Let’s be honest, many of us are a bit afraid of Jesus because we have this idea in our head that he’s keeping track of all the things we’ve done wrong. And so we think of him as someone who we’re a bit afraid of getting to know. But who is Jesus really? And how does he see us?

That’s why we’re doing this series. We want to find out who Jesus really is, and what he’s really like and why it matters to us. And the verse we’ve been using to guide our discovery of the real Jesus is Isaiah 9:6 which says, For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. 
And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

This verse, written 700 years before Jesus was born, paints a picture for us of who Jesus is and what he’s like. And so far we’ve discovered that Jesus is the wonderful counselor, the one who came for sick, hurting and sinful people like us. He’s also the mighty God who is all-powerful and trustworthy. Today we’re going to look at the description: Everlasting Father.

Now, I know that for many of you the term father carries with it a ton of baggage, and some of it is not good. But as we’re going to see, the kind of father we’re talking about is the perfect father.

If you have your Bible please turn with me to Luke 15. In Luke 15 Jesus tells three stories that describe who God is and what he is like.  This morning we’re going to look at the third story, which is probably the most familiar story Jesus told.  But before that I need you to get the context of who Jesus is talking to because the crowd that Jesus tells this story to is very important. There are two groups of people in the crowd.

One group of people in the crowd were the tax collectors and sinners. These were people who were the worst of the worst in Jewish society. They weren’t good by any shape of the imagination, but the thing is, that they loved hanging out with Jesus. They loved listening to him speak. They loved having him over for dinner. There was just something about Jesus that was attractive to them. So you have this group of low-life sinners.

On the other side of the crowd you had the Pharisees and religious leaders. These were the religious professionals who followed all the rules. They were the holier-than-thou, I’m-better-than-you kind of people.

So you’ve got this crowd of polar opposites listening to Jesus tell this story about who God is and what he is like and why it matters, these sinful people and these super-religious people. And the story goes like this:

There was a father who had two sons.  And one day his youngest son came to him and said the most unimaginable and disrespectful thing a son could say to a father.  He said, “Father, would you go ahead and give me my inheritance now?”

Time out: Now when Jesus said that I guarantee everybody in his audience just gasped, because for a son, especially the youngest son, to ask for his inheritance before his dad was dead would be like him saying, “Hey dad, would you just pretend that you’re dead for a minute. Cause see, when you die I’m going to get a part of this estate, so let’s me and you pretend you’re dead now. And you just go ahead and give me what I’m going to get when you die.”

And the implication is, “Dad, as far as I’m concerned. You are dead. Dad, as far as our relationship is concerned, you’re dead to me. I think it will be better if I just go ahead and leave and you give me what I have coming to me.”

Now, if you were the father, how would you respond to that request? If it were me I would say, “I’ve got an idea: Let’s just pretend that you’re dead. Because that’s about the most disrespectful thing you could say to me as a father, and if you mention it again your estate is going to get smaller and smaller and smaller every time you bring this up. So get your rear end out there to the barn and shovel manure…”

But that’s not how the story goes. Jesus, in his characteristic way, confuses everyone by saying that the father agreed to the son’s request. He said to the son, “I’ll go and pretend like I’m dead and I’ll give you the estate that you would have coming to you now, before I die.”

So the father gathers the son’s portion of the sheep and the oxen and the camels and the gold and the cash and the whatever he’s going to get anyway, loads it up in an ancient u-haul, and a few days later the son takes off for the city with all the money and stuff his father had spent his life amassing to one day leave to his son.

And so the son goes to a far off place and he sells everything he can sell, he cashes it all in and puts it all in his checking account and he has a party and another party and another party and another party and another party and he gains lots and lots of friends and lots and lots of people know who he is because every week there’s party after party. But he does not work and he does not increase his income and he does not invest his father’s wealth. He just parties and basically spends every single dime of his father’s hard earned money. He spends all of it.

Time out: Now let me stop there because at this point, everybody in Jesus audience is going, “This is a worse case scenario. It couldn’t get any worse. This son asked his father the unthinkable. His father went along with it. And now he left his father’s home, and he has wasted and he has spent all of his father’s hard earned money. It is a worst case scenario.”

Well Jesus goes on with the story and says that after the son had wasted all of his money he needed to get a job, but there was a famine in the land. Which meant that the economy was in shambles and there weren’t many jobs. But he was desperate for a job and the only job he could find was working for this farmer, and Jesus makes it worst case scenario: It was a job feeding pigs.

Time out: Now that’s not a big deal for you and me, but at that point I imagine all of Jesus’ Jewish audience freaking out because pigs were considered unclean animals. I imaging them thinking: “Ugg, we don’t even touch them, much less feed them.”

