The Prodigal Christian

Today we continue our series on the overcoming Christian – on what it means to run the race as a Christian, to achieve victory in our lives devoted to Christ. This week we will also have a time in which we remember the Lord through the sharing of the bread and cup, and we will have what we call a “sharing time,” where we gather in a big circle and where anyone who desires may share what the Lord has been teaching them.

But in preparation for our time of worship remembering the Lord with the bread and cup, I want to talk about what it means to be a prodigal Christian. What is a prodigal? According to the dictionary, a prodigal is a recklessly extravagant consumer. Synonyms include squanderer and waster. So what do I mean by prodigal? As no doubt you can guess, I am referring to the parable Jesus told of the prodigal son. We will turn to this parable shortly.


But first, I want to point out that the idea of a prodigal child of God is a recurring theme in the Bible and appears also in the Old Testament. Consider this passage from Jeremiah 3. God is talking.

I myself said, "'How gladly would I treat you like sons and give you a desirable land, the most beautiful inheritance of any nation.' I thought you would call me 'Father' and not turn away from following me. But like a woman unfaithful to her husband, so you have been unfaithful to me, O house of Israel," declares the Lord. A cry is heard on the barren heights, the weeping and pleading of the people of Israel, because they have perverted their ways and have forgotten the Lord their God. "Return, faithless people; I will cure you of backsliding." "Yes, we will come to you, for you are the Lord our God. – Jeremiah 3:19-22

This is such a potent, hard-hitting passage! The God of the Universe says, “How gladly would I treat you like sons! How gladly would I give you the most beautiful inheritance! I thought you would call me Father! I thought you would not turn away from following me!” Do you realize that we can grieve the heart of God?

Some of you know what it is like to be so disappointed by someone that it causes physical pain. I will share a personal story with you. When my grandfather passed away, more than 20 years ago, my grandmother was supposed to receive an increased monthly amount of social security. She applied for this, and it should have been automatic, but the request was denied. Because of privacy issues, it took a while to get to the bottom of why the request was denied. The reason turned out to be that someone else was claiming benefits based on my grandfather’s death! It turns out that my grandfather had had a longstanding relationship with someone who had been working for him, I believe an illegal alien, although I am not certain of that, although she was of Mexican descent. Together they had a child and because of this child the social security benefits were going to her instead of my grandmother. I cannot even imagine what it was like for my grandmother to learn of this. I do remember what a shock it was for my mother, to suddenly learn she had relatives she never even imagined. My mother did not take it well, and none of my family had anything to do with these people. But what a shock! What a disappointment for my family to suddenly learn about years, even decades of unfaithfulness by my grandfather.

If you can imagine what this felt like, I think you are starting to get at the emotions that God feels as described in this passage. We can grieve the very heart of God.

What would be a natural response? Something like what my family did. Cut the person off! Express your anger! Have nothing to do with them ever again! But is this what God did? No. “Return, faithless people!” God wants them to turn back to Him. “Come back!” He calls.

The word “faithless” here really means “unfaithful,” as opposed to “without faith.” Backsliding is a synonym for this word. In fact, the same root word is used for both faithless and backsliding when it says “Return, faithless people; I will cure you of backsliding.” To “cure” means to heal; the Hebrew word is raphah. You may have heard the phrase Jehovah raphah, which means “The God who heals.”

Isn’t this incredible? If you don’t remember anything else today, remember this! Not only does God want the backsliding Christian to return to Him, He wants to heal him! Returning to God after backsliding, after sinning, is not about us coming to God in our own efforts saying, “I’ll try harder next time.” It is coming back to Him and saying, “I have sinned against You. I am sorry! I want You to begin Your healing process in me. Please, heal me! Do whatever it takes! Whatever the cost! Change me so that I don’t do this anymore!” This is what God promises to do.

In many ways, Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son is an expansion of this passage from Jeremiah. The parable of the prodigal son is found in Luke 15. Before I read it, let me give the context. Jesus was hanging out with tax collectors and “sinners.” In fact, He was drawing quite a crowd of these kinds of people. What would be a modern equivalent? Perhaps a crowd that included a bunch of gang members, wearing their identifying flash of color so you would know whether they were “Bloods” or “Crypts,” along with a bunch of registered child molesters? Throw in a few prostitutes, some active drug users, still high, and maybe you are starting to get the kind of crowd that Jesus was paying attention to here in Luke 15.Imagine you were there, vastly outnumbered by these types of people. Would you be a little nervous? A little uncomfortable? Would you try to remember if you had locked your car doors?

