Luke: The Parable of the Prodigal Son

Sermon by Pastor Mark Driscoll

http://www.marshillchurch.org/media/luke

Luke 15:11-32
The Parable of the Prodigal Son

The Father, symbolizing God
- Showed great love, great compassion--He did everything he could to love his sons. Even when one of his son turned away from him, he still awaited his return. (This is exemplified by the fact that he saw his son even when he was a long way off. And once he saw his son, he ran with great joy toward him. In fact, he could have disowned his son, but he didn't. He wholeheartedly welcomed his son home.)
- Was a great businessman--Proverb says a great man leaves inheritance to his sons, and this father indeed did so.

The Rebellious Son
- Dishonored his father, basically by telling his father that the monetary value of his inheritance was far more important to him than his father. In his heart, his father was dead.
- Was humiliated and humbled (exemplified by taking care of pigs and eating the pigs' food, the lack of shoes)
- Approached his father empty-handed.
- Upon his return, his father immediately welcomes him home. This is a very clear picture of God and us. We have done nothing to deserve His grace, we approach Him empty-handed, and yet God just gives. He just gives. Even before we ask.

The Religious Son
- Dishonored his father with indignant disbelief that his father would welcome home a "traitor."
- Refused to celebrate and wanted his father to rebuke his brother.
- However, the father loves both his sons, and his love shows no favoritism. The father had both his sons home. That was the most important thing to him.

Rebellion is all about...
- non-conformity
- innovation
- breaking the rules
- liberal
- immoral
- disobedience
- lazy
- using people
- unrighteousness
- The sin is visible.

Religion is all about...
- conformity
- tradition
- keeping the rules
- conservative
- moral
- obedience
- hard-working
- judging people
- self-righteousness
- The sin is invisible--it's inside, often presented as self-righteousness.

The only thing the two sons had in common was that they were both using their father for his riches. Neither of them loved him with their hearts.

Which son are you?

Living apart from your Father, not having Him in our hearts, is the greatest sin of all.

The Perfect Son
Jesus Christ is the perfect son who told the parable.

We either tend to be the rebellious son or the religious son. But when we realize how Jesus Christ died for us, we should also see that we can strive to be like the third son, Jesus Christ, the one and only perfect son. The one true Son who understood the promise of the Lord is infinitely greater than all the earthly riches combined.