As always, you can read the transcript of the sermon below.
Luke 15:11-24
11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons.12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. 13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living.14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need.15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs.16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’20 So 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; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. 21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 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.23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate.24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
Galatians 5:22 The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-contol.
Luke 15:11-24
GENTLENESS IN THIS GROWING SEASON
FATHERS’ DAY, Springford
Baptist Church: June 21,2020.
Gentleness is the fruit of the Spirit we are considering for this Fathers’ Day Sunday. We might not immediately associate gentleness with fathers, but it is an approach that fathers and all of us need in our relationships with each other.
This week, I was overhearing interactions between a father and his young son. You’ve heard the same sort of thing I was hearing. We were at the beach, but you might hear this any number of places… It seemed that the father was criticizing his son for everything he did. Instead of spending time with him and maybe going down to the shore to show him how to skip rocks or building something with him in the sand, this father was listening to music and talking loudly. All the while, he kept yelling at his son. It appeared that he was trying to show that he was the one in charge and he ended up shaming his son. This was not demonstrating gentleness.
Jesus tells this story from Luke 15 to demonstrate and to highlight the compelling and persistent love of our Father God for us. Our God is gentle and through the work of His Holy Spirit in us we can grow in gentleness. We can learn more about God’s possibilities for gentleness in this growing season. This unconditional and inspiring love of the father in this story, draws us to recognize the gentleness of God our Father on this Fathers’ Day.
As the story begins, we see the younger son wanting his share of his father’s inheritance. He is making his decisions based on his desire to live it up. His understanding of how hard his father has worked for what he has does not seem to enter the mind of the younger son. There is no indication of whether the father was reluctant to divide the inheritance or if there was careful counsel given about how the younger son should handle the funds responsibly. We are simply told that the father divided the property between his two sons.
If we place ourselves in the position of the father, what would be our concerns:
- Will he use what he has been given wisely?
- Is he really able to handle this responsibility?
Whatever the concerns of the father, the choices of the younger son bring about the father’s worst possible fears. The younger son does not make good life choices. He decides to live in such a reckless way that he squanders all his wealth on wild living and is left with nothing, absolutely nothing. (vss. 13,14) He probably thought that the money would never run out, but it did. This would be the time when a Dad would be shaking his head and saying, “I thought I had raised him better than this.” We know how it goes that as long as the money is flowing freely there will be lots of people around, but when the money is gone so are those who seemed to be such good friends. Now the younger son is alone. He is all alone and the torment of how foolish he has been rings loudly in his ears.
He is in a mess and he has no one to blame but himself. When he hires himself out to look after pigs, he really has sunk about as low as he can get. For a Jewish person to work with pigs, animals considered unclean, would only have happened because he was completely desperate. And while there feeding the pigs, he is so hungry that he longs for some of what the pigs are eating.
Regret is such a hard place to be. When we are living in a place of regret, it is bad enough to be in a mess, but to know that we have caused the mess makes it even more distressing. In the mess that this young man finds himself, his thoughts turn toward home. He knows that home is a place of care and concern and he thinks that he will return there. The younger son carefully plans out what he will say:
“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 servants.” (vs. 19b)
The son heads for home but does not expect a warm welcome. He knows that he has made some bad decisions and he dares to hope that his father will have him back as a hired hand, but certainly not as part of the family. I love vs. 20 because it gives such a moving picture of the love and gentleness of the father. “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 and kissed him.” The father leaves no doubt that the son is welcome home! Whatever misgivings in the son’s mind and whatever unsettled feelings in the pit of his stomach along with the hunger, it is all swept away when his father runs to meet him. The father seeing the son in the distance while he was still a long way off, says to me that he was watching for him. I think that not a day went by that he wasn’t looking down the road hoping that this would be the day that his son would return home. Whatever mistakes this son had made and whatever embarrassment he had caused, this is still his son and the heart of the father is filled with love for his son. The father does not turn his son away, but responds with gentleness and forgiveness. The son begins the speech he had been rehearsing., “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” (vs. 21) At this point, the father interrupts and organizes a party, a celebration to welcome home his son.
Think of the emotion in the father’s voice when he says, “For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found”! The father had waited and waited for his son to return home. He never gave up on him and now here he is and it is time to celebrate!! The father’s love persists no matter how much his son messes things up and no matter how long it takes for him to come back home. The father never gives up on his son. He loves him too much for that. Instead of bitterness growing in the heart of this father, a profound gentleness and love has grown.
Likewise, God our Father never gives up on us. He is always expectantly waiting for us to turn toward home and we can be certain that he will be there waiting to meet us. As the church, God’s family, we too are to display the persistent love of God the Father. We are called to gentleness, not disdain and condemnation. We are to keep on praying for and caring about people who have not yet come home to God. We must never give up on them because God never gives up on them. God never gives up on us. When people do turn toward God their loving Father, we need to welcome them and celebrate their homecoming!! This is the everyday ministry of our church.
Wherever we are and whoever we are with, there are opportunities for us to express God’s love and care for people. When people witness gentleness in us, they can dare to believe that the God we serve is gentle. We would never want people to feel that they would be judged or criticized if they come home to God. Instead, like the father in this story that Jesus tells, and like God our Father, we will want to remember that God welcomes us close to Him and anyone who turns toward home is to be welcomed and celebrated!
How will we live each day
growing in the gentleness of God, ready to cook the roast beef dinner
(the fattened calf) and to celebrate in welcoming someone home to God
however long they have been away?
We will pray God’s
blessing for fathers and for all of us on this Fathers’ Day. May
the gentleness of God the Father, grow in us in this growing season,
through the work of His gentle Holy Spirit.