Guest Contributor: Pastor Terrense Barbero
Luke 15:11 – 31
This parable was illustrated by Jesus to show how forgiving and compassionate God is to His children.
We will run through with the three main characters:
Prodigal Son
Father
Older Brother
Prodigal Son:
Prodigal Son:
The son is mainly dissatisfied with the situation in his life.
It might be boring living and staying under his father’s authority.
He wants to be independent.
He is desiring for more, he believed that there is more life outside his father’s house.
(Be careful with the things that you listen, or the people whom you listen with). Some people might influence your thoughts and may lead into deception. “It is better to be alone, than to have a bad companion”.
After having these thoughts, here comes the decision. The son decided to leave the house of his father, wanting to take all his share of his father’s estate.
After he departed, he found pleasure, delight, happiness. Sin has always the pleasure, but it also has a penalty. V. 13
Romans 6:23
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.
After he enjoyed the pleasure of sin, here comes, the disillusion. He couldn’t find real happiness and joy in the world. V. 17
Romans 12:2
Don’t copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
After realising all the events in his life, he is now hopeless, feeling despair, and comes the venom of sin in his life. V. 18
The Father:
The father was so disappointed, and wounded with the decision of his son.
Same with God, when we do things out of His will, He is not happy as well.
The father waited and hoped for the son to come back. He is very hopeful that his son will be back.
He knows that the material things that his son possess will soon vanish.
He welcomed and accepted back his son, in fact, he even celebrated and thrown a party.
1 John 1:9
But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.
He restored back his son. He treated his son as his son and not his servant.
Romans 4:5 (NLT)
5 But people are counted as righteous, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners.
The Older Brother:
He was very faithful to his father, hardworking and obedient to his father.
He was very satisfied with the things that he is having.
But along the way, he became very jealous when his brother came back.
Proverbs 14:30 (NLT)
30 A peaceful heart leads to a healthy body;
jealousy is like cancer in the bones.
Proverbs 27:4 (NLT)
4 Anger is cruel, and wrath is like a flood,
but jealousy is even more dangerous.
He doesn’t want his brother to be accepted again by his dad.
He became selfish.
He boasted all his works.
Jeremiah 9:23 (NLT)
23 This is what the Lord says:
“Don’t let the wise boast in their wisdom,
or the powerful boast in their power,
or the rich boast in their riches.
Real life application:
Sometimes, we are like the Prodigal son, we are feeling tired, bored, and becomes very ambitious, to the point that we want to separate ourselves to our Father/God. After sinning, we realise and experience the effect of sin in our lives.
Sometimes, we are also like the older brother. Church, one of the most important aspect of our Christianity is love and forgiveness to others.
And the father, represents God. He is not pleased when we sin. He is a forgiving God, forgiving Father.
Friends, have you sinned from God? God is a forgiving Father. Pray and seek His face, genuinely ask for forgiveness and you will be forgiven. Or, do you have somebody that sinned against you that you have not forgiven yet? This is the time to forgive, if God can forgive your sins and restore you, then you can also forgive, because He first forgave us.
revdotdavid 