The Running Father

Good morning, everyone. It's good to be here this morning. I want to greet you in the name of Jesus.

For a text this morning, you can turn to Luke chapter 15.

We're going to look at a parable today, a parable that Jesus told. It probably is one of the most famous parables, probably the most well-known. And as a preface here, I do want to give credit to a source that I used here. His name is Michael Ramston. Michael Ramston had been connected with Ravi Zacharias Ministries.

But the reason I appreciate his insight into this is he grew up in the Middle East as a Westerner, but he grew up in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia, Cyprus. As a non-Christian, he grew up very secular. But being that he grew up there gives him a real insight into the Eastern mentality and the way of thinking, which when we look at some of these parables, that really adds a dimension to it that sort of goes above my head when I read it.

And so I want to give him credit. Some of the thoughts I have this morning came from him. I'd like to think just a little bit about the setting here. Verse 1 says, "Then all the tax collectors and sinners drew near to him to hear him.

And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, 'This man receives sinners and eats with them.'" So he speaks this parable. So we have this setting here. We have two groups of people. We have the tax collectors and the sinners being drawn to Jesus, interested in what he has to say.

And then we have the scribes and Pharisees. It says they were murmuring or muttering. The word literally means kind of to mutter, under your breath. What were they muttering about? Well, the big question that was going through everyone's mind was, was Jesus really the Messiah? He was making that claim. In John chapter 4, when if we just think about that, that's when Jesus was talking to the lady at the well. And during the course of the conversation, the woman said to him, "I know that Messiah is coming, who is called the Christ. And when he comes, he will tell us all things." And Jesus said, "I that speak to you am he." So Jesus was making this claim that he was the Messiah.

But it was creating a problem in the minds of the scribes and Pharisees because he wasn't holy enough. He was contaminating himself by being with the associating with the publicans and sinners, the tax collectors and sinners. And last week in our Sunday school, we talked just a little bit about the whole idea of when the children of Israel mingled with the people around them, it ended up contaminating them. It ended up causing them to become idol worshipers and all that. And after the captivity, we see this really strong emphasis among the Syriac Jewish people that we're not gonna associate with them, we're not gonna contaminate ourselves. And so we have all these things about particular washings and things in order to separate themselves from the people around them.

And there was actually a there was another sect of Jews that we don't hear much about, the Essenes, the Qumran community. And they lived in caves outside the city. It was from those folks that we received the Dead Sea Scrolls. They preserved that. But they took this to a very extreme, to the point where they would bring have people bring their food and put it at the entrance to the cave, and then they would wait till they would disappear, and then they would come out and get that so they would not be contaminated.

And the Pharisees said, "No, no, no. We don't have to take it to that extreme. But we need to be very, very, very, very careful about who we associate. And we need to wash our hands and be clean because we don't want to contaminate ourselves." And here was Jesus coming along. And what's he doing? He's sitting down and eating with sinners. And so they're like he can't in their preconceived ideas, he can't be the Messiah. He's not strict enough.

And so that's the setting we have here. We have these two groups of people. We have the tax collectors and sinners who are hearing something. They're attracted to it. There's a message that's being brought forth. And then we have the Pharisees and scribes who have this already have a wall erected and saying, "This we're not gonna there's something isn't" I mean, we have that accusation against Jesus many times. You know If you knew what kind of woman this was, you wouldn't even have anything to do with her. So obviously, you can't be who you claim you are. So that's the setting. And then it says, "Jesus told them a parable." So this whole passage is one parable, one parable with four different parts.

And he talks about four lost things. And I've mentioned this here before, but I'm gonna mention it again. You know There's something about when something becomes lost that it takes on a significance, that we don't place on it otherwise. And you know we all carry around in our pockets keys and a wallet in our back pocket. Most of you ladies have a purse.

And we generally don't walk around and say," you know Just so you know, I have this thing here. It's got some value to it. And these keys are really important." I mean, we just don't do that. But when that becomes lost, all of a sudden, it takes on a terrific significance. "Have you seen my wallet? I lost my wallet. I need my wallet. I know I had it. I know the last place I had it, but it's missing." And you might and if you search for it and you find it, you may even call up the person that you talked to and say, "Did you know? I just wanted to let you know. I found the wallet."

