SERMON TITLE: BEING AT HOME WITH GOD

SCRIPTURE: Luke 15:11-32

THESIS: Repentance is man’s way back to God.

INTRODUCTION: The word “Home” is a heart-warming word. It denotes belonging, acceptance, security, safety, comfort, warmth, etc, in the life of a family member. On the other hand, when a person is separated from their home, whether by choice, or as a result of some extenuating circumstance, it is very likely that a person will become homesick, lonely, sad, depressed, or in many cases experience a whole realm of negative emotions.

The Prodigal Son of Luke 15:11-32, discovered that being away from home was not all that great once his inheritance ran out and he had no place to call his home. There are some valuable lessons for us to discover as well from this Parable of the Prodigal. From a purely spiritual perspective, we learn almost immediately that being at home with God, the Heavenly Father, is a natural desire of the human heart. Being at home with God, is a longing for security, belonging, comfort, safety, etc., whether the person realizes it or not.

Like the Prodigal, it is only natural for one to become homesick for God.

In this Bible study, I will attempt to give you three principles that show what it means to be at home with God.

First,

I. WHEN WE ARE AT HOME WITH GOD, HE SHARES HIMSELF WITH US. As Jesus, told this Parable, he said, “There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, Father, give me my share of the estate. So he divided his property between them”(Luke 15:11-12).

Growing up on a farm in Tennessee, I shared a wonderful relationship with my father. During my teenage years, however, my father and I did not always see eye to eye. So at the age of eighteen, I decided I would leave home. I went down to the local recruiter and joined the Army. A few days later I found myself in the state of Georgia, at boot camp and in a severe state of homesickness. I was homesick and wanted to go home, but I could not without serious consequences.

The younger son in this Parable, like myself, decided that he did not want to be at home with his father any longer, so he asked for his share of the estate.

His father gave him what he asked for and in the process he would receive more than he bargained for. While the Prodigal was at home with the father, he had more than a mere inheritance. He shared a relationship with his father.

Second,

II. A PERSON WHO IS NOT AT HOME WITH GOD IS LOST. Jesus

Continues the Parable of the Prodigal . . .

“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. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his field to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything”(Luke 15:13-16).

In the telling of this story, and in the larger context, Luke brought together three stories that depict lostness—The Parable of the Lost Sheep, The Parable of the Lost coin, and here, The Parable of the Prodigal Son. All of which reveal, in the words of one writer, “ . . . the depths of God’s love and the extent to which He takes initiative to find His own.”

My I quickly point out, however, in light of these words, although God, the Father, will go to great extents to reclaim His own, sometimes He simply waits for sin to run its course before taking initiative to rescue the Prodigal who has gone astray. And so it was in this case. He would wait for sin to run its course in this young man’s life.

You will note the downward progression that sin took in the Prodigal’s life. The Bible says, “ . . . he squandered his wealth in wild living . . . spent everything . . . found himself in a severe famine . . . became hungry . . . and ended up in a pigs pen.” I would imagine that home looked pretty good to him at this point in his life.

To make a long story short, he was lost. In the process of leaving his comfortable home, he found himself in a lost condition. Is this not a picture of lost humanity? Since the sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, humankind has been on a downward plunge into lostness. Many applications could be made here to that fact, but time does not permit. You can make your own applications. I will hasten to restate however, that the person who is not at home with God is lost, i.e., spiritually lost. But let me hasten to end this study on a positive note as I share with you the final principle . . .

Third,

III. OUR RELATIONSHIP TO GOD IS RESTORED ONCE WE COME HOME

TO HIM. The Bible says . . .

READ LUKE 15:17-24

It was in the pig-pen of life, so to speak, that the Prodigal came to his senses. It was in the pig-pen that he made a most important decision. He said, “I will set out and go back to my Father and say to Him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.” By the way, every sin we commit is against our Heavenly Father. It was David, who said, after his adulterous affair with Bathsheba, “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight”(Psalm 51:4). The Prodigal, like David, saw his unworthiness to be forgiven when he said, “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”(Luke 15:18-20).

Well time does not permit me to tell you the rest of the story, but suffice it to say, you and I must return home to the Father, in the same way. First, like the Prodigal, we must see ourselves as God sees us—a lost sinner in need of salvation. It was the Prophet Isaiah, who saw himself and us as we really are, when he wrote . . .

“We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way”

(Isaiah 53:6). The apostle Paul said it like this, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”(Romans 3:23). Second, the way back to the Father is by way of repentance. The Prodigal repented and he was greeted by a running Father. The Bible says, “He (the father) ran to His son.” This shows how glad God is to see a repenting, returning, Prodigal. Third, after repentance comes rejoicing. The Bible says, “For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found. So they began to celebrate”(Luke 15:24).

CONCLUSION: And so it is when you and I return to our Heavenly father—the angels rejoice in heaven. In the context of the lost coin, Jesus said, In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents”(Luke 15;100. Are you homesick for God? Then repent and return!