February 24, 2011

  • Study: The Prodigal Son
    Lesson: The Father’s Forgiveness
    Read: Luke 15:11-32


    Hollywood will never exhaust the ways it can tell the story of a wrongdoer getting his “comeuppance.” Regardless of the setting, the genre, or the story details, audiences consistently find satisfaction in seeing the bad guy get what he deserves. The need for justice is deeply ingrained in our consciences. But when we consider all that God has done to provide for us in our sinful rebellion, does any of us truly want what is fair? Perhaps our need to see justice served is a longing for what we will experience in the last days, when the Lord settles all accounts and exacts punishment for every unforgiven wrong.

    Before reading the scripture above, had you thought of the father’s reaction to his son’s return as shocking or scandalous? It’s a sad commentary on Jesus’ culture that people had lost sight of God’s mercy because of the obscuring dominance of religious pietism. What stands in the way of forgiveness and mercy today? In what ways might we shock others in our efforts to protect the repentant from scorn and shame? Instead of watching wrongdoers get what’s coming to them, we should be the ones going to them.

    Do you ever find yourself trying to make yourself a hired servant of God, instead of resting in the promise of your adopted sonship? You can’t atone for your sins by your good deeds. Your meager attempts at self righteousness cannot compare to the full and complete pardon Jesus purchased for you on the cross. Look around at the people in your church. Do you ever see someone worn out, burned out, by all they try to do for God? It could be they haven’t yet understood the fullness of God’s grace. Serving the Lord should be a joy fueled by thankfulness, not a burden required by guilt.

    Think of all this father granted to his son, simply because the boy returned. The lavishing of these gifts came to the son only because he recognized his father as the only source of help and favor in his small world. There are untold resources waiting in God’s storehouse, if we would only ask Him to provide. It’s often the case that we’ll exhaust every other resource before we finally turn to God in prayer. We know God is making us into His Son’s image when we forsake all and go to Him first when we have need.