JUN 17 2018 | Our Father – Who Leaves The Light On For You

Sea Change Church · "Our Father - Who Leaves The Light On For You" Pastor Dr. James Smith III · June 17, 2018
Automated transcript. Not reviewed for accuracy.

Good morning, my name is Jacob. Just ask the Holy Spirit to be in our hearts, that God's word would penetrate our minds, change our hearts, be spoken by our lips, and change the world through our hands and feet. This is the parable of the prodigal son. Jesus continued, There is a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, Father, give me my share of the estate. So he divided his property between them. Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country, and there squandered his wealth and wild living.

After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. When he came to his senses, he said, How many of my father's hired servants have food to spare? And here I am, starving to death.

I will set out and go back to my father and say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants. So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him. He ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. The son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.

I am no longer worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his servants, Quick, bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead. And is alive again. He was lost and is found. So they began to celebrate. Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing.

So he called one of the servants and asked him, What was going on? Your brother has come, he replied. And your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound. The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, Look, all these years, I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.

But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him. My son, the father said, You are always with me and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found. The word of the Lord. It's always a privilege to be invited to share here at La Jolla Christian Fellowship.

Pastor Adam, wherever you are, thank you. Jacob, thank you for making coffee extra strong today. So during my message, people will be awake. I teach typically at Bethel Seminary and one of the things I tell my students is that my heart's desire when I teach is that each person either depart enlightened or awaken refreshed. So that is my wish for you today and in either case, may the Lord's word be especially there before your eyes.

Let me say too particularly as a dad and as a grandpa, I'll put on my grandpa glasses here, as a dad and as a grandpa, blessed Father's Day to all of you who are dads and who are such biologically, if you are such, would you stand where you are if you're a dad? All right? And let's just give it up for these guys. All right? God bless you and keep you. Stay standing if you would. Stay standing if you would. You'll be joined by others.

One of the things that I have thought of many, many times over the years and I experienced it again last evening when one of my Bethel students who lost her biological, her birth father some years ago, turned to me and said, I'm getting married. You're the closest thing I have to a father. Will you come and be at my reception and will you come and pray with me at my wedding before I step out there? All of us are helping raise somebody's kids.

Right? And if you miss everything else in this, may there be a sense in which we are imitators of God, our Heavenly Father, in helping raise other people's kids. So the rest of you guys, will you stand up? Where you are. All right? The rest of the guys, whatever your age, whatever your situation. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. And may God bless you as you help raise for now other people's kids. And maybe there's more biology in the future and maybe not.

Guys, stay standing if you would. Even though you're tall and I'm intimidated. Look at this. This is like amazing. I feel like I'm driving through the Avenue of Giants at Sequoia. All right? So anyway, I'll go back. I'm standing in a hole up here. In any case, that's great. But you know what? It's not just about fathers biologically, birth fathers. It's not even just about guys on Father's Day. My dad, whom I love deeply, he has been gone 30 years.

He graduated 30 years ago. Let my dad know, please, I love him today. My dad used to sing a little song and the song went like this on Father's Day. If it wasn't for your mother, could your father be your father? So remember mom on Father's Day. Anybody want to sing that with me? You're terrified, aren't you? Here we go. If it wasn't for your mother, could your father be your father? So remember mom on Father's Day. All right?

So that's what he would sing. He'd do the reverse on Mother's Day. You can make that up. We'd like all the rest. Let the sisters, the women, stand too. Why? Because we are all helping raise someone's children. All right? By God's grace. Would you stand with me? All right? And if you prefer to be seated, God bless you. Lord, we thank you for the fact that we can stand in your presence and by your grace. And this is La Jolla Christian Fellowship and some are standing and some are sitting and some are scratching.

But Lord, we just thank you for your blessing that rests upon us. We bow before you and we ask this morning humbly that we might hear your word, that we might catch a fresh vision from a familiar account, a familiar parable, that Lord, we might find whether it is biological or relational or in whatever way, that as you give us the gift as your daughters and sons to be instruments of your peace, that Lord, you might grace us as we seek to help raise children under our roof, children by extension that are ours and grandchildren, children, kids that we don't even know of whatever age.

