LUKE 15 LESSONS FROM THE PRODIGAL SONS2020 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Luke 15 Lessons From The Prodigal Sons

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2020. Amen. Well, good morning again. It is great to be with you journeying through the scriptures. And this morning we're going to be in Luke chapter 15. And so you can grab your Bible and turn there with me to Luke chapter 15.

And if you're reading through the Bible in three years with us, this is the passage that's assigned to us today. And we're not going to cover the whole chapter. I was really tempted to do that. But really going to be focusing on the last half of the chapter and that famous parable that Jesus tells of the prodigal son. And so here in Luke chapter 15, some really powerful truths and some important things that the Lord wants to speak to us about.

and encourage us in. And so we'll begin this morning by reading verses 11 through 13 here in Luke chapter 15. And so grab your Bible, open it up to Luke chapter 15. Here's what it says in verse 11. And he said, a certain man had 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

And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.

Here is Jesus introduces this parable. He introduces this younger son who wastes away his inheritance with prodigal living. And so I've titled the message this morning, Lessons from the Prodigal Sons. And you might look at that and think there's a typo there. There's the one prodigal son that we see in the passage. And yet I would suggest to you as we work our way through the passage, there's two brothers,

And both of them have some issues that the father needs to address and does address here in this passage. And our heavenly father is going to be addressing those issues for us as well. And so some lessons to be learned from both brothers, the younger brother who takes his inheritance early and goes and squanders it. And then the older brother who stays and is faithful to work. And yet his heart is not quite right.

And so from both sons, we can learn some valuable lessons as we consider these prodigal sons. Well, we're going to jump into verses 11 through 13 for point number one this morning, and that is people are allowed to choose foolishness.

It's something that we might struggle with and have some issues with, but this is one of the realities that we need to face. And perhaps one of the realities that we need to also enact and follow in our lives as well. Again, in verse 12, as we're talking about the younger son, it says,

Give me the portion of goods that falls to me. And so he divided to them his livelihood. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. We see right off the bat, this younger son, he requests from his dad an early inheritance.

He asks for his portion. Now, for them in those days, according to their culture and their practices, the inheritance would be divided up between the sons.

And the eldest son would receive a twofold inheritance. And so he would get two portions and then the rest would be distributed between the rest of the sons. So in this case, here's a man with two sons. The older son would get two thirds of the inheritance that's passed down and the younger son would get one third. And so what this younger son is requesting is he wants that portion or

He wants that right now. Typically, it would be after the father had died that then the eldest son would be in charge of the estate and would divvy out the inheritance as was required and as was customary.

But in this case, the younger son says, I want it early. I don't want to wait for you to die. I don't want to wait for you to pass away. Instead, I would rather take my inheritance now and receive that. This

was something that was quite disrespectful for the younger son to request this of the father. He wanted to ditch them and bail and go and do his own thing. And it was a disrespectful request. I'm not willing to wait for you to die. I want my money. That's what's important to me. So give me what's mine and I'll be on my way.

Not only was it disrespectful, but also was foolish. Because in doing this, receiving the inheritance early, you could think of it as cashing out early, and then you would miss out on whatever gain or growth there was after that.

And so if the father and the elder son, you know, continued on and were prosperous in their endeavors, their possessions, their resources would increase, but the younger son wouldn't participate in that because he had cashed out early and was no longer part of their endeavors. And so we can see the disrespectfulness here. We can see the foolishness of this younger son. As he receives the inheritance, his father complies with the request.

Even though it's disrespectful, even though he knows it to be foolish, he gives the inheritance to the younger son. And it says that it was not many days after that. The younger son goes and he wastes his possessions with prodigal living.

He goes off, he uses the resources, the inheritance, and he throws basically one big long party and goes through all of his resources, wastes away all of his possessions with prodigal living.

