This teaching begins a new series where we can focus on specific stories from the Scripture. As was recently pointed out to me, all of the necessary points of doctrine are wonderfully presented in these practical examples. And in fact, that is how Jesus taught. May the ears and eyes of our heart hear and see!
Link to YouTube Lesson: https://youtu.be/BRFbgrd3tV0
The prodigal son is a great place to start. It flows right out of the initial foundation we’ve laid with the personalities of God, who we were designed to be in the multidimensional reality, and the spiritual war we fight. This teaching looks at both sons as we investigate the two primary ways humanity becomes prodigal – or wasteful. While the word ‘prodