00:00:00 --> 00:00:02 Well, it's great to be with you again this evening.
00:00:02 --> 00:00:05 I just want to reiterate what Sam has said already.
00:00:05 --> 00:00:09 If anything I say tonight resonates with you,
00:00:09 --> 00:00:10 we want to give you the opportunity
00:00:10 --> 00:00:13 and we want to encourage you to respond in some way.
00:00:14 --> 00:00:16 And Sam's going to talk about that more afterwards.
00:00:16 --> 00:00:19 But I want to begin by making a confession.
00:00:20 --> 00:00:22 I hate reading instructions.
00:00:23 --> 00:00:26 I know that shouldn't come as a shock, given that I'm a man,
00:00:27 --> 00:00:28 but I hate reading instructions
00:00:28 --> 00:00:30 and I especially hate reading maps.
00:00:31 --> 00:00:33 And I want to tell you a story.
00:00:33 --> 00:00:34 It's a little embarrassing.
00:00:35 --> 00:00:38 One day I applied for a job as an accountant.
00:00:38 --> 00:00:40 That's not the embarrassing bit, by the way.
00:00:41 --> 00:00:45 And I organised an interview with a recruitment consultant.
00:00:46 --> 00:00:47 And I thought...
00:00:47 --> 00:00:50 I was on the phone, I was trying to take the address down,
00:00:50 --> 00:00:52 and I thought, yeah, I've got the address in my head,
00:00:52 --> 00:00:55 and lo and behold, the time comes around to go to the interview
00:00:55 --> 00:00:56 and I've forgotten the address.
00:00:56 --> 00:01:01 Now, I think I know roughly where this guy's office is,
00:01:01 --> 00:01:05 so at the right time I head out to try and find this office
00:01:05 --> 00:01:07 and I don't seem to be making much progress.
00:01:08 --> 00:01:11 And about ten minutes after the interview was supposed to have started,
00:01:11 --> 00:01:14 I get a phone call from this recruitment consultant.
00:01:15 --> 00:01:16 And he says to me,
00:01:16 --> 00:01:17 Matt, are you lost?
00:01:18 --> 00:01:20 And I say, I'm not lost.
00:01:20 --> 00:01:22 I'm just directionally challenged.
00:01:22 --> 00:01:29 And I realise that I'm often reluctant to admit
00:01:29 --> 00:01:34 I often don't recognise that I'm lost until it's too late.
00:01:35 --> 00:01:38 And this is about a story about a guy just like me
00:01:38 --> 00:01:40 who's reluctant to admit that he's lost.
00:01:41 --> 00:01:44 In fact, he doesn't realise that he's lost until it's too late.
00:01:45 --> 00:01:47 Now, to appreciate this young man's situation,
00:01:47 --> 00:01:48 we've got to go back in time
00:01:48 --> 00:01:52 and understand just how fragile life can be
00:01:52 --> 00:01:56 in Middle Eastern culture 2 years ago.
00:01:57 --> 00:02:00 If you were in a wealthy family
00:02:00 --> 00:02:01 who maybe owned a farm,
00:02:03 --> 00:02:07 you might have hundreds of silos full of grain.
00:02:08 --> 00:02:10 And if you have a bad couple of years,
00:02:10 --> 00:02:12 if the harvest fails a couple of times,
00:02:13 --> 00:02:15 you could go broke very, very quickly.
00:02:15 --> 00:02:19 There's a very real danger of starving to death.
00:02:20 --> 00:02:24 So, when this young man sets out from home,
00:02:25 --> 00:02:27 blows his cash on fast living
00:02:27 --> 00:02:30 and finds himself working as a slave
00:02:30 --> 00:02:33 in a land that's struck by famine,
00:02:34 --> 00:02:35 he's in very, very dire straits.
00:02:36 --> 00:02:39 He's quite literally at death's door.
00:02:42 --> 00:02:43 Just as an aside,
00:02:43 --> 00:02:46 Jews aren't allowed to eat pork.
00:02:47 --> 00:02:48 So, you know things have gotten pretty bad
00:02:48 --> 00:02:51 when you're a Jew and you long to eat pig food.
00:02:53 --> 00:02:55 But this guy's problem isn't just physical hunger.
00:02:56 --> 00:02:57 He's got deeper problems.
00:02:58 --> 00:02:59 And his problems don't actually start
00:02:59 --> 00:03:01 when he gets to the foreign country.
00:03:01 --> 00:03:03 His problems actually start at home.
00:03:04 --> 00:03:05 At the very beginning of our passage,
00:03:06 --> 00:03:06 in verse 12,
00:03:07 --> 00:03:09 the younger son asks
00:03:09 --> 00:03:11 for his share of the family's inheritance.
00:03:11 --> 00:03:14 And there's no apparent reason.
00:03:15 --> 00:03:17 He doesn't need the money.
00:03:18 --> 00:03:21 He doesn't want the money for any particular purpose.
00:03:22 --> 00:03:24 It's only later in verse 13
00:03:24 --> 00:03:26 that he actually heads to a foreign country.
