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Seven Encouragements for Parents of Prodigals · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  Speaker 1: Today we read Luke fifteen Verses eleven to thirty two
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  Speaker 1: together in our Bible, reading the Parable of the Prodigal
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  Speaker 1: Son or the Parable of the Prodigal Sons plural. It's
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  Speaker 1: a famous story about a father, a blameless father, and
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  Speaker 1: his two sons who are anything but blameless, each of
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  Speaker 1: them entrapped by their own sin in very different ways.
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  Speaker 1: And for parents of prodigal sons and daughters, the story
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  Speaker 1: resonates deep in offering hope, like it does for Heather,
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  Speaker 1: a mom in Birmingham, Alabama. Pastor John Hello, I'm the
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  Speaker 1: mother of a prodigal son. In his early twenties, I
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  Speaker 1: read Luke fifteen over and over. I have studied it
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  Speaker 1: a hundred times. I was wondering, if you were to
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  Speaker 1: talk to the parent of a prodigal son or daughter,
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  Speaker 1: how would you give hope to them from this text.
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  Speaker 1: I want my life to reflect the life of the
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  Speaker 1: father and this story as I wait on the porch.
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  Speaker 2: It really is an amazingly encouraging parables for parents and prodigals.
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  Speaker 2: It's got so many layers of encouragement in it. I
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  Speaker 2: don't think we've ever or anybody has ever gotten to
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  Speaker 2: the bottom of it and its amazing portrait of the
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  Speaker 2: gracious heart of God. We could talk for hours about
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  Speaker 2: the implications of this parable, but we don't have ours.
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  Speaker 2: So let me perhaps mention I think I see seven
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  Speaker 2: that I could do within the timeframe. Seven encouragements from
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  Speaker 2: this parable. First, this is one of the three parables
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  Speaker 2: in Luke fifteen which are told by Jesus in response
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  Speaker 2: to being criticized in verses one and two because of
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  Speaker 2: eating with tax collectors and sinners. When the Pharisees inscribes grumble,
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  Speaker 2: saying this man receives sinners and eats with them, Jesus
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  Speaker 2: responds by telling the parable of the lost sheep, the
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  Speaker 2: parable of the lost coin, the parable of the lost
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  Speaker 2: son or sons we'll see. So all three parables are
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  Speaker 2: meant to illustrate the fact that when Jesus is eating
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  Speaker 2: with sinners, this is what God is doing. He's embodying
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  Speaker 2: the pursuit of God that's described in the parables as
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  Speaker 2: he pursues the loss. That's what's happening. When Jesus comes
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  Speaker 2: into the world and eats with sinners. God is not
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  Speaker 2: in any way compromising with sin. Christ is not becoming
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  Speaker 2: a sinner by eating he's doing John three seventeen. God
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  Speaker 2: sent his son into the world not to condemn the world,
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  Speaker 2: but that the world through him might be saved. And
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  Speaker 2: so the father in the Parable of the Prodigal Son
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  Speaker 2: is a picture of God acting in Christ to save prodigals.
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  Speaker 2: That's just the basic picture that we should be encouraged.
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  Speaker 2: We need to see God that way, think of him
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  Speaker 2: that way. He's pursuing sinners. Second, in all three parables,
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  Speaker 2: there's this jubilant celebration over a single sinner who repents
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  Speaker 2: verse seven. I tell you there will be more joy
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  Speaker 2: in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety
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  Speaker 2: unrighteous persons who need no repentance. And in the Parable
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  Speaker 2: of the Prodigal Son, the father says, bring quickly the
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  Speaker 2: best robe and put it on him, and let's celebrate.
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  Speaker 2: So God's heart in this parable in all three parables
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  Speaker 2: is glad. It's glad to have prodigals come home. He's
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  Speaker 2: not begrudging.
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  Speaker 1: He's glad.
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  Speaker 2: Number three. In all three of these parables, there's no
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  Speaker 2: focus on the guilt of the woman who lost the coin,
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  Speaker 2: or the shepherd who lost the sheep, or the father
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  Speaker 2: who lost a son. Now I'm not saying that to
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  Speaker 2: make any comment about the quality of my or your parenting,
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  Speaker 2: which all of us know could have been better on
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  Speaker 2: every count. People sometimes ask me, what would you do differently,
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  Speaker 2: and I'd say everything like I'm trying to do everything better.
