Good Morning and welcome in everyone. Today, we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture, but before we do that, I wanted to tell you a little story.
Many years ago my wife and I were shopping at a garage sale and I found an antique dining room table for about 20 bucks. It was in pretty tough shape but I figured I might be able to sand it down and completely refinish it. It took about a month but I finally restored it to its original condition, and it served us well as our kitchen table for many years. One year I bought a really beat up old fishing boat. I knew that this project was going to take a lot of work in order to make it look nice again, but my wife and I spent the summer fixing it up. She made new seat covers, I made a new transom, we completely painted the boat and fixed all the wood seats. When it was finally restored, the man I purchased it from could not believe that it was his old boat. I can’t count all the fish we caught in it. Some of my relatives have spent lots of time restoring antique vehicles and when they were done with them they looked like they had just rolled off the assembly line.
This reminds me of the Christian Life.
Whenever you restore something, you bring it back to its former condition. When genuine forgiveness happens, it always will result in reconciliation and restoration between the parties involved. To begin with today, we are going to focus on the full forgiveness and restoration of the prodigal son.
Luke 15:11-32 And he said, A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.
And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.
Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing. And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound. And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him. And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends: But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.
I want you to look at the events and how they took place in this passage today.
First of all the prodigal son got involved with sin which put a strain on the relationship he had with his dad. He finally realized his faults and came to his senses and returned back home to apologize. When he confessed his faults, his dad completely forgave him right on the spot. Because the dad completely forgave him from his heart, they picked up right where they had left off in their previous relationship. They were completely reconciled and were together once again. With forgiveness is restoration. To restore means to bring back to a previous condition or state, to re-establish or restore harmony among those were at variance. Instead of punishing the son or making him pay off the debt so he could return the money, he simply forgave him and restored him to sonship once again. He ceased feeling any resentment, and completely forgot about the past like it had never even happened.
I’ve always felt that the story of the prodigal consists of all of the elements of the Christian Life. Each of us are sinners who have come short of the glory of God, but if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. When God forgives, our sins and iniquities are no longer remembered by Him, and He completely restores us into a relationship with Himself by His grace.
Gal 6:1 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
If you’ve ever taken a wrong turn on the highway, in order to get back on the right road you need to return back to where you went the wrong direction. This is what the prodigal son did. He returned home to the place where it all began. But even though there was lost time spent going the wrong way, he made the choice to do what was right and apologize. That’s all it took for complete reconciliation and restoration to take place. As a Christian we are called to the ministry of reconciliation. When Peter denied Christ, Jesus completely restored him to Apostleship. When the humble publican cried out to God for mercy, God forgave him. Paul reconciled Onesimus back to Philemon, so that their relationship in the past could be restored to what it was before. God wants relationships to be restored within the church, but it requires the elements contained in the parable of the prodigal son. God does not make it difficult for us to obtain forgiveness. A simple confession of fault,……to forgive and completely waive any negative feelings towards the offending party, which will result in reconciliation and a restoring of the former relationship that you have with each other.
God gives us grace so that we can fix things and restore them to what they were in the past, kind of like…
…Our Kitchen Table.
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody. ❤️
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