Whenever I hear the word prodigal, I only know the word prodigal in the context of this passage. And so I typically associate the word prodigal with the idea of being lost. And I think that's probably something that's common for us. We pray for the prodigals, right? We pray for the lost. And in light of the other parables that Jesus tells here in Luke chapter 15,

This parable of the prodigal son is just one of three that all have the same essential point. And he speaks about the lost sheep at the beginning of chapter 15. He speaks about the lost coin there in between those two and and then the lost son here. And so, again, I associate the word prodigal with lost.

but the word prodigal actually means to spend money or resources freely and recklessly, to be wastefully extravagant.

One example that the dictionary gave was the dessert was crunchy with brown sugar and prodigal with whipped cream. And that sounds so strange to my ears. I don't know about you. Prodigal with whipped cream. And the idea is there was just so much whipped cream. It was extravagant. It was overflowing. It was way too much. But that's the idea of this word prodigal.

It's not so much speaking about being lost or something like that, or even immoral living, but it's the idea of just going above and beyond and wasting away, extravagantly spending beyond what is necessary or reasonable.

And so this is what this younger son does. The prodigal son, as we know him, he goes with his inheritance and he just spends his money on everything. He gets the best vehicles. He gets the biggest rims. He gets the biggest parties. He does amazing things perhaps with the resources, but they're gone quickly because he's not able to sustain that kind of lifestyle with his cash flow.

And so here we have this example. It's the beginning of the example that Jesus is giving here with the prodigal son. But what's interesting is we begin to think about this parable, again, looking at the point that people are allowed to choose foolishness. I think it's interesting to consider why would a father grant this request, the disrespectful request of the son?

The request that the Father knows, even as we consider the spiritual application and insights into this parable that Jesus tells, the Father represents our Heavenly Father. And why would our Heavenly Father grant a request and grant a petition and allow for such a foolish, wasteful decision to be made?

I think it's important to consider all three examples that Jesus is giving in this chapter. As we talk about these things, you see the sheep in the first parable of the 99 sheep that were safe in the pen. And then there was the one that was lost. And so the shepherd went to find him. You see, the sheep was lost because...

They wandered. The sheep wandered. It wasn't a willful disobedience. It was really ignorance. And it was, you know, as a result of their ignorance, the sheep was lost. But then Jesus gives the parable of the lost coin. And the coin has no will at all. And the coin was lost not by its own doing, but just by circumstances, by things that were happening around it.

But then you have the son who was lost. And here we see the son was lost by his own choosing, his willfulness, his purposeful decision that was made. And this is an important thing to understand, that God does give his children free will. He does give us the opportunity to choose. And free will is such a gift. At the same time, we might look at it and say, it's such a problem.

causes so many difficulties and so many hurts and pains and so many challenges that even with our own lives, we wrestle with our own free will and sometimes wish that God would just take away our free will and just make us compliant, you know, keep us on the path and don't give us the opportunity to wander. But the reality is we have the opportunity to choose.

And God really does give us, his people, the freedom to make choices, even if they're foolish. He gives us the freedom. And in every case, when we make foolish choices, we use resources from our Father to do so. Because all things that we have are given to us by the Father.

And he could prevent that. He could dry up those resources in an attempt to prevent us from using those resources in foolish decisions and foolish actions and activities. But we see that the Lord does provide us resources and he gives us the freedom to make choices, to go forward, to make plans, to take action with those resources, even if

when it is foolish. Pastor David Guzik says, the father clearly illustrates God's love. His love would allow rebellion and would respect man's will. The father more than knew what would happen to the son, but allowed him to go his course nonetheless. It's an interesting thing to consider. The father knew what would happen to the son.

He knew where this would head. He knew getting the inheritance early wasn't so that he could invest it and be really wise with the resources. He knew his son. He knew what was about to follow. And yet he went along with it. He allowed his son to make those decisions and make those choices. Now, I'm not suggesting that we should never intervene in a person's life or we should never attempt to help someone who is making foolish decisions.

At the same time, we also need to have wisdom from God to recognize even God allows his children the freedom to make bad choices. And sometimes it is only by experiencing the results of those bad choices that, well, we might learn our lesson. And so people are allowed to choose foolishness.