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  Speaker 2: I'm simply saying, when I observe this, that's not the
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  Speaker 2: issue here. Jesus is simply not calling any attention to
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  Speaker 2: that which is crystal clear in the parable of the
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  Speaker 2: prodigal Son, because the father is a picture of God,
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  Speaker 2: who is the absolutely perfect father, and he's got this
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  Speaker 2: lost son. I mean, go figure, how can you be
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  Speaker 2: a perfect father and have a lost son. We are
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  Speaker 2: encouraged to fix our gaze in these parables not on ourselves,
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  Speaker 2: not on our shortcomings, but on the kind of God
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  Speaker 2: we are dealing with. In these parables. Fourth encouragement, the
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  Speaker 2: prodigal son experiences a change of heart art at the
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  Speaker 2: lowest point of his miserable life, he's ready to share
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  Speaker 2: food with the pigs. At the boy's lowest point, he
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  Speaker 2: came to himself. And the encouraging thing is that, just
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  Speaker 2: when it looked absolutely hopeless, how could you return from
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  Speaker 2: something so low that he experienced his awakening. Fifth, perhaps
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  Speaker 2: the most tender and beautiful and powerful moment in the Parable,
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  Speaker 2: which Jesus surely intended for this effect, because he told
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  Speaker 2: the parable this way is the moment when the father
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  Speaker 2: sees the boy a long way off and runs to
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  Speaker 2: greet him, not walks, he runs to greet him verse
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  Speaker 2: twenty But while he was a long way off, his
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  Speaker 2: father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced
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  Speaker 2: and kissed him. So he saw, he felt, he ran,
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  Speaker 2: he embraced, he kissed. So oh, let us, I want
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  Speaker 2: to say it to myself. Let us keep that picture
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  Speaker 2: in our minds, not only as a picture of God's heart,
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  Speaker 2: but to make our own hearts tender that way and
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  Speaker 2: eager that way. Six, The father describes the change in
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  Speaker 2: the boy's life as a change from death to life
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  Speaker 2: verse twenty four. For this, my son was dead and
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  Speaker 2: he is alive again. He was lost and is found.
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  Speaker 2: This is encouraging because the father did not minimize the
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  Speaker 2: dreadfulness of the boy's condition. The boy was dead from
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  Speaker 2: a merely human standpoint, he was hopeless. So don't ever
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  Speaker 2: look upon the hardness, the indifference, even the bitterness, or
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  Speaker 2: the cynicism of a prodigal and think that can't change,
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  Speaker 2: as is not going to change. Don't think that way
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  Speaker 2: it can. He was dead and he lives. And then
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  Speaker 2: finally number seven. Remember this father, in the parable of
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  Speaker 2: the Prodigal Son, had two prodigals, not just one. When
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  Speaker 2: Jesus was eating with the tax collectors and sinners, there
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  Speaker 2: were two groups of lost people he had to deal with.
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  Speaker 2: One was the text collectors and sinners, and the other
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  Speaker 2: was the scribes and pharisees. The tax collectors and sinners
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  Speaker 2: are represented in the parable by the prodigal son, and
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  Speaker 2: the scribes and Pharisees are represented by the older son
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  Speaker 2: who was angry. He was angry that the father was
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  Speaker 2: celebrating the return of the younger son life. He was
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  Speaker 2: angry at new life. So this older brother, like the pharisees,
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  Speaker 2: saw his relation relationship with the father in terms of
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  Speaker 2: earning privileges rather than enjoying a relationship. So how would
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  Speaker 2: the father respond to this kind of wayward son, the
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  Speaker 2: second prodigal? So how would he respond? Sometimes people say,
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  Speaker 2: and I heard this when I was in Germany writing
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  Speaker 2: a dissertation on love your enemies, and some people pointed out,
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  Speaker 2: there's no way that Jesus ever tried to woo the Pharisees.
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  Speaker 2: He only had negative things to say about the Pharisees,
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  Speaker 2: and never I invited them to believe. And I pointed
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  Speaker 2: out in my dissertation that that's what's going on here.
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  Speaker 2: Look of verse twenty eighty. The older son was angry
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  Speaker 2: and he refused to go in and be a part
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  Speaker 2: of the celebration of life and salvation. And his father,
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  Speaker 2: just like with the younger son, came out and treated,
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  Speaker 2: not commanded, and was angry. He entreated him. He had
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  Speaker 2: come out to meet the dissolute younger. He came out
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  Speaker 2: and wooed and pleaded with the legalistic older son. So
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  Speaker 2: here's my conclusion for myself, for all of us. Let's
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  Speaker 2: take heart for at least these seven reasons, and remember
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  Speaker 2: Jesus's encouragement in chapter eighteen, just a few chapters later,
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  Speaker 2: that we should always pray and not lose heart.
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  Speaker 1: Interesting point. A blameless father with two lost sons, two
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  Speaker 1: prodigal sons. Thank you, Pastor John, and thanks for joining
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  Speaker 1: us today. If you have a question to ask, Pastor John,
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  Speaker 1: find a link to email us and find our complete
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  Speaker 1: episode archive at askpastor John dot com every episode with
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  Speaker 1: sixty five. Well, there's a fascinating question coming up on Monday.
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  Speaker 1: It's a debate really, should we ever speak directly to
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  Speaker 1: the devil? Some Christians do, many don't. Who is right?
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  Speaker 1: That's the question next. I'm Tonio Rank, See you on Monday.