Transcription

Connor
You’re listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun and practical ways.

Chris
Hey, Jeff.

Jeff
Hey, Chris.

Chris
Today we’re talking about one of the most famous passages in the Bible, the lost son or the prodigal Son.

Jeff
I think I’ve I’ve preached on this story of Jesus more than any of the other stories Jesus has taught. Oh, really? I think so, yeah.

Chris
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, it’s certainly one of the one of the best I love it.

Jeff
Yeah, this is one of the good ones as opposed to, you know, the ones that you don’t like is that you’re saying it’s one of the best. No. You’re kind of implying that there’s some that are less best.

Chris
Yeah. Well, I think that there are ones that are, uh, favored in my spirit. Oh.

Jeff
Your favorite?

Chris
No. Favored.

Jeff
Favored. Okay.

Chris
Yes, I favored this one. All right, how about that?

Jeff
Yeah. Me too. Yeah. Me too. It’s one of my favorites.

Chris
So today we’re actually going to start with our segment that Desiree put together. Uh, actually this is so fun. We’re talking about where are our listeners from. Yes. And by the way, we have listeners apparently, you know this more than I do. Uh, we have listeners and not just in the United States, but around.

Jeff
Oh, yeah, Germany, India, uh, Ireland, South Africa. Uh, it’s pretty crazy, right? I’ve forgotten. Yeah, a whole bunch of countries around the world. Yeah, it’s really cool. You’re so welcome. Thank you for listening.

Chris
Yes. And, uh, so we’re going to actually just name a few facts, uh, about this particular city, uh, that is in a state that is in the United States. Okay. So I’m giving the.

Jeff
We’re going to have people try to guess where.

Chris
Yes.

Jeff
Okay. Yes. Well, number one, yep. The nation’s first shopping cart was used here in 1937. Who would ever know that?

Chris
Unless they were from this area.

Jeff
I guess. Desiree.

Chris
Well, she she she knew she googled that stuff. Okay. All right. Number two, ever get a ticket from an expired parking meter? This was the first place to install these, leading to their widespread popularity.

Jeff
I don’t think they’re very popular. I think governments like to use them. Well, they’re.

Chris
Popular in the government.

Jeff
Okay. Yeah.

Chris
Hey, by the way, first shopping cart and first parking meter. Wow. How about that?

Jeff
It’s home to America’s only skeleton museum, the Museum of Osteology, with over 450 skeletons on display. Ooh, wow.

Chris
By the way, I would have no reason to know any of those things.

Jeff
Are you.

Chris
Tired? Uh, well, this is rough. It’s like.

Jeff
Okay, you would have no reason to know any of those things.

Chris
No, that’s. Is that what I said? Yes. All right, here it is. Here’s the fourth statement and final statement. Okay. There’s a swimming pool shaped like the state of, like the state of at the local governor’s mansion. That’s how it reads, right? Yeah, I.

Jeff
Think I think that there’s a couple words.

Chris
There’s a couple typos in that. I think it’s.

Jeff
Supposed to say there’s a swimming pool shaped like the state at the governor’s mansion.

Chris
Yes.

Jeff
Oh, well, that makes it clear.

Chris
Yes, she.

Jeff
Should have just started with that one. Right.

Chris
So, uh, what is it? It is doo doo doo doo. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Yeah, yeah.

Jeff
Well, welcome Oklahoma City, Oklahoma people.

Chris
Which, by the way, I almost I almost took a job in Oklahoma City. Did you I almost did, yeah.

Jeff
Wow.

Chris
Can you imagine? That would have been incredible. I’ve been a part of Oklahoma City. Yes.

Jeff
Well, you might you probably would have been one of the listeners to my show.

Chris
Uh, you and you and Wesley. Yeah. Yeah. You and Kyle. Daubenmeyer.

Jeff
Yeah, yeah. Another Bible Guy.

Chris
Another Bible Guy.

Jeff
No. That’s good. I, I wouldn’t want another Bible guy.