You need to know that for yourself so that you don't just assume, hey, I'm, you know, doing good. And so I'm making decisions and they're going to be good decisions. God would stop me if it wasn't a good decision. Well,

maybe you better check in with the Lord. Maybe you better check in with our Heavenly Father and allow Him to instruct you and lead you and guide you. Don't just assume that because it's working or because the door is open, it must be from the Lord, that there is the opportunity for you to go and to seek the Lord and receive either instruction or confirmation about the way that you should go, because God allows people to make foolish choices.

but it also instructs us as we relate to others around us. And sometimes as much as we wish we could just make decisions for people, we wish we could just make it happen or set them straight and get them going and that they wouldn't be able to deviate from what we know is best for them. The reality of free will is painful in that case. And it's such a problem for us. We need to have wisdom from God and understand when it's appropriate and when it's time

to let people make foolish choices. While continuing to consider this parable, we look now at the second point, and that is hardship helps people realize their foolishness. You see, this is why, one of the reasons why, God allows foolish decisions. He allows for foolish decisions and choices because God

Well, for some of us, we have to learn the hard way. We don't learn any other way. If we could have learned a different way, well, we would have learned that way before making the foolish choice. There's a lot of times where we have to learn by making the mistake and experiencing the results. Hardship helps people realize their foolishness. Let's jump into verses 14 through 16. It says this.

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 a citizen of that country, and he sent him to 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. Here we find the prodigal son now in a vastly different situation.

Moments before he had abundance, he had possessions, he was living the party life and having a great time. But then he ran out of funds. He ran out of resources. And it's interesting that on top of that, so there was a combination of things that happened, a combination of his wastefulness, but then also circumstances completely outside of his control. There arose a severe famine in that land.

Just when he runs out of resources, then there also begins a severe famine. Now, if he had held on to his resources and been more wise and diligent with them, he would have experienced the famine, but he would have had resources to draw from in the midst of the famine to help him endure the famine. But he spent those resources.

And so now, as the famine strikes, he's in extra peril because not only is there a famine, but he has no resources to draw upon. This is something to seriously consider. If you choose to willfully be foolish, if you decide to take a foolish route, don't be surprised if things become unexpectedly difficult.

If you choose to be foolish, not only is there the foolishness of that foolishness and the consequences of that,

But the reality is that, well, there's things that are out of your control. And you may be thinking, I can make this foolish decision. I can use these resources in this way, or I can head down this path. I can engage in this sinful activity. And I know it's foolish. I know it's not best, but I've got things in control and it'll be fine. I've got these parameters set, these boundaries set. And so there won't be an issue, even though I'm engaging in this foolishness.

And you can make all of those plans if you want to. And you can do your best to provide for and think ahead and plan for all of the necessary things that are going to come up. But then there's going to be those things that come up that you weren't prepared for. And now you have put yourself in an extra vulnerable position because you thought you had everything under control. Don't be surprised if things become unexpectedly difficult when you choose to be willfully foolish.

And so here, this son has spent all that he has. And so he's lacking. His wasteful spending has left him empty and vulnerable to this famine. And so what he does now is in desperation, it tells us in verse 15 that he joins himself to a citizen of that country. He's gone off far from his home. He's in some other place, some foreign land. And in his desperation, he joins himself to

that he becomes a servant of this citizen of the country, and this master now sends him into his fields to feed the swine. Now, feeding the swine was something that would be dirty. It would be something that was not a pleasant experience. But then also for a Jewish person, a Jewish boy, he would be...

unclean as a result of this contact with the swine. But he was so hungry, and obviously he didn't care much about his Jewish heritage, but he was so hungry, it tells us in verse 16, that he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate. As he's feeding the pigs, he's so hungry, he's thinking, man, this looks good.

He's so hungry that even the slop, the paws that the pigs are eating are looking appetizing to him. And it tells us there at the end of verse 16, no one gave him anything. He had nothing. He was just barely scraping by and he was in this continual state of hunger so that even the food he gave to the pigs looked appetizing. Verse 17 goes on to say this.