So some of the “decent” people complain. “Hey Jesus! These people are no good! They are mocking You! Why are you spending all your time with them? What about us?”

And Jesus’ response is to tell them three stories. The first two are very short. One is about a man who has lost one of his hundred sheep, and how he would leave the 99 “decent” sheep alone for a while so he could track down the one that was lost. The other is about a lady who loses a coin and searches carefully for it, even though she has 9 more. Then Jesus summarizes the stories by saying that just as these people would rejoice with others when they found their lost sheep or lost coin, so do the angels rejoice in heaven when a lost person is found – that is, when a sinner repents and turns to God.

And then Jesus tells this story of stories, the parable of the prodigal son.

And He said, "A man had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me.' So he divided his wealth between them. And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living. – Luke 15:11-13

No doubt you have heard this story many times, but listen to it freshly. Keep in mind the passage from Jeremiah 3. Remember God saying, “How gladly would I treat you like sons! How gladly would I give you the most beautiful inheritance! I thought you would call me Father! I thought you would not turn away from following me!” And so this younger son comes to Father and says, in effect, “Father, I know that when you die, I will get a share of your vast inheritance. Honestly, I have thought a lot about that inheritance, and I wouldn’t say this to you out loud, but in truth, I wish you were dead. Then I could have my inheritance now, to do with as I like.” Out load, he says, simply, “Can I have my share of your inheritance now, please?”

And soon after, the son leaves. He takes his entire inheritance with him. He goes to a distant country, and there he truly becomes a prodigal, a reckless waster, a squanderer.

What happens when, as believers, we willfully sin against God? We know we hurt God, just as in Jeremiah 3. But what do we do to ourselves? When we become saved, God has a whole new life planned for us. He wants to do great, glorious things through us. He wants us to be a part of His work here on earth – leading people to Christ, helping others mature as believers, He wants to use us to tear down the very gates of hell! He has given His Holy Spirit in us, to teach us and to enable us to do these things. He has gifted each of us with spiritual gifts, meant to be used to build His kingdom.

But when we sin, what do we do to ourselves? We become prodigals. We are reckless wasters, squanderers. We grieve His Holy Spirit. We quench it. What a waste! Do we use His gifts? Not at all. In effect we throw them away. Instead of being a part of His work on earth, we become a part of Satan’s! We literally do the Devil’s work. There is no way to be “neutral” as a Christian. Either we are fulfilling God’s plans for us, or we are thwarting them.

When we give in to temptation, it is just as if we are saying to God, I don’t want to wait. I wish You were dead. Let me go now and do what I want to do.

And what does God do? He lets us go. He rules over us by love, not by force. And when we leave, we too “squander our estate.” We become that prodigal. We condemn the “tax collectors and sinners,” the drug users, pedophiles, gang members, and prostitutes while in reality we are no different - perhaps we are worse, because we knew the Father, while most of them never have known Him.

"Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country and he began to be impoverished. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, and no one was giving anything to him. – Luke 15:14-16

God often allows us to experience the consequences of our folly. In this parable, the fact that the prodigal son was reduced to feeding swine was shocking, because pigs were unclean to Jews. And then to hunger for the pig slop, the pods, was even more degrading. To be reduced to looking in other people’s garbage for food to eat is about the best analogy I can make.

"But when he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men."' – Luke 15:17-19

Remember the passage from Jeremiah 3: A cry is heard on the barren heights, the weeping and pleading of the people of Israel, because they have perverted their ways and have forgotten the Lord their God. The people of Israel also had come to their senses.

Do we come to our senses? When we spend time in rebellion from God, do we really understand what inheritance we have squandered? I think the more we understood this, the more it would change us. We may not be starving physically, but we become starving spiritually, and this is worse!

"So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. "And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' – Luke 15:20-21

Again, this is similar to Jeremiah 3. Return, faithless people, and I will cure you! There is a heart of compassion, not condemnation. How much compassion? How much love? Enough to come running! And note that the running came even before the son gave his confession and acknowledgement of guilt.

"But the father said to his slaves, 'Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.' And they began to celebrate. – Luke 15:22-24

And so we see the same ending as the other two parables: rejoicing! The father brings out the best robe, and a ring, and sandals, and he brings out the best meat. There is no mention of the squandered inheritance. Does the son deserve another ring and another robe? No. But the father doesn’t think about such things – he is simply rejoicing that his lost son has been found.

So what do I mean by my title, the prodigal Christian? How does this relate to becoming an overcoming Christian?