God, help us as we raise other children and point them to you and maybe this Alpha Project will be part of that. Maybe our neighborhood will be part of that. Maybe where we volunteer will be part of that. But Lord, of whatever age, God, give us this grace and a glimpse of you. We ask it to your glory and for your kingdom's sake and for our good. Amen. Thank you so much. Thank you. Isn't it fun being at La Jolla Christian Fellowship?

I say that in part because predictably I'm thinking, you know, I'm going to ask people to stand. Some will stand and some won't want to stand and some will scratch and some will look at each other and isn't it great? We have a freedom in Christ. Amen? All right. Right. This is not regimentation. This is simply invitation. So what we find is the setup. This is the day the Lord has made. I'm a historian. So a little background, please.

Pastor Adam usually does the setup time. So the setup here is printed in your notes and it suggests this, that the beginnings, the beginnings of this honoring father go all the way back to the Old Testament, to the commandments. Honor your father and mother. And may I say this morning that as you find a word for you in this whole time together, that in fact, some of us may be challenged to find a way to honor your father.

One of the things that I deeply appreciate, and I say this with permission, one of the things I deeply appreciate about Pastor Adam is the way that he has shared that in recent years, he has grown in his understanding of God as his heavenly father. And that also has been an element in an appreciation of valuing of the best that is in earthly father. 1 Thessalonians 5, 21 says, examine all things and hold on to what's good.

And as we look back at our families of origin, whether on Mother's Day, Father's Day, whenever, 1 Thessalonians 5, 21, one of my life verses, examine all things and hold on to what's good. None of these are perfect people, but there is something redemptive, there is something honest and a nourishment of gratitude in us when we can look back and we can say, you know what? They got this right. You know what? Without them, not me.

You know what? There's a lesson here. There's a word here. There's a light here. Okay? So with that, just honor that reality this morning. Father's Day, in a sense, is rooted in that passage from the Old Testament, reaffirmed by Jesus. In the life of this country, you've stated very briefly, it was in 1910. We find the history and the origins of the observance here. Washington State, a woman in Spokane, Washington, some of you have been there, Western Washington, a little different, excuse me, Eastern Washington, a little different than the West Coast.

A woman who had marveled at being one of six children raised by her father who was a widower and the person was just full of love and full of creativity and she said, I want to create a day in honor of my dad. And she went out and went after it. Some of us may be entrusted with missions like that. I want to do this because it's right, because it's close to my heart, because God's stirring me. And this godly woman said, I want to honor this guy who raised all six of us and that in a way that was full of love and full of hope.

And so that was the beginnings in this country, 1910. The next year, in a New York newspaper, there was a line that said, one picture is worth a thousand words. Any of you heard that? Right? Now whether that's true or not, I guess it depends on the picture, whatever else it might be, or the words. I want to combine for the moments that we have this morning those two things. The familiar account, the story, the parable, and Jesus' parables used everyday things to communicate spiritual truths.

That's a grace God can give us in this era as we think about the power of a story, a true story that illustrates what God's doing in lives. But in any case, the account that we have is of the prodigal son a familiar passage. One of the cardinal sins for a preacher is trying to be original with a familiar passage. I have heard some of the weirdest points made out of the text, or not quite out of the text, in that way.

We're not going to attempt that this morning. The scripture has been read. It is an awesome story. We want to present that thousand word picture and then a historical picture, as you see in your notes, that I think marvelously illustrates what's happening there in this word from God's word. Look with me, if you will, and keep in mind the question, in what ways do you picture and experience God as heavenly father? How do you picture your own father or men who may have shaped your life?

In this parable of the prodigal son, God is vividly portrayed as the father who loves and redeems us and clarifies our identity and our roles in life. It's a wonderful meditation to return to again and again. John chapter 15. Jesus' parable is a lost and found. Now, I don't know how many of you enjoyed playing that in elementary school or at other times. The hymn Amazing Grace is one of those great, great songs which has in it what?