But when he came to himself, he said, how many of my father's hired servants have bread enough to spare and I perish with hunger? All of a sudden, his mind becomes clear. And here it's described as he came to himself. Have you ever had that kind of experience?

where you've been engaged in some activity, you've been heading down some path and you're deceived, you're confused, your understanding is darkened. And then all of a sudden, somewhere along that path, there's an awakening that happens. And your mind becomes clear. You came to yourself. You realize, what have I done? What am I doing here? How did I get here?

This is what this young son is experiencing. He came to himself. And as he came to himself, he began to think about his father and his family and what he had back when he was living there, but not even what he had, but what his servants had or what his father's servants had. And he began to think about, you know, my father's servants aren't treated this way.

he began to appreciate the character of his father in a different way than he ever had before. Now in the position of a servant, where even as a servant, he just barely is surviving. And no one is giving him anything. And he's so hungry, the pig's food looks appetizing. All of a sudden, he begins to realize, you know, my father had servants, but he never treated them this way. They had food to spare. My father had provided for them,

Enough not just for them to not die from starvation, but to give them abundance. They had enough extra. And here I am perishing with hunger, but

I know my father, even I haven't been there for a while, even though I haven't been back there, I know even in the midst of a famine, my father's servants are well taken care of. I know the character of my father. I didn't appreciate this before. I didn't recognize this as something valuable before, but oh my goodness, now it makes so much sense. My father is a good man. He's a generous man. He provides for his servants.

And so it causes this young son to make a plan. Verse 18, I will arise 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. He makes a plan and he decides I'm going to go back to my dad. I can't expect to have the same relationship and the same position as I did before.

Now as I think about how good my dad is, how generous my dad is, maybe he'll receive me as a servant. Maybe he'll allow me to stay there with him and be provided for, even though I'm so unworthy to be his son. Pastor Warren Wiersbe says his painful circumstances helped him to see his father in a new way. And this brought him hope. If his father was so good to servants, maybe.

Just maybe he would be willing to forgive a son. And so we see a change take place for this young son, this prodigal son. On Wednesday, we talked a little bit about repentance from Luke chapter 14. Repentance speaks about a true change of heart, a real transformation, not just things happening on the surface, not just things happening externally,

but a real change of heart. And we see this demonstrated here in this prodigal son. He came to himself. All of a sudden, there's a real change of heart. All of the things that he took for granted before and didn't even pay attention to before, he realizes now what he has done. He realizes the way his father is, the character and nature of his father. And he decides, I'm going to go and seek to be my father's servant.

The Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 7 speaks about repentance and talks about some aspects of repentance that are visible, that are seen, that there is this search for vindication or to make things right. And here we see this young man say, I'm going to arise and go to my father. There's a real repentance here. There's a sorrow and a recognition for what he has done.

but not a running away now as a result, but a running to. I'm going to go and I'm going to confess my sin. I've sinned against heaven and before you, he says in verse 18. I'm no longer worthy to be called your son, but would you be gracious and generous to forgive me and allow me to be one of your servants. This young son is no longer the same guy he was when he left with his inheritance. Now he is aware of his sin.

He no longer feels owed or that people are obligated to serve him or meet his needs. He doesn't have the same disrespectful heart and attitude, but he comes back now with a new understanding, a true change of heart, real repentance. Hardship helps people realize their foolishness. And again, it ties into the first point. One of the reasons why foolishness

choices are allowed is because sometimes that's the only way that we will realize. It's when we hit rock bottom many times that we finally give up in our ways. We finally surrender our will to the Lord and receive from Him the instruction and the direction that we need and the change and the transformation that we need. As we're considering this passage this morning, there are

some people facing hardships. As the pandemic continues, the lockdowns continue, and the confusion about what's going to be open and when, and all of the things that are happening around us, there is a lot of hardship that is being experienced right now, but then also is being built up

for the days and weeks ahead. There's some health hardships, financial hardships, relationship hardships, emotional hardships. There's a lot of hardships happening and being built up right now. And we need to be aware that in the midst of that, God is going to be speaking and revealing himself to people. And maybe that's you. Maybe you're in the midst of the hardship.