We've had prayer here, special prayer for things that have been lost. And I remember Josh McConaughey at one point lost his keys. And he came to prayer meeting and said, "I know this is a strange request, but I lost my keys that are very important. And we don't know where they're at." And they realized that they had fallen off the hook into the slop bucket. And somehow they remembered that. And they went and checked, and sure enough, they were in the slop pile. And he came back later and he said, "Rejoice with me. My keys were found."

So when something is lost, it takes on a terrific significance. And it's no different here in this story today. So Jesus told this parable. And he the first part is, he says, "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.'" So one of the things Michael Ramston mentioned is the first time he took his wife, who was born in England, to the Middle East.

And they went up on the mountainside to have lunch. And while they were there, a shepherd came along with his flock. And it was on a joining hillside. And the shepherd sat down under a tree to eat his lunch. And before too long, another shepherd with another flock came. And he saw his friend under the tree and he thought, "Well, I'll join him for lunch." And so he joins him for lunch. And then a third one came along. So there we have three shepherds and three flocks. And the flock very soon mingled into one huge flock.

And they were there for about an hour. And then the one shepherd gets up. And his wife was like, "How's this gonna work? How in the world do they ever know whose sheep are who and what's what?" And he walked about 20 yards away and he called out. And it was like they were electrified.

Some of the about a third of the sheep jumped up and they ran towards him. And before long, he started walking away and the flock followed him. And we understand now why in John chapter 10, he says, "My sheep, hear my voice." They don't know the voice of a stranger.

And so he led them away. And so how does a sheep get lost? Well, a sheep gets lost when it wanders away from the master's voice. I mean, he's beyond that. He's beyond the sound of the master's voice. And so what happens is, as the day fades, and all of a sudden they realize and they can't hear that voice and they become very, very afraid.

And they tend to a sheep tends to go behind a tree or a rock or something. And they just kind of freeze at that point. And they just sit there and they shake and they cry. They actually cry out.

They literally become petrified like a stone. And so this picture here is one of the sheep out of the ninety-nine has become lost. He's wandered outside of the father's voice or the shepherd's voice. And he's out. He's alone. He can't move. He's frozen in place and he's bleeding terrifically.

And it says the shepherd leaves the ninety-nine and he goes out into the wilderness. And he searches until he finds it, until he finds it. And when he finds it, he lays it on his shoulders. Why do you think he lays it on his shoulders?

Remember, this sheep is petrified. The lamb is terrified. It can't walk. It's and he could have put a cord around its neck, a rope. And you know for me, you know to be put to be inconvenienced, to be put in that kind of position, I think my heart at that point would have been a little bit, "You stupid thing. What did you do? I mean, what kind of attitude would I have towards the sheep?" I think I'd have put a rope around and said, "You come on. Drag it along."

No. We see a picture of extreme tenderness where he the shepherd picks up the lamb and puts it on his shoulders and takes it back, takes it back home. He says he goes home. And this is another thing that I think is really, really important to keep in mind as we think about these stories, is this all takes place in a community context, in a town.

Sometimes we picture this sort of happening somewhere out in the wilderness somewhere. But no, he brings it back to the community, back to the town. And he calls together his neighbors and friends and they have a celebration. They have a party.

And the question I want to ask us is, who is the person being honored at the party?

Do you think the sheep that was lost was the guest of honor? Do you think they brought him into the house and put him up on the table? And everyone his neighbors come in and said, "What a lovely sheep. What a good sheep this was."

No. The person of honor was the person who took the effort, the shepherd, the good shepherd who went out and found the sheep. That's where the honor was. The congratulations, "Congratulations. You found your sheep."

The return of the lost, the reconciliation that was there.

Part 2, or the continuation of the same parable, "What woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the peace which I lost. Likewise I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.'" So here we have a woman. She has ten coins and she loses one of them.

