No Ordinary Love is about the Prodigal Son. My Bible is a New Living Translation bible so if my text reads different then yours that's probably why. This was a sermon given by a mega-church in Florida called Christ Fellowship. I've put kinda my own spin on it and I hope you like it. Let's get started.
This is one of my favorite stories. Like I said its about the prodigal son. Now in Luke Chapter 15 Jesus tells some stories. He tells a story about a lost coin, a lost sheep, and of a lost son. Now if you grew up in church then you know these stories fairly well. If not then let me share some background information on the particular situation Jesus found himself in. Jesus is having dinner in the home of prostitutes, tax collectors, and some bibles even say that he was eating with notorious sinners. Now if your like me and don't know what the word notorious means it means somebody who is famous for doing bad things. Kinda like their reputation was for doing bad things. Let me ask you would you like to be classified as a notorious sinner? Of course not! Nobody wants to be labeled like that. Yet there is Jesus relaxed in their homes. Now at the time it just so happens that some religious leaders walk by and Jesus sees an opportunity to give a teaching moment.
Now these religious leaders they could talk a good talk but they didn't know how to live the life. They didn't know how to walk with God. They didn't have a good foundational relationship with him. At one point in time Jesus even compares them to white washed tombs. All pretty and dazzling on the outside, but the inside was dead and decaying. Like I said Jesus sees them and starts to preach. He tells three stories; The Lost Coin, The Lost Sheep, and The Lost Son.
"A man had two sons. The younger son told his father, 'I want my share of your estate now before you die.' So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons." Now it's interesting to note here that typically in Jewish custom and culture the sons would get the inheritance after the father died. The older son would get double and the younger son would get the rest. For those of you who are math inclined that's the older son getting 2/3 and the younger son getting 1/3. What also is interesting to note is (like i said) the father had to be dead for the sons to receive the inheritance. That's important to know because by the younger son asking for his inheritance he was basically telling his father "I wish you were dead." "I want my inheritance because it'll make me happy, so if you could just give me my share that would be great." and so the father gives the son his wealth/inheritance. Now the bible says that the son doesn't invest it instead he wastes it on parties, my bible actually says that he wastes it on "wild things." About that time a severe famine hits the land and as fate would have it the son goes broke. The son finally finds himself in desperation and despair. He needs money for food because he is starving. The bible says that the son finds a wealthy landowner and asks him for work. The landowners responds with the only job I have for you is to feed my pigs. Gross right? Well the bible doesn't stop there it continues on to say that the son grows so hungry that he starts to eat what he is feeding the pigs. Yummy right?
Now comes the good part. The son comes to his senses and realises that 'At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! I will go home to my father and say, "Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant." So the son leaves and returns to the road that leads up to his fathers home. Now the bible says that the father saw the son, which tells me that the father is looking for the sons return. "And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him." The "one-liner" comes at the end when the father says "come celebrate my son was once lost but now is found." What a beautiful picture. The best part is that same father that saw the sons return is the same father that's up in heaven looking for your return. That same love is waiting for you, for me, and for anybody else who wants it. It's not an ordinary love.
Now the people in the house with Jesus knew this story.......not because Jesus had told this story before, but because in Jewish culture it was like a nursery rhyme to them. See this story would be told around dinner tables with a slightly different ending that was meant to scare the kids into waiting till after the father was dead to get the inheritance. They would tell this story and the only difference was instead of the father opening his arms and embracing the son, he would turn his back and say "get away from me i never knew you. You have no purpose here." However, Jesus gets to the end of his version of the story and goes "BUT the father saw the son off in the distance and he ran to him and embraced him." Can you just imagine the look on all the faces that were there listening to him. I mean this was like a major shift in the way people thought. All their lives they felt like God had turned their back on them. See what Jesus was trying to get across is that he love the father had for his son is not ordinary its not the same you see everyday. This is a love completely out of the ordinary, its unconditional, its not based on conditions or what we do. It's based on how much God loves us. See a lot of people have that image of God turning his back on us but instead God runs to us and kisses us and welcomes us back into his family.Now the guy who actually gave this sermon used a story from his past. I was going to use one of mine but his version is way better.
The man had a son and daughter and he took them out to practice hitting some baseballs. Since the son was older and took more of an interest to baseball he pitched to his son first. He described his son as just "nailing" each one of the balls that was pitched to him. Then his daughter said that she'd like to hit a few balls. So she stepped up to the plate and he said that she would swing and just hit air she'd completely miss the ball. It was getting to the time when they needed to return home and the daughter still hadn't hit a ball yet. So he stated that it was time to go. She said that all she wanted was one more pitch. So the father agreed and the little girl choked up on the bat and the father pitched the ball. The father described how he watched her drill the ball over their heads and out into center field. He says he still remembers the look of shock on his sons face. They returned home and their mother asked them how it went. The eager son of course responded with how he hit every ball and he was just hitting them left and right. Then the mother asked how the daughter did and the son responded with "she missed them all." The daughter then responded with "but I hit one and mom I drilled it outta the park." The father said for the rest of the night his daughter was happy. The point of the story was to illustrate that he doesn't remember any of the pitches she missed, but he remembers that one time when she did hit the ball.
See in our minds all we think about are the misses but God doesn't remember all the times we fail him, instead he remembers the time we make contact and just drill the ball outta the park. God wants you to come back to him he wants you to be part of the family all you have to do is let him. Now Jesus also said that we should show that same love that our father shows to us to other people. To end this extremely long blog post. Who do you know that needs to hear this story? Who do you know that you can show the unordinary extraordinary love of God to?
Hope you liked this post. I know its long but hopefully it changes the way you view God. Remember there is only 1Way2Live and that's for our father in heaven.
No comments:
Post a Comment