Good afternoon!
Yesterday (7/18/2011) we completed our Fourth in a series of Six discussion events relative the the "Prodigal God" series and again it was extremely interesting. Questions and discussions were still flowing as we approached our 11:00 AM quit time, and Pastor Lyons had to regrettably stop the group so we could go home!
The worship service and discussion sessions focused on Chapter 5 of "The Prodigal God" book and the concepts of "Living out of Gratitude" and "The True Elder Brother". Both topics focused on identifying living, and being thankful for, a life based upon what we have rather than focusing on what we do not have. In the Prodigal Son parable, both sons (The younger and older) are dissatisfied with what they have and devise separate plans to correct what they believe to be shortcomings with what they have received from their Father. The Younger son fails in his attempt to find satisfaction and returns home to his Father; while the Elder Son become bitter and resentful because of what he sees to be an injustice done to him.
Both the worship service and the discussion group focused on the Elder Brother as we looked at how the Elder Son should have responded, using Christ as our example. Jesus is the Son of God, and each of us are children of God; therefore, we are sisters and brothers with Christ. God (the Father) elects out of His Grace to forgive all His sisters and brothers (you and me) and Christ participates by letting Himself be the sacrifice to make it all possible. In the parable, the Elder Brother hesitates to sacrifice his possessions to help the redemption of his younger brother. This hesitancy is totally different than Christ's reaction to God forgiving us, because Christ freely becomes the "sacrificial lamb".
Timothy Keller in his Fifth Chapter is communicating to us how we as Christians are to be elder brothers, in the spirit of Christ, by sharing our lives we have in Christ with those who are still lost; and to do so without hesitation. We are not to look at what we have in a selfish light as did the Elder Brother and withhold what God has given to us. Rather we are to respond as did Christ by offering to share all we have with those who are seeking a relationship with the Father.
Pastor Lyons shared we must be careful at times in teaching others about this repentance factor when helping those who have been mistreated physically by others. It is very difficult many times to ask someone who has been abused to look at their life in a positive light and then live their life out of gratitude. The problem often is the abused person's view of the world around them has been drastically altered and their subsequent ability to understand the positive aspects is very difficult to accomplish. We must rely upon God and be patient with both God and the abused person. We cannot and should not attempt to resolve the issue within our own time frame. We must let the Holy Spirit lead us as we, out of God's love, attempt to help those in need.
God is seeking relationships with us and in turn He is asking us to develop positive relationships with people we encounter. Not judgemental relationships, but relationships the encourage the other person(s) to seek and find their own relationship with God and then respond accordingly.
In the closing sentences of the Prodigal Son parable, the Elder Son is struggling in his relationship with his Father because of the Elder Son's focus on his selfish view. We do not know what the Elder Son ultimately elected to do, but we can look at our own lives and make a decision as to how we want to respond to our heavenly Father. Do we stand outside the door and grumble about what we do not have or do we faithfully walk forward into God's presence and accept all He has to give to us. The choice is ours.
Next week we will be looking into Chapter Six of The Prodigal God series and reviewing how Hope plays a role in our experience with God.
In the meantime - Have a Great Day and Enjoy Life!
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