You know In our society, well, you know well, we lost a few.

You know We don't take that attitude towards our children. So let's say we have a picnic and we're out in the along the edge of the woods. And somewhere during the course of the afternoon, we realize one of our children's missing.

And we say, "Well, four out of five. Not too bad. I mean, not a problem." No. That urgency that we find, we must find it. And we see that same urgency here. It wasn't like she said, "Well, I still have nine coins left." And we don't know what the situation is. Maybe this lady was a widow. Maybe that was her rent money and that was all she had left. I mean, she couldn't make her rent. Or maybe it was part of a dowry. Whatever it was, it was a cause of great concern that she finds this coin.

It sort of reminds me of a situation back during the summer. I went to one of my customers' houses. And I got there. The lady met me at the door. She was kind of disheveled and didn't look so great. And she said, "I've been up all night. I can't sleep." She said, "We went on vacation a couple weeks ago."

And she was an older woman, elderly woman. And she said they apparently had a substantial amount of cash in the house. And she was worried that it was not gonna be safe or someone would get in there and steal it while she was gone. So she hid it. She hid it in two places. She separated it into two piles. And she hid this amount of cash in two different places. And she found the one, but she could not remember where she hid the other part of the money. And she said, "I've been looking all night. I've been turning this house upside down. I've been checking everywhere to find out where this money is." And she's like, "I can't sleep about it.

I'm just" she said, "I'm about losing my mind." And she's a kind of a, I would say, high-strung kind of a person. And so she's trying to keep it safe and she lost it. And I don't know what exactly the outcome of that was. But when I left, she was still searching frantically for her lost money.

What's she do? She turns the house upside down. She lights the lamp. She sweeps the house. And she searches. And again, we see this happening in a community context where she calls her friends and neighbors, the people around her. I mean, I can imagine she would have maybe called or talked to some of her neighbors and said, "Have you seen? I lost a coin.

I had ten and now I only have nine. I've lost it. Do you know where it's at? Have you seen it you know in your travels around the town? I mean, maybe it" no, we haven't seen it. And when she finds it, she calls them up and says, "Come rejoice with me. I found it. I found the peace that was lost." And again, we see restoration.

And again, I want to ask the question, who's the focus of the celebration, of the party? Did they take the coin and put it in a little box with some velvet right there you know and in a place of display? And that was where you know the focus was? No. The focus was on the woman who paid the price, who did the searching.

And she's the one where the congratulations were placed. And then he tells a third story.

This one gets a little more complex. He says in verse 11, "And he said, 'A certain man had two sons.'" Now often this parable is known as the parable of the prodigal son. But it's a parable about two sons.

"And the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.'" So he divided to them his livelihood. And there's a word there I want you to especially keep in mind. He divided to them his livelihood. "And not many days after, the younger son gathered altogether, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.

But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land and he began to be in want. Then he went and joined himself to the citizens of that country and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate and no one gave him anything.

But when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare? And I perish with hunger. I will rise and go to my father and will say to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.'" And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight and am no longer worthy to be called your son.'

But the father said to his servants, 'Bring out the best robe and put it on him and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet and bring the fatted calf here and kill it and let us eat and be merry. For this my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found.'" And they began to be merry.

So it's a story of two sons. The younger son says to his father, "Give me the portion of goods that fall to me." So we all know what happens when uh in a normal situation, a a father dies. And after he dies, he divvies out his uh his inheritance to the to his children.

Here the younger the son has the attitude of basically, "I want what I want. You haven't died yet. I wish you would die, but you haven't yet. So give me ahead of time the portion that belongs to me."

Now to us in the West, that seems rude.

But in the East, that's unthinkable. Remember, this was a patriarchal society where it was everything was very much patriarchal. And the honor and respect that was given to a father is something that we here in the West don't understand as much.

And so he was being very insolent. And you know in most cases in the East, an insolent son like that, I mean, you would think he would the father would take and beat him with a stick and say, "What in the world do you think you're doing?"

