Gary Wilkerson-Parable, episode 140

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If you love a prodigal, you can discover help and hope for your wilderness journey right

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here at When You Love a Prodigal, and also help and hope for your own life journey.

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I've been praying for you as you seek to live and love more and more like Jesus, especially

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with your prodigal.

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Now this week, we will get another picture of what that might look like.

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Several years ago, when My When You Love a Prodigal book first came out, Gary Wilkerson

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invited me to be on his podcast.

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Gary leads World Challenge Ministry and pastors to Spring's Church.

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His father, David Wilkerson, wrote The Cross and the Switchblade, founded Teen Challenge

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and the Times Square Church.

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When I was on Gary's program, we talked about his prodigal as well as mine.

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He is currently doing a series on the parables of Jesus.

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When I listened to his message on the parable of the prodigal son, which is one of my very

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favorite things in all of scripture, and you've heard me mention it many times, but I thought

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it might be an encouragement to you.

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So today, that's our program.

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Gary Wilkerson, speaking on the parable of the prodigal son, ask God to speak to you

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as you listen.

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I just enjoy the teachings of Jesus so much.

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They never get old or tired.

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Every time I read these parables, they hit me somewhere different.

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Yeah, so we're looking at the parable of the prodigal son.

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I think Jesus is teaching these parables of how to have his heart for the world, for others,

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for the values, for things of the kingdom.

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Such a beautiful statement.

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And you know, it's funny, I think as you're saying that, I'm just thinking to myself of

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the part in the story about the father, the way he receives the son back.

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It's like, totally, this is the heart of God.

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And so I'm so glad that you brought that up because obviously there's a practical point

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that Jesus is making.

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In my opinion, almost to shame the people who are saying to him like these sinners that

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were he was breaking bread with weren't important, but it really isn't just the practical outflow

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of it.

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It's really showing who God is.

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I'm so glad you brought that up.

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Thank you.

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So in the actual parable of the prodigal son, take us through that a little bit.

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Where do you want to start with this?

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It's only a few verses.

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You want me to read through it all the way?

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Absolutely.

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Sounds good.

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Let's go back to the first verse in Luke 15 and we'll read verses 11 through 32.

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And he said, there was a man who had two sons and the younger of them said to his father,

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Father, give me my share of the property that's coming to me.

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And he divided his property between them.

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Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey to a far country.

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And there he squandered his property in reckless living.

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And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in the country and he began to

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be in need.

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And so he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country who sent him

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to the fields to feed pigs.

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And while he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, but no one gave him

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anything.

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But when he came to himself, he said, how many of my father's hired servants have more

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than enough bread, but I perish here in hunger.

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I will arise and go to my father and say to him, Father, I've sinned against you in

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heaven and before you.

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And I no longer am worthy to be called your son.

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Treat me as one of your hired servants.

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And then he arose and came to his father.

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But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion and ran

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and embraced him and kissed him.

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And the son said to the father, I've sinned against heaven and before you.

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And I'm no longer worthy to be called your son.

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But the father said to his servants, quickly bring the best robe and put it on him, a ring

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for his hands, shoes for his feet, bring the fatted calf and kill it.

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Let us eat and celebrate for my son who was dead is now alive again.

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He was lost and now is found and they begin to celebrate.

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And there's obviously a portion after that about the response of the older some of it

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seemed like a natural place to stop there and talk about the parable.

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Yeah, they get a little bit.

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Where's your mind go when you read that?

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What's your first thoughts?

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You know, when you think about this Jewish man, this Eastern man who was obviously a

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man of means, he'd been a successful business person to some degree.

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He had stature and importance.

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I mean, we see that he had money enough to give his son an inheritance.

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And then we see that not only apparently he was a good steward of all these things, you

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know, because even when his son had wronged him, he still appealed to this knowledge that

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his father was a good man.

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But I think the starting point really is the fact that what this meant in Jewish culture,

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this son, first of all, is not the eldest son.

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He's the younger son.

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And so the elder son would be the first to get his inheritance.

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Of course, the elder son would get a double portion that because it was expected of the

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older son to take the family business, to take care of mom, maybe when dad passes away

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and to be the sort of next patriarch of the family.

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And then the younger son would get his portion of the inheritance.

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It was completely unheard of for a son to come to his father while he's alive and well

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and ask for his inheritance.

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Really, a lot of scholars would say that this was really a way of saying that I wished

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you were dead so I could have what's mine, what's coming to me.

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And so he starts this off by completely disvaluing his place and his sonship and who he was to

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his father.

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And so I think the disgrace that he levels towards his dad, the disrespect he levels

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towards his dad has to be brought up first and foremost because that's really the frame

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and backdrop by what makes the end of the story so beautiful and powerful.

