Sermonic Postscript

Dear Flock,

It is getting late for so old a man as I, and I am writing in the press of trying to wrap things up for the men’s retreat (which will actually be more of an “advance,” I am sure)! However, lest this week’s Thursday Thoughts go out as an edition of Friday Forgetfulness, I wanted to drop a line or two your way. Let’s leave the theme of “connecting” off for now, and turn our minds and hearts back to the last couple of weeks, as we made our way through the Parable of the Passionate Father and His Prodigal Sons.

I appreciate and praise the Lord that these two sermons were used by the Holy Spirit in our lives, and have evoked encouraging and kind comments from you. Was it George Lucas that said a movie is never finished, rather it just escapes? Sometimes, as a preacher, I feel that way. Sometimes, there is so much more that could be expounded on a given text. However, lest I follow the lead of many of my Puritan heroes and preach stacks of sermons on one verse or passage, I limited myself to two messages on this parable. (I am reminded of the great Puritan and Westminster Assembly member, Joseph Caryl (1602/03-73), who preached 424 times from the book of Job, over a period of twenty-four years, averaging ten sermons per chapter. It makes a handsome 12-volume reprint, I have to admit).

Of the many things we considered over the last two sermons, such as sin looking delicious to us, even though it is rotten, like pig slop, or the fact that the father had forgiven the younger son even before the prodigal could lay out his repentance speech, or how the father actually “pursued” both prodigals, there is one theme I want to revisit with you, before we lay this parable behind us.

Hank and I were talking this week of how we are all like both prodigals – the younger, self-willed, outwardly rebellious son, as well as, the older, self-righteous, inwardly boiling son. We marveled at the Lord’s grace, as thought about how both the younger and the older sons had the mistaken notion about what it meant to be loved by the father.

The younger prodigal returns and makes an offer to the father that he could come into the house as a “hired-servant.” Hence, he believed he could earn or buy the father’s acceptance. The older prodigal refuses to enter the house, mad enough to bite the head off a ten-penny nail. This is not because he thought he could buy the father’s acceptance, but rather because he thought he had been earning his father’s approval. He had been slaving away all those years. There is no way he going to sit back and watch the father so foolishly give his love away to his obviously undeserving younger brother (whom he is not even willing to acknowledge as a brother anymore, cf., Luke 15:30).

Now, I said at various points in these two sermons, that all of us were like both prodigals. I dare say many of us probably relate more to the older brother. Perhaps, you have never spent all your money on prostitutes, but you know the struggle with judgmentalism and self-righteousness. Maybe, you do identify with the younger brother, as you have lived out some rather Technicolor sins in your past, that you wouldn’t want to be included if a made-for-TV-movie about your life were to be shot.

At the end of the day, the fact remains that we are a lot like both brothers. And, the fact must be understood that both were self-willed, both were self-righteous. But, whether you have pig slop dripping from your face, like the younger or arrogance dripping from your tongue, like the older, you need to hear the gospel-call to freedom. Above all, don’t miss this. As you work on mortifying your appetite for prostitutes and pig pods; as you struggle to control your angry self-righteousness, you must understand your sonship in the Father’s house.

So, stop coming to the Lord, offering to make a deal with him to be his “hired-servant,” if only he will accept you. He doesn’t need hired-servants. He wants daughters and sons. Neither should you continue to try to function in the Father’s house, as if you were really only a servile, cowering slave, earning his acceptance, as you try to fool him, yourself, and everyone else into thinking that you have “never disobeyed” his commands (15:29). Don’t get angry at him, he never asked you to slave away to earn his love in the first place. Get out of that grind!

The Father can’t be bought with your paltry self-righteousness. He is not like an earthly father, for whom the son or daughter can never do enough to measure up, never be good enough to be worthy of his “love.” But you can be bought. And, you were bought… with a price (1Co 6:20a) – the precious blood of the Lamb. Whether he has to run down the street and wipe the mess off your face, or come out to wipe the snarl off of your face, you are priceless to him.

So, take a good look at yourselves. Those robes you are wearing are the best that can be had – you must be the righteousness of Christ. Those rings! You must have authority in the house. Those shoes – gospel peace!

What’s that? What did he just call you?

Son!

Daughter!