Because it brings to the family shame. And again, this is a shame-driven culture where it's very important that you don't bring shame on the name of the family. And you don't bring shame on the family.

It brings shame on the father. It brings shame on the whole family, this unusual request that you know he would do this. And again, I want you to think about this takes place in a community. And from what I understand, um the land was so the farmable land was so precious that um they didn't want to live on it and take up the land. So they what they would do would they would each of the families would have their land out in the outlying areas. But they all lived in a little town. And so they would come into the town and that's where they actually lived. So they all lived together in the community. So when this happened, everyone knew about it.

I mean, the gossip mill, the rumor mill was out there. Everyone knows. And just to give you a little idea of how severely this would have been looked on, I want you to turn to Deuteronomy 21.

There was instruction given for a rebellious son, beginning in verse 18. Pretty serious stuff here. "If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and who, when they have chastened him, will not heed them, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city, to the gate of his city. And they shall say to the elders of his city, 'This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey our voice. He is a glutton and a drunkard.' Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones.

So you shall put away the evil from among you and all Israel shall hear in fear." So a son that acted this way, that is really how they should be treated according to the law. The amazing thing is that the father complied. The father said, "Okay."

It says, "So he divided to them his livelihood." And typically the younger would get about a third and the older son would get about two-thirds of his father's property.

And then it makes a point here of saying not many days after. So this younger son took everything that his father gave him. And his father just didn't hand him a wad of cash. It was his assets, part of his farm, maybe part of his land, livestock. Well, you can't transfer that. And so what did it say? He gathered altogether. And the idea there is he liquidated. He had a sale.

And what happens when you have to liquidate something really quickly? Is it a good is it usually a good financial? No. Generally speaking, you say something like this. You say, "I have this piece of equipment here, this donkey here that has been really good. But I need cash really quick. And normally it would be worth $2,000. But I tell you what, I need the money. I need the cash." $1,500 and takes it. And people say, "Sure. You know That's a good bargain." And they take it.

Remember, this is taking place in a community where everyone is looking on here and seeing this, tremendous shame being brought upon this family. But he did it. He liquidated his assets. And it says he beat it for a far country, sold stuff at under-market value, gathered together everything, and goes to a different country. We see a young man that was driven by his desires.

He needs what he thinks he wants. And he wanted independence. And he wanted just to be able to live life as he wanted. Far country here talks it lets us under the impressions that it was a Gentile place. He left his even left his ethnic background. And he goes to the Gentiles.

It says he wasted his possessions with prodigal living. The Old King James says, "Righteous living." The word there means wildly extravagant. It just means to spend money like it there's no end to it. It means he ate in the best restaurants.

He wore the latest fashions, the best clothes, had the best transport. Michael Ramston says he had a two-hump camel instead of a one-hump camel, with silk grains and polished tools and brass rings on the harness. I mean, he just lived it up. And when he had spent all, when you start spending money like that, it doesn't long until it's gone.

And then a famine came and he began to be in want.

He began to be in want.

Now what would make the most sense at this point? So you're you find yourself in this situation. You're away from home. You're among the Gentiles. Your money's gone. Wouldn't it make the most sense just to say, "Well, I'll go back home? I'll just go back home?"

There was a problem that he had. And that is, again, I think we don't understand the immensity of what this young man had done to his father and to his family. He burned his bridges. This was a community. And the whole community takes up this cause. There's a ceremony called qazazah.

The word means cutting off. And when a Jewish boy lost his inheritance to a Gentile, he was not allowed to return or have anything to do with the community or his family again. And if that person ever came back to the city, the elders of the city we sort of see that there in Deuteronomy. The elders of the city were supposed to deal with this kind of person. The elders of the city were to meet that young man. And they were to break a clay pot filled with bitter herbs at his feet and say, "You are an exile forever. This city is closed to you.

You've burned your bridges."

And oftentimes the children would line up and they would throw stones at this young man. So he had a problem. He couldn't just go back home because he was not welcome there, not with his family and not with the community.