00:03:28 --> 00:03:30 There's a much deeper problem involved.
00:03:30 --> 00:03:34 In Middle Eastern culture,
00:03:35 --> 00:03:37 it's very, very shameful
00:03:37 --> 00:03:39 to ask for your inheritance early.
00:03:40 --> 00:03:42 Because when you ask for your inheritance early,
00:03:42 --> 00:03:43 it's like saying this.
00:03:43 --> 00:03:45 It's like saying this to your mum and to your dad.
00:03:46 --> 00:03:48 I wish you were dead.
00:03:48 --> 00:03:52 I wish you were dead.
00:03:52 --> 00:03:53 That's what it's like.
00:03:55 --> 00:03:57 You see, the father and the son
00:03:57 --> 00:03:59 have a broken relationship.
00:04:00 --> 00:04:02 They're estranged.
00:04:02 --> 00:04:03 They're alienated from each other.
00:04:04 --> 00:04:06 And later, the physical distance between them
00:04:06 --> 00:04:09 merely underlines the emotional distance between them.
00:04:09 --> 00:04:13 So when you find yourself in a mess like this,
00:04:13 --> 00:04:15 how do you find your way out?
00:04:15 --> 00:04:17 When you've got very deep physical needs
00:04:17 --> 00:04:19 and emotional needs,
00:04:20 --> 00:04:21 what can you do?
00:04:24 --> 00:04:25 Well, there's basically,
00:04:25 --> 00:04:26 there's two solutions.
00:04:27 --> 00:04:29 The first is to try and fix the problem yourself.
00:04:31 --> 00:04:33 It's interesting that the young man in our story,
00:04:33 --> 00:04:35 he's not as useless as you might first think.
00:04:35 --> 00:04:38 He tries to fix his problems for very early on.
00:04:38 --> 00:04:39 If you have a look at verse 13,
00:04:40 --> 00:04:42 he tries to fix the hole inside him
00:04:42 --> 00:04:46 by going travelling and by living up a party lifestyle.
00:04:47 --> 00:04:49 Now, there's nothing wrong with travelling
00:04:49 --> 00:04:51 and there's nothing wrong with going to parties.
00:04:53 --> 00:04:55 But they can't fill all of our physical
00:04:55 --> 00:04:57 and our emotional needs.
00:04:58 --> 00:04:59 Then things get worse.
00:05:00 --> 00:05:02 He finds himself short of cash
00:05:02 --> 00:05:04 and so he gets a job
00:05:04 --> 00:05:06 to try and work his way out of his problems.
00:05:06 --> 00:05:08 It's a pretty menial job.
00:05:09 --> 00:05:10 Now, maybe he's hoping that
00:05:10 --> 00:05:12 he'll rise through the ranks
00:05:12 --> 00:05:15 and maybe make something of a career for himself one day.
00:05:18 --> 00:05:19 And I want to say,
00:05:20 --> 00:05:21 that's okay, work's terrific.
00:05:22 --> 00:05:23 But again,
00:05:24 --> 00:05:25 work can't fulfil
00:05:25 --> 00:05:28 all of our physical and our emotional needs.
00:05:30 --> 00:05:30 Travelling,
00:05:31 --> 00:05:31 partying,
00:05:32 --> 00:05:33 working,
00:05:34 --> 00:05:35 none of these things worked.
00:05:36 --> 00:05:38 They couldn't fix the hole
00:05:38 --> 00:05:40 inside this young man's stomach
00:05:40 --> 00:05:43 and they couldn't fix the hole
00:05:43 --> 00:05:44 inside his heart.
00:05:47 --> 00:05:47 But then,
00:05:48 --> 00:05:48 in verse 17,
00:05:49 --> 00:05:50 it says,
00:05:51 --> 00:05:52 he came to his senses.
00:05:53 --> 00:05:54 And what he does next
00:05:54 --> 00:05:55 is really critical.
00:05:55 --> 00:05:56 In verse 18, he says,
00:05:56 --> 00:05:58 I will set out
00:05:58 --> 00:06:00 and go back to my father.
00:06:03 --> 00:06:04 So I want to take a step back
00:06:04 --> 00:06:05 and ask,
00:06:05 --> 00:06:06 what's Jesus trying to tell us
00:06:06 --> 00:06:09 by telling us this story?
00:06:12 --> 00:06:13 It's this.
00:06:14 --> 00:06:15 If you're at death's door,
00:06:16 --> 00:06:17 if you have
00:06:17 --> 00:06:18 very deep physical
00:06:18 --> 00:06:20 and emotional needs,
00:06:20 --> 00:06:22 come to your senses
00:06:22 --> 00:06:26 and return to God
00:06:26 --> 00:06:28 who's your heavenly father.
00:06:30 --> 00:06:31 Sam mentioned that
00:06:31 --> 00:06:34 I told some of my story last week.
00:06:34 --> 00:06:35 If you weren't here last week,
00:06:35 --> 00:06:37 I shared that my dad's a prison chaplain.
