Coming Home

(Photo cred: Grant Lubbers)

(Originally written for Douglas County Publishing: Pastor's Meditation July 10, 2018)

A couple weeks ago several youth leaders and I got to take 22 young people from our area on a service trip in Holland, MI.  For a week, we joined about 30 other students and leaders from churches in Sioux Falls, Ann Arbor, MI, and Rochester, NY.  We were mixed together and split into small groups for work during the day, and after supper, came together for worship and a message, before dividing back into our small groups for discussion. 

One of the passages we kept coming back to was the parable of the lost or prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32).  The short version is a father had two sons, one of whom wanted his inheritance early so he could do what he wanted with it.  We’re told this son “squandered his wealth in wild living”—he wasted it!   Having gone broke, he ended up taking one of the lowliest jobs—it would have been humiliating for a Jewish person to do this: he fed pigs.  He was so broke that he wished he could eat what the pigs ate.  One day he decided he would try going home and ask his dad to take him back as a servant.  He felt he didn’t deserve to be considered a son (and maybe we agree). 

What happened next though?  “So he got up and went to his father.  But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.  The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.  I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’  But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick!  Bring the best robe and put it on him.  Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.  Bring the fattened calf and kill it.  Let’s have a feast and celebrate.  For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’  So they began to celebrate” (Luke 15:20-24).

There’s more to the parable, but what we are to understand is that we as people in our sinfulness go astray, and we can go far off from God.  We can really mess things up.  We may live our lives in such a way that we tell God, “It’d be better if you’d just give me blessings, but I don’t really need you.”  We choose to live wildly or live selfishly; we don’t honor or love God. 

Yet all is not always lost at these signs of sinfulness and spiritual immaturity.  God may still reach out to us and forgive us.  He may send his Holy Spirit in his timing to wake us up and draw us back to himself.  If we are his chosen, his beloved, he doesn’t just wait to see if we’ll make it back home on our own, but he is willing to chase us down first.  This may remind you of the message in the new Christian song “Reckless Love,” which uses the imagery of another parable Jesus told, the parable of the lost sheep (Luke15:3-7).  A shepherd would leave 99 sheep to find 1 lost sheep, “In the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”

Why does God operate like the father in the parable or the shepherd who isn’t willing to lose even 1?  Is there something that we can do that makes us deserve this kind of love?  The answer is no, not at all!  There isn’t one of us who deserves any blessing from God, especially the blessing of eternal life for anything we’ve done.  So why did Jesus tell people this about 2,000 years ago?  Why are these words preserved in Scripture to be read and shared throughout the world?  Why does the Christian church continue to tell a story of hope?  Because God is not only full of perfect justice, but also perfect mercy and grace.  Because Jesus, who is God in the flesh, came and fulfilled every righteous requirement in his life and provided himself as a sacrifice, even dying, to redeem us, to give sinners life. 

The message we heard on our Serve trip wasn’t a new story.  Through the image of a table and chairs, we heard how ever since Adam and Eve fell into sin, we’ve tried to get farther and farther away from the table where God desires to commune and feast with us.  Yet in Jesus Christ, God has provided a means for those who turn to him to return to the table, to come home.  By his grace, we have the opportunity to believe in him, to have saving faith, to be blessed not just during our short lives here on this earth but also with eternal life!

Can you believe that God wants you as his son or daughter?  Can you believe that despite what you’ve done, he wants to treat you as a favorite, as royalty, as someone worth celebrating?  If you’ve gone off track, lived a life of sin, chased after pride and selfish desires, there is hope.  Yes, we have sinned against God, every one of us has, but has God been searching for you?  If so, come home!

(If you're reading this, thanks to Bryant Russ who was our speaker and got me thinking about a lot of this!)