So he says, "Well, I guess I need to do something." So he in doubt of desperation, he joined himself to a he hired himself out to one of the people of that land. And they sent him out to feed pigs.

And we just know how pigs were to Jews. They were the worst thing. And how why and apparently even at that, whatever wages he was getting was not enough to keep his stomach full. Remember, this is a young man that's driven by his desires, what he wanted for himself.

And so it's interesting here. It says he began to be in want. He joined himself to a citizen of that country. And he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate. And no one gave him anything. And when he came to himself, he said, "How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare? And I perish with hunger." What's he thinking about here?

His stomach. "I don't have enough to eat." He's driven by he's a person that's driven by his desires.

"I'm hungry. I need to get my belly full." And that's quite a motivation.

And so what does he do? He starts to think, "How can I how can I get my stomach full?"

And he rehearses this speech in his mind. "Yes, I know that I've ruined it with my community. But maybe I can go back as a hired servant. Maybe that's what I can do. Because if I'm a hired servant yeah, I'm no longer a son. I'm an outcast from the community. But my father's hired servants have enough to eat. And even more so, they're even they have more than that."

And so he decides that he's gonna go back and make this appeal. Now the question was, was this a genuine repentance at this point?

I don't think the Jewish people that were listening, the scribes and the Pharisees, would have been overly impressed because they'd heard this before. Remember what Pharaoh said when the plagues came on him? "I've sinned against God. I've sinned against heaven and against you all. And you just go do your thing." And then he reneged on that. You know So they went and he "No, no, no." And he'd chase after them. And they'd heard that before.

So I'm not sure they were at this point, they were overly impressed by what this young man said.

You know All of us, and I'd say especially us as men, we don't like to take the blame. And we make statements like this, "I'm sorry if what I did made you feel bad." That's not a real repentance.

It's different than saying, "I'm wrong."

And at this point, this young man is still thinking about his stomach. And he's not really thinking too much about the broken relationship between his father. He had spurned his father's love. And he had broken that relationship. And so he's saying, "I'm gonna go back. And perhaps he'll accept me as one of the hired servants. And I can get enough food to fill my belly. Make me like one of your hired servants." And so he gets up. And he arises. And he goes to his father.

It says when he was a long way off. And I always wondered about this part of the story. Why was the father watching? Why was the father looking? And I think it's because of that qazazah that we talked about.

Once that young man came into the city, he was in the hands of the elders. And he was forever shamed.

And normally when that ceremony took place, the father was not to be seen. The mother sometimes would come and make a plea for her son. But the father wouldn't because of the terrific shame that was involved.

But this father, when this young man was a long way off remember, this is taking place in a town, in a village, where everyone's watching. And the father's watching. And he sees his son coming a long way off. And there was one option, one option that the father had. And that was if he could get his son before he

came into the town, he could bypass all that.

And the father, it says, he runs. He pulls up his robes and runs. And they say in Arabic and in some of the original languages, this story is known as the story of the running father.

And that's the title of the message this morning, is "The Running Father." You know what you have to do when you run? You ladies know this. If you run, you gotta hit your if you have they wore robes that went to the floor.

To their and to run, they had to pull them up. Otherwise you trip over it. And it just it doesn't work. And for a man to do that in this culture was considered very, very shameful.

Michael Ramston said in Saudi Arabia, a young boy could wear shorts to the age of 12. After that point, he had to be completely covered. And there was actually laws about the priests and the fields, the particular kinds of fields that they could and could not walk through. They were supposed to take the edges of the field because walking through the fields, there was a possibility that thorns or the plowed field or whatever, they would have to raise their and expose the lower part of their legs. It was very shameful.

And yet this father, who lives in this town with everybody watching, and he knows that this son has already brought tremendous shame upon him, he doesn't care. He pulls up his things. And he runs to his father, to his son.

He runs through the town, past all the people that are watching, out the city gates, and meets his son. And he says he fell on his neck and kissed him. And again, we don't understand the significance, I don't think, here in the East, in the West, of a kiss and what it means.

