Tuesday, January 13, 2009

The Prodigal God

The Prodigal God
Prodigal- (adj); lavish, recklessly extravagant, having spent everything.
Luke 15:11 “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. NKJV
We have heard this story, and the younger son goes off and blows it and comes back, yada, yada, yada. However I willing to bet you have never heard it the way Timothy Keller explains it in his book “Prodigal God”. See in the NKJV Bible the story is called “The Lost Son” but there are actually two lost sons in this story. There is the younger son who is blatant in his offensive request of his entitlement before his father dies, ouch if you’re the father (your son basically wishes you were dead). Then there is the older brother and his sin is that he has a misconception of what faith and Christianity are about. So fast-forward in the story, the younger bro has come home from his mistake and the father has embraced him and is now throwing a huge party (cooking the fatted calf and all) on the account that the younger bro was lost and now he has come to his senses.
Luke 15:28 “But he was angry and would not go in (to the party). Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. “So 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.’
So the older brother is caught in his piety (exalts himself above others because of his good works) and he shows no forgiveness for his own brother because his perspective is flawed (selfish, I, me, my). Both brothers have chosen different paths that are so prevalent in our society. The younger brother has chosen the way of self-discovery (I will do it my way) and the older bro has chosen moral conformity (doing what community and tradition say is right). Both ways are often sinful because they both can rely heavily on self. The way of moral conformity is a huge deception as so many of us think that doing good works will get us into heaven but it is a lie, giving your heart to Christ is the only way (sorry Oprah). The point to this bread is that we have to love and be loved never thinking we are better than anyone for the way we live. Sure we know the truth and they may not, but remember that was us a while ago and the best way to put Christ on display is unconditional love. Be forgiving, count it all joy regardless of the pain because you know it is all His will, and be humble. Know that God has spent everything on us and has recklessly given extravegently to us. His love is amazing, think about it, amazing! God forgives us so of so much we aren't even worthy to be looked at but yet there He is loving us. I will leave you with this nugget to chew on for a week.
“Salvation is not only objective and legal (faith in Christ is the only way) but also subjective and experiential (coming to the Father is not the same route for everyone).” Timothy Keller

3 comments:

Tyler Parker said...

That Keller quote at the end is mind bottling. Both ends of the spectrum in one sentence.
We all know that there is only one way to get to Heaven. ONE, no other options available. And yet, all of us came to that realization in completely different ways, time, and manner. Somehow in our twisted web of life, we all got on the right path and the path just gets more and more narrow, the more you dig.

B-E-A-U tiful stuff. I just logged on and got hit in the mouth today with all this action on here from everyone.

"starting to come together, Pepper. Starting to come together"

Anonymous said...

Nice work Ben. Love speaks much louder than words. Giving time, listening, and serving someone shows that you truly care. Needed today!

"Gimme that fire, fiiiiirrrrrrrrreeeee!"

B. Free said...

YO! Great to read your play-by-play on the prodigal/lost son. When you talked about the two different lifestyles: self way vs reformed... it made me think about how in each way God does what is He needs to do to ensure that we depend on Him. We might exposed or tested in our lifestyle but I am grateful that He uses our lifestyle to refine us if we allow it to happen.
-B