00:06:38 --> 00:06:39 He works out at Long Bay Jail
00:06:39 --> 00:06:41 and it's been a great privilege
00:06:41 --> 00:06:43 for me to go out with him sometimes
00:06:43 --> 00:06:45 and visit some of the inmates.
00:06:46 --> 00:06:46 And one day,
00:06:46 --> 00:06:47 I went with him
00:06:47 --> 00:06:50 to the psychiatric ward
00:06:50 --> 00:06:51 and I met a guy named
00:06:51 --> 00:06:52 Anthony Waterlow.
00:06:53 --> 00:06:54 Now, Anthony suffers
00:06:54 --> 00:06:55 from schizophrenia
00:06:55 --> 00:06:58 and four years ago,
00:06:58 --> 00:07:00 he went to visit his father
00:07:00 --> 00:07:02 and his sister in Clovelly
00:07:02 --> 00:07:05 and in a schizophrenic rage,
00:07:06 --> 00:07:07 he stabbed them both to death.
00:07:09 --> 00:07:11 And he's been in the psychiatric ward
00:07:11 --> 00:07:12 ever since.
00:07:15 --> 00:07:17 But when he got to prison,
00:07:17 --> 00:07:19 two really important things happened.
00:07:20 --> 00:07:21 Someone started to treat
00:07:21 --> 00:07:22 his schizophrenia
00:07:22 --> 00:07:25 and someone gave him a Bible.
00:07:27 --> 00:07:29 And he started to read the Bible
00:07:29 --> 00:07:31 and he started to pray.
00:07:32 --> 00:07:33 And he quite literally
00:07:33 --> 00:07:35 came to his senses.
00:07:37 --> 00:07:38 After a short while,
00:07:38 --> 00:07:39 he approached my dad
00:07:39 --> 00:07:39 and said,
00:07:40 --> 00:07:40 can you start running
00:07:40 --> 00:07:42 church services for me
00:07:42 --> 00:07:42 and my friend?
00:07:45 --> 00:07:46 It's incredible.
00:07:46 --> 00:07:47 He's a guy
00:07:47 --> 00:07:49 who has killed
00:07:49 --> 00:07:51 his earthly father
00:07:51 --> 00:07:52 and sister.
00:07:54 --> 00:07:55 But now he knows God
00:07:55 --> 00:07:56 as his heavenly father.
00:07:59 --> 00:08:00 If it's possible
00:08:00 --> 00:08:01 for a man like Anthony
00:08:01 --> 00:08:03 to know God
00:08:03 --> 00:08:04 as father,
00:08:04 --> 00:08:06 it's possible for anyone.
00:08:06 --> 00:08:12 So what sort of thing
00:08:12 --> 00:08:13 can you expect
00:08:13 --> 00:08:14 when you come back
00:08:14 --> 00:08:15 to God as father?
00:08:17 --> 00:08:18 How might an earthly father
00:08:18 --> 00:08:19 respond?
00:08:20 --> 00:08:22 Perhaps you would expect him
00:08:22 --> 00:08:23 to stand there,
00:08:23 --> 00:08:24 arms folded,
00:08:25 --> 00:08:26 waiting for a pretty good
00:08:26 --> 00:08:27 explanation.
00:08:30 --> 00:08:31 Maybe he might be thinking,
00:08:31 --> 00:08:32 you know what,
00:08:32 --> 00:08:34 I'll put him to work
00:08:34 --> 00:08:35 for a few years
00:08:35 --> 00:08:36 until he learns his place
00:08:36 --> 00:08:38 and then I'll slowly
00:08:38 --> 00:08:39 let him back
00:08:39 --> 00:08:39 into the family.
00:08:42 --> 00:08:43 Maybe he's thinking,
00:08:43 --> 00:08:44 you know what,
00:08:45 --> 00:08:47 what this son has done
00:08:47 --> 00:08:49 is just too much.
00:08:49 --> 00:08:50 I can't handle it.
00:08:52 --> 00:08:53 I don't want to even
00:08:53 --> 00:08:54 acknowledge that he exists
00:08:54 --> 00:08:54 anymore.
00:08:54 --> 00:09:00 The father in this story
00:09:00 --> 00:09:02 shatters all of our
00:09:02 --> 00:09:03 expectations.
00:09:04 --> 00:09:05 Take a look with me
00:09:05 --> 00:09:05 at what happens.
00:09:06 --> 00:09:08 It's actually pretty funny.
00:09:08 --> 00:09:09 I kind of think it's
00:09:09 --> 00:09:10 almost like slapstick comedy.
00:09:12 --> 00:09:12 You see,
00:09:12 --> 00:09:13 the father sees his son
00:09:13 --> 00:09:14 a long way off
00:09:14 --> 00:09:16 and that tells you
00:09:16 --> 00:09:16 that he must have been
00:09:16 --> 00:09:17 out looking for him.
00:09:19 --> 00:09:19 And when the father
00:09:19 --> 00:09:20 sees his son,
00:09:20 --> 00:09:21 his heart literally
00:09:21 --> 00:09:22 skips a beat
00:09:22 --> 00:09:25 and he starts to run
00:09:25 --> 00:09:27 through the town.
