God’s Unimaginable Love Is Yours!

4th Sunday in Lent, 3/6/16
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32


God’s Unimaginable Love Is Yours!
I. When you realize how unworthy you are
II. Not when you think you deserve it


The effects of not being loved can lead to serious emotional and even physical scars. According to the web site “Childalone” when you are not loved by parents, when more than anything they attack you, when you have no extended family, no relatives with whom you share some affinity or affection, you become a brittle steel object in the world, seeking only to survive, but who otherwise feels little more than fear and upset. This fear and upset are focused on your isolation, an acknowledgement that if you were to be attacked, there would be no-one to pick up the pieces.

Such an unloved child learns quickly to mask the fear and the upset, either with faked and insincere smiles or, more commonly, with stoicism—a cold unresponsive, emotional veneer to hide your distress. Others mask the distress with anger, resentment and aggression.

Being loved is so critical to our mental and emotional well-being that our continued existence is threatened without it.

But when we’re speaking about our spiritual lives, being unloved wouldn’t simply threaten us; it would crush us eternally.

How eternally grateful, then, we should be that our God describes himself this way, “God is love” (1 Jn. 4:16)! That love is on saving display in the words before us this morning—The Parable of the Lost Son, also known as the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Some have suggested it should be entitled the Parable of the Two Sons, and others, the Parable of God’s Love for Sinners. When you ponder how his sons treated him, it’s hard to imagine a father being so loving towards unloving sons. But that’s who our God is and that’s what he does. And you are the object of that love. God’s unimaginable love is yours! May that love warm and cheer our hearts this morning.

Part I.

If being loved is so important to who we are as human beings, what is it, in your opinion, that makes a person unlovable? I suppose there are many answers to that question. A person who is relentlessly selfish, verbally or physically abusive, if a person has broken your trust, perhaps repeatedly, and the emotional pain simply won’t subside, if their actions have ruined your life or other relationships, you might consider that person to be unlovable.

We could take a rather detached view of the first son that Jesus mentions in this parable. After all, these are simply words on a page. They form a parable. It didn’t really happen. Jesus was using this story to make a point. But things like this do happen. Even things far worse. On a daily basis. This son was unlovable on several counts.

First, he severed his relationship with his father. In Bible times fathers and sons were often business partners on the family property. This son asks for his cut of the family’s net worth making it perfectly clear he wants out—out of the business and out of the family.

And then he takes off, not simply to a neighboring area, but to a distant country. His actions speak volumes. Cell phones wouldn’t be invented for another 2,000 years. He was cutting off all contact. He doesn’t care if he never speaks to his father again. In telling the parable, Jesus pointedly left out any loving, but painful good-byes; there weren’t any. The son doesn’t care how his father feels. He only cares about himself.

Once again Jesus shows himself to be the master of the parable by making a point of emphasis out of what this son did with his inheritance. We might have been moved to cut him some slack if he had used his inheritance to help others or start a business of his own. But he has no such intentions. Remember, he’s only concerned about himself. He wastes it, Jesus says, on wild living. His older brother later adds the detail that it involved paying prostitutes. He’s pond scum! One of society’s sleazy rats.

It isn’t long, though, before his hedonistic lifestyle crashes in on him. His fortune runs out. He lacks food, clothing and shelter—life’s three basic necessities. So he latched on to a man with a pig herd. The Greek word Jesus used indicates the son forced himself on the man. He was now feeding pigs, the most despicable and disgusting vocation any Jewish person could imagine. In fact, he was so hungry that he wanted to eat the pig’s food, but no one would give him any. He had hit rock bottom.

And that’s when he had his “Aha” moment. It went like this, “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’ So he got up and went to his father.” In essence, he wondered, “What am I doing? Look what I’ve become! I’ve wasted my life. I have abused my father and his love for me. I’ll plead for him to hire me as one of his servants whose lives are much better than mine right now.”

But most important of all, he stated, “I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.’” Of all those whom he has offended, he puts the most important One first. He has offended God. He has sinned. He is an object of God’s righteous wrath, not his love. He was unworthy of his father’s love. And he knew it.

How ironic, then, to learn that his father was watching for his return and, when he sees him, he runs to him. What offended father would do such a thing? What’s more, he calls for his servants to deck him out in a robe, sandals and a ring—all symbols of the father’s love which has restored the loving relationship with his rebellious son. As evidence of this restored relationship he states, “‘Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.”

If you had been this son’s parent, would you have thought about telling him to get lost and never darken your doorstep again? If you had allowed him to stay, would you at least have put him on family probation for a few months? Not this father. God’s love is unimaginable. That love is yours when you realize how unworthy you are.

This son had his “aha” moment and came clean regarding his sins. That moment was critical for him and for his relationship with his father. Without it there would have been no restoration. How prevalent are such “aha” moments in your life? I’m not referring to hitting rock bottom. I’m referring to the times when you come clean regarding your sins. Think about that, because our natural posture when it comes to sin is to deny it, excuse it, rationalize it. At times we even call it a necessity. “I had no other choice.” That attitude pushes our God’s unimaginable love aside. A refusal to confess our sins is a refusal of the Savior who died for them. God is love. He showed it by the way he substituted his Son for you and me. That Son lived in our place perfectly. That Son died in our place innocently. And now we have peace with the holy God. He did all that because of who he is and in spite of who we are. God’s unimaginable love is yours when you realize how unworthy you are.

Part II.

I asked a few minutes ago what makes a person unlovable. I’ve got another question for you. What makes a person admirable? Again, there are many answers to that question. They would include being honest and dependable, hard-working and decent—all things that the older son in the parable displayed on a daily basis. This son was admirable.

Until he revealed the self-righteousness that filled his heart.

He felt he had earned his father’s love. His reaction to his father’s love for his brother is filled with all the things he has done for his father and, worse yet, how his father has failed to reward him for his hard work. He conveniently forgot about all the things his father had done simply out of love for him his entire lifetime. That’s no surprise. Self-righteous people only want to deal with others on the basis of what they have earned.

What’s more, he’s angry because he feels his father owes him for his loyalty to him. He, the loyal son, never got so much as a young goat to enjoy at a party with his friends, but his father’s reprobate son (notice he won’t call him his brother), gets a fattened calf. Where’s the justice in that?!

In the end, he refuses to rejoice that his lost brother has been found. Jesus spoke this parable to Pharisees who were offended that Jesus would welcome tax collectors and other publicly sinful people. How could the Pharisees not see themselves in this son? How twisted! Instead of rejoicing that sinners were repenting, they were angry. Self-righteousness isn’t only ugly, it’s blinding. They couldn’t see that they were hopelessly lost in their self-righteousness. Their sinful pride pushed aside their Savior.

When we think we’re so lovable, we’re actually not. It’s not that God has stopped loving us; he can’t stop loving us. It’s that our sinful pride and self-righteousness spurn the love God has for us. That’s why spiritual reality checks are so critical for each and every one of us. It’s not true that our God owes us for our loyalty and service; the truth is that we have failed him miserably and it happens daily. And when that’s our mindset, then our God smothers us with his forgiving love in Christ. And it happens sinful day after sinful day. He keeps loving us. Now where else can you find love like that? God’s unimaginable love is yours! Enjoy it every day of your life! Amen.