The Parable of the Lost Sons

"'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.'"
     I recently attended a conference hosted by my church. The theme of the conference was "Our Father's Love". Naturally, the messages all dealt with God's love for sinners. One of the messages was on the parable of the lost son. This parable is very well known, and I have even written about it multiple times in this very blog. Despite me hearing the parable many times, I am always convicted by the passage. Today I want to share a couple thoughts I had on the passage after hearing the message at the conference.
     One part of the parable that always confused me a little bit is why the father gave the younger son his inheritance. The son asks for his share of the estate, and the father divides the property with him. I've always wondered why the father would ever agree to the son's ridiculous demand. The son's request is actually an insult to his father. However, the father grants the younger son's request.
     The more I thought about the father's heart, the more I came to realize why the father would agree to give his son the share of the estate. The biggest clue came to me in Romans 1:24, which reads "Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts...". People are depraved and never stop chasing after their sin. Instead of fighting against people's desire to sin, God gave them over to their sinful desires. The same is true in the parable. The father knew that the son would keep seeking a sinful life, even if he denied the son's request for the inheritance.
     So why did the father let his son fall into a sinful life? I believe the reason is that the father wanted the son to realize the emptiness and darkness of a sinful life. If the father never allowed the son to have the inheritance, the son would always have the illusion that a sinful life is better than a life with his father. This mindset would keep the son from fully recognizing the love of his father. By allowing the son to get the share of estate, the father was reluctantly allowing his son to recognize the consequences of sin. If the son could recognize the emptiness of his sin, maybe he could return to his father and understand the provision and love of the father.
     Another part of the parable that stuck out to me was the father's love for the older son. You may have noticed that the title of this blog post is "The Parable of the Lost Sons", not "The Parable of the Lost Son." We often only think about one of the sons as being lost. However, both sons were lost in their sins. The younger son was lost because he chased his desires for a wild and sinful life. The older was lost because he chased after good works.
     When the father receives the younger son and throws a party for him, the older son is working in the fields. The older son has such a legalistic and work-focused mindset that he doesn't even leave his work to check on what the party is about. He sends a servant to report on what is happening in the house so that he can continue working in the field. When he hears the servant's report, he burns with anger against his father. How can the father accept this son who squandered his inheritance? The older son refuses to go in to the house because of his anger against his father.
     So what does the father do next? Does he forget about the older son and let him sulk in his misery out in the field? No! The father goes out to his older son. Just as he went out to meet the younger son, he goes out to meet the older son. The older son insults his father by assuming that he deserves something in return for his good works, and that the father should not have received the younger son. So does the father rebuke the older son? No! He graciously pleads with the son to join the celebration for the younger son. He shares the same love to the older son that he did with the younger son.
     Interestingly, Jesus ends the parable right there. Isn't that kind of weird? Why didn't Jesus reveal what happens to the older son? Can you imagine listening to this parable with that ending? I would want to know what happened to the older son. Did he accept the father's love? Or did he reject the father's invitation? We don't know. Have you ever thought about why Jesus ends the parable there? To answer this, we have to think about who Jesus is telling the parable to. If we read Luke 15:1-2, we can see that Jesus was telling this parable to the sinners, tax collectors, and also the Pharisees.
     Although the audience was fairly diverse, I believe that this parable was meant for the Pharisees. Jesus was trying to explain His love for the lost people of the world; those who were like the younger son. However, He was also trying to express His love even for the Pharisees. I think we often get the misconception that Jesus never reached out to Pharisees. This parable is evidence that Jesus did reach out to them. He didn't tell this parable because He wanted to show the Pharisees that they were wrong, but He wanted them to accept His love for them. The reason the parable stops where it does is because the ending of the parable is determinant on whether the Pharisees accept Jesus' love. Jesus was saying that the older son's response is actually the Pharisees' response. By ending the parable where He did, He was offering the Pharisees an invitation to choose His love.
     Perhaps the part of the parable that matters the most is not the lost sons. When telling this parable, I’m sure the Jewish audience could have conceived the possibility of a son running away from his father. Sure, it’s a stretch, but surely they could imagine a son wanting to get away from a father he thought was a tyrant. And I’m sure the audience could understand how the older son would burn with anger at the celebration for the younger son. However, there’s one aspect of the story that I don’t think anyone in the audience could even begin to understand- the love of the father.
  There are no words for how extravagant God’s love is. One of my favorite lyrics in a song is in the third verse of the hymn “The Love of God”. It goes: “Could we with ink, the ocean fill, and were the skies of parchment made. Were every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade; To write the love of God above, would drain the ocean dry. Nor could the scroll, contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky.” In short, we cannot describe the love of God. It is measureless and strong. I pray that I can accept God’s love for me by turning to Him in repentance, and share the father’s great love with those around me.

-Smart

Identity and Destiny

"Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground."
-1 Samuel 17:49
     At Grace Retreat this year, one of the speakers, Lana, talked about the topic identity and destiny. Lana is part Mexican and part White, meaning she has dark skin. She shared that when she was young, she attended a school in a White neighborhood. She would be made fun of because of her dark skin, as most of the other students were White. Lana would complain to God that she was part Mexican, because it caused her misery in her life. She wished that she could be like the people at her school, who had white skin, blond hair, and blue eyes.
     Many years later, Lana went abroad on a missions trip to share the gospel (I'm a bit fuzzy on the exact details of this story). I forget the exact location, but it was on the eastern part of the world. She preached to some people in a town, and then left to a house in a nearby town to rest. As she was in the nearby town, the place where she had just preached was attacked. People were being hurt and killed, especially those who were Americans. Despite these attacks, Lana wanted to get some souvenirs for her family. According to Lana, it's not acceptable to go somewhere and not bring souvenirs back to her family. The people staying with her argued with her, but eventually agreed to go back to get souvenirs with her. The only condition was that she had to dress herself as the native people in the area, and to remain silent to prevent people from realizing she was American.
     As they drove into the town, Lana witnessed Americans being attacked. The White people in the area were especially singled out by the attackers. As she witnessed these things, she heard God saying: "do you wish you were like your classmates now?" Lana then told us that what we may think is a deficiency in our identity can actually be used as an advantage for our destiny. God has given each of us a unique identity that is perfectly suited for our destiny.
     The story of David and Goliath is very famous, so I won't go into the details of the story. If you want all the details, I suggest reading 1 Samuel 17. A boy named David is the youngest of his brothers, and is a shepherd for his father's flocks. Three of his brothers are fighting in a war against the Philistines. His father sends him into the battlefield camp to give some refreshments to his brothers. David notices that a Philistine named Goliath is taunting the Israel army, daring someone to come and fight him. David volunteers to fight Goliath, and wins the fight using a sling and a stone.
     What you may have never thought about in this story is that David is already anointed to be King. Yet even though he is anointed by Samuel, he remains a shepherd. David could have thought that since he was destined to become king, he should no longer keep his identity as a shepherd. He could have denounced his identity as a shepherd for his father's flocks. However, what David could have seen as a deficiency was actually exactly what he needed to defeat Goliath. If you read 1 Samuel 17:49 (listed above), you'll notice that David uses a slingshot to defeat Goliath. He used what he had learned as a shepherd to defeat Goliath.
     In both Lana and David's stories, their identity is what propelled them into their destiny. Lana is now the head of Life Impact International, a foundation that helps children in Thailand. David became the king of Israel. They could have given up their destiny if they denied their identity. However, the very things that they might have seen as a disadvantage is what God used for His purposes.
     I can't really explain why this idea of identity and destiny playing hand in hand spoke to me at the Grace Retreat. I wouldn't say identity is something I really struggle with. Something in Lana's message spoke to my heart though. I'm still trying to figure out exactly what God is teaching me about identity and destiny. I don't want to let my identity be something that I use as an excuse to escape my destiny. Maybe something that I am denying in my identity is something that God wants to use for my destiny.
-Smart