The line, I once was lost but now I'm found. Was blind but now I see. It's a hymn of movement. A hymn of celebration. The movements of life which in this case didn't lead a person to become John Newton, the writer of the hymn. More random, more ad lib, more cutting corners, more better excuses but it led him to say, you know what? I'm lost. In life at large and then even as he came to faith said in this particular situation, you know, I'm white caning it.

I'm not getting close. This is a tough deal. I'm lost. Lord, I want to be found. And he discovered the faithfulness of God. That love of God which is shown here. Luke 15 comes in the context of a series of lost and found parables. The lost sheep, the lost coins, the lost car keys. No, that's for us, right? I got to ask you a question. Any of you ever struggle with bad language when you lose something? I mean, I hear confessions at, you know, 1230.

But, you know, anybody here ever struggle with that? I do. I mean, normally, my speech is, as the Bible says, pretty much full of grace and seasoned with salt. But when I lose the car keys, I think, oh, you know, I lost that thing, right? A different dimension of my character comes out. So, how can we live in grace and truth in a situation like that? This picture, this parable, illustrates that for us. God's love and joy at saving and healing and delivering a human life.

Now, in this parable, as we've heard, there are three lives that are at stake. Verses 11 through 24 describe the random lost son's journey and here comes a sequence. Maybe you've seen it this way, maybe not. We mentioned amazing grace. Lost, found, blind, see, I feared, my fears were relieved. Amazing grace, awesome hymn. In the story of the son, the son's journey goes, may I suggest to you, from license, randomness, to brokenness, to a reality check, to repentance, to homecoming.

Isn't that an amazing movement? A pilgrimage? Once in a while, we share testimonies here, stories of how God has touched our lives. Think about the sequences of your own life. You know, the Alpha Project, which Pastor Adam has signaled, what a wonderful opportunity. That grows out, by the way, goes out of Holy Trinity Brompton in London. A marvelous church. Linda and I have been there a number of times for worship and inspiration and sharing.

Nicky Gumbel's, the pastor, awesome church, Holy Trinity Brompton, HTB, if you're interested in their larger sense. But this was a teaching, an invitation tool they developed to reach others for Christ. And to step into this sequence, moving from oftentimes license, to brokenness, to the reality check. Verse 17 is a classic in this passage. Is it not? It says, then he came to his senses. Right? Light, as they used to say in Massachusetts, there's a little town called Marblehead, Eastern Mass, out on Gloucester, Cape Ann area, first place you see the sunshine in the state of Massachusetts.

And one of the phrases out there is, light dawns over Marblehead. you finally get it. You're not acting dumb anymore. Verse 17, when he came to his senses. Aren't those wonderful moments for us? So that progression, and from there to repentance, and there coming back to his father who kept the light on for him. Is that a familiar phrase to us these days? You know what it says? When we were raising our kids out in Quincy, Mass, during our nine years in Boston, we had a neighborhood where kids played all over the place.

Played, you know, outside on lawns. It was a very quiet street, so they played in the street some, and they had guards at each end to call out when cars were coming, and all the rest of it. And they'd play until the sun dropped. And one night, our kids came back, and they said, well, I'm so glad you're here. And they said, well, you left the light on for us. And I thought, what a powerful imagery for life, for relationships, not only for family, but for friends, too.

Our kids remember that. That's what the Heavenly Father does in his parable of the prodigal son. He leaves the light on. We can look back in his direction. We can come to our best, toward our best senses of God's presence. Meanwhile, God as Father, it says here, is going through his own movements. We find in this picture a theology proper, that is theology, theos logos, God talk, about who our Heavenly Father is. He is one who, because he respects our power of choice, he gave it to us, that kind of authentic choice as to how to live life, he is here, the Father who releases.

the Son comes and basically says, let's pretend you're dead. I want my inheritance. I just want to pretend you're dead. Talk about a bone-chilling line from one of your kids. But in that, the Father releases the Son, and then waits actively. Do you notice that? Doesn't wait back on his heels. Doesn't just chill out, doesn't just take a few numbs it, you know, and air out. But the Father waits actively in anticipation.

