The Lost Son, Part 1 | God’s Rescue Mission

Luke 15:11-16

find your way to verse 11 of Luke 15, Luke 15:11, and let’s read the whole story together now. “And Jesus said, ‘There was a man who had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, ‘father, give me the share of the property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living.

“And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he was longing to be fed with the pods the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.’

“And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to his father, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’

“And they began to celebrate. Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked ,what these things meant. And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ But he was angry and refused to go in.

“His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!’ And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. And it was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’”

for today, our focus, the lost son, verses 11-16. In Proverbs 13:15, it says, second half of that proverb, “The way of transgressors is hard.” “The way of transgressors is hard.” It may not seem that way at the start, when the sinner is still young, when the body is still strong, when he still seems to have the world by the tail, but all the signs are there from the very start and this is what we see in the parable of the lost son.

There are five characteristics that we are going to see here of every lost sinner and this is the proof, this is the evidence of his lost condition is these five characteristics. For every non-Christian who may be listening, what Jesus says here tells the tale of your fallen condition. This is who you are, this is how you look before a holy God. This story portrays your degradation. It explains your brokenness. Whether you have come to the point that you’re aware of it or not, this is you.

For all of you Christians listening, these five characteristics of every lost sinner, listen, this is where we come from. No matter what kind of sinner we’ve been, irreligious or religious, this is what we look like. This story is our story and it reminds us of the reasons that we have to give thanks to God. Deep, deep gratitude, profound joy before him, that we are saved from this lost condition. We’re amazed at what God has done. We also realize in humility as Christians, that these five characteristics of a lost condition, they still afflict our hearts, don’t they? They can resurface in our behavior, these characteristics, even, even as mature Christians we can find these characteristics tempting us.

The five characteristics of lostness, as we hear these unpacked here by Jesus, they’re going to help us discern bad patterns in our thinking. So we can mortify our own sins, so we can live a life of repentance, so we can be constantly renewing our minds in the Word, as it’s the goodness of God that compels us over and over to holy living. It’s what I hope to see from us whether you’re non-Christian or Christian listening, it’s what I hope for you.

First characteristic of a lost sinner, number one, the lost sinner is shamefully selfish. The lost sinner is shamefully selfish. Look at verse 11, “And he said, ‘There was a man who had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, “Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.”’” Many in the crowd, most of whom would lean more sympathetically toward the Pharisees and the scribes, for many of them, this younger son’s request is a shocking way to enter into a story. It’s not that selfishness was unheard of. It’s not that self-indulgent children are anything new.

Maybe hard to discern the offensive nature of the son’s request here, from our twenty-first century vantage point, so let me just fill in some of the background for you. This is not just a kid who’s asking his dad for a couple of bucks, he liked to go and vacation and do something cool, so he’s asking his dad for help. This is not, even going further, it’s not some kind of impulsive, narcissism, like, like a kid who’s expecting his parent to be on the hook to help fund his profligacy, his, his self-indulgence.

What we see here, is not impulsive at all, in fact it’s planned. This kid has been thinking about this a lot. He’s thought this through. So let me put this into language that we might understand. Imagine your son coming to you, and he’s in his late teens or early twenties, which is probably about the age of the young man in this parable, and your son comes to you, and in a voice of cold determination, there’s no love whatsoever in his eyes as he looks at you, and he says, Dad, I’ve been watching the accumulation of your wealth over the years, I’ve read the will, so I know what I’m going to inherit, let’s, let’s pretend you’re dead now. So I can cash out my inheritance and leave this place, I can’t wait any longer for you to die. I want out of your house, and I want out now.

There’s ice forming in your veins, the sudden stoppage of your heart, as you’re incredulous at such a brazen request. Totally dismayed that the son that you raised and nurtured and fed and provided for and clothed, that your wife did his laundry over and over and over again. You patched up his wounds, you helped him back into the, into life. You passed on your wisdom. Now he’s looking in your eyes as he drives a spike into your heart.

As we see in verse 13, what he wanted was not here in the home. What he wanted was far away, in an exciting, strange new world. He wants to travel. He wants to see the world. He wants to enjoy life just a bit. Doesn’t want to sit around and rot, like his dad, like this farm, like all the same old stuff, just decaying and rusting and corrupting and corroding. So he wants his freedom and the pathway to freedom is to get money, and to get a lot of it. He’s got the perfect place to get it, his super rich dad.

The son is basically saying, I wish you were dead, because you’re the only thing standing in the way of my freedom, which I plan to buy with that money just as soon as you’re out of the way. Look again at verse 12, notice what the younger son here is asking for, he says, “Give me the share of property that is coming to me.” Good translation there, “Give me the share of the property that’s coming to me.” He’s not asking for his inheritance by the way, that would be the word kleronomia that comes, inheritance, comes with responsibility, with duty attached, with honor. Instead he uses the word ousia. He wants the goods. He wants the livelihood, or what comes from that. He wants the riches. He wants the wealth that accrues to people like his dad who work hard over a lifetime, sacrificing a lot for it, faithfully over many, many years. He wants that, without the work. He doesn’t want the responsibility, just the stuff. Give me the portion of the estate that belongs to me. That’s another way you can read it. He wants all the wealth that’s coming to him, and none of the responsibility that comes with that wealth.

So in this money grab, he wants to divest himself of everything that ties him to his father. The responsibility for earning wealth, for maintaining wealth, for protecting wealth. He wants no part in the family name. No part in the father. He wants no responsibility for preserving the family’s respect, for living in, in a way that’s worthy of the family name. He wants no responsibility for carrying out the family’s duties to the community, maintaining its influence, protecting its reputation, he wants out. So what caused him to despise his father so much? Obviously, his dad’s done something to offend him deeply. That’s what we say today, right? Any victim, any kid that cries foul. We listen to the kid and we ignore the plea of the parent.

What causes any lost sinner to think and speak and act in such shamelessly selfish ways, blaming God instead of themselves? If you asked this lost son, hey, do you love your dad? Do you love your family? You know what he’d plea? Of course I do! Lost sinners know it’s bad to hate your parents, bad to hate your family. They often won’t admit hatred, because they refuse to think at a level deep enough to expose the most vile thoughts in their thoughts, the most shameless motivations that they carry around with them, but this is the way of every sinner.

This is the way of pride and selfishness. It is blinding and it is sinful to the core. It is disordered and ultimately violent against anyone or anything that stands in its way, even close relations, like loving, giving, compassionate parents. That’s the way with this kid; it’s the way with all lost sinners. I even seen some redeemed sinners, well-educated ones, who ought to know better. Theologically informed Christians, and they are oblivious to the fact that they are acting in the same way as this.

So guard yourself, lest you think low of this lost son and high of yourself. Don’t be a Pharisee, get into the flow here and see, this is me. I can be just like this. Let’s trace the thinking here, the son’s growing desire for autonomy, growing up in a home where he’s well provided for, but his desire for autonomy, for freedom, for pleasure, it means that the ordered life of the home, with all of its implicit and explicit demands for his discipline, for his self-control, to fulfill his responsibilities, and his duties in the home, this son’s desire to pursue his own happiness on his own terms, that desire begins to taint his view against his dad, against the well-ordered home life.

It makes him resent restraint. It makes him buck against it. The walls of the home turn into the walls of a prison for him, and they close in more and more. They’re like bars on a cage. His pining for adventure creates tensions in the home, as he’s not attentive to his work any longer, but he’s more looking to the ends of the earth. Listening out for news from the merchants of what happened over there, or what happened over there. If he had Google and the internet, he’d be searching it all the time, listening to stories and listening to things that are going on all around the world, and never paying attention to what’s right in front of him.

Never grateful for what God has given him in his own lap. Never thinking twice about the lap he sits in, the one that provides for him, the one that cares for him, who teaches him, who loves him. He’s got resentment toward responsibility, he wants out. In his ignorance, he’s unable at this point to appreciate his father’s hard work. He can’t see all the sacrifices his father has made over the course of his life, all for the good of other people by the way, his wife, his children, his sons, his servants; how the righteous even cares, it says in Proverbs, cares for his animals.

In his pride, the son has an irrationally high view of his own potential. He estimates himself way too highly. He believes that just given the chance, he’s going to do very well for himself, he’s going to make his own way, he’s going to have more, way more fun doing it if he can just get away from the repressive, and oppressive strictures of his father’s house.

That’s the first characteristic of a lost sinner portrayed in this lost son, that he’s selfish to the core and shamelessly so. Why is he shameless about it? Because he’s blind to it, by his own pride, by his own high estimation of himself, he can’t see himself for what he really is, so he’s shameless, he’s shameful in how he acts.

That’s the first characteristic, here’s the second one. Number two, the lost sinner is inconsiderately ambitious. The lost sinner is inconsiderately ambitious. “The younger son said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’” And then it says this, a very sad sentence, it’s weighted with a lot of meaning, “And he divided his property between them. Not many days later,” it says, “the young son,” well, verse 13 continues, he took off, he left, gone. The immovable property, the land, its structures, its improvements. All the immovable properties stayed with the older brother; it belonged to the family by right of tribal inheritance that was prescribed in the book of Numbers allotted by Joshua in the book of Joshua.

But the movable property, all the stuff on top of the land, livestock, vessels, carts, furniture, materials, supplies, anything of value like money, gold, jewelry and all that stuff. All of these things, the father here in that little sentence in verse 12 at the end of verse 12. All these things the father all of a sudden had to assess, provide evaluation, and divide it appropriately and apportion out to the sons and distribute it, by the way, to his two sons. You think that took some time and effort? You better believe it. You think that maybe that was an unwelcome interruption to his father, the father’s workflow? It was a wholly unpleasant task, a painful one.