00:09:27 --> 00:09:29 He lifts up his ropes
00:09:29 --> 00:09:30 and he starts running
00:09:30 --> 00:09:31 through the town.
00:09:31 --> 00:09:32 And again,
00:09:32 --> 00:09:33 in Middle Eastern culture,
00:09:33 --> 00:09:34 that's just something
00:09:34 --> 00:09:35 you don't do.
00:09:35 --> 00:09:35 It's very,
00:09:35 --> 00:09:36 very embarrassing
00:09:36 --> 00:09:38 for a patriarch
00:09:38 --> 00:09:39 in a family
00:09:39 --> 00:09:40 to do that sort of thing.
00:09:41 --> 00:09:42 And then the father
00:09:42 --> 00:09:45 literally throws his arms
00:09:45 --> 00:09:46 around his son's neck
00:09:46 --> 00:09:47 and he gives him
00:09:47 --> 00:09:49 a great big sloppy wet kiss.
00:09:49 --> 00:09:52 And the son hasn't
00:09:52 --> 00:09:53 even said a word.
00:09:57 --> 00:09:58 He tries to.
00:09:58 --> 00:09:59 He tries to begin
00:09:59 --> 00:10:00 his apology
00:10:00 --> 00:10:01 but the father
00:10:01 --> 00:10:02 cuts him off.
00:10:04 --> 00:10:05 And he's about
00:10:05 --> 00:10:06 to say to your father,
00:10:06 --> 00:10:07 Father,
00:10:07 --> 00:10:08 I'm not worthy
00:10:08 --> 00:10:08 to be your son anymore.
00:10:09 --> 00:10:10 But the father
00:10:10 --> 00:10:11 actually reinstates him.
00:10:13 --> 00:10:14 And he gives him
00:10:14 --> 00:10:15 an expensive robe.
00:10:15 --> 00:10:16 He puts a ring
00:10:16 --> 00:10:17 on his finger
00:10:17 --> 00:10:18 and he puts a robe
00:10:18 --> 00:10:19 on and sandals
00:10:19 --> 00:10:20 on his feet.
00:10:21 --> 00:10:22 And he throws
00:10:22 --> 00:10:23 the homecoming party
00:10:23 --> 00:10:24 of the century.
00:10:25 --> 00:10:26 The father welcomes
00:10:26 --> 00:10:27 the son
00:10:27 --> 00:10:28 with complete joy
00:10:28 --> 00:10:30 and acceptance.
00:10:31 --> 00:10:31 Why?
00:10:33 --> 00:10:34 He gives a reason
00:10:34 --> 00:10:35 in verse 24.
00:10:35 --> 00:10:36 He says,
00:10:36 --> 00:10:37 this son of mine
00:10:37 --> 00:10:37 was dead
00:10:37 --> 00:10:39 and is alive again.
00:10:40 --> 00:10:41 He was lost
00:10:41 --> 00:10:43 and is found.
00:10:45 --> 00:10:46 For all intents
00:10:46 --> 00:10:47 and purposes,
00:10:47 --> 00:10:48 this guy was dead
00:10:48 --> 00:10:49 to his father
00:10:49 --> 00:10:51 and now he's alive again.
00:10:54 --> 00:10:55 Every time
00:10:55 --> 00:10:56 someone returns
00:10:56 --> 00:10:57 to God
00:10:57 --> 00:10:59 as their heavenly father,
00:11:00 --> 00:11:01 this is how God
00:11:01 --> 00:11:02 celebrates.
00:11:03 --> 00:11:04 Just like this.
00:11:05 --> 00:11:06 He jumps for joy.
00:11:06 --> 00:11:08 He throws a huge party.
00:11:08 --> 00:11:13 If you come to your senses
00:11:13 --> 00:11:14 and return to God,
00:11:16 --> 00:11:17 he's going to accept
00:11:17 --> 00:11:17 you back.
00:11:20 --> 00:11:21 You don't have to try
00:11:21 --> 00:11:22 and gain
00:11:22 --> 00:11:23 the father's acceptance
00:11:23 --> 00:11:24 by trying to fix
00:11:24 --> 00:11:25 your past mistakes
00:11:25 --> 00:11:27 or by trying to live up
00:11:27 --> 00:11:28 to any expectations.
00:11:29 --> 00:11:30 Just come back.
00:11:32 --> 00:11:33 I want to tell you
00:11:33 --> 00:11:33 a story about
00:11:33 --> 00:11:34 a young girl
00:11:34 --> 00:11:34 from Brazil
00:11:34 --> 00:11:35 named Christina.
00:11:35 --> 00:11:35 Christina.
00:11:36 --> 00:11:37 She was living
00:11:37 --> 00:11:38 in a small town.
00:11:38 --> 00:11:38 She thought life
00:11:38 --> 00:11:39 was pretty boring.
00:11:40 --> 00:11:41 She wanted to enjoy
00:11:41 --> 00:11:42 the big city
00:11:42 --> 00:11:43 so one day,
00:11:44 --> 00:11:44 without a word,
00:11:45 --> 00:11:45 she leaves home
00:11:45 --> 00:11:46 and heads to Rio.