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It's really the Jesus is telling a parable here about a son but he's really telling the

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whole biblical story because this is the whole story from Adam and Eve.

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They send, God comes into the garden and cool the day and it's, where are you?

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I hid from you.

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The son has the same image of his father that Adam and Eve did.

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There's a doubt about their goodness and the question, they want their own and so they

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depart and that's what this boy does, he goes and he departs, took a journey in a far country

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and squandered this property in reckless living.

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So if this is a picture of our Father God, it's also a picture of us wanting to get something

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from him but not wanting to live in communion with him or in nearness to him.

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So that speaks to my heart because if you want the right things from the Father then

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the inheritance of the goods that He could give you is at best secondary.

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His presence is what you really long for.

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No doubt.

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I think if you break this parable down by sort of like three sections, I like to think

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of it.

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The ruin of sin, we see this, the unvaluing of the presence of the Father of being part

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of the household of God.

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I mean just like Israel did, just like Adam and Eve did and just like all of us have before

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Christ, the ruin that comes with sin, we even see to the degree that shame went, we're talking

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about a Jewish boy who's working in a pig field.

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It doesn't get worse than that.

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What a disgraceful, unclean thing to be.

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So I think Jesus points that out clearly to show that there is no depths that God won't

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deliver us from and won't accept us from.

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You got the ruin of sin and then of course the moment of clarity.

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This really is a picture of the gospel to a great extent, you know, the love of the

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Father and the gospel because the ruin sin brings on us but then we have this moment

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of clarity.

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We remember or see for the first time who the Father really is.

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I so love the world that he gave his only begotten Son.

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I remember being in jail coming to this moment of clarity about who God was.

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I judged him, misused him, you know, just thought everything wrong about God and from

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his word, God did something to my spirit where I realized that God could have struck me dead.

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Any moment, God could have exacted judgment any moment.

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God had preserved my life.

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He had let me persist in this squandering of everything he had given me in this moment

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of clarity.

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I saw the greatness of God.

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I saw the goodness of God and I realized, you know, just like the Son, you start appealing

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back to his character like, man, even, I mean, it's so funny too.

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It's like even as people who come to God, we start thinking like, man, I don't deserve

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this, but maybe if I just do a little bit here or there.

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And then of course the last part we'll talk about a minute, the love of the Father, which

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is really this amazing climax.

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We see the goodness of God in this.

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And so for me, if we think about it in those three things, we can apply it to the world

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in general.

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We can apply it to the history of the Bible, but most importantly, we can apply it to our

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own lives.

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Yeah.

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Yeah, because if you're looking at this text in light of what you said, I think is really

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important.

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But this is not exclusively speaking of, like in my family, having maybe a literal prodigal

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son, gripping a Christian home and then decided to go out and squander his life and get involved

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in drugs and alcohol and living an ungodly life and running from God.

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But really, what Lovagey said is that's not just we label prodigals of those who come

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from Christian home and run away.

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Jesus is talking here really about all of us.

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It's not just, yeah.

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So like I could say my son Evan was a prodigal, but he could say my dad, Gary, was a prodigal.

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100%.

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I didn't actually leave the faith like that.

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Yeah.

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But I think both are valid too.

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And I think a lot of people listening to us today that are prodigals themselves that lost

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their first love or they're living in unrepentant sin.

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And man, this is a parable that tells you the outcome of that thing.

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You're squandered everything you have and the Lord in his love, verse 14 says, after

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he spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, understanding the sovereignty

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of God, that was no random famine.

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The same thing as Jonah, God sent a well, God sent a storm, God sent, he is the creator

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of all these things.

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And so the famine came just at a perfect time to do that.

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So I would say if somebody's listened to us and they've just turned from the Lord and

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living gratuitously in sin, that prepare for a famine, it's coming.

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But even in the famine is his love.

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The famine is grace.

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Yeah.

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The famine is grace.

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The correction is grace.

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The chastening is grace.

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Yeah.

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So sometimes people get in that place and then they just get stuck there wallowing in the

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pit, in the pig pen.

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And they just go like, oh, this is what I deserve to be here.

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But all these things are God calling you out of that.

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He's calling you back to repentance.

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And one other quick item too is I've heard it said many times is like how gracious the

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father was before even the son repented.

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He was welcoming him, kissing him, but he did listen to the son's repentance.

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Sometimes people put up, they almost exit that part of the parable out as if that's

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not necessary.

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The father listened to his repentance and the son, I think, needed to say those words

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to him.

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And so, man, if you're in that pit now, Jesus sent that famine to draw you back out.

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He didn't send it because he hates you and wants you to continue just to be separate from

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him.

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He's drawing you back because you're valuable to him.

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Like he said, from the sheep and the coin, come back and receive his love and his grace

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and his repentance.

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And then lastly, I'd say, and then I'll get back to you, if you have prodigal children,

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which I've had, I just know the pain of that and the difficulty of that.