Chris
Oh, thanks, Jeff. Right.

Jeff
They can sit in, but they can’t replace you.

Chris
Oh. That’s fun. Um, so today we’re jumping into Luke 15. Well, I.

Jeff
Think you’re supposed to ask, uh, listeners to comment on where they’re from.

Chris
Oh, that’s right, that’s right, that’s right. Which, by the way, we love that.

Jeff
It’s amazing.

Chris
Yeah, we love that. We love getting feedback all the time. Uh, any time that you take an extra minute, we know that it’s not just listening. You’re like, you know what? I’m going to do this. I’m going to do this right now. I’m going to comment. I’m going to I’m going to write in, I’m going to email them at info at the Bible guys. Com I’m going to take a minute to either ask a question that we could use on a segment in future, or just let them know. Let us know where you’re listening from.

Jeff
It’s super humbling that people keep listening. That’s why we keep doing it right? Yeah for sure. So anyways, thank you guys. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Chris
Hey everybody. Just as a reminder, we are taking a break between the week of Christmas and New Year’s, so there’ll be no Bible Guys during that week, but we will see you back again after the first of the year. All right, buddy? Well, today we’re jumping into the prodigal son, Luke chapter 15. Yes. And this is only found in the book of Luke. Right. So the other, uh, gospel authors do not record this.

Jeff
So the headline of mine says the The Parable of the Lost Son.

Chris
Yeah. It’s so funny how it’s known as the prodigal son, prodigal son, but it’s actually the lost.

Jeff
Do you like the.

Chris
Word prodigal sheep? The lost coin? The lost son makes more sense that way, doesn’t it? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jeff
Do you like the word prodigal?

Chris
Um, you know, outside of this parable, nobody uses really the word prodigal.

Jeff
I just noticed you use it a lot.

Chris
Well, because it’s known that way by far. Nobody says the lost son. Yeah. My whole entire life.

Jeff
I always get yelled at when I use the word fellowship.

Chris
Oh, you’re saying it’s a it’s a protocol. It just sounds.

Jeff
Like a churchy word.

Chris
To me. It sounds like a churchy word. Yeah, yeah.

Jeff
Yeah, it just seems like you should be mad about it.

Chris
You know what? I think I might get mad about it.

Jeff
All right, well, there’s an extra segment today.

Chris
All right, well, there it is.

Jeff
Okay. There you go.

Chris
Okay. Jeff
That word prodigal.

Chris
By the way, somebody found me in the lobby. And, uh, listeners to the Bible guys on a regular basis. And every time it’s Friday, they they anticipate what may Chris mad today and when? It’s not like today. Today’s Friday. Yes.

Jeff
Such a disappointment.

Chris
Right. Well, he he just says he says every time that it’s Friday and we don’t do what makes us mad today he goes, I think to myself, come on guys, it’s Friday. That’s what he says. He gets so mad.

Jeff
Well now you know. Now, you know, for for that listener. Yes, it’s the word prodigal. Prodigal son. Yes. Makes you mad.

Chris
That makes me mad today.

Jeff
Such a churchy word.

Chris
But okay. Do people use it outside of the Bible? Prodigal. Because that’s my big thing.

Jeff
I think they use fellowship way more than prodigal.

Chris
You think? You think protocol is not used at all, huh? Because nobody uses fellowship. Jeff.

Jeff
Fellowship of the rings.

Chris
Yes.

Jeff
Okay, here we go. In Luke chapter 15, verse 11. It says this to illustrate the point further, Jesus told them this story. A man had two sons. The younger son told his father, I want my share of your estate now before you die. So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons. I didn’t even know that was an option. Did you.

Chris
Uh, you got an invite today? Yeah. Please give me my inheritance. Hey, dad. I know somebody who went to their mom and dad and said, hey, I’m really in financial straits. You’re going to die in about ten years. Can I have it now?

Jeff
Wow. Okay.

Chris
Guess what? It didn’t work. They said no. Yeah.

