Some things are just naturally satisfying. Some things sit sweetly in the stomach. Nothing sits better in the stomach of a self-righteous person than to see the sinner stomped on and squashed out under God’s feet.
If you’ve put a lot of work into becoming self-righteous, perfect in your own eyes – you’d be shocked to the core to see God being “buddy-buddy” with sinners.
This is the setting in which we find Jesus.
The Self-Righteous
The self-righteous person kept every single letter of the Law. He obeyed every single detail. These were the Scribes and the Pharisees.
The ones who didn’t keep the law in every detail they called “the people of the land.” There was a complete barrier between the Pharisees and “the people of the land.”
The Pharisaic regulations laid it down. “When a man is one of the ‘people of the land,’ entrust no money to him. Take no testimony from him. Trust him with no secret. Do not appoint him guardian of an orphan. Do not make him the custodian of charitable funds. Do not accompany him on a journey.”
A Pharisee was forbidden to be the guest of any such man. Or to have him as his guest. He was even forbidden, so far as possible, to have any business dealings with him. Or to buy anything from him or sell anything to him.
The Pharisees firmly believed that “There is joy in Heaven over one sinner who is obliterated before God.” (The Pharisaic regulations above, and this saying, are as given in William Barclay, The Gospel of Luke, The Daily Study Bible.)
“Now all the tax-gatherers and the sinners were coming near (Jesus) to listen to him. And both the Pharisees and the Scribes began to grumble, saying, ‘This Man receives and accepts and welcomes outstandingly wicked sinners and eats with them.’” (Luke 15:1-2 AMPC)
As if that wasn’t enough, Jesus went on to tell a parable about a lost sheep, ending with the words: “I tell you this, that there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” (Luke 15:7 ESV)
Can you imagine that! Jesus saying God will be more pleased over one of those horrible sinners repenting than over all the righteousness of ninety-nine of those super-righteous Scribes and Pharisees? Scandalous, isn’t it!
The Rebellious Son
How hard it is for people to understand how much God loves men. In an effort to help people understand, Jesus told another parable. It is a story about a father who has two sons.
The younger son must have been feeling the strain of being always under the shadow of his older brother. Under Jewish law, the older son would get two-thirds of their father’s property, while the younger son would only get one-third of the father’s property.
The younger son wanted out. And he didn’t want to wait until his father died to get out. He asked for his share then and there. After asking for it, he soon turned it into cash. And off he went.
The son went to a far country. There he wasted his fortune recklessly, buying every pleasure he wanted. Finally, his money ran out. And with it, his luck. He might have been able to make it in the labor market, except a famine hit the land.
There were no jobs to be had at any price. The best he could do was to force himself on one of the citizens of that country, who sent him out to feed the hogs.
Nobody felt sorry for him. Nobody offered him any help. He had to eat some of the carob pods that the hogs were eating. That kind of situation will cause a man to do some thinking.
He remembered what it was like back home. He remembered that his father’s hired men not only had enough food, they had food to spare! He could go home, but if he went home, he’d have to admit that he had been wrong.
Boy, would he be the laughingstock. There was his older brother to think of and he would have to work for him! All the other hired men would know that he’d been a fool and a failure.
The Prodigal Son Returns
When he came to himself, he realized that it was better to admit that one was a fool, a failure, a sinner, than to end one’s life starving in a hog pen.
By admitting his sin, by facing up to his own foolishness, he could at least have the chance to try to make something out of the rest of his life. He would go home and submit himself to his father’s will.
I will say, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; just make me as one of your hired servants.”
Well, the father had never given up on the son. His love for his son never wavered. He waited. Watching. Looking for the day when he would see that familiar figure on the horizon. One might imagine that his loving heart was like a giant magnet, drawing, drawing, drawing. And when his son finally let loose of his rebellion, those magnetic lines of love began to tug and draw.
The day came when, as the father’s eyes scanned the horizon, he saw that familiar figure – the figure he had longed to see. The father was moved with pity and tenderness for him.