And maybe there is something the Lord wants to speak to you. Now, I always like to make sure to point out that hardship in itself doesn't necessarily mean that there is some sort of rebellion or repentance that is needed. Because, well, we can look at the example of Job and see that he was a righteous man and experienced great and severe hardship.

At the same time, when we make foolish decisions, when we disregard wisdom and don't seek God for counsel and head down a path that we desire and we want and then experience the consequences of that, well, it's often not along the way, not during the journey, but it's at the end of the road. It's at rock bottom where we are finally willing to open our eyes, to hear from the Lord and realize how foolish we've been.

And so I want to encourage you to be in prayer. Be in prayer for those around you experiencing hardships because God might be opening their eyes and there might be some strategic and important, unique opportunities for you to minister to the people around you that would not have been there if the hardships had not been there. This is one of the ways that God works in our lives.

Well, as we see this young man's plan, he heads back to his father and it brings us to point number three this morning in verses 20 through 24. The third point is receive repentant people back into the family. And here we'll be looking at the example of the father as the prodigal son comes home. Let's read verses 20 through 24. It says this, and he arose and came to his father and

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 I'm 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. He was lost and is found. And they began to be merry. The prodigal son comes home to a reception that he didn't anticipate or expect. He was hoping that, well, with his contrition, that he would be permitted to just be a servant there with his father.

But as he heads home, he finds his father there to receive him and welcome him, not as a servant, but as a son. And it's incredible to think about because here is this prodigal son, so disrespectful, so foolish, so wasteful of the things that the father had worked so hard to earn. And yet he receives his son back into the family as a son.

It tells us again in verse 20, as he arose and came to his father, that he was still a great way off. He was far off in the distance when his father saw him. This passage here, verses 20 through 24, really portrays the heart of God towards repentant sinners. It shows the heart of God and his desire to receive and welcome and how he rejoices over those who are turning back to him.

And so here we're pictured with this father looking for the son. He hasn't given up on the son. He's been watching. He's been looking. He's been anticipating this day might come. And so he sees him a great way off. And when his father saw him, he locked the doors. No, he had compassion. Compassion, it's the idea of feeling for someone who is experiencing the consequences for their decisions.

It's mercy. It's compassion. It's the way that God looks towards us as we head down our foolish paths and find the dead ends that are so painful and difficult. Here comes the son, beaten, broken, empty, starving, dirty, broke. And the father has compassion. And it tells us that he runs and falls on his neck and kisses him. He runs to meet him. He doesn't make the son cry.

continue the journey all by himself. The rest of the way, he runs to close that gap as quick as possible, to make that distance short. He runs to meet him. He falls on his neck. He embraces him and he kisses him. And the idea here is that he kissed him repeatedly. It was a grand welcome that the son receives when he returns home. A warm embrace, a

A father rushing to show love and compassion to the son that treated him so poorly. Now the son had prepared a speech, remember? I'm going to go back to my father and I'm going to say this. And he attempts to get through that in verse 21. It says, the son said to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sights and I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. But he had more prepared to say after that, but the father didn't let him get that far. The father didn't drag it on. Tell me again how I was right.

You know, tell me again how wrong you were. Tell me again, you know, how dumb you are. Tell me again how foolish, you know. He didn't drag on this confession. He received the apology. He received the repentance. In verse 22, the father said to his servants, bring out the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. The father calls his servants to

to basically put his son back in the position of being a son. Bring out the best robe. Clothe him with attire that is appropriate for a son. Again, the son was coming back intending to ask for a position as a servant, but the father is not even entertaining that. He's not saying, yes, you are a foolish son, so there's no way you're going to be my son anymore. But yeah, I am gracious, so I'll let you be a servant.

