Monday, October 12, 2009

"But when he came to himself, he said, How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants' " (Luke 15:17-19). 

IDEA: The prodigal turns homeward because he is hungry, not because he is sinful.

PURPOSE: To demonstrate that people turn to the Father for reasons that are not necessarily spiritual, but the reasons do turn them toward home.

Why do people come to God?

Sometimes we think it is evangelistic preaching.

Other times the reasons are much more earthy.

Look at the reason for wanting to go home again, given by the younger brother in the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15:17-19.

He ran out of funds.
He may have enjoyed his playboy life. He may have never changed if he had not lost his money.

He ran out of friends.
He was alone for the first time in his life.
Loneliness can make us aware that we are alienated from God and from ourselves. One reason people keep active and keep the radio and television on is to keep from thinking about where they are and what they are and where they could be. The younger brother thought of home. It would be better than having pigs as his only companions.

He ran out of food.
There was a famine in the land. The real dramatic turning point in this story was the pang in his stomach.
It was not his conscience.
It wasn’t his moral awareness that he had done wrong by wasting his father’s money.
It was not his religious convictions that he was failing to observe the Sabbath and the rituals of his faith.

Hunger drove him home.

It was not the law or some methods that made him feel his guilt. It was simple physical hunger. He simply “reconsidered his position.” He wasn’t particularly interested in changing himself. He simply wanted to change his circumstances.

Many people never think about God or want to think about Him until they find themselves up against a wall. Foxhole religion can be a means of getting people to think about their deepest needs.