Jeff
A few days later, this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land. And there he wasted all his money in wild living. About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land and he began to starve. He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him, but no one gave him anything. When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, at home, even the hired servants have food enough to spare. And here I am dying of hunger. I’ll go home to my father and say, father, I’ve sinned against both heaven and you, and I’m no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant. So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him. His son said to him, father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I’m no longer worthy of being called your son. But his father said to the servants, quick, bring the finest robe in the house, and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet, and kill the calf. We’ve been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, for this son of mine was dead and is now returned to life. He was lost, but now he’s found. And so the party began. Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working, and when he returned home he heard music and dancing in the house. Jeff
And he asked one of the servants what was going on. Your brother is back, he was told, and your father has killed the fattened calf. We’re celebrating because of his safe return. The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him, but he replied, all these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf. His father said to him, look, dear son, you’ve always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. We had to celebrate this happy day, for your brother was dead and has come back to life. He was lost, but now he’s found.

Chris
Okay, so story is a heck of a story. So I have something fun that I want to do. Do it completely different. Okay. For me and you both.

Jeff
Okay. Here we go.

Chris
Okay. So instead of because there’s so much, even as you were reading it, you were like, okay, we could talk about 15 or 20 things, right? Okay. So instead of like picking out a point and then like talking about it and then not getting through the whole thing, I want to have a little fun. Okay. Let’s, let’s, let’s actually point out every little nuance of this story to, to bring it to the reader, like, hey, did you notice this, this, this, this, and not talk about it at all until we get through all of them, okay. And then we’ll go back and talk about the ones that we want. Okay. Is that fun?

Jeff
That sounds good.

Chris
Okay. So what’s okay? I’ll start. You go. The first thing that stands out to me is that, uh, the younger son was the one who actually asked for his inheritance, when actually that right belonged to the older one. Which means his. The fact that it was the younger son, he had audacity.

Jeff
Yeah, that’s pretty amazing. Then after he got it, it didn’t take very long. And he ditched his family. Yeah, for sure. He packed everything and moved to a distant land. I think he moved to Vegas. I think that’s what he did.

Chris
Yeah. Here’s another thing that stands out is that, uh, one has. When his money ran out, uh, he had no more friends. He. And so he’s spending his life righteously around people. Yeah. And then all of a sudden, he’s so alone, he has to. He has to go find, like, the worst job ever. Yeah, yeah.

Jeff
Yeah, yeah. And so then the worst job winds up being feeding pigs. And for a Jewish kid, there’s nothing worse, right?

Chris
Because.

Jeff
Because, uh, because pigs were unclean. That’s right. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Chris
And then how about this one? So he rehearses a speech. Yeah. Right. Right. And in the speech we even hear the whole speech. But then when he actually gets to his father, he only gets the first line out before his father interrupts him. There’s another point. Yeah, yeah.

Jeff
I love that. Um, I love it when, uh, while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming and ran out filled with love.

Chris
Which means it could indicate what means.

Jeff
He was waiting for him. He was watching for him.

Chris
Yeah. That’s right. Yeah.

Jeff
Which, by the way, the father didn’t go and chase him down. He didn’t go drag him out of the out of Vegas. Right. It’s living. He just waited. He waited for his son to come home.

Chris
Yeah. And, um, and then, uh, and then and then here’s another point. Uh, the older son, uh, comes in and the rest of the whole scripture, you know, from verse 25 all the way down is, uh, the older son’s reaction. Yeah. And, uh, and I would, I would venture to say, let’s not forget the reason why Jesus told this story was because the Pharisees were murmuring and grumbling. Right. So he told the story about the lost sheep, lost coin and the lost son. And so even though that this story is about the younger son, it’s actually for the older son’s son, right. Because the point of the story is actually for the older son, which is like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, like, uh, rejoicing is allowed for somebody who was lost and is now found.

Jeff
Right? Right.

Chris
Yeah.