No, he's welcoming him back as a son. He clothes him as a member of the family. He receives him and welcomes him as a member of the family. Put a ring on his hand. And the ring, it was likely talking about or referring to the family signet. It was what gave him entrance to the family estate. It signified that he was a member of the family once again. And sandals on his feet.

He walked away with his inheritance, with great possessions. He comes back not even having shoes upon his feet. Give him sandals. Put a good robe on him. Give him the family ring. Let's welcome him back into the family. And he says, bring the fatted calf here and kill it. And let us eat and be merry for my son was dead and is alive again. A father says, my son was dead. He was lost and has now been found alive.

And so he instructs that there to be a great feast. The things that the father bestowed upon the son here were not just the essentials that he needed for life, but this was above and beyond. He didn't need the best robe, you know, just to survive. He needed clothing. He didn't need shoes to survive. Servants in those days often would not have sandals or shoes. He didn't need the ring to survive. The father wasn't just making sure that he didn't die.

The father was fully welcoming him back as a son. And again, this passage really demonstrates and illustrates the character and the heart of God towards those who are repentant and turn back to him. He receives us back into his family. He receives us back as his child, his son, his daughter. He receives us back and welcomes us with open arms.

Pastor Warren Wiersbe says, in a far country, the prodigal learned the meaning of misery, but back home, he discovered the meaning of mercy. I would encourage you to meditate on this. Perhaps this is something the Lord wants to speak to your heart about. The people around you, especially the ones who have been foolish, are they learning misery at home or with you? Are they learning mercy? Misery in the far country, but mercy with you. That's the example that we get from the Lord.

We get mercy from him, compassion, reunion. The love of God and the grace of God is incredible and demonstrated well here in the parable of the prodigal son. Well, continuing on, though, we have a bit of a contrast. The whole family didn't have the same heart as the father. And now we look at the elder brother. And here's point number four, bitterness.

creates a different kind of prodigal. We'll see this in verses 25 through 30. Let's read the first few verses here. Verse 25 says, 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. Here, we now get to see a little bit of the older brother. We knew that this guy was a younger brother, the prodigal son, right? But not much of the older brother is mentioned until now. And here we see that the older brother, he's busy working, right?

The older brother was diligent and faithful, while the younger brother took his possessions and went and squandered them. The older brother, when he comes back, he's out in the field. He's working. He's being diligent and careful to maintain the things that are at hand. And so it's a good example in that regard. But as he comes back,

He hears the music and the dancing, and he's a little bit confused. He's perplexed. He's saying, what's going on? He asked one of the servants, what's happening? Why is there all of this festivities? And the servant informs him, brings him up to speed. Your brother has come back. And so your father has killed the fatted calf. And the response of the brother in verse 28 is very different than the response of the father. It says that he was angry and would not go in. The older brother was angry. He was upset.

He wasn't happy that the brother had returned. He wasn't happy that his younger brother had come back and is alive. He was angry and he refused to participate. He said, I'm not having anything to do that. You won't catch me dead in there. No way. I'm not going to participate in that. He was angry and would not go in. But then notice it says in verse 28 that his father came out and pleaded with him. There's something.

an issue here with this older brother. But notice the father, he's ministering to the younger son according to his need. That's giving him the opportunity to be foolish and letting him make those decisions and then receiving him back with compassion. The father is ministering to that younger son according to his need. But here's the older son. He is not like the younger guy. He's faithful in the field. He works hard. He's reliable and dependable.

But we find here that he has become bitter over the situation with his younger brother. And the father goes and ministers to the older brother as well. The father is not playing favorites here. He's ministering to each one according to what is needed, according to their condition and position. His father comes out just as he was tender and merciful with the younger son. He was tender and merciful with

to the older son as well. And he comes and he says, no, son, it's right. Come and celebrate with us. Don't be angry. This is not good for your heart. Well, the older brother's heart is revealed yet further in verse 29 and 30. It says, 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 merry with my friends. But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him. Again, the brother's heart is revealed here. You can see he's angry, he's bitter, and he tells his dad, look, I work hard for you. I've always worked hard for you, and I've never disobeyed you.