And he ran and embraced him and kissed him fervently. The father looked at his son and saw how his rebellion had ravaged him. His body was drawn and haggard. His clothes were ragged. And the father said to himself:
“This will not do. This is my son. This is no way for my son to look.”
The son began to speak: “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son – I no longer deserve to be recognized as a son of yours.”
The Father Did Three Things
He got no farther. His speech of repentance was never finished. For his father did three things. First, he had the best robe placed on his son. The festive robe. The honor robe. The robe stands for honor. The son who had lost all honor now was robed in honor.
Next, the father gave his son a ring for his hand. This was no ordinary ring. It was a ring of power. For if a man gave to another his signet ring it was the same as giving him the power of attorney. Now, wherever that son went, he had the power of his father.
Finally, the father had sandals put on his son’s feet. Those sandals stood for a son, as opposed to a slave. For the children of a family had sandals, while the slaves did not.
The father gave the son the shoes of a son.
The Prodigal Son Is a Story of Faith
The Apostle James, in his letter, makes a fascinating statement. He writes, “Faith, if it does not have works (deeds and actions of obedience to back it up), by itself is destitute of power – inoperative, dead.” (James 2:17 AMPC)
The prodigal son’s story begins in rebellion. The son was not willing to live in his father’s house, under his father’s rule. He wanted to be on his own, make his own decisions, be responsible to no man but himself. This obedience stuff was for the birds! He wanted to be free! He was going to make it on his own!
Put in the language of the religion of humanism, he said simply, “I am going to be the judge of all things. I will make all my own decisions. I will decide what is right and what is wrong. I am the captain of my ship. The master of my fate. Who is God that I should be mindful of him!”
The son rebelled and the father let him go. We rebel and God lets us go. But rebellion did not cause the father to stop loving the son. Rebellion does not keep God from loving us.
But rebellion does take us out of the Father’s house, and into a far country, and there we could all perish and all be thrown into the lake of fire for eternity if we do not do as the son did, and come to ourselves.
Coming to Oneself
The first step in faith is to come to oneself. Or, as we might say, to come to our senses. The son faced up to his rebellion. He admitted that he had rebelled.
And he came to the point where he was willing to face the price that rebellion demands. He had to humble himself and admit that he was wrong. Admit that he had no ground on which to stand. Nothing to recommend himself. The only thing he could do was to cast himself on the mercy of the father.
That is faith.
Faith means to rely on, adhere to, believe in, trust in. Notice that each of those words is an action word. Faith is not an intellectual exercise. Faith is action. That is the reason that James tells us that “faith, if it does not have works (deeds and actions of obedience to back it up), by itself is destitute of power – inoperative, dead.” (James 2:17 AMPC)
Coming to oneself is the first part of faith. But it is not enough. It must be followed up by action before it becomes real. Action, however, is of a very specific kind. It is obedience — the opposite of rebellion.
The son had to make his faith live by coming to his father and putting himself in obedience to him. A lot of people go around saying, “Oh, I believe in God,” but do not follow that statement up with obedience. Obedience means to submit every aspect of their life — decisions, conduct, everything — to the will of God.
The will of God can only be known through careful systematic study of God’s word. There is no substitute for studying God’s word to discover God’s will.
The Gifts of the Father
Now comes the exciting part of faith. Once faith is expressed in coming to oneself, submitting to God’s will through obedience, then see what God does!
He clothes us with honor! And righteousness!!
He gives us his ring of power – the authority to use his name! His power! His authority!
He gives us the shoes of a son!
Righteousness!
Power!
Sonship!
These are the gifts of the Father to those who respond in living faith to the atoning death of Jesus Christ. And what is living faith? “Faith, if it does not have works (deeds and actions of obedience to back it up), by itself is destitute of power — inoperative, dead.”
Living faith is demonstrated by deeds of obedience to God, walking according to His Word.
Let’s take up that challenge and live in obedience to God’s word today.
This article is part of Growing in the Word — a guide to everything in this library on how a Christian actually grows.