Jeff
Uh, and he’s also dealing with the family dynamics of this, too, because, you know, this sin wasn’t only against the dad. He brought shame on the whole family. The the older brother was the the future representative of the family, right. All these things. So, uh, I’m not surprised by the older brother’s response. No, not at all. Right. And then I think that the father was as gentle and kind to the older brother as he was to the younger brother, right in the way that he responded to him. Hey, everything I have is yours, right? Right. So I think it’s the other thing is the father puts, uh, we skipped this, but he put the finest robe on him. He gave him a ring. He put shoes on him. So shoes are just necessary. That’s every day the robe establishes family status. The ring is literally the family credit card. Right. And so he put his. He put his son back into a position as a son and not as just a slave or a servant or somebody the father was ashamed of. Right? He was proud of his son coming back. And, you know, a lot of times we’re tempted, I think, to bring people back into our lives, but in a secondary role rather than in the role they had been in before or whatever. Yeah. And the father didn’t do that. He brought him back and re-established him.

Chris
Yeah. And then another thing is, is that if you think about it, his father ran out to both sons. So. Because what did he do? He ran while his his youngest son was a long way off. Yeah. And searched for him and found him on the road and ran out to him. And then when the older brother left the party, the father left the party and went out to find the other side.

Jeff
Yeah, his father came out right.

Chris
So in other words, he looked for and sought out both sons. Yeah.

Jeff
Yeah. Is there anything else we’re missing in here?

Chris
Uh, maybe one last thing. And that is, uh, both sons needed rescued, right? So? So the first son needed rescued from obvious things or the or. Excuse me? The younger son, uh, needed rescued from obvious things. Right. And then, and I would say the older son needed, uh, rescued perhaps from, uh, a mentality that that was the whole point of Jesus trying to, you know, speak into the Pharisees.

Jeff
Yeah. Make making room for lost people to come home.

Chris
That’s exactly right.

Jeff
Yeah. I would say there’s one other thing, and that is the you don’t have to ruin your life to be in the story, right? Right. So the older brother didn’t ruin his life, so the younger brother squandered it would have if there were only the two brothers. Normally this isn’t every time, but a man of means like this. Normally, the older brother would have gotten a double share and the younger brother would have gotten a single share. That’s normally how the family wealth would have been passed on in those days. So the younger brother would have gotten one third of his father’s wealth, and the older brother would have gotten two thirds of the father’s wealth. So the younger brother goes out and wastes in riotous, wild living on, according to his brother, on hookers, um, wasted a third of his father’s wealth. Yeah, and the father wasn’t angry at him in that moment when he came home. Hey, um. Go ahead. But then the the older brother. He’s complaining going, you never threw a party for me. And the father goes, let me just remind you. Everything else here is yours, right? Because the house is yours. All of it. You’re mad that I didn’t kill a fatted calf for you. All the calves are yours. Right, right, right. All the rooms in this house are yours. All the servants are yours. All the land is yours. You were faithful. And so the father is gently reminding him, don’t get grumpy about this boy. But because you were faithful, everything I have is yours, right? And so we don’t have to ruin our lives.

Chris
Yeah, which. Which, by the way, uh, that means that everything that the younger son had is gone. It’s all gone. It’s still gone. Yeah, yeah. So he’s still the son. He’s still loved. He’s accepted. Right? But everything left is the order.

Jeff
There are consequences. There are consequences to our bad choices. Right? That’s right. So you can be re-established as a son, be loved, be celebrated, all those kinds of things. But, you know, he’s going to spend the rest of his life working for his brother.