00:11:49 --> 00:11:49 Now,
00:11:49 --> 00:11:50 she had no way
00:11:50 --> 00:11:51 of earning money
00:11:51 --> 00:11:53 and after a couple
00:11:53 --> 00:11:53 of weeks,
00:11:53 --> 00:11:54 she resorts
00:11:54 --> 00:11:55 to prostitution.
00:11:55 --> 00:11:59 When Christina
00:11:59 --> 00:11:59 left home,
00:11:59 --> 00:12:00 her mum was sick
00:12:00 --> 00:12:00 with worry
00:12:00 --> 00:12:02 and she was
00:12:02 --> 00:12:03 a pretty clever woman.
00:12:04 --> 00:12:05 She takes a photo
00:12:05 --> 00:12:05 of herself
00:12:05 --> 00:12:06 and she prints off
00:12:06 --> 00:12:07 a lot of copies
00:12:07 --> 00:12:10 and she takes
00:12:10 --> 00:12:11 each photo
00:12:11 --> 00:12:12 and on the back
00:12:12 --> 00:12:13 of each photo,
00:12:13 --> 00:12:14 she scribbles
00:12:14 --> 00:12:14 a little note.
00:12:16 --> 00:12:17 Then she goes
00:12:17 --> 00:12:18 up to the city
00:12:18 --> 00:12:21 and for days,
00:12:21 --> 00:12:22 she walks around,
00:12:22 --> 00:12:23 walking around
00:12:23 --> 00:12:24 all of the clubs,
00:12:26 --> 00:12:27 walking around
00:12:27 --> 00:12:29 all of the dirty streets,
00:12:31 --> 00:12:32 walking around
00:12:32 --> 00:12:33 the brothels,
00:12:34 --> 00:12:34 the hotels
00:12:34 --> 00:12:36 and she leaves
00:12:36 --> 00:12:37 all of these photos
00:12:37 --> 00:12:37 around.
00:12:38 --> 00:12:40 She attaches them
00:12:40 --> 00:12:40 to letter boxes
00:12:40 --> 00:12:42 and phone booths,
00:12:42 --> 00:12:43 hundreds and hundreds
00:12:43 --> 00:12:44 of photos of herself
00:12:44 --> 00:12:45 with these little notes
00:12:45 --> 00:12:45 on the back.
00:12:45 --> 00:12:49 But after a while,
00:12:50 --> 00:12:50 she doesn't find
00:12:50 --> 00:12:50 a daughter
00:12:50 --> 00:12:51 and she has
00:12:51 --> 00:12:51 to go home.
00:12:53 --> 00:12:54 Well,
00:12:54 --> 00:12:54 a couple of months
00:12:54 --> 00:12:55 later,
00:12:55 --> 00:12:56 Christina
00:12:56 --> 00:12:58 is a broken woman.
00:13:01 --> 00:13:02 She's just
00:13:02 --> 00:13:03 devastated
00:13:03 --> 00:13:03 that she's thrown
00:13:03 --> 00:13:04 away everything
00:13:04 --> 00:13:05 that she had
00:13:05 --> 00:13:05 at home
00:13:05 --> 00:13:07 and one evening
00:13:07 --> 00:13:08 in a little hotel,
00:13:08 --> 00:13:09 she's climbing
00:13:09 --> 00:13:09 the stairs
00:13:09 --> 00:13:10 and she looks
00:13:10 --> 00:13:11 across at a mirror
00:13:11 --> 00:13:12 and she sees
00:13:12 --> 00:13:13 one of these
00:13:13 --> 00:13:14 photos attached
00:13:14 --> 00:13:17 and she recognizes
00:13:17 --> 00:13:17 the picture
00:13:17 --> 00:13:18 and she thinks,
00:13:18 --> 00:13:18 that's my mum.
00:13:20 --> 00:13:21 And she goes
00:13:21 --> 00:13:21 and she picks up
00:13:21 --> 00:13:22 the photo
00:13:22 --> 00:13:23 and turns it over
00:13:23 --> 00:13:23 and looks at the note
00:13:23 --> 00:13:26 and this is what it says.
00:13:28 --> 00:13:30 Whatever you have done,
00:13:31 --> 00:13:33 whatever you have become,
00:13:34 --> 00:13:35 please come home.
00:13:35 --> 00:13:40 if you return
00:13:40 --> 00:13:41 to God
00:13:41 --> 00:13:42 as your heavenly father,
00:13:44 --> 00:13:45 whatever you have done,
00:13:46 --> 00:13:47 whatever you have become,
00:13:49 --> 00:13:50 he'll accept you.
00:13:52 --> 00:13:53 Now,
00:13:53 --> 00:13:53 you would expect
00:13:53 --> 00:13:54 the story
00:13:54 --> 00:13:55 to finish there
00:13:55 --> 00:13:56 but it doesn't.
00:13:58 --> 00:13:58 You see,
00:13:58 --> 00:13:59 there's an older brother
00:13:59 --> 00:14:00 in the story
00:14:00 --> 00:14:03 and he's really upset
00:14:03 --> 00:14:04 and to be honest,
00:14:04 --> 00:14:05 you can understand why.
