Grace to Prodigals
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Lu 15:1 Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering round to hear him.
Lu 15:2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners, and eats
with them." (NIV)
Lu 15:3 Then Jesus told them this parable: (NIV)
Lu 15:11 Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. (NIV)
Read the story
The Rebellious Son
Amazing Grace that saved a wretch like me.
John Newton wrote that song. He had been a pirate and a slave trader, but God reached him and
changed him. Thank God!
All of us have been a rebellious child at some point – shaming God with our sin and sealing our fate to die
in torment. But then, somehow, God’s grace saved us.
Each of us has our own sinful past and our own amazing grace story. It may be mild or it may be horrible –
but, sin is sin and it all kills and sends us to hell. No one’s sin is really that much worse than another’s
because, in God’s eyes all sin is deadly.
Jas 2:10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.
(NIV)
The Older Brother
As bad as the rebellious son was, his brother was just as bad. Though he had not wasted his Father’s
wealth and shamed his good name – though he had not lived in open sin and soiled himself with the
pleasures of the world, he had his own brand of sin – he had bitterness and lack of love in his heart. He
was judgmental of his brother. He did not rejoice that his brother had repented, but rather he held his past
against him and desired to see him suffer for his wrong.
Now tell me, in the end, who is worse off? The one who made a mistake and came back repentant, or the
one who kept bitter unforgiveness in his heart.
I will tell you that the repentant son rejoiced all the way to his banquet, but his brother could never know
the joy of rejoicing, because his heart was full of hatred.
How about you?
Let me ask you a question – If God forgives you the same way you forgive others, will you be afraid to face
His judgment?
Now don’t give me those self-righteous amens and those “Praise God, pastor, you’re right.” How many
times have I told the story about the crabs in the bucket? And everybody says, “Yeah, you’re right. That’s
a great story.” But you know what? The crabs are still pulling each other down while they laugh at the
story.
I am asking you a personal question. If God forgives YOU, the way you forgive the person you do not like
in this church – will you be forgiven?
Now you may think that you deserve forgiveness and that other person doesn’t. But who told you that?
When did God start choosing favorites? What makes your sin less serious than someone else’s?
Ro 14:4 Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will
stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. (NIV)
You know, God uses the foolish things to confound the wise. He will take the person men think is the least
likely to use and sue them mightily, while all the self-righteous onlookers are wondering why it wasn’t them.
The school of the prophets laughed at Elijah and tried to discourage Elisha, but who displayed the power
of God?
David rejected by brothers.
Joseph rejected by brothers.
Jephthah rejected by brothers.
Jesus was the stone rejected by the builders.
One of the greatest revivals of the 20th century took place from June 1996 and stayed strong for about 4
years or more. The main speaker of those meetings was a man named Steve Hill. 25 years ago, Steve
was a drug dealing, drug addicted, hard-core sinner wasting away in a jail cell. But God reached in and
changed him.
Steve Hill has been a great blessing to the church, but some, I am sure, have missed out on a blessing
because they see him for what he used to be.
God sees us for what we can be!
When we were in Albania in 1999 working with Kosovar refugees, our translator was a young girl from
Kosovo. One day she was telling me how much she hated Serbs. I tried to tell her that her hatred didn’t
hurt the Serbs; it only hurt her. She said, “I can’t help it. They have persecuted us for many years. How
can you expect us to forgive?”
Though I understood her feelings, I could not accept her reasoning. If everybody holds on to that idea, the
wars will never end. The revenge will never end. The bloodshed will never end.
Sioux Indian excuse. He excused himself from the responsibility of his own actions. “I beat women
because it is in my nature to beat women.” The alcoholic says, “I drink because I inherited a drinking
problem.” It’s not my fault. Hell will be full of people who are there because it wasn’t their fault. They
inherited a sin problem.
But you know something? God removes those kinds of problems. Corrie Ten Boom was tortured and
abused in a German prison camp. But yet she preached salvation to Germans.
If you allow the love of God to fill your heart, you can overcome this hatred. But if not, you will suffer the
consequences.
Now, let’s make this personal. This is not theory. This is instruction for change. There are people in this
church who don’t like each other. There are people who will not forgive each other and forget the past.
There are people who will not give others a chance because of something they did in the past.
Do you know who that hurts? It hurts us all. And it hurts God. The church will never be what it is
supposed to be until we learn to love one another and give each other a chance.
If we do not, the church is doomed. We will be a ship without a sail and we will sit idle and never affect the
world around us.
(Now some of you are thinking that you know who I am talking about. But you are wrong. I am talking
about every one of you. I am talking about anyone who tries to rise up and do something for God
regardless of what was in their past. It would do us good to remember that we are all sinners saved by
God’s grace.) I have never had anyone in a leadership position who was not criticized by someone who
thought they did not deserve the position. Never!
Let me tell you something. In the church I pastored in America, our deacon board was made up of a
military officer from the west coast, a southern factory worker, a Mexican, and a black man. Now, where we
lived, these people normally did not like each other. Our church looked like a fruit tree with apples,
oranges, bananas, and grapes all growing on the same tree. Now how could that be? It was a miracle of
God.
But it was something else, too. We all made a decision that nothing mattered but the grace of God. We
were going to love each other no matter where we came from or what anyone had done.
A great man of God once said, “When I get to heaven, I will be amazed at the people I see there who I didn’
t expect to see there. But most of all, I will be amazed that I myself am there.”