1. We are all prodigals.

I want us to understand to a greater degree the effects of our sin. It grieves God, who has given so freely to us, to see us squander our inheritance, to be prodigals. Do we understand how it hurts Him? Do we understand how it hurts us?

2. Restoration comes by returning to Him.

Whatever we have done, we can return to Him, and He will “come running” to us. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. Nothing. What does Paul say?

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 8:38-39

And this “returning” comes by confessing our sins – agreeing with God that we have been prodigals – that we have “sinned against heaven and in His sight.” When we do this, we are returning to Him.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. – I John 1:9

3. God wants to heal us.

“Return, faithless people! I will cure you of backsliding!” Do you want to be healed? Jesus asked this of some of the people he saw, crippled and sick. He asks it of us. That He wants to heal us there can be no question. But He waits for us to want it as well. If we are double-minded, we need to pray for the “want to” – He will answer this prayer!

Every overcoming Christian is a prodigal, a squanderer of a vast inheritance. But every overcoming Christian is also one who says, “Yes!” to the offer of God’s healing. I pray that every one of us would continually sit at Jesus’ feet and say, “Heal me, Lord. Whatever it takes, heal me.”

And God still wants to use us. Every parable goes only so far in explaining a spiritual truth, and here, I believe, is where this one begins to break down. Our inheritance, as I have said, includes what God wants to do through us here on earth.

The prodigal son lost his entire inheritance. But not so with us! What do you think God would like to do through you? Do you believe that God wants to use you to help build His kingdom? It is true! What does this look like? It includes being a godly parent. So many Christian leaders grew up in Christian homes, and had godly examples of how to live all-out for Christ from their parents. Not all, by any means. But what a blessing to be this for your children! Some of us parents are breaking a multi-generational cycle of heartbreak, or substance abuse, or even other kinds of abuse. What a powerful way to be used by God. When I look at the faith of my children and compare this to my own childhood, I just marvel at God and what He has done and what He is doing.

Part of this inheritance is building up other believers. Do you understand that what we have in this fellowship is precious? Do you understand that it is not because of what the leaders are doing, or because of a program we are following? It is what the Lord is doing! Someone at the bonfire at the Tyners’ mentioned the closeness of our fellowship and said that we seemed closer to each other than this person’s own family seemed to be.

And a part of this inheritance is being able to minister words of life and words of healing to those that don’t know the Lord. Next weekend will be our second Mission Trip to Clemson. We will be giving fruit bags out as we go out this time. We will include tracts in the bags. Please be in prayer this week for this time. I would pray specifically that some more “prodigals” would come home.

4. We are to be a loving community of recovering prodigals.

I do not have time to read the rest of the parable, but if you remember it, the older son gets jealous when he sees all the attention and love lavished on the returning prodigal. And in fact, this was the real motivation for Jesus telling these three stories – remember that they were in response to the complaint that Jesus was hanging out with the “wrong sort of people.”

By the way, I really admire the clever way in which Jesus crafts and uses these parables. On the surface, the Pharisees were the righteous ones, like the older son. But we know human nature. Without a doubt, many of these Pharisees were living double lives, just as the supposed righteous do now, indulging in secret sins. No doubt this third parable pierced some hearts to make them think, “Woe is me! I am really not the older son, but the younger son!” If they took the parable to heart, God would come running to them as well!

We, too, are both the younger son and the older son. We need to be reminded that there are no wrong sorts of people! If God rejoices when the prodigal returns, so should we! Forgiveness, restoration, and rejoicing are how we are to respond when a wayward one returns to the Lord, even one who has hurt us deeply, when that “one who was lost becomes found.”

In a few minutes we will partake of communion together. We will sing a song together called “Come Home Running,” and after this, we invite you, if you are a believer, to partake in the bread and cup in remembrance of our Lord and Savior, Jesus, the Lamb of God, who gave Himself willingly on the cross to pay for our sin.

Before you do this, though, I encourage you to take some time, as long as it takes, to really search your heart before God. In I Corinthians, we are given instructions about partaking of the bread and cup in a “worthy” manner.

Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. – I Cor. 11:27-29

So I encourage you to examine yourself. Are there areas of your life that you are living in rebellion to God? Confess them. Tell God that you are ready for Him to begin to heal you. And when your conscience is clear, then you are ready. At that time, come up to receive the bread and cup, take them to your seat, and spend some time in prayer thanking Jesus for paying the price for your reconciliation and thanking God the Father for sending Jesus to do this for you.

Following singing and communion we had another wonderful time sharing what God is doing in our lives together. God is so good!