IF GOD IS A GOD OF GRACE, THEN WHY CAN’T I DO ANYTHNG I WANT?

The Biblical Testimony   (Luke 15:11-24)

Then Jesus said, ‘There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, “Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.” So he divided his property between them. A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself he said, “How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.’ ” So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. Then the son said to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” But the father said to his slaves, “Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!” And they began to celebrate.

The Proclaimed Word

“If God is a God of grace, then why can’t I do anything I want?”    Apparently in the younger son in the parable thought he could.  The youngest son basically treated his father like a dead man, and to our amazement the father went along with it! 

 The youngest son demanded his inheritance from his father.  Think about that for a moment.  An inheritance is something that is “given” after the giver dies.  Last week Marcia and I completed our will.  When we signed on the line with the appropriate witnesses, I thought to myself, “I hope it is a long time before this will is executed.”   In fact, I plan on talking to my son and tell him, “the will is done, you are in it, but don’t expect to collect anytime soon.”

 But that is not the case here.  The youngest son comes to the father and demands his share of the inheritance.  For all practical purposes, the youngest son was asking his father to “drop dead.”   And the Father did!   Oh, he didn’t drop dead literally, but for all practical purposes he dropped dead!  The Father divided the property and gave the son his share of his inheritance.   

Apparently this younger son sensed that his father was a person of astounding grace, or I don’t think he would have asked for the inheritance. Our question, “If God is a God of grace, then why can’t I do anything I want?”  became the youngest sons’ lifestyle: “I know my father to be a person of grace. I will demand my share of the inheritance and go do anything I want.”

 And of course, he did.  He went to a “distant country” and really lived it up – wine, women and fast living.   He was doing his own thing!  He was his own man!  He was following his desire!  He was truly a free spirit!

 He had a great time for awhile, but only for awhile.  After awhile things began to fall apart.  His supposed freedom and the exercise of it didn’t look so good any more.  If fact, it had become a slavery.  He was broke, slopping pigs and eating their pods just to survive.  Now that his money had run out, everybody just walked away.   He discovered that he was alone, and no one really cared one iota about him.   His life was a shipwreck. 

 He began to think about his father.  He realized how good life had been when he resided in his father’s household as his father’s son.  He began to think about his father’s hired hands and how good they had it compared to him.  He began longing for home!  A strategy began to take shape in his mind.  In fact, he sketched out a little speech.  He would confess his sins to his father and plead to be employed as one of the hired hands.

 So, he headed for home.  As he drew near the Father’s estate and was approaching on the road up to the main house, his heart was in his throat as he was rehearsing his lines. 

 But the next thing he knew he saw his father running like a crazy man down the road; arms outstretched; hair and robes flapping in the wind, and before the boy could get squeak out one word of his well rehearsed speech, his father planted a bear hug around him like never before.  And by the time the boy did croak out his little speech, the Father had already called the caterer and was planning a party – and surprise of surprise – the boy was home, not as a hired hand, but as the Father’s son!

 The Father “died” twice in this story.  First, the father was willing to “drop dead” when his son demanded the inheritance.  That death meant that the Father was willing to let the son go do whatever the son had to do, even though it was ultimately sinful and self-destructive.

 The father “died” the second time when the son came home.  The father died to his own pride by absorbing the sins of his son, by not demanding penance, or saying “I told you so,” or inflicting punishment, or exacting something from his son as compensation for squandering the inheritance. 

 If God is a God of grace, then why can’t I do anything I want?   Based on this parable I suppose you can.  We do have a God who has “dropped dead.”   He dropped dead through his son Jesus Christ on the cross.  As a result of his death you have been given a priceless inheritance. 

In Peter 1 we read, “By his great mercy (God) has given us an…  inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading…”  

 Tonight we are on the threshold of the week that God “dropped dead” in Jesus Christ.  Next week we once again will trace his agonizing journey to the cross, inch by excruciating inch and step by anguished step.   We will reflect deeply on the amazing grace and lavish love that emanates from there.

 As you stand before his cross and the stupendous love there for you, I supposed there are many things that can come to mind, but allow me suggest two questions, and then you decide for yourself which one it will be for you.

 I suppose you could stand in front of His cross and ask, “How can I use the grace that is here for my selfish advantage?”   And of course, that’s what the prodigal did. He saw his father’s grace as an opportunity to pursue his own selfish agenda.  What he didn’t count on was that it was ultimately a dead end.  All of our selfish pursuits are dead end roads to loneliness and despair.

 But the other response would be to stand in front of the cross, and at its foot fall on one’s knees, and cry out  in grief and in joy; in grief that it was your sins that help nail him there; in joy that there is such a love for you personally that exists in this universe, and then say,  “How can I not be changed by this act of total loving sacrifice for me?  I am home!” 

 Perhaps these two questions are good ones to carry with us into the events of next week, and even tonight as we receive these elements of his broken body and shed blood.   Amen.