Slaves in the East would kiss the feet of their master. So they would kneel down and kiss their feet. A student would kiss the hand of their master, their teacher. So they would reach and kiss their hand. But brothers, equals, would kiss on the neck or on the cheek.

And it says the father fell on his neck and kissed him, which means there's only one place to do that. And that's on the cheek. And the amazing thing is, the father did this before the son could say anything.

I'd like to read Romans chapter 5, very familiar verse.

Romans chapter 5, verses 6 to 11, "For when we were still without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet perhaps for a good man, someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrated His own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than, having been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation."

The father offers this great forgiveness before the son has a chance to say anything. And that's what reconciliation is all about. "And the son then said to Him, 'Father, I've sinned against heaven and in Your sight. And I'm no longer worthy to be called Your son.'" And I believe at this point is when the real repentance took place.

Because you notice what he didn't say. What part of his rehearsed speech did he let out? "Make me as one of Your hired servants."

And the father offers forgiveness. And he did it liberally, right? We heard about that this morning, with liberality.

And the son accepted it. You know And that's the thing that's important, is God is there to offer us forgiveness, even while we were sinners. He's there. He's the one that's paying the price. He's the one that's bore the shame, it says.

There's a story of a man who committed a horrible murder. He committed a horrible crime and was sentenced to life in prison. He had a very, very powerful and important brother who managed to secure a pardon for him. But before he was released, the brother that got the pardon visited his brother who was in prison. And he asked him, he said, "When you get out, what do you plan to do?"

And the brother that was in prison said, "The first thing I'm gonna do is find that judge that sentenced me here and kill him. And the second thing I'm gonna do is find that witness that put me here.

And I'm gonna do away with him." And the brother turned around and walked out with the pardon still in his pocket and said, "You know It's over. It's done." And you know that is the possibility that that can happen. Jesus is there offering all this great this great forgiveness. And even while we were didn't realize we needed it. I mean, the young man was still thinking about his belly. And that was motivating him until he met his father on the road and realized that what really was the the problem was that he had broken that relationship with his father. That was really his major, major sin. And at that point, he recognized that. And we need to recognize that.

Or that pardon doesn't mean anything. What did the father do? He puts a ring on his finger, symbolizing the fact that you're part of the family again. Remember, by rights, he had nothing to do with the family, nothing to do with the community. But he puts a ring on his finger. That signifies that you're now accepted back into the family.

Signifies sonship. He put shoes on his feet. Slaves went barefoot. And he killed the fatted calf, which was reserved for the most joyous, lavish celebration that you could do. And rejoicing with the father, he called his neighbors and friends, everyone in the community, and said, "Come rejoice with me. My son was dead. And he's alive again. He was lost and is found."

But the parable wasn't over yet.

We have part four of the story, the older son. "Now, his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, 'Your brother has come. And because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.' But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. So he answered and said to his father, 'Lo these many years I have been serving you. I never transgressed your commandment at any time. And yet you never gave me a young goat that I might make marry with my friends.

But as soon as this son of yours came and was devoured your livelihood with who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.' And he said to him, 'Son, you are always with me. And all that I have is yours. It was right that we should make marry and be glad. For your brother was dead and is alive again and was lost and is found.'" So the older son was out in the field. Remember I said that the fields were out away from the town. So he's out working on the field, the family field, what's left of it, because remember, the younger son had probably sold off some of it.

And he comes in. And he hears music. And the closer he gets into the town, he realizes that the celebration is coming from his own house.

And so he calls a servant or one of the things, said, "What's going on here?" Well, he said, "Your brother's back. And the father's received him."

Here we realize that the father really had two lost sons because his relationship with his father was broken as well, broken and bitter. And I think what he was remembering was the shame, shame on the family. And the father had it says the father received him back into the family.

It says he would not go in. And the father comes out. And he pleads with him and says, "Come in."

And this young man said, "You never gave me anything." Was that true? What did it say at the beginning of the parable? "He divided unto them his goods."

This son of yours he wouldn't even call him a brother has devoured his livelihood with harlots. Now, was that true?