And I never get to have even a little bit of fun. This idea, he says, you never gave me a young goat to make merry with my friends. In contrast, you give this guy the fatted calf. Now the young goat would be, you know, kind of a low budget feast. Just, you know, not that expensive. Here's a young goat. But the fatted calf was a calf that had been prepared and time had been spent to prepare this. And it was a high budget feast.

You've never even given me a low budget feast, he says, but here you give him this big budget feast. It's not fair. I work hard for you and I never disobey you. And you can see his heart towards his brother. He won't even refer to him as his brother. He says, this son of yours, this son of yours, he's disowned him. He's upset. Perhaps he would say he's upset that this younger brother disrespected his father.

He's upset with the way that he squandered their resources and used those possessions that had been given to him. He's upset with the way that the Father has received him back and is treating him with love and care and grace. But he's been so diligent. I've always been faithful to you.

And I've never disobeyed you. And I've never got to have any fun. That's what David Guzik says. These kinds of exaggerations are common for those who harbor bitterness in their heart. Now it finally comes out before the father. But the bitterness has done its corrosive damage in the heart already. The bitterness is corroding him, rotting him from the inside out. And so he's angry. He's upset when the father dies.

treats the prodigal with grace and mercy. Bitterness creates a different kind of prodigal. He's also wasteful. The prodigal wasted his possessions. The older brother is wasting his relationships. He's wasting his time. He's wasting away as a result of the anger and bitterness in his heart.

Pastor Warren Wiersbe points out that everybody in this chapter experienced joy, except the older brother. Going back to the first parable, the shepherd experienced the joy of finding the sheep. The woman experienced the joy of finding the coin. The younger son experienced the joy of returning and being received by a loving and gracious father. The father experienced the joy of receiving his son back safe and sound.

Everybody received joy, experienced joy, but the older brother, he would not forgive his brother. So he had no joy. Bitterness will rob you of joy. It will rot you from the inside out. And even though you might have admirable qualities in your diligence, in your faithfulness, or whatever you might think of and be able to articulate, it's also a kind of prodigal, a kind of a waste.

Internally and externally, bitterness creates a different kind of prodigal.

Well, we're going to finish up at the fifth point in verses 31 and 32, and that is to value people and eternity. This is really the lesson to learn from this passage as we wrap it up here in verse 31 and 32. It says, 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 Mary and be glad for your brother was dead and is alive again and was lost and is found. The father lovingly instructs

the older son. He encourages him. He strengthens him. He says, look, you are always with me and all that I have is yours. Son, you're always with me. You have everything that you need. You have the relationship that you need. And notice that he says, all that I have is yours. There's some interesting things to consider in that statement. The prodigal son is received back as family. He's still a son, even though he's behaved so horribly.

At the same time, it does not undo the inheritance that he has wasted. He doesn't get a comeback and then get another inheritance, you know, when his father does die. He doesn't get a comeback and have, you know, more possessions in store for him. No, it would be robbery to give the younger son another inheritance. He already received his inheritance. The remainder of the father's possessions, the father says, all I have is yours.

You're worried about this fatted calf, but you have all of the possessions. You have great reward. You might think of it that way. And you're always with me. Something important to consider with prodigal living, with making those foolish decisions. Yes, the Lord does welcome you back and receive you back as you come back in repentance. But it doesn't erase all of the consequences. It doesn't undo all of the bad decisions.

You're still welcome back as a member of the family, but that doesn't mean that you have the same opportunities that you had before. It doesn't mean that you have the same possessions or the same position that you had before. Still a member of the family, still welcome back, and it's loving compassion that allows God to behave that way towards us. We also need to understand. We go live that foolish life and waste those things, and those things are wasted.

and they're gone. Those opportunities are squandered. So an important lesson there for the younger son, but here also for the older son. All I have is yours. You need to think about the big picture. You are always with me, and all I have is yours. This celebration does not take away from you. It doesn't diminish your wealth. It doesn't diminish what you have. It doesn't diminish your relationships. This doesn't affect you in that way at all.

except for if you will be bitter and unforgiving, and then you won't be able to enjoy those things. But those things are yours. You have the relationship. You have the inheritance. Verse 32, it was right that we should make merry and be glad for your brother was dead and is alive again and was lost and is found. It's right. It's appropriate to celebrate people are valuable.