Chris
Um, the one thing, the other thing that is hidden somewhere in the story, that’s a little sermon altogether, is that, uh, that we didn’t mention is that, uh, so the younger son asked him for something, uh, audaciously. But how about this one? Ready? His father actually gave it to him. Yeah. And so. And so the question is, is there wisdom in that? So I remember one time when I was about six years old, seven years old, I tried to sneak a cigarette. And so Kenny McBride and Garrett Garrett Connors and Rich Frondorf were like, go inside and grab a cigarette. So I went and I snuck a cigarette, and I. And I had it, and I was running out, and my mom was sitting there with all her friends, and, uh, and I was walking by them, and my mom goes, hey, uh, what do you got there? And I was like, nothing. And she’s like, come here, show me in front of all our friends. So finally I’m like, here, there’s a cigarette. And she goes, why don’t you smoke it right now in front of everybody? I’m like, what? I’m like, really? I’m like, I’m thinking to myself, I got the coolest mom ever. And she goes, yeah. She’s like, why don’t you, why don’t you go ahead and smoke it? So she puts it up to my lips and she lights it and I go, well, how do you, how do you, how do you do it? So she she knew I didn’t know how to do it. She says, oh yeah, you gotta puff in. So I puff in and she goes, okay, now you got to do this. Now you got to inhale. Watch this. So she takes the cigarette and she, she inhales it like this. Chris
She goes, now try that. So I inhale it and I cough to the point to where I almost threw up. Right. I’m just hacking. Right. And then they’re humiliating me by laughing. Right? And they’re going, ha ha ha ha. They’re just pointing, laughing. And so I just leave the cigarette and I run out and guess what? I never touch another cigarette for the rest of my life. Right? And I actually look back at that now and say to myself, you know what? Maybe my mom knew in that moment that if she would have just said, give me the cigarette, I would have tried to sneak another one. But maybe she knew that what I needed was to experience the awfulness of the cigarette. And who knows? You know, maybe if the sun who who just repeatedly went to the dad and said, give me, give me, give me, give me, give me for years, maybe the sun, just like, okay, you’ve earned every bit of what you’re about to learn. And maybe there was a wisdom in that that we don’t really know. Yeah.

Jeff
Yeah. Throughout the book of Proverbs, there’s a lot of parenting advice, right? And most of the time it’s about, uh, teaching your children the consequences. Yeah. Right. Through discipline. Um, even the, you know, Proverbs talks about spanking, all those things, discipline being, you know, to try to teach your kid and prevent your kid from going down the wrong path. That’s the better side of parenting. But there are times where the only way the lesson can be learned is by go ahead, breathe deep.

Chris
Yeah, that’s right. Breathing.

Jeff
Take a deep puff, buddy. Yeah. Uh, and you know, so I don’t know that this is a lesson on parenting is saying, go ahead and let your kid go ruin his life.

Chris
No, I certainly wouldn’t say that. I would say, but we don’t know if the father did it with intentionality.

Jeff
Yeah, yeah. And everything else. The other thing I think that you see here, that’s, um, of interest is. Two kids from the same family and one was faithful, did the right thing. Did you know, uh, was a man of integrity, did everything he could do? The other one went wild. You know what? Um. Sometimes we can feel like failures because one of our kids kind of goes off the rails for a while or whatever. And, uh, here’s two kids from the same exact family. Same dad, same rules, same everything. And one decides to play, the victim decides to ruin his life.

Chris
And, you know, I’m not sure I’ve ever, in all my years of teaching this and reading this and hearing sermons about this, I’m not sure anybody’s ever said that. Uh, as a parent, uh, you know, it just it speaks into the fact that sometimes kids are different. Yeah. Right. And so we can do what we can do as parents and and, you know, we’re not we can only do as much as we can do. Right. And and when they become adults, they’re responsible for their own choices. Yeah.

Jeff
So was the father a success because his older son was a man of of character, or was the father a failure because his younger son didn’t have any? Yeah, right. Same household. Same same same rearing probably. Right. So, um, I think a lot of times that’s why the Book of Proverbs says, raise up a child and we should go when he’s older. He won’t depart from it. Mhm. Um, it doesn’t mean that he that that our children will never make mistakes or that they won’t. It’s that our job is to raise them, pointing them towards God, pointing them towards becoming good moral citizens, uh, preparing them to be good adults, to be good Christians, to be good parents, um, to contribute to society. But ultimately they’re going to make their own choices. But the truth is, as they mature, they will come back, usually to the truth, the real truth that we raise them in, just like the son did. Yeah, yeah.

