Title: Father's Heart / Luke 15:20-24
Contents
father's heart
How can we explain Heavenly Father’s heart in our own language? It is difficult to explain in our own words, but I think it can be guessed from the heart that parents care for and love their children. Heavenly Father's heart looking at us must be the heart of the parents who are happy when their children are healthy and prosperous, and the sad feelings of the parents who look at them when they get sick and fall into the wrong path. Today's verse compares God to the Father and teaches us the heart of God the Father. During this time, I hope that the precious blessing of feeling Heavenly Father's heart and receiving His love will be with me and you.
I. waiting father
Verse 20 says, “Then he arose… kissed” The phrase “still a long way from life” is a clear expression of the heart of a father who is waiting for his son. The phrase “still far away” can be translated from the original text as “still hesitating because it is far away”. Imagine a son returning as a beggar, a father recognizing him from a distance and running to hug him and kiss him. To the father, the faults of the children are not faults. A mistake is not a mistake. The heart of a father who recognizes his son, who is hesitating from afar because he is shy to enter the house, and runs to hug him and kiss him because he cannot bear it. This is the heart of Heavenly Father toward us.
The son cries and says: “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. Now I am not worthy to be called your son.” But not a single word came to his father's ears. Doesn't even respond. It is because he is happy, satisfied, and happy that his son is back in itself. Whether you are coming to church for the first time today or have been absent from church for various reasons, I hope you all feel this Father's love and accept Heavenly Father's heart for you. There are no conditions. You just have to accept it.
I am the youngest son of 7 siblings. Top There are three older brothers, among them the second older brother, who suffered a serious illness and passed away before his 60th birthday. How much pain a mother prayed for her son when he was lying in bed and suffering. In the end, he was embraced by the Lord in the love and grace of his mother. The older brother often ran away from home in the past, so he just lived a carefree life. When they run out of things, they live with beggars, and when they get sick and in debt and can no longer live alone, they send letters home. My father is very angry. He said that he would rather have died, and that he would never come to pick him up. However, within a few days, he packs up the necessary things again and goes to pick up his son. After returning with his older brother, one day in bed, the father caressed his son and said, “Why are you so dry?” and talked all night long.
There are no fingers that do not hurt from biting ten fingers, but if it is the heart of a parent that the wrong, sick, or poor child is more burdensome and compassionate, how can we compare the heart of Heavenly Father here? I want you to have the grace to feel and realize this Father's heart.
II. happy father
The father returns home with his son and tells his servants. “Take out your best clothes, put on your fingers, and put on shoes on your feet. And drag the fattened calf and slaughter it. Let us eat and enjoy. This my son was dead and is alive again; I was lost and is found again.” This is the heart of God the Father, and the gospel. This is God's grace and Christianity.
My father tells me to take out the best clothes and put them on. Do you understand the feeling of a father who became a beggar and returned wearing ragged clothes, but wants to wear his best clothes? The father is declaring through the garment, "My son is not a beggar, he is not a slave, and my son is the hero of this feast." When you return to the Lord, our Lord gives you such love and such grace. You clothe us with the clothes of righteousness washed with the blood of Jesus Christ, and the shining clothes that we cannot dare to obtain in this world.
Also, the father commands the son to put the ring finger on his hand. The son spent all his share and lived a life of debauchery and returned to a miserable state, but nevertheless, he gave the ring as a sign to prove, “You are my son and my heir.” Even if you have wasted and wasted your entire life up until now, please remember that as long as you return to Heavenly Father, He grants you a new life, a special position as a child of God, and happiness as if you were putting a ring in your hand.
And they tell you to wear shoes on your feet. Slaves don't wear shoes. The son who returned also returned without shoes. The son would rather live as a laborer, so the father puts on shoes on his son and changes his status. Finally, he said, “Slay the fattened calf, and let us eat and drink.” In the original text it is written that this part “slay the fattened calf.” Why is it called 'the calf' by adding the definite article? Why did you do it? It means that you have prepared ahead of time to write at any time. It is the heart of a father waiting for his son to return. When you come back to God, God is so happy. You are happy. You feast with the best. Therefore, the church, the model house of heaven, is always a party house.
This parable about the lost and found son is the supreme gospel of Heavenly Father's love for lost souls and is the core of Christianity. Then how can we receive this love of God? Verse 17 and below are the countermeasures. "Therefore … And I got up and went back to my father.” Like a son's lamentation, we must first remember my father's house. You have to realize your own miserable plight of starving to death. And we must confess our sins, realizing that “I am now a sinner who cannot be called the Son of the Father.” Next time you have to get up and go back. This is a whole person change. Real grace and blessings come when the realization of one's own situation, the change of deeply regretful feelings, the volitional decision to return to the Father, and the action to return to the Father's house come together.
Now we have to turn around. Now we have to change direction. You must make a U-turn on the way. You must return to your father. Remember that this is the only way to earn your father's love. The Bible says “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way and turn his thoughts to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him. Come to our God, and he will forgive widely” (Isa. 55:6-7)