Yes, this young brother of yours, he was disrespectful. Yes, he was wasteful. Yes, he made terrible decisions. And the magnitude of those is unfathomable. But he's still valuable. And he's still a member of the family. And so it's still worth celebrating when he comes back alive. When he was lost, but he's come back and is found.

Left foolish, but returned repentant. That's worth celebrating. Value people. You have your relationship with me, the Father says, and your brother's life is valuable. And think about eternity. Think beyond this. You have the inheritance still. You have what you need, and you're still blessed. This celebration does not take away from you.

And so we have some lessons here to learn from the prodigal sons. Important lessons for us to consider and evaluate. People are allowed to choose foolishness. That's true of us. God allows us to make foolish choices. And so we need to be careful to run our choices by him and allow him to lead us and guide us. But at the same time, it instructs us for relating to people around us because, well, sometimes we need to let people around us make foolish choices.

choices. Not that we want to see them experience difficulty or harm, but if they won't listen to the Lord, and if they won't listen to instruction, then allowing them to receive the consequences of their foolish decisions might be the best way to minister to them. And that's what the father does with this younger son here. And it's true, the hardships help him realize his foolishness.

He hits rock bottom and then his eyes are opened. That's how it happens many times. It's how it's happened in my life. I'm sure many of you can relate. Hardship helps people realize their foolishness. At the same time, we need to be ready, anticipating a return and looking forward to reconciling and to offering forgiveness and extending mercy and grace and compassion and receive repentant people back into the family. Yeah, maybe that's

Season of foolishness has changed the relationship. Maybe there's, you know, some consequences and some differences now going forward, but the relationship itself is restored, received back into the family because you've come back repentant, changed, with your eyes opened and your heart different. But if you hold on to bitterness...

Well, it creates a different kind of prodigal. And you find yourself quickly in a prodigal situation because you've wasted your relationships. You've wasted away internally with unforgiveness and bitterness. Broken your fellowship with the Father because the Father welcomes and receives the one who turns back and becomes right with him. And so let's value people.

Let's rejoice when they turn. Let's rejoice when they change. Let's rejoice and celebrate when there's transformation. And let's place our value in eternity. Yeah, there might have been such waste and maybe even harm and wrong was done towards us. But that doesn't really affect our eternity. It doesn't change our eternity. And the reward that is there, the inheritance that is there, value people and value eternity.

valuable lessons from these prodigal sons. Let's pray. God, I pray for each of us as we interact with the people around us and especially in the midst of this especially difficult time, Lord. There's a lot of tension, Lord. There's a lot of emotions. There's a lot of unknowns. But there's a lot of interactions that are going to be happening with us and around us. And so, God, I pray that you would speak to us these lessons of the prodigal sons.

Help us to not be foolish, but to look to you and allow you to guide us. Help us to follow your example in receiving people back, loving and welcoming people back as they come back with changed hearts, with repentant minds. Help us, Lord, to be able to forgive, to let go of bitterness, to let go of the anger. And Lord,

In this older brother, we see the selfishness and the self-centeredness displayed. It's different than the younger brother displayed it, but it's there. He's consumed with himself, concerned with himself, not concerned about the father. I pray that you would help us, Lord, to look to you, to adopt your view, your perspective, to see what you see as we relate to people around us. And as we do, Lord,

What it will teach us is to value people and to value eternity. That's really what matters. So we can rejoice even when we've been hurt or harmed. We can rejoice when a foolish one returns and is received. We can rejoice because of eternity and the promises there that are unchangeable. We have an inheritance that's reserved in heaven for us. It's undefiled, incorruptible. It will not fade away. So God, help us to grasp hold of these truths.

and to follow your example. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.