He may have. The Bible simply says he went out and lived an extravagant life. But they didn't have fax machines and telephones and cell phones. This older brother had completely lost contact with his brother. He didn't even know what was going on until he asked the servants. And he'd have you ever been so angry that you start making stuff up, make it sound as bad as you possibly can? "This son of yours has devoured all his living with harlots."

And the father says, "All that I have is yours. All that I have is yours." It's appropriate to celebrate because your brother was lost and is found. He was dead. And he's now alive. Our relationship is restored.

And then we go into chapter 16. And it says he said to his disciples, "There was a certain rich. Wait a minute. How does this story end?"

We don't generally watch films or movies. But we've all probably seen them at one time or another where you get to the and then it says the end. And it scrolls down. And then the credits come up. And that's kind of what happens here.

And the story's unended. We don't really exactly know.

What about the older brother? Now, if I go back to the beginning, we have two groups of people here. We have the tax collectors and sinners. And we have the Pharisees and the scribes. And this parable that Jesus is telling is a parable about Himself.

He's the Good Shepherd. He's the one that paid the price and goes out on the mountains and searches until he finds. He's like the woman who searches until she finds and calls a celebration. And he's the running father. He paid the price. He bore the shame and the rejection of the town in order to save us.

And I think the tax collectors and sinners recognized who they were. And I believe if the scribes and Pharisees were on us, they recognized who they were as well.

And I guess the challenge for us in this parable is that each one of us are writing the ending to this story. Where do we find ourselves in this? Because there's a reality. And the reality is that we're all lost without Jesus, that sin has broken. I mean, we see that what happened in the garden, that relationship with the Father was broken. "Adam, where art thou?" And he was hiding and running from his I just want to read a couple of very familiar verse in Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53, verses 5 and 6 says, "But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon him. And by his stripes, we are healed."

And listen to this: "All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned every one to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all." We all have need for Him to come and find us. The reality is, without Jesus, we're all lost.

What ending are you writing this morning?

In Luke 19, there was a tax collector. His name was Zacchaeus. He wrote a good ending to his story because he searched for Jesus. He climbed up in the tree. And Jesus saw him and says, "Today I'm coming to your house." And Jesus came there. And we see that reconciliation taking place. And we see repentance. We see Zacchaeus making a 180 in his life. And from that point on, he served Jesus.

And then Jesus says in that story, verse 10 of Luke 19, "For the Son of Man has come to seek and save that which was lost." That was His whole purpose of coming, is to seek and save that which was lost. And that's all of us this morning. There's not a single one of us here who are outside the need for that relationship to be restored.

But we can make a choice to be like that older brother. "I've done everything okay. I really don't need you," become bitter and reject the very thing that will be our salvation. And none of us want to be there this morning.

What ending are you writing? I'd like to close with a passage in Revelation, chapter 3, verses 14. This is the warning to the church at Laodicea, verses 14 to 22: "And to the angel of the church of Laodiceans write, 'These things says the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of creation of God. I know your works, that you are neither caught cold nor hot. I would wish that you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth. Because you say, 'I am rich,' have become wealthy and have need of nothing and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.

I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich, and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed. And anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chaste. And therefore, be zealous and repent." And this is the verse I really wanted. "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and dine with him, and he with me. To him who overcomes, I will grant to sit with me on my throne, as I also overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the church." Jesus is standing and knocking.

He's searching for us. He wants to restore that relationship. He's already paid the price. And the question is, are we going to accept that this morning? And how do we see ourselves? As needy? Or could it be possible that we could be like that older brother?

There's the song that we sometimes sing. And I'm going to read the verse that says, "I sought the Lord. And afterward I knew he'd moved my soul to seek him, seeking me. It was not I that found a Savior true. No, I was found by thee."

And I'm just so thankful this morning that we have a loving Father. This parable just really, really shows us the love of our Father and how He wants and longs for us to have that relationship with Him restored to what it needs to be. And I trust that everyone of us today will find us in that position where we were lost. And now we're found, that we can enter into the feasting and that celebration that He wants to have.