Notice the father divided his property between them. No protest coming from the older son. Firstborn is the one who’s gonna receive the double portion of the estate. He’s gonna bear the responsibility of carrying forward the family name. He’s gonna use his father’s wealth to create more wealth. But there’s no protest whatsoever coming out of him. To see his father subjected like this, to this onerous task.

The father is dividing, distributing his wealth and he does so against every impulse here, against reason, against wisdom even. Because we all know, and we know this more and more the older we get. The young are fickle. They’re unsettled, they’re immature, they’re inexperienced, they’re unwise in the world, giving them a cash payout when they’re too young to work for it, to appreciate it, it can ruin them. They need experience to humble them, to make them teachable, soften their hearts, to turn all the knowledge that they gain throughout life, into wisdom, knowledge, righteously applied.

Many in the crowd are gonna hear this father’s actions and they’re going to recognize the lack of wisdom represented by the father who’s acquiescing, inexplicably acquiescing to the younger son’s brazen request. What is he doing? This is giving into his selfishness. Don’t feed it. Not only that, but they could imagine as we can how painful this would be for him. This truly is adding insult to injury. As not only he had the injury. The insult of feeling this from his son, but now he’s got to do the duty of evaluating all his property. He’s gotta do this because he’s gonna give it to the son who, not only doesn’t deserve it, but is going to ruin himself. It’s clear, it’s obvious.

He’s gotta get every piece of property assessed. He’s got to get it ready for a premature estate sale, even though he’s not dead yet. Just because his two sons wish he were dead. Why would he do this? I mean, against every righteous impulse, against his son’s disobedience and disrespect. It’s against his heart’s longing, against all reason and all sound wisdom. Why would the father give in? Why would he just hand everything over?

Well, it’s important to just pause and note here that Jesus’ story, the point of his story is not to teach about wise parenting, this is not a parenting seminar he is giving, this is not a lesson in estate planning, this is not about how to plan your financial future. This is not a seminar, economic seminar, or anything like that, it’s, this is not about the best course of action, even when your children, heaven forbid, act as shamefully and self-centeredly as this kid has. So don’t take parenting advice from this.

There’s a theological principle that’s on display here for us, and it’s this principle. It’s the principle of judicial abandonment. The principle of judicial abandonment. God gives them over. Jesus is showing us here, at this point what it looks like when God hands the sinner over to his sins, to the consequences of his sins. It’s a frightening reality, isn’t it? When God hands sinners over to their desires, that’s the path that we see traced in Romans chapter 1.

Romans 1 and it says this in verse 24 and verse 26 and verse 28. Same verb used over and over, repeated refrain. God gave them over. God gave them over. God gave them over. Why does God do that? Does he delight in rubbing the sinner’s nose in his own mess? Not at all. God does not delight in wickedness. He does not delight in punishing the sinner, but he does delight in righteousness, does delight in grace and both of those things are at play here in handing the sinner over.

First, because God does not coerce anyone to love him. He has given us, by virtue of us being created in his own image, he’s given us as free creatures, the rights and the responsibility to make choices. Notice, I said, having choices is a right, and it’s a responsibility of a creature created in God’s image. We choose, according to our own desires. We do the thing that we want to do. We choose what our nature desires. That’s what the father, the father in the story is picturing, the way that God too, allows sinners to go their own way, even though it’s not best.

Second, in allowing sinners to go their own way, though God by his kindness and his grace, he adds a number of restraints. Government is a restraint, family is a restraint, marriage is a restraint. All these restraints that he gives by his common grace, but in allowing sinners to go their own way in handing sinners over to the results, even though it increases in sin and adds more guilt and covers them in more shame. Listen, the effect of guilt and shame is to weary the sinner in his sinful ways.

You understand the law of diminishing returns and you notice how sin is like that. You sin this much, and it’s good. And you try to sin that much again, over and over again, and it’s not enough and you gotta go a little bit further and so you sin at that level and you sin at that level and that level and that level and finally you find yourself keeping company with the devil himself.

The effect of that is to make us sick of sin. The sinner to see his sinful ways and see its error, its futility, its degradation. It’s on full display in this story, we haven’t gotten there yet, but we will. But the only hope for the airing sinner then is third, God giving the sinner a new nature. By his grace, he makes the dead sinner alive, causing him to be born again and the thinking of this new nature, the new man, means that the will is truly free, finally free, able to choose the good.

When a sinner turns to Christ, it’s wholly by God’s grace and it is according to human choice, at the same time. That love of a sinner given a new nature is not coerced, it’s never forced, it is freely given, because there’s a new nature with new desires, new longings. Even in judicial abandonment, God is showing his grace, his patience, his kindness. He’s always working to encourage the sinner’s repentance. That’s what Jesus is picturing here as this father, rather sorrowfully, and rather painfully divides his estate up, and he distributes his wealth to these two undeserving sons.