Lost

This morning, Ed Kessler brought the morning message. He opened with a story about a time when he got lost in the woods… In Luke 15, Jesus gives three examples of things being “lost”:

• The Lost Coin - Luke 15:1-7

• The Lost Sheep - Luke 15:8-10

• The Lost Son - Luke 15:11-24,25-32

Today, we focused on The Lost Son.. or as we all know the parable: The Prodigal Son.

Ed explained it as a story starts with a son who has a fascination with freedom that isn't really there. The son left his home and family and squandered his inheritance… His father was very rich, so this would have been a LOT of wealth to spend and lose.

After he lost all of his money, and seemingly his “friends”, this son next feels deep humiliation... He is working in one of the lowest positions, tending to pigs, and finding himself jealous of the pigs and their food. When he realized how low he had fallen, he is finally in a place of repentance, or metanioa.

μετανοέω

Pronunciation: meh-tah'-noy-ah

Meaning: repentance, a change of mind, change in the inner man

Word Origin: From the Greek verb μετανοέω (metanoeō), meaning "to change one's mind" or "to repent."

So, what does the son do? He declares himself guilty before the father. He was lost, or apollumi.

ἀπόλλυμι

Pronunciation: ä-pŏl'-lü-mē

Meaning: (a) I kill, destroy, (b) I lose, mid: I am perishing (the resultant death being viewed as certain).

Word Origin: From the preposition ἀπό (apo, meaning "from" or "away") and the base of ὄλλυμι (ollumi, meaning "to destroy" or "to lose").

This loss was as strong and dark as death.

When he returned home, his father did not see the son’s shame, he saw love. He embraced him. This is the image of Jesus hugging us when we come home to Him.

This parable is a parallel to how Heaven reacts to anyone who comes home to God. The father in the parable threw a party. Well, Heaven holds a party every time a man finds God. The party is a representation of the riches we find in Christ. The father in the parable also gave his son a ring… This ring represented that the prodigal son was not going to be a servant, but the father gave power and authority to the son!

This is Easter. 

The Son dying on the cross so the Father can embrace us. So, Heaven can celebrate. So, we can have power and authority in and through Christ.

This is Easter.

We can read about God’s promise to us in Ezekiel 36:24-28: “I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.”

Ed challenged us… What if Christians looked at the people in this world and wondered if they were lost. What if we saw the lost and helped lead them back to the Father?

In closing, Ed talked about the beautiful depiction in Rembrandt’s painting of the Prodigal Son. The father’s hands are different. One is feminine, showing his love. The other is masculine, showing his strength and power. Pretty Amazing.