00:14:05 --> 00:14:06 Try and put yourself
00:14:06 --> 00:14:06 in his shoes.
00:14:08 --> 00:14:09 Your younger brother
00:14:09 --> 00:14:11 has just blown
00:14:11 --> 00:14:13 some of the family inheritance
00:14:13 --> 00:14:15 in the space
00:14:15 --> 00:14:16 of a single generation.
00:14:18 --> 00:14:19 He's embarrassed
00:14:19 --> 00:14:19 the family
00:14:19 --> 00:14:22 and to add insult
00:14:22 --> 00:14:23 to injury,
00:14:24 --> 00:14:24 the father
00:14:24 --> 00:14:26 has put on
00:14:26 --> 00:14:27 an extravagant meal
00:14:27 --> 00:14:27 to celebrate.
00:14:29 --> 00:14:30 Why did he have
00:14:30 --> 00:14:31 to do that?
00:14:31 --> 00:14:32 Why did the father
00:14:32 --> 00:14:32 have to kill
00:14:32 --> 00:14:33 the fattened calf
00:14:33 --> 00:14:34 for crying out loud?
00:14:34 --> 00:14:34 I mean,
00:14:34 --> 00:14:35 that was the kind of thing
00:14:35 --> 00:14:35 you did when someone
00:14:35 --> 00:14:36 got married.
00:14:38 --> 00:14:38 Couldn't he just have
00:14:38 --> 00:14:39 celebrated with some
00:14:39 --> 00:14:40 pizza and Coke?
00:14:43 --> 00:14:44 Surely the older son,
00:14:44 --> 00:14:45 he's got a right
00:14:45 --> 00:14:46 to be upset.
00:14:49 --> 00:14:50 But here's the problem.
00:14:52 --> 00:14:53 The older son
00:14:53 --> 00:14:54 doesn't want the father.
00:14:56 --> 00:14:57 He wants
00:14:57 --> 00:14:58 the father's stuff.
00:15:01 --> 00:15:01 And he thinks
00:15:01 --> 00:15:02 he can get
00:15:02 --> 00:15:03 the father's stuff
00:15:03 --> 00:15:05 based on his performance,
00:15:06 --> 00:15:07 not based on
00:15:07 --> 00:15:08 the father's love.
00:15:11 --> 00:15:11 You see,
00:15:11 --> 00:15:12 the older son
00:15:12 --> 00:15:14 lives in his father's house,
00:15:15 --> 00:15:17 but his heart
00:15:17 --> 00:15:17 might as well be
00:15:17 --> 00:15:19 a million miles away.
00:15:21 --> 00:15:22 And this is the great
00:15:22 --> 00:15:24 tragedy of the story.
00:15:24 --> 00:15:26 Neither
00:15:26 --> 00:15:27 the younger son
00:15:27 --> 00:15:29 or the older son
00:15:29 --> 00:15:31 understand what it means
00:15:31 --> 00:15:32 to be a true son.
00:15:36 --> 00:15:37 But I want to ask,
00:15:37 --> 00:15:38 who is the more
00:15:38 --> 00:15:38 tragic figure
00:15:38 --> 00:15:39 in the story?
00:15:42 --> 00:15:42 Well,
00:15:42 --> 00:15:43 it's the older son.
00:15:45 --> 00:15:45 Why?
00:15:48 --> 00:15:48 Because
00:15:48 --> 00:15:49 older sons
00:15:49 --> 00:15:50 don't realise
00:15:50 --> 00:15:51 that they're lost.
00:15:51 --> 00:15:54 Now,
00:15:54 --> 00:15:55 it's important
00:15:55 --> 00:15:55 to know
00:15:55 --> 00:15:56 why Jesus
00:15:56 --> 00:15:56 is telling
00:15:56 --> 00:15:57 this parable.
00:15:58 --> 00:15:58 Jesus
00:15:58 --> 00:15:59 is in a crowd
00:15:59 --> 00:16:01 sitting and talking
00:16:01 --> 00:16:01 with sinners
00:16:01 --> 00:16:02 and tax collectors.
00:16:04 --> 00:16:05 Tax collectors
00:16:05 --> 00:16:05 were very bad,
00:16:05 --> 00:16:06 I can say that
00:16:06 --> 00:16:07 because I was one
00:16:07 --> 00:16:07 for a while.
00:16:09 --> 00:16:10 And the reason
00:16:10 --> 00:16:10 they were bad
00:16:10 --> 00:16:10 is
00:16:10 --> 00:16:12 they were Jewish
00:16:12 --> 00:16:13 tax collectors
00:16:13 --> 00:16:14 but they cooperated
00:16:14 --> 00:16:15 with the Romans
00:16:15 --> 00:16:16 in order to get taxes.
00:16:16 --> 00:16:17 So basically
00:16:17 --> 00:16:17 they were considered
00:16:17 --> 00:16:18 traders.
00:16:19 --> 00:16:19 They were
00:16:19 --> 00:16:21 socially undesirable.
