Quote: “Insanity is an inherited disease. You get it from your kids.”
Into: Nine things you will never hear dad say:
1. Well, how ’bout that? I’m lost! Looks like we’ll have to stop and ask for directions.
2. You know Pumpkin, now that you’re thirteen, you’ll be ready for unchaperoned car dates. Won’t that be fun?
3. I noticed that all your friends have a certain hostile attitude. I like that.
4. Here’s a credit card and the keys to my new car. GO CRAZY!!
5. What do you mean you wanna play football? Figure skating’s not good enough for you, son?
6. Your mother and I are going away for the weekend. You might want to consider throwing a party.
7. Well, I don’t know what’s wrong with your car. Probably one of those doo-hickey thingies--ya know--that makes it run or something. Just have it towed to a mechanic and pay whatever he asks.
8. No son of mine is going to live under this roof without an earring. Now quit your belly-aching, and let’s go to the mall.
9. Whaddya wanna go and get a job for? I make plenty of money for you to spend. (Brian Mavis--SermonCentral.com)
Your Heart Needs a Father:
Rom 8:15-17 15For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." 16The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17Now if we are children, then we are heirs-heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
Through a dramatic series of events, we go from condemned orphans with no hope to adopted children with no fear. Because of His of justice He cannot dismiss your sin, but because of His love He cannot dismiss you.
People don’t adopt children so they will get more money or have more sleep. Adoptive parents don’t adopt children because of what they have, but because of what they need. They need a home. If we can’t earn our adoption through good works, can we loose it through a bad performance?
Prodigal: One who is given to wasteful luxury or extravagance.
What kind of Father do we have? Luke 15:11-24
1. A Father who gives us a free will. (v. 11-13)
a). Even when our choices hurt us, God lets us make them anyway. The prodigal son wasn’t ready for his share of the inheritance. But the father gave it to him anyway. The son cared more for the things of this world than he did for his father. He had a lack of respect and appreciation for his father.
Ex 20:12"Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.
b). Not only does He let us make bad choices; He will also let us go our own way. V.13 Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country. Our selfish desire will blind us to God’s will is for our lives because we are too focused on self to see God’s best for us. God knows the best way for our life, but He allows us to make the choice of His way, or our way.
Illustration: When I was seven years old I decided I would strike out on my own. My father would take me to the local candy store on a regular bases. When I was seven years old he got too busy with farming and wasn’t able to take for a while. So I dicided that I would strike out on my own and go to the candy store on my bicycle. I soon found out that getting to the candy store on my bicycle wasn’t as easy as it was in my father’s truck. All the sudden the houses began to look not so familiar and the next thing I knew I was lost. In my strange surrounding I just pulled my bicycle to the ditch and my grand adventure came to an end. I sat there for what seemed like forever not knowing what to do when around the corner came my father. I’ll never forget the look in father’s eyes when he got close enough that I could see them. It wasn’t a look of anger; it was a look of love. My father simply got out of the truck and loaded my bicycle, he didn’t preach me a sermon on running away, or punish me for getting lost. He gave me the one thing I needed a way home. I didn’t hear the rooster crow like Peter did. I didn’t feel the fish belch like Jonah did. I didn’t get a robe and a ring and sandals like the prodigal did. But I learned from my father on earth what those three learned from their Father in heaven. Our God is no fair-weather Father. He’s not into this love-‘em-and-leave-‘em-stuff. I can count on Him to be in my corner no matter how I perform.
c). He will also let us suffer the consequences for our choices. Luke 15:14-16 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. Notice the father didn’t go rescue his son. Did he still love his son? Did he not care that his son was in such dire straights? Of course he cared, but if he rescued his son before the suffering, what would the son learn?
When the son left he wanted to own the world and now the world owns him.
d). The world always offers us instant gratification with long-term consequences. The son no doubt had a good time wasting all his inheritance on wild living. But once all his wealth was gone so were his friends and he finds himself broke, lonely and for the first time in his life “in need”. It’s not until he gets to the end of his rope that he comes to his senses. Luke 15:17 "When he came to his senses, he said, `How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! Why is it that we have such difficulty seeing the value of our heavenly Father? Why do we have to be striped of worldly pleasure before we look to the spiritual need in our life?
2. A Father who pursues us through our circumstances.
a). The son’s harsh circumstances turned his heart back toward his father’s house. God will allow hard times in our life with the purpose of revealing his strength, value and faithfulness to us. Luke 15:18-20 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.
b). To see the father the son had to get out of the hog pin. The choice once again was the son’s. He could have been filled with pride and stayed were he was, but he choose to be filled with repentance and humility and go back and be a servant of his father.
