Sermon Tone Analysis

Continueing series called Home for Christmas.

Home is a powerful word.

We talked last week that it represents safety, security, a place where we are accepted, find comfort, forgiveness, acceptance…

I was talking to a friend who just lost his dad this year.

We talked about seeing things that we think our dads would like…

When my dad died, we ended up selling the home I grew up in, where my brother and I would sneak into the living room on Christmas mornings to see our presents before mama and daddy would get up, the home we would ride our homemade go-carts around the house making a dirt track out of the yard, where we learned how to throw a baseball...

We do a lot to make our homes - home, but they are temporary.

Today as we talk about “Come Home for Christmas” we’re talking about something that is eternal.

Come home for Christmas is about having a relational connection with the God who is eternal.

It’s a picture of the closeness between you and God.

That’s what coming home means.

It means being close and connected to God.

Maybe it’s for the first time or maybe it’s a reconnect.

You say, Why? BC life works better when you are connected to God.

So no matter what your temporary situation is right now, you can come home.

Actually, I think most of us want to be close to God… even if it’s your first time here… even if you are on the outside of Christianity looking in… something draws you home.

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What the Prodigal Son tells us about God

1. God is patient enough to not give up.

It breaks my heart when I hear people say, I’m too bad for God to forgive me.

I’ve done too much.

He doesn’t want to have anything to do with me.

or I’ve walked away from hi so many times he doesn’t want me back… God is done with me.

Truth - He’s not done with you.

God is always hoping you come back.

Jesus is describing His father and he is saying that this father has not given up on his son.

Imagine.

This father has been waiting, watching and hoping his son would return and suddenly, he sees his son walking up the road.

God is patiently waiting for you and I to return.

One of the reasons we struggle with this idea of patiently waiting is that we are not patient.

When someone hurts us we give them a warning.

If they hurt us again… we blow them off.

We give up on them.

Parents - “How many times do I have to tell you? no right answer to that question.

What were you thinking?

Of course we were not thinking… that’s why we did stupid stuff.

But God is patient with us and that is so unlike our human experience it’s mind blowing.

He wants everyone to to repent.

repent - turn around.

Come home.

He is patient and wants everyone to come home.

God says welcome home.

When we see someone whose been gone a while, just say welcome back.

It’s not important where they have been until they are ready to share it.

Did anyone see Forrest Gump?

At the end of the movie Forest takes Forest Jr to the first day of school to the bus stop.

He watches his son get on the bus.

The best words in the whole movie were “I’ll be here when you get back.”

Some of us today need to see God in that way.

You may feel distant and disconnected, but God will be there patiently waiting.

You may not be a runaway like this boy in the story, but you are disconnected.

God is patiently waiting.

2. God is passionate enough to show extreme love.

Look at this verse…

This is the only place I have ever seen where God is depicted as running.

Culture - men wore long robes.

For him to pull up his robe and run with his legs showing was unheard of… kind of like a dad running down the street in his boxers.

But this was extreme love.

This dad did not care what people thought, he saw his boy coming home.

He loved him regardless of the past.

He threw his arms around him and kissed him.

he just came out of a pig pen.

Notice - there is no lecture.

His absence of words says a lot.

Extreme love doesn’t always need words.

We may sometimes question human love.

Do you still love me… especially if you have a teenager.

But we don’t ever have to wonder if God loves us.

God made you and I and he loves us and he shows us he loves us.

3. God is forgiving enough to accept me.

I have run into so many people over my years that say, Before I come to God, I have to get my life together.

I have to stop… and start…

That’s the same attitude this son had in this story.

That may describe how someone here or someone you know feels.

If “Im not worthy” describes you or someone you know and love, you are right.

None of us are worthy.

That’s what is so amazing about God’s love.

Even though we don’t deserve it, he shows us patience to change with extreme love to experience forgiveness that puts us on a new path.

You may think, but Pastor Robert, you don’t know all I have done.

You’re right, but you don’t know my past either.

God doesn’t care what we have done, he is patiently showing his extreme love for us.

When you go fishing, you have to catch a fish before you clean it.

The son came home, then the father cleaned him up: let’s get him a robe, some sandels, a ring and let’s have a party - he is home.

God forgives you enough to accept you the way you are but He loves you too much to let you say that way.

That’s where the change comes in.

That’s the forgiveness that sets us on a new course.

I know, this is tough to understand because we don’t forgive people like this.

With his forgiveness we’re getting something better than we deserve.

You know what the boy deserved when he came home?

He deserved a whipping.

He deserved to be an outcast.

In Mosaic Law he would even deserve death because he ridiculed his family by what he had done.

And what did he get?

He got a party.

OK, let’s get to the So What?

Shows a lot about God, but what does this mean to me?

What does it mean to me?

Since it was Jesus’ story about how to come home and how to get close, let’s just follow the steps of the son.

What did the son do?

1.

You Come to your senses.