Grace Retreat 2016 - Come Alive

"made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved."
-Ephesians 2:5
     Last week I went to Grace Retreat along with the youth group of my church. The Grace Retreat is a gathering of youth groups around the DMV area focused on bringing revival to the youth. If you regularly follow my blog, you may remember me writing about my experience in 2014. The theme of the Grace Retreat this year was "Come Alive". I was really blessed through this retreat, and I wanted to share my testimony with you. Here's some fair warning: the testimony seems disjointed at first, but it connects later. Just hang in there.
     In 2014 I attended Grace Retreat as a small group leader. As I mention in the blog post in that year, I felt like a really inadequate leader. Even after that retreat, I felt that I didn't make any impact on my small group. Those thoughts of inadequacy were still lingering on my mind even two years later. I struggled to believe in myself as a leader because of the experience I had in 2014. However, I chose to trust God even with my weaknesses.
     One thing you may not know about me if you don't know me too well is that I'm not a very expressive person during worship. My church is pretty conservative when it comes to expressiveness during praise, so that kind of rubbed off on me. However, I decided that at this retreat I would worship God fully. I chose to give Him glory, even despite my lack of faith. In the past, I would almost never raise my hands in worship, but at this retreat, I rose my hands frequently. I'm not suggesting that raising your hands in worship makes you more spiritual or that you cannot worship without raising your hands, but I find that it helps me connect with God. Raising my hands is a way for me to connect a physical act with the spiritual act of worship.
     In my first small group meeting, I asked my group why they came to the Grace Retreat. I shared my reason which was that I just graduated college and I wanted to encounter God before I start my new job. Most of the students shared simple answers, such as they wanted to encounter God. This discouraged me a little bit, because it reminded me of the experience I had in 2014. However, one student shared that he was struggling with some things in his life, and he wanted God to breakthrough in his life. He didn't share what he was struggling with, but I was encouraged that he chose to share with the group.
     Later in the retreat, one of the speakers, Bob, was sharing prophetic words during the main worship session. He called out for a Chris, which happened to be one of my small group members. He stood up, but then he noticed that another Chris was standing up. As it turns out, the other Chris was one of the speakers at the Grace Retreat. The Chris in my small group awkwardly sat back down, because he didn't think that the prophecy was for him. The speaker said that Chris would reach out to a person named Steve and would impact him.
     The next message was given by a speaker named Lana. She spoke about identity and destiny (which I will expand on in another post). After hearing her message, I just felt so much hope. I had hope for the youth and I felt God would use them mightily. I'm not a youth leader, so I've never really given too much thought to the youth. However, I had so much hope for the youth at the retreat, and in my small group. I felt that Bob's prophetic word was for the Chris in my group. I believed that God would use Chris in a way Chris never experienced before.
     At the small group after Lana's message, I asked Chris if he knew someone named Steve. He told me that he did, and that Steve was not a believer. I told Chris that God would use him to reach out to Steve, reiterating Bob's prophetic word. I then asked my small group to pray over Chris to release the prophecy in his life. We also prayed for the other member who shared that he struggling with things in his life. I was blessed even just by watching my group pray over each other. All of those doubts I had in myself as a small group leader were fading away.
     Throughout the retreat, I wouldn't say I felt God's presence heavily during worship or ministry time. This was a bit discouraging, because I was hoping to encounter God in a big way at the retreat. However, I was reminded of how God has been teaching me about seeds and fruit. Faith is something that grows over time, and I shouldn't try to rush to see results. I need to trust in God's leading in my life. To be honest, it's hard for me to trust in God's timing, but I believe God has something big in store for my life.
     At the final evening worship at the Grace Retreat, the speaker, Chris, led a time of ministry. Basically what that means is that students can come up to the front and have leaders pray over them. Even though I'm not a student, I went up to the front for prayer. In my mind, I was thinking about whether I should pray for the students, since I am a leader. I decided that if someone prays over me, I will take it as a sign to pray for the youth. Sure enough, a leader prayed over me. I was hesitant, but I finally decided to pray for my small group. I went to one of the members that I saw first. I laid my hand on his shoulder, and was praying for him to experience the Holy Spirit. After only a short time, I felt a weight on my hand. I didn't really know what it was at first, but then I realized that my small group member was falling down (this is one way of encountering the Spirit). I guess he was a pretty light guy, because I didn't realize he was actually falling at first. I made sure he went down safely.
     I was amazed at what just happened. I never had someone be slain by the Spirit while I prayed over them. I believe this was God's subtle way of telling me that I don't have to feel Him to be used by Him. In fact, if I were busy just receiving the Holy Spirit, I could have missed the opportunity to pray over my small group.
     Chris' message was about bringing our experience with God into our everyday lives. It's not enough for us to rely on retreats or conferences to meet God. We should be meeting God everyday. The final message, given by Pastor Carlos, was about reading the Bible. This is the most practical way for us to encounter God in our everyday lives. I hope that I can be faithful to God's word, and experience Him more and more everyday.
-Smart