3. A Father who is compassionate when we repent.
Luke 15:20 "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.
a). “While he was still a long way off” I can see the father everyday constantly looking down that old dusty path that led to his house. Hoping against hope that some how, some way he would see his prodigal son coming home.
b). According to Jewish law the father had the right to stone the son. At this time a person was known by their town (Jesus of Nazareth; ). If someone from the town of the prodigal son would have seen him before the father they would’ve stoned him for bringing a bad name to their town. This brings even more light to the fact that the father ran, he not only ran out of love, he ran out of concern for his repentant son.
4.A Father who gives us grace when we deserve judgment.
Luke 15:21-24"The son said to him, `Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22"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. 23Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
a). The issue is not where we’ve been or what we’ve done; it’s always where we are. The father didn’t slap the son across the face and ask what was wrong with him. He didn’t preach him a sermon. His joy and love for his son was stronger than his anger or resentment. When God asked Adam; Gen 3:9 But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?" Was it because God didn’t know where they were? No. It was to force them to realize where they were.
Conclusion:
The most important issue between God and us this morning is how close we are to Him. God’s desire is to forgive us not to condemn. If you’ve been born into the family of God by the power of the Holy Spirit you can’t be unborn. Are you in the family? Have you been born again? If you haven’t the Bible says you stand already condemned. John 3:18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
Illustration:
It’s difficult to find beauty in death. It’s even more difficult to find beauty in a death camp. Especially Auschwitz. Four million Jews died there in World War II. A half-ton of human hair is still preserved. The showers that sprayed poison gas still stand.
But for all the ugly memories of Auschwitz there is one of beauty. It’s the memory Gajowniczek has of Maximilian Kolbe. In February 1941 Kolbe was incarcerated at Auschwitz. He was a Franciscan priest. In the harshness of the slaughterhouse he maintained the gentleness of Christ. He shared his food. He gave up his bunk. He prayed for his captors. He was soon given the nickname “Saint of Auschwitz”.
In July of that same year there was an escape from the prison. It was the custom at Auschwitz to kill ten prisoners for every one who escaped. All the prisoners would be gathered in the courtyard, and the commandant would randomly select ten names from the roll book. These victims would be immediately taken to a cell where they would receive no food or water until they died.
The commandant begins calling the names. At each selection another prisoner steps forward to fill the sinister quota. The tenth name he calls is Gajowniczek. As the SS officers check the numbers of the condemned, one of the condemned begins to sob. “My wife and my children,” he weeps. The officers turn as they hear movement among the prisoners. The guards raise their rifles. The dogs tense, anticipating a command to attack. A prisoner has left his row and is pushing his way to the front.
It’s Kolbe. No fear on his face. No hesitancy in his step. The capo shouts at him to stop or be shot. “ I want to talk to the commander,” he says calmly. For some reason the officer doesn’t club or kill him. Kolbe stops a few paces from the commandant, removes his hat, and looks the German officer in the eye.
“Herr Commandant, I wish to make a request, please.”
That no one shot him is a miracle.
“I want to die in the place of this prisoner.” He points at the sobbing Gajowniczek. The audacious request is presented without stammer. “I have no wife and children. Besides, I am old and not good for anything. He’s in better condition.” Kolbe knew well the Nazi mentality.
“Who are you?” the officer asks.
“A Catholic priest.”
The block is stunned. The commandant, uncharacteristically speechless. After a moment, he barks, “Request granted.”
Prisoners were never allowed to speak. Gajowniczek says, “I could only thank him with my eyes. I was stunned and could hardly grasp what was going on. The immensity of it: I, the condemned, am to live and someone else willingly and voluntarily offers his life for me-a stranger. Is this some dream?”
The Saint of Auschwitz outlived the other nine. In fact, he didn’t die of thirst or of starvation. He died only after the camp doctor injected phenol into his heart. It was August 14,1941.
Gajowniczek survived the Holocaust. He made his way back to his hometown. Every year, however, he goes back to Auschwitz. Every August 14 he goes back to say thank you to the man who died in his place.
In his backyard there is a plaque. A plaque he carved with his own hands. A tribute to Maximilian Kolbe – the man who died so he could live. (Six Hours One Friday; Max Lucado)
In the family of God there has been a great sacrifice made for us so we can live. Our heavenly Father has sacrificed His one and only Son for us so we can be born into His family, receive grace, mercy and eternal life.