00:16:22 --> 00:16:22 They were considered
00:16:22 --> 00:16:23 lost.
00:16:25 --> 00:16:26 But there's a few
00:16:26 --> 00:16:26 other people
00:16:26 --> 00:16:27 in the story as well.
00:16:28 --> 00:16:28 At the start
00:16:28 --> 00:16:29 of the chapter
00:16:29 --> 00:16:30 there are some
00:16:30 --> 00:16:31 Pharisees
00:16:31 --> 00:16:32 and some teachers
00:16:32 --> 00:16:33 of the law
00:16:33 --> 00:16:33 looking on.
00:16:35 --> 00:16:35 Now,
00:16:35 --> 00:16:36 they're basically
00:16:36 --> 00:16:36 the religious
00:16:36 --> 00:16:38 and social elite.
00:16:38 --> 00:16:39 They're the movers
00:16:39 --> 00:16:40 and the shakers.
00:16:41 --> 00:16:42 They're powerful people.
00:16:42 --> 00:16:43 They're the kind of people
00:16:43 --> 00:16:43 that you see
00:16:43 --> 00:16:44 on red carpets
00:16:44 --> 00:16:46 and at celebrity parties.
00:16:46 --> 00:16:47 They're successful
00:16:47 --> 00:16:49 and they're admired.
00:16:50 --> 00:16:51 But they're also
00:16:51 --> 00:16:52 confused.
00:16:53 --> 00:16:54 They're thinking
00:16:54 --> 00:16:56 why would Jesus
00:16:56 --> 00:16:57 want to eat
00:16:57 --> 00:16:57 with these kind
00:16:57 --> 00:16:58 of people
00:16:58 --> 00:16:59 and talk with them?
00:16:59 --> 00:16:59 Why would he want
00:16:59 --> 00:17:00 to talk with
00:17:00 --> 00:17:02 sinners and tax collectors?
00:17:02 --> 00:17:03 People who are
00:17:03 --> 00:17:03 spiritually
00:17:03 --> 00:17:04 and socially
00:17:04 --> 00:17:05 lost.
00:17:07 --> 00:17:08 So Jesus
00:17:08 --> 00:17:09 tells them
00:17:09 --> 00:17:09 this parable.
00:17:12 --> 00:17:12 And here's
00:17:12 --> 00:17:13 what he's saying.
00:17:14 --> 00:17:14 He's saying
00:17:14 --> 00:17:16 the religious
00:17:16 --> 00:17:17 and the social
00:17:17 --> 00:17:18 elites
00:17:18 --> 00:17:19 of this world
00:17:19 --> 00:17:20 are often
00:17:20 --> 00:17:21 like the older son.
00:17:23 --> 00:17:24 Society
00:17:24 --> 00:17:24 might look up
00:17:24 --> 00:17:24 to them.
00:17:25 --> 00:17:25 They might do
00:17:25 --> 00:17:26 all the right things.
00:17:27 --> 00:17:28 They might be
00:17:28 --> 00:17:28 generous.
00:17:29 --> 00:17:30 They might
00:17:30 --> 00:17:31 even go to church.
00:17:31 --> 00:17:32 They might be
00:17:32 --> 00:17:33 heavily involved
00:17:33 --> 00:17:33 in church.
00:17:37 --> 00:17:38 But they're still
00:17:38 --> 00:17:39 estranged
00:17:39 --> 00:17:40 from their father
00:17:40 --> 00:17:42 because they
00:17:42 --> 00:17:42 don't want
00:17:42 --> 00:17:43 their father.
00:17:44 --> 00:17:45 They want
00:17:45 --> 00:17:45 the father's
00:17:45 --> 00:17:46 stuff.
00:17:48 --> 00:17:49 Now,
00:17:49 --> 00:17:49 if you're
00:17:49 --> 00:17:50 offended by
00:17:50 --> 00:17:51 the idea
00:17:51 --> 00:17:51 that God
00:17:51 --> 00:17:52 could love
00:17:52 --> 00:17:52 people like
00:17:52 --> 00:17:53 the younger
00:17:53 --> 00:17:53 son,
00:17:55 --> 00:17:55 if you're
00:17:55 --> 00:17:56 offended by
00:17:56 --> 00:17:56 the idea
00:17:56 --> 00:17:57 that God
00:17:57 --> 00:17:57 could love
00:17:57 --> 00:17:58 people like
00:17:58 --> 00:17:58 Anthony
00:17:58 --> 00:17:59 Waterlow,
00:18:00 --> 00:18:02 then you're
00:18:02 --> 00:18:02 an older
00:18:02 --> 00:18:03 son.
00:18:06 --> 00:18:07 When you're
00:18:07 --> 00:18:07 offended by
00:18:07 --> 00:18:08 God's
00:18:08 --> 00:18:08 generosity,
00:18:09 --> 00:18:10 when you
00:18:10 --> 00:18:11 feel personally
00:18:11 --> 00:18:12 wronged,
00:18:12 --> 00:18:12 that he
00:18:12 --> 00:18:13 looks after
00:18:13 --> 00:18:13 the people
00:18:13 --> 00:18:13 that the
00:18:13 --> 00:18:14 world looks
00:18:14 --> 00:18:14 down on,
00:18:16 --> 00:18:17 you're an
00:18:17 --> 00:18:17 older son.