There are ways to do that in our lives, to wait actively and attentively and provide opportunity as some returns. When the Son comes back, he forgives, and then he embraces, and then he invites a broader celebration of this homecoming. That's the Heavenly Father. What about the quite respectable older brother? Well, again, you could write your own sequence of movements. The older brother, I put, complies, produces, positions, explodes, and then accuses whoever is within reach.

Where are you in this picture? Where are you? What's the role that God is gifting you with in these days? Not just because this is Father's Day, but because as we're walking in the midst of those he dearly loves, he has a call for us to be imitators of him. What's our position? What's our role? There are a lot of personal examples. If this wasn't being recorded, I would share them. See me afterwards if you want to talk.

La Jolla Christian Fellowship is a place where we can ask good questions and talk about things that matter. Amen? That's what we want to be. So you can see me, but I'm not putting this on the air. Okay? That being said, this is a powerful, a powerful statement of God's amazing grace, of our Father who leaves the light on. And most of us can find ourselves somewhere in this picture as a waiting parent or a waiting individual or someone who's wandering.

And what a wonderful day to come back to our Heavenly Father. Or we're just crabby because somebody else looks like they got a better deal. We're just ticked because it looks like they're higher rated in this whole divine picture. They've got a little bit better health. They've got a little bit more cash. They've got, you know, a little better looks. You know, I'd like to play basketball, but I'm not tall like these people.

You know? So, how does that work? Well, we're somewhere in here. Let's picture it historically. May we do that? Because one of the classics, A Thousand Words, The Father's Redemptive Love, two pictures. Rembrandt paints his theology and journey. Let's go there for a moment. I'm going to step aside and let Rembrandt paint because he's really painting his theology. One of the great masters. How far out do I have to go, Bonnie?

Okay. I'm going to be by the pillar here. Okay. This was a depiction of the return of the prodigal son done by the classic Dutch painter Rembrandt in 1636. It might be called The Return of the Gargoyle. The Wandering Son, if you could look even more closely, you can find this on the internet and so forth under the good stuff to look at on the internet. This young man looks like he's been punked. Looks like he's been hit by a truck.

He looks like a gargoyle. He looks just incredibly bad off. And the scene takes place, as you can see, outdoors. People are gawking. He looks wasted. The father's struggling to hold him up. And folks are peeking out the windows. It's broad daylight. There is nothing about this that focuses on intimacy. There's everything that focuses on desperation and rawness and so forth. Thirty years later, Rembrandt would paint the picture very differently.

Welcome to the 1660s and the return of the prodigal son. One of the classics hangs in the museum in St. Petersburg in Russia. An immense painting covers much of a wall as they've hung it there. And it actually looks differently depending on what kind of sunlight shines in the windows. I'm told by people who know and love those moments sitting in front of it. Thirty years later, Rembrandt's been on a journey. The sun has come home and the, if you could see the details even more, we have light of our own here.

But you can, again, look this up if you'd like. The place is quiet and private. The returning child is not like a gargoyle but has found peace. We can't see the face of the child. The early story said Rembrandt didn't want to paint the face. He just wanted to paint the presence because the face might particularize it and it's for everyone. This embrace of the wandering child by the loving father. So it's indoors. It's personal.

It's rich in color. Off to the right, most would say that's the older brother staring, not knowing what the heck to do. Many would say that to the left, you really can't see it in this particular light and shadow, is the mother who's looking. And there's a couple other people that are there. The scene is incredibly different. Rembrandt, through hardship, through challenges, you can best look up yourself if you're interested.

He knew the theology early. He knew the Bible story early. But it wasn't for him. It was only after years of journey. Not unlike our friend Jonah that we've been meeting for the last few weeks. Yes? He comes back to his heavenly father. Now somebody might say, again, welcome to La Jolla Christian Fellowship. We're allowed to ask questions. It'll be a little, I don't know about that. Maybe Rembrandt just got to be a better painter.

Maybe that's the answer to this. No. How do we know? Here's a picture. If the gargoyle picture is 1636, this one was done in 1637. Let's flip to that. This is a prodigal son picture. This is Rembrandt actually painting himself into the picture. The woman in the picture is his wife, Saskia. Guess what it's called? The prodigal son in a brothel. He turns his wife into a prostitute in the picture. Turns himself into a fresh-faced ass.

Puts himself in the picture and says, I know the story and I can paint pretty well. Same colors we'll see later, right? But I'm too stubborn. This is about me. This is about my gifts. This is about what I'm up to. Thanks so much, God, for applying. But I'd much rather paint my wife as a streetwalker and myself as a John. And there it is. It wasn't just that his painting skills may have grown. He could paint fine in the 1630s.

He was a jerk. And he was wandering. And he was that way for years. until, as the old gospel song goes, oh glory, glory, somebody touched me. Must have been the hand of the Lord's. Let's go back to 1660s. The return of the prodigal son. Now, one of my teachers at Harvard, I'm not bragging or complaining, I just went there, right? And was a teaching fellow for a man named Henry Nowen. If you want to talk about Henry, talk to Virginia over here, correct?

Who is a dear fan. We've had good fellowship on that. Catholic spiritual writer in 1992 wrote a book. If you're interested in the richness of this story, there's a book called Return of the Prodigal Son. And in that, what he does is depict a number of elements of this Jonah-like story in the painting that is still up there, one of the things that is clear is that the two hands are different. The two hands are different.

Now, I can't draw the same circle twice, right? But the hands are different. Why would Rembrandt do it that way? And very, very early on, the explanation was clear. These are the two hands of God. This is a hand of strength and might. This is also a hand of gentleness and beauty. This is a hand that can get it done. And this is a hand that knows what the right things are to get done. This is, some would say, reflecting Genesis 1, 26 and 27, when God made male and female in his own image.

This cuts across gender typologies and just says God full on is full of grace and truth. God full on is full of gentleness and power. Amen? That's our Lord. God. And he is not the big guy in the sky. He is not maxi male. He is God almighty. Henry now, in discussing this, talks about his own life. And talks about how instantly he identified himself as the wandering child. And he had to come to a deeper faith in the Lord and spiritual growth.

Then he talks about how so often because he's the oldest in the family, he tends to be the older brother and he's ticked off at everybody. All the bad actors out there. He's just grading people to see if they deserve his time, his respects. Someone came to him in the midst of one of those moments and said, I know you're the wandering child but you've come back to the Lord. I know you're an older brother and you've got a keen eye for how things ought to be.

My wife and I call that oughtness. You know anybody that's got oughtness as an approach to life? Here's how it ought to be. Right here. He's got oughtness. But it's time for you to be the father. And Henry said that changed his whole view of things. It's time for you to be, Ephesians 5, 1, imitator of God as a beloved child. And so with that he brought a whole new dimension to life. Chris, thank you again for singing that Amy Grant song, My Father's Eyes.

Isn't that something all of us can cherish? To have the eyes of our Heavenly Father. To see things as God sees them. And to follow through on that corrected vision with a life that's lived by his grace and lived out in echoing this particular parable here. Our Father is Abba, Papa. Our Father is revealed to us through Jesus. Our Father gives us a grace so that we can sing as this service began when seven of us were here right this morning.

This is my Father's worlds. So we celebrate that. Blessings. Whether you are a birth father, whether you're a guy trying to help raise other people's children in imitation of our loving God, whether you're a daughter or son of the Lord that just needs to be attentive to this passage and needs to find, as this child did, what Pastor Adam's beginning a series on next week. Rest. Which is not inertia, but rest as bringing oneself into a place of being still and finding refreshment for the soul and for the next seasons of life.

In a moment, Barbara and Clem Hoffman are going to come and lead a blessing, a closing prayer. But Chris, would you come? Share with us and the team and then we're going to praise God. Let's give thanks to the Lord together. Amen.