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And want to encourage people just to continue to trust God that he is sending things into

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their life, whether it be a famine or a friend, somebody that could start sharing the gospel

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with them or a church they walk into.

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God is after them.

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He's chasing them down and he wants to do some good things in their life.

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Amen.

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And it's so encouraging for so many people who are in that place or have people they

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love that are in that place.

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Before I don't know how much time we have left, but before we just maybe talk about a

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couple of elements of it, I just wanted to make a couple, three little points that I

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think are important to mention.

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One is that our inheritance is eternal and not temporal like the fleeting treasures of

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the world.

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I think that's one of the primary purposes of this is to show us the sort of enduring

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love that we find in the presence of God and in the house of God and in communion with

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God.

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And I think sometimes the prodigal, maybe one of your sons or someone else that's been

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in this situation, don't understand the value of those things.

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Not that we're urging people to go into the world, but once you're out in the harsh world,

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you remember the goodness of God.

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You remember the goodness of those sort of things.

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Number two would be that looking for satisfaction outside the father's house will always bring

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spiritual ruin.

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We just don't realize that, and I think for some people who grew up in church because

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they weren't really regenerate, they didn't know, they didn't really know God.

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They went to church, they said the right things, they went to Christian school, they obeyed,

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they did whatever, but when it came time to make their own decisions, they weren't really

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a follower of God.

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And so I think sometimes going out into the world helps us understand the goodness of

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God and really see things as we should.

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Number three is, like you said a second ago, without repentance, there can be no forgiveness

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or restoration.

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And I think one of the most, the two most staggering things about the last part when

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the son comes back to the father is the son comes saying, I've sinned against heaven and

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you.

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He's got things in order there.

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It's like, I sinned first and foremost, and I sinned against you.

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Like this idea that I was in the wrong, this idea is something that for him to come to

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his senses to even head back to the father's house.

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And I think the beautiful part is when he's saying, listen, either I'll even just be a

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servant, you treat your servant so good.

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I'd rather be a servant living for you, having plenty to eat and being in this environment.

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You know, almost like when David said, I'd rather be a doorkeeper at the house of God,

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right?

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You know, this idea that being with you, this is more important than anything.

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And then the father's response to him first and foremost, he ran to him.

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It wasn't like, come here and pay penance.

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I've been waiting for you.

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You're my son.

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That doesn't change.

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And obviously we know that in Jewish culture, men of distinguished honor don't run.

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He ran.

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It shows like this reckless abandon towards the son.

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But when he comes in, here's the son's piece, you know, his repentance.

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He doesn't say, well, son, we'll take it slow.

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He didn't put them on probation.

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He's like, okay, thanks for saying that.

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Now go get the robe, go get the ring, go get the fatted calf.

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And I think for some people, even true believers who have fallen into a season of sin, what

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you need to hear is, yes, have your moment of clarity.

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Yes, put things in order.

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Examine your heart, confess your sin, repent.

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But when you move towards God, he's going to move towards you.

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It's not the underlying statement is come home, come home.

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And God, I just love that imagery so much that it wasn't, let's talk through the squandering.

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Let's talk through the money you wasted.

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Let's talk through the way you treated me like you wished I was dead.

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It was like, all that matters is your home now.

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Now find your rightful place in the house.

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Yeah, and it closes this particular portion of the parable with, what does it exactly

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say here?

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And they began to celebrate the older son.

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I feel we didn't read that, but he heard music and dancing.

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So this is the idea of worship.

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What comes out of being lost and then found or being a lost coin and then being brought

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back into the wallet, so to speak, or to the son being brought back to the home, it's time

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to celebrate, it's time to worship.

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And I think some people tend to rehearse their depravity, just like, I can't worship because

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I don't deserve to.

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So you're going to, you almost, the son said to him, hey, I could just be one of your servants.

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And the father says, no, let's celebrate instead of just being a servant to your son.

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But some of us don't want to enter into that.

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We just feel like, oh, we've got to beat ourselves up a little longer.

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You know, maybe after three years of sobriety, then I'll start, yeah, our pen answers, then

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I'll be celebrated.

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We encourage people to celebrate now, celebrate, come home to Jesus now, celebrate the fact

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that he is welcoming you back with open arms.

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So did you get any new insights to that parable?

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Did you see your loved one in it?

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What did you learn about how scandalous the younger son's request for his inheritance

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was?

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Does your prodigal perhaps fit that story as well?

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And what did you understand about God from this story?

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And did God have a message for you?

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Be sure to write down any actions you should take in your relationship with your prodigal

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and in your relationship with God.

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And be praying as I'm asking the Lord where we should go next in our prodigal podcast

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sessions.

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I'm still not clear about the next theme we're going to have.

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God bless you.