So, you’ve got to picture this: here’s this Jewish boy in the worst possible place. He’s wasted everything his father had given him. He’s working at the worst possible job. He’s starving. He’s lonely. And he’s stuck.

Well the story continues and things got worse and worse and worse, and one day the younger son, as he’s feeding the pigs, thinks to himself, “You know what, my father has servants, I’m nothing but a servant to this farmer that I don’t even know. My father has servants like this and he treats his servants better than this guy’s treating me. Maybe I can go back home and apply for a job. Maybe I can go back home, not as a son, I mean. That’s over. I lost that. Maybe I can go home and just become a hired hand because any job in my father’s house is better than staying here.”

So he begins to write this speech in his mind of what he’s going to say to his father.  “Father, I’m not worthy to be your son. I bet you knew that. I bet everybody already knows that.  I bet word has gotten to you about what I’ve done with your wealth, so I’m not here to be your son. I’m not here to eat in your house. I don’t want anything but a job and you can give me any job because any job in your estate is better than feeding pigs.”

Now think about it: If you were the father, what would you say to your son if he’d wasted all your money and came back begging for a job? Well, the people in Jesus’ audience were no doubt rehearsing in their minds what they would say to the son if they were the father. And let’s pick up the story in verse 20:

20So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him…

Can I just stop and say this? If you’re a person who is far away from God, when you look in your heavenly Father’s direction, do you know what he feels? Compassion, not anger, compassion. You say, “But you don’t know what I’ve done.” That’s the point to this story. It was as bad as it could possibly be in Jewish culture. This kid had wasted his father’s hard earned money and he’d spent time working with pigs. It couldn’t get any worse, but Jesus said:

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, at which point the Pharisees almost threw up. “He touched???  Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.  I know he’s his son, but let’s be realistic Jesus. That kid is so unclean it’s going to take weeks before he can be touched. He’s been with pigs. And I imagine Jesus smiled and said, “and he kissed him. You think it’s bad enough that he ran to him, you think it’s worse that he hugged him. And he kissed him.

Then the son falls on his knees and he goes through his speech, “Father, I have not come here to be your son.  I’m no longer worthy to be your son.  If you’ll just hire me.”  Verse 22:

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.

I’m sure the people in Jesus audience were wondering: Whoa, whoa, wait just a minute, Jesus. What do you mean “he was lost and then he was found? No doubt the dad knew where he was, in fact, as we’ll see, not only did he know where he was, he knew what he was doing. What do you mean he was lost?”  And all of a sudden it becomes clear, he wasn’t lost like, “I can’t find my keys.” He was lost like, “Hey, what happened too our relationship?” And the father knew that the relationship was broken long before the son left, that’s why he let him leave. And the sooner he could get the son back, the faster the relationship would be restored, and that was what he was after.

And all of a sudden it starts to sink to this crowd in what Jesus was talking about, “that we have a God, a father, who is obsessed with people who have a broken relationship with him.” In fact, a few chapters later Jesus says this, “You want to know why I’ve come? I’ve come to seek and to save that which was lost:  I’m on a search and rescue mission for those who are relationally disconnected from the Father.” It would be great if the story ended there. But it doesn’t.

25“Meanwhile (and if there was a soundtrack the music would change here), the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’

28“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.  (You’ve never focused on me like you’ve focused on that brother of mine.) 30But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes (surely you’ve heard dad, everybody knows) comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ (What’s up with that?  Dad, why are you so focused on the rebellious son? Why are you so focused on the one with the broken relationship?  Why are you so focused on the one who totally walked away from you and wasted what you gave him? Why are you so focused on him and not me?)

31” ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead (He was dead to me. He decided to live his life as if I were dead to him. For all practical purposes our relationship was dead.  I couldn’t reconnect with him), and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ “

And that’s the end of the story. Jesus, in this story, illustrates the kind of eternal, everlasting father that we have.

It’s a father that loves us enough to let us go. He’s not one to force himself on us. He doesn’t try to control or manipulate us.

But just because he loves us enough to let us go doesn’t mean he doesn’t long for us to return. Because just like in the story, we have a father who is looking for us and waiting to welcome us back home.

We also have a father who says to those of us who never left, “Everything I have is yours.” He’s the perfect father.

The picture that we see today of Jesus is of a father who loves us unconditionally. No matter who you are or what you have done, we have an eternal father who loves us unconditionally.

And I think that many of you needed to hear that. Maybe you’re learning it for the first time today or maybe I’m reminding you of something you forgot.

And here’s why this matters: Your eternal father invites you to come to him without fear of rejection or ridicule. We are invited into a restored relationship with our heavenly father.

Some of you need to return to the father like the son in the story. I want to give you an opportunity to do that now.

Do I need the love of that kind of Father?

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