Hello friends, welcome to Grace Thoughts, the radio ministry of Grace Connection Church with Pastor Tim Kelley. Grace Thoughts has been dedicated to preaching a clear gospel of grace for over 20 years. Here is Pastor Tim Kelley.

Tim Kelley: He broke the father's heart and the father let him. He jeopardized the father's well-being and the father let him. Not only did the son break every cultural norm and standard, the father broke every cultural norm and standard for the son. What he did for the son goes way beyond. He risked his own reputation, he probably became a topic of disdain by the community, and in some cases, might have even been blamed for the son's behavior.

Maybe you've seen some kids that didn't quite turn out like you'd expect. You look at the parents and you look at the kid and you think, "That kid doesn't look like he came from those parents." Those parents are dignified, they're respectful, but this child went the other way in his adulthood. You think, "I wonder what went wrong. I wonder what those parents did wrong. Maybe they never disciplined him. That was probably the problem. They probably never held that young man accountable. They probably were hypocrites at home and he's just acting out on their hypocrisy." So we look at the byproduct of this child's life and obviously people just don't become that way by themselves. There must be a parent to blame or a lack of parenting.

Spurgeon said the glory of God is found in His grace. Now this young man was in a Gentile land. He basically partied his money away rather quickly. He probably bought some temporary friends. Maybe you've seen that happen before. I've watched it with my own two eyes. They bought some friends and they're dear friends, they're good friends, they're faithful friends until you run out of money, and then they're not there anymore. So he finds himself needing a job. Culturally speaking, he went to a man that raised swine and said, "I need a job."

This Gentile guy goes, "I don't really want to hire you." You've seen this; it still works the same way in business and industry today. I have this employee, he's not doing his job, I don't want to fire him because then he's going to get unemployment. So I'm just going to cut his hours or give him some really awful job until he quits. Maybe that's happened to you. Well, here's the Gentile guy. I don't want to hire this guy, I don't want to pay this guy. He's a Jew, let him feed the pigs. He won't last long. And he's watching the pigs eat the husks that were only edible to the pigs. Humans couldn't eat those things or digest them. But the pigs are fat and they're happy, their bellies are full, and he's starving. He can't find a meal.

So he comes up with this idea: "I'm going to go home and become part of my father's family." Even his hired servants eat better than him. He was going to be hired by the father to work the land as a hired hand. Every day he'd come in and he'd work hard for the father and he'd repay his father back. This sounds good, but do you know what he's saying? "I don't need grace. Just give me a little break and I'll work really hard. I'll clean up my act. I'll show them that I can make this happen. I'll show them that I'm not the loser they think I am, the screw-up they think I am. I'll show my older brother. I'll pay my father back every penny so they won't have any excuse to reject me in the family anymore. I'll just learn a trade, I'll work really hard, self-reliance. I'm going to make it right and restore myself to my family."

He missed the glory of the story. Hard work wasn't going to restore him. A newfound integrity wasn't going to restore him. A new work ethic, a new attitude wasn't going to restore him. Grace. This is what Jesus is trying to get across to these Pharisees. Grace is going to restore this young man. Something he could not earn. Let me give you a couple of definitions we used in week one. Grace is to receive something without earning it or deserving it once given. Grace does not need to be recompensed or paid back. If you pay me back, then it's not grace. It's an arrangement. Grace can never be attached to a debt or an obligation, or it will cease to be grace.

The father saw him and was filled with compassion. His heart was moved. That word there, "compassion," is a very strong word in the original language. The father's heart was broken. He thought, "My heart won't be complete until I'm reconciled with my son. I'm not compelled to do it, I need to do this. I need to have relationship with my child. I'll lay myself on the line to have that relationship. I don't care what my child has done or where he's coming from, I'll lay myself down so I can have relationship with my son."

Normally, the father and the village would declare him dead. If he did come back, he could be heckled by the kids and the other villagers could have even executed capital punishment on him. There would have been prerequisites for his restoration to the family, like paying everything back and working hard. He would have been treated as a social outcast for a long, long time until he proved his mettle, until he proved himself that he was worthy of being accepted again in society. And that's why he didn't go right away. He looked at that rejection that he knew he faced and thought, "I'll feed pigs. I don't want to face those religious people. They're going to strip me of my dignity, never forget what I've done, and only see me for my failure."

The father saw him from far away and was deeply moved. He lifted up his robe. Culturally speaking, men over 25 did not show their ankles. Men over 25 did not run. They were dignified, they were respectful, they were elders in the village. You didn't see their ankles. But this dad took his robe because he couldn't run and sprinted towards his son. Everybody was watching him: the kids, the community. People are talking. "Look at the father. There's the son, that jerk, that sinner who wasted the estate and squandered his father's love and left the family and dissed us. There he is, but look at the father. What's he doing? Shouldn't we hold this kid accountable? Shouldn't we throw some dust at him and insult him? Shouldn't we hear what he has to say for himself first?" The father doesn't wait. He sees his son, lifts up his tunic, and runs.

He kissed him repeatedly and said, "Get him the best robe." Do you know who owned the best robe? The father did. "Get him my robe, go into my closet." Even the servants didn't like him because they loved the father. You can see the servants grumbling. "I don't want nothing for that kid. I saw what he did to you. He hurt you, he left you, he forsook you, and you want me to go serve him?" "That's my son! Get him my robe, give him my ring, my family's signet. That's my son! Get him some shoes. That's my son, and he wants to come home and he's welcome here."

My friends, that's how God feels about those who are weak. That's how God sees those who sin greatly. And who are those who sin greatly? You. That's how He sees us. He loves the addicted, addicted to whatever you're addicted to, whether it be a substance or a picture. He loves those who are weak, He loves the troubled, He loves the homosexual, He loves the inconsistent, He loves the weak, He loves the sinners, He loves the irreligious. I'll say it again: He loves the sinners, which should make up all of us. God feels this deep love for every one of us.

Sin is not about broken rules. That's what we think it is. Sin is about breaking the relationship. That's a big difference. We all break the rules. The self-reliant think, "I can do this, I'm not weak." Yes, you are. The Pharisees weren't weak. He gave a whole parable to straighten them out. It's about breaking relationship. That's what sin is. It severs the relationship between father and son, child and God. Grace acts. We are robed in righteousness, Christ's righteousness.

Do you know what the biggest scandal was? The father killed the fatted calf, the prime rib. They killed it for special occasions. The father's response to the son was a greater scandal than the son's sin in that culture. Yeah, the son sinned and he sinned greatly. What he did was shocking. But they understood it because it was that human temptation. But how this father treated him when he returned was different. "What do you mean, Dad? You should punish him. How could you undignify yourself? Judge him, punish him, reject him, lecture him, shame him. Just don't make it easy for him to come home. It can't be that easy. He has to pay something, right? Make him pay, embarrass him at least a little bit. Don't shame yourself and raise your tunic and run, show your ankles and run and kiss him and lavish him. He should be punished. He is guilty. Not a little bit, either."

If you've been backslidden for years, come home. Just come home. The father's waiting for you. If you've been backslidden for five minutes, just come home. The father's waiting for you. It's safe. It's okay. He understood you before you left, and he understands you now that you've come home. If you're searching for truth, just come home. If you've been falling flat on your face, been inconsistent, or been missing in action, just come home just as you are and see what grace really can do for your life. If you're here today and you're not a Christian, why not? Why would you want to reject this? You may not have your answers, I understand. But understand this: Christianity is not about a bunch of things to do and not to do. It's about a relationship that the Father in heaven wants to have with you.