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The Pity Party
Luke 15:25-32
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It’s a sad tune because the only instrument in the band is your own drum which you are beating on incessantly. It’s not fun to listen to and no one taps their foot. But you are certain it makes you feel better to beat it out loudly!
"THE PRODICAL SON IN THE KEY OF "F"
Feeling footloose and frisky, a featherbrained fellow forced his fond Father to fork over the finances. He fled far to foreign fields, and fritted his fortune feasting fabulously with faithless friends.
Finally, facing famine and fleeced by his fellows in folly, he found himself a feed-finger in a filthy farm yard. Fairly famishing, he feign would have filled his frame with the forage food of the fodder fragments.
"Phooey" My father's flunkies fare far finer, the frazzled fugitive found feverishly, frankly facing facts.
Frustrated by failure and filled with foreboding, he forth-with fled to his father and family. Falling at his father's feet, he floundered forlornly, "Father, I have flunked. I have fruitlessly forfeited family favor." But the faithful Father, forestalling further flinching, frantically flagged a flunkey. Fetch forth the finest fatling and fix a feast."
But the fugitive's fault finding brother frowned on the fickle forgiveness of the former folderol. His fury flashed. But fussing was futile, for the far sighted Father figured such filial fidelity is fine. For what forbids fervent festivities ... the fugitive is found. Fly the flags. With fan fares flaring, let fun and frolic freely flow. Former failure is forgotten, folly forsaken. Forgiveness forms the foundation for future fellowship.
Sin will take you farther than you intend to go; it will keep you longer than you expect to stay, and it will cost you more than you want to pay.
v. 13 ends showing us how bad living is such a waste of life. And “willful waste brings woeful want.”
Romans 6:16
Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants
ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto
righteousness?
Isaiah 55:2
Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your
labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and
eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in
fatness.
He realized that the best the world had to offer wasn’t as good as the worst of his father’s house. And the worst day as a Christian is better than the best day you could have in the world!
Is there a backslider here today that needs to come back to the Lord? Don’t wait until tomorrow. Don’t wait until there is a better time. Come back today.
You see, the unsaved is lost because he is outside the fold. But a Christian can be outside of the control and touch of the Spirit and be lost in his own way as well. He is in God’s hand for salvation purposes, but seems to be just out of reach for God to really use him. And so he is lost when it comes to service, and opportunities. Lost ministry. Lost blessings. Lost tithes. Lost missionary support. Lost witnessing. Truly, he is a lost cause until he gets in touch with the true Spirit of God, and becomes the tool in the hand of the Master that he is intended to be. This is when the lost becomes found.
The father of the prodigal seeks the Lost Son to restore fellowship with him. He doesn’t go forth to seek; He waits and longs for the son to come back to him, to come back home. This is God the Father, and He calls on backsliders to return to Him. He promises healing and restoration to them. All they must do is 1. Come to themselves and 2. Come back!
The Father Met Him On The Road Home. Luke 15:20
§ He forgave him of all. The Heavenly Father will forgive you of all sin.
§ He put a robe on him. The robe covered all. The blood of Christ will cleanse you of all sin. 1 John 1:7, “...and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin."
§ He put a ring on his finger. That reconfirms sonship.
§ He put shoes on his feet. Those blistered, bleeding feet that had walked in the ways of the transgressor would now stand in the halls of his father’s home.
§ He fatted the calf. Not swine. How long does it take to fatten a calf. It can’t be done overnight, thus, the father was expecting the son home. He was waiting.
The son’s hunger is now quenched.
His want is satisfied.
He is at the father’s house.
What a difference is made when a backslider comes back home!
v. 12 The lad was bad. [wanted new fads]
v. 13 He was mad. [just a tad!]
v. 15 He became rad. [joined the radicals]
v. 16 He realized he’d been had [egad, I’m such a cad] and so he was sad.
v. 20 Back to dad’s pad.
v. 24 He was glad. Thanks Dad!
He could have continued in his pity party, but instead he came to himself and came home to the father!
Ill.--Robert Bruce was king of Scotland during the 12th and 13th Century. He had been at war with the King of England. The King of England sent an army to Robert Bruce’s palace to kill him. Robert Bruce, having suspected what might happen, left his home and fled into the forest. When the army came to the palace and found that their enemy was not there, they got Robert Bruce’s own dogs and set them on his trail. Robert Bruce could hear the barking dogs and realized they were his own hounds. He ran and ran. As he did he grew weaker and weaker. The dogs were getting closer. Finally, he came to a crystal clear river in the middle of the forest. He got into the brook and waded down stream for about two miles. After which he climbed out on the bank of the river and sat under a clump of trees. He could hear the dogs barking up stream in confusion, and Robert Bruce realized he had escaped.
The application is this: If the hounds of your past are on your trail, if the old dogs of sin are gaining on you, and you don’t know what to do, let me tell you about a river. A crystal clear river filled with the blood of the crucified One. “And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.”
The Lost Sibling
Let’s not forget the prodigal’s big brother…
v. 28 This son is lost, too. How so? Well, his little brother may have been lost in the pigsty, but he himself was lost in his pew. He was a carnal, self righteous soul who lost all sympathy for his brother, for his father, and forgot what a great occasion this truly was! He had himself quite the pity party right in his pew.
Who was the first to point out the prodigal’s sin? Not the father, but the son. It’s always a fellow Christian who starts gossip about a backslidden Christian. This elder brother is a picture of a carnal church member.
The lost can be found! If you need to be saved, let the Good Shepherd find you today and bring you into the fold. If you are in the house today, that doesn’t necessarily mean you are in His hand…make the most of your life for Him, let the Spirit find you and use you. If you’ve backslidden and gotten away from God, come to your senses and come home, and let’s all receive w/ a great attitude all the lost who are found today and forevermore, just as we were once received back ourselves!
v. 28 "And he was angry and would not go in"
- He was angry - bitter - upset - sulking - stubborn
- What he did have was so much more than what he did not have, but by dwelling on the negatives he spoiled what he did have because of what he did not have.
- Like Ahab of the OT who couldn’t have his way – “The Incredible Sulk” - green with envy - puffed with pride - swelled with selfishness - controlled by another power.
1. THE CURSE OF SELF PITY.
A. Destroys our Happiness (28) "Angry & would not go in"
B. Destroys our Usefulness (28) Needed in the work - Father
Distracted – body of Christ is then like a withered arm.
C. Destroys our Oneness (30) "thy son" ...aka his brother.
2. THE CAUSE OF SELF PITY.
A. Restricted Vision. (29) "I, Me, My" - could not see beyond self – Ego-Centric [Satan’s “I” problem]
For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Isaiah 14:13, 14
B. Distorted Values. (29) "Never killed a kid for me"
- No but he deeded the farm to him. - The will gave him all
C. Outraged Virtue. (29) "These many years have I served Thee"
- Wait a minute - all just for the benefits?
3. THE CURE OF SELF PITY.
A. Abiding Presence. (31) "Thou art ever with me. "
B. Abundant Provision. (31) "all that I have is thine"
C. Achieved Purpose. (32) Main goal - to get the sinner saved!
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