00:18:20 --> 00:18:21 And you
00:18:21 --> 00:18:22 need to know
00:18:22 --> 00:18:23 that God's
00:18:23 --> 00:18:23 love,
00:18:23 --> 00:18:24 the father's
00:18:24 --> 00:18:24 love,
00:18:24 --> 00:18:25 is big
00:18:25 --> 00:18:26 enough for
00:18:26 --> 00:18:27 everybody.
00:18:30 --> 00:18:30 Not just
00:18:30 --> 00:18:31 the spiritual
00:18:31 --> 00:18:33 and social
00:18:33 --> 00:18:33 elite.
00:18:36 --> 00:18:37 And you
00:18:37 --> 00:18:37 need to
00:18:37 --> 00:18:38 return to
00:18:38 --> 00:18:38 your heavenly
00:18:38 --> 00:18:39 father.
00:18:39 --> 00:18:39 father.
00:18:40 --> 00:18:41 So I
00:18:41 --> 00:18:41 want to
00:18:41 --> 00:18:41 say this,
00:18:42 --> 00:18:42 if you're
00:18:42 --> 00:18:44 just outside
00:18:44 --> 00:18:44 the door,
00:18:45 --> 00:18:45 if you're
00:18:45 --> 00:18:46 a long way
00:18:46 --> 00:18:46 off,
00:18:47 --> 00:18:47 whoever you
00:18:47 --> 00:18:48 are,
00:18:49 --> 00:18:49 come home,
00:18:50 --> 00:18:50 come back
00:18:50 --> 00:18:51 to the
00:18:51 --> 00:18:51 father.
00:18:52 --> 00:18:52 It doesn't
00:18:52 --> 00:18:53 matter what
00:18:53 --> 00:18:53 you've done.
00:18:55 --> 00:18:56 Well,
00:18:56 --> 00:18:56 it does
00:18:56 --> 00:18:56 matter,
00:18:57 --> 00:18:57 actually.
00:18:58 --> 00:18:59 It matters
00:18:59 --> 00:19:00 so much
00:19:00 --> 00:19:01 that Jesus
00:19:01 --> 00:19:02 was punished
00:19:02 --> 00:19:03 for our
00:19:03 --> 00:19:03 wrongdoing.
00:19:03 --> 00:19:03 sin.
00:19:05 --> 00:19:05 You see,
00:19:05 --> 00:19:06 God has
00:19:06 --> 00:19:07 run out
00:19:07 --> 00:19:08 to us
00:19:08 --> 00:19:08 in the
00:19:08 --> 00:19:09 person of
00:19:09 --> 00:19:09 his son.
00:19:11 --> 00:19:11 And his
00:19:11 --> 00:19:12 son endured
00:19:12 --> 00:19:13 great shame
00:19:13 --> 00:19:14 by dying
00:19:14 --> 00:19:14 for us
00:19:14 --> 00:19:15 on the
00:19:15 --> 00:19:16 cross for
00:19:16 --> 00:19:16 our sins.
00:19:18 --> 00:19:18 God
00:19:18 --> 00:19:19 desperately
00:19:19 --> 00:19:20 wants us
00:19:20 --> 00:19:20 to return
00:19:20 --> 00:19:21 to him.
00:19:22 --> 00:19:23 And he
00:19:23 --> 00:19:23 showed that
00:19:23 --> 00:19:24 desperation
00:19:24 --> 00:19:24 through the
00:19:24 --> 00:19:25 death of
00:19:25 --> 00:19:25 his son.
00:19:27 --> 00:19:28 So if
00:19:28 --> 00:19:28 you're a
00:19:28 --> 00:19:28 younger son,
00:19:29 --> 00:19:30 if you're an
00:19:30 --> 00:19:31 older son,
00:19:31 --> 00:19:33 if you
00:19:33 --> 00:19:33 would like
00:19:33 --> 00:19:33 to know
00:19:33 --> 00:19:34 God as
00:19:34 --> 00:19:34 father,
00:19:35 --> 00:19:36 we can
00:19:36 --> 00:19:37 give you
00:19:37 --> 00:19:37 a map.
00:19:39 --> 00:19:39 We can
00:19:39 --> 00:19:40 show you
00:19:40 --> 00:19:41 the way.
00:19:43 --> 00:19:44 Whatever
00:19:44 --> 00:19:44 you have
00:19:44 --> 00:19:44 done,
00:19:46 --> 00:19:46 whatever
00:19:46 --> 00:19:47 you have
00:19:47 --> 00:19:48 become,
00:19:49 --> 00:19:49 please
00:19:49 --> 00:19:50 come home.
00:19:53 --> 00:19:53 Come
00:19:53 --> 00:19:53 back to
00:19:53 --> 00:19:54 the
00:19:54 --> 00:19:54 father.
00:19:55 --> 00:19:56 Amen.