Chris
And we find out that he really was a good kid, right? Right. Like he is he is a good kid in this story. Because what does he do? He he, uh, he’s learned his lesson. He comes back with humility and, uh, and, you know, and we’re just to assume that he’s back in the fold. Did you ever hear that song?

Jeff
I think it’s from the late 70s or early 80s. He ran to me. You ever hear that song? Yeah. Phillips, Craig and Dean went back and redid it back in the early 2000. Yes. Um, but he ran to me and it’s talking about, uh, he ran to me.

Chris
You’re not talking about so. God. So God ran. Yeah.

Jeff
And God ran. Yeah.

Chris
Took me. Put my head to his chest. Said my sons. Come home again.

Jeff
Yeah. Our listeners should go back.

Chris
My face. Wipe my tears. Wipe the tears from my eyes. Yeah. And with goodness in his heart. He said. You know, son, don’t you know I still love you? Yeah.

Jeff
It’s such a powerful song.

Chris
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jeff
Um. But he ran to me is, is that one phrase it just makes me think about, um, you know, my dad, uh, you know, adopted me, but he grew up in a Christian family. So my grandfather, godly man, a significant leader in the little local church in Elba, Michigan, little Methodist church, my grandmother, uh, upstanding lady. Uh, and it was my aunt is older than my dad. My aunt grew up to be a good, godly woman, raised a godly family. But my dad, he was, uh, forced, uh, a four letter athlete, five letter athlete every year in high school, superstar, kind of a guy. And, um, everybody was giving him attention all the time, and he just decided he’d go to church on Sunday. But in the locker room on Monday, he was the wild guy and just threw off everything that had to do with faith in his everyday life. So then after he graduated from high school, he completely abandoned everything that he was raised in and, uh, my grandmother loved him, would invite him over to the house, have Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas dinner, all those things. Um, but she wasn’t super preachy at him. She just was constantly. Glenn, why don’t you come to church with me at Christmas? Why don’t you come to church with me at Easter? Whatever. He just didn’t want to do it. Didn’t want to be a part of it, was living his own life. And so she says, every day for 40 years, she prayed that he’d come, come home, wow. Every day for 40 years. And then, um, he. My dad was 40 years old when he stumbled across. He had some things going on his life. He stumbled across a track. Somebody left and explaining the gospel and the men’s room at General Motors plant in Flint, Michigan. Jeff
And man, God got a hold of him. And over the course of about a two week period, God just radically transformed him. He winds up confessing Christ, accepting Christ as his Savior. And my dad was never the same again. I remember my grandmother sitting because my grandmother wound up living in a house about 100ft behind our house, on the same piece of property. Uh, for the last, I don’t know, decade and a half of her life. I remember sitting in her house one time. We were eating snacks, and she said, I’m so glad I never quit praying for your dad. And now I look at it and go, if my grandmother quit praying for my dad, maybe I would have never become a Christian. I didn’t come from Christian stock, right? Right. My brothers probably wouldn’t have become Christians. I think of the thousands of people that have been impacted because my grandmother never gave up. And that’s what I see with this guy. Right? So he returned home to his father, and while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming and filled with love and compassion. He ran to his son and embraced him. And kissed him. That’s what our Heavenly Father did for us. He’s been waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting. But that’s what he’s doing for the people in our lives that are so far from him, too. He’s waiting and waiting with patient and love. And I think that that’s that’s our appropriate response to the people in our lives that are far from God, too.

Chris
Yeah, yeah. And don’t forget, you can always go home. You can always come home, and God’s going to love you and react this same way because this represents the kingdom of God. Yeah, this represents God the Father. So yeah.

Jeff
Man, we just scratched the surface, dude.

Chris
Yeah, I know, I know, I know, but we need to get going. So that’s our time and hopefully we will see you next time on The Bible Guys.