Remember the words of Jesus:
Mt 7:2 For in the same way as you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will
be measured to you. (NIV)
Mt 6:12 Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. (NIV)
Lu 15:2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners, and eats
with them." (NIV)
Lu 15:3 Then Jesus told them this parable: (NIV)
Lu 15:11 Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. (NIV)
Read the story
The Rebellious Son
Amazing Grace that saved a wretch like me.
John Newton wrote that song. He had been a pirate and a slave trader, but God reached him and
changed him. Thank God!
All of us have been a rebellious child at some point – shaming God with our sin and sealing our fate to die
in torment. But then, somehow, God’s grace saved us.
Each of us has our own sinful past and our own amazing grace story. It may be mild or it may be horrible –
but, sin is sin and it all kills and sends us to hell. No one’s sin is really that much worse than another’s
because, in God’s eyes all sin is deadly.
Jas 2:10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.
(NIV)
The Older Brother
As bad as the rebellious son was, his brother was just as bad. Though he had not wasted his Father’s
wealth and shamed his good name – though he had not lived in open sin and soiled himself with the
pleasures of the world, he had his own brand of sin – he had bitterness and lack of love in his heart. He
was judgmental of his brother. He did not rejoice that his brother had repented, but rather he held his past
against him and desired to see him suffer for his wrong.
Now tell me, in the end, who is worse off? The one who made a mistake and came back repentant, or the
one who kept bitter unforgiveness in his heart.
I will tell you that the repentant son rejoiced all the way to his banquet, but his brother could never know
the joy of rejoicing, because his heart was full of hatred.
How about you?
Let me ask you a question – If God forgives you the same way you forgive others, will you be afraid to face
His judgment?
Now don’t give me those self-righteous amens and those “Praise God, pastor, you’re right.” How many
times have I told the story about the crabs in the bucket? And everybody says, “Yeah, you’re right. That’s
a great story.” But you know what? The crabs are still pulling each other down while they laugh at the
story.
I am asking you a personal question. If God forgives YOU, the way you forgive the person you do not like
in this church – will you be forgiven?
Now you may think that you deserve forgiveness and that other person doesn’t. But who told you that?
When did God start choosing favorites? What makes your sin less serious than someone else’s?
Ro 14:4 Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will
stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. (NIV)
You know, God uses the foolish things to confound the wise. He will take the person men think is the least
likely to use and sue them mightily, while all the self-righteous onlookers are wondering why it wasn’t them.
The school of the prophets laughed at Elijah and tried to discourage Elisha, but who displayed the power
of God?
David rejected by brothers.
Joseph rejected by brothers.
Jephthah rejected by brothers.
Jesus was the stone rejected by the builders.
One of the greatest revivals of the 20th century took place from June 1996 and stayed strong for about 4
years or more. The main speaker of those meetings was a man named Steve Hill. 25 years ago, Steve
was a drug dealing, drug addicted, hard-core sinner wasting away in a jail cell. But God reached in and
changed him.
Steve Hill has been a great blessing to the church, but some, I am sure, have missed out on a blessing
because they see him for what he used to be.
God sees us for what we can be!
When we were in Albania in 1999 working with Kosovar refugees, our translator was a young girl from
Kosovo. One day she was telling me how much she hated Serbs. I tried to tell her that her hatred didn’t
hurt the Serbs; it only hurt her. She said, “I can’t help it. They have persecuted us for many years. How
can you expect us to forgive?”
Though I understood her feelings, I could not accept her reasoning. If everybody holds on to that idea, the
wars will never end. The revenge will never end. The bloodshed will never end.
Sioux Indian excuse. He excused himself from the responsibility of his own actions. “I beat women
because it is in my nature to beat women.” The alcoholic says, “I drink because I inherited a drinking
problem.” It’s not my fault. Hell will be full of people who are there because it wasn’t their fault. They
inherited a sin problem.
But you know something? God removes those kinds of problems. Corrie Ten Boom was tortured and
abused in a German prison camp. But yet she preached salvation to Germans.
If you allow the love of God to fill your heart, you can overcome this hatred. But if not, you will suffer the
consequences.
Now, let’s make this personal. This is not theory. This is instruction for change. There are people in this
church who don’t like each other. There are people who will not forgive each other and forget the past.
There are people who will not give others a chance because of something they did in the past.
Do you know who that hurts? It hurts us all. And it hurts God. The church will never be what it is
supposed to be until we learn to love one another and give each other a chance.
If we do not, the church is doomed. We will be a ship without a sail and we will sit idle and never affect the
world around us.
(Now some of you are thinking that you know who I am talking about. But you are wrong. I am talking
about every one of you. I am talking about anyone who tries to rise up and do something for God
regardless of what was in their past. It would do us good to remember that we are all sinners saved by
God’s grace.) I have never had anyone in a leadership position who was not criticized by someone who
thought they did not deserve the position. Never!
Let me tell you something. In the church I pastored in America, our deacon board was made up of a
military officer from the west coast, a southern factory worker, a Mexican, and a black man. Now, where we
lived, these people normally did not like each other. Our church looked like a fruit tree with apples,
oranges, bananas, and grapes all growing on the same tree. Now how could that be? It was a miracle of
God.
But it was something else, too. We all made a decision that nothing mattered but the grace of God. We
were going to love each other no matter where we came from or what anyone had done.
A great man of God once said, “When I get to heaven, I will be amazed at the people I see there who I didn’
t expect to see there. But most of all, I will be amazed that I myself am there.”
Remember the words of Jesus:
Mt 7:2 For in the same way as you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will
be measured to you. (NIV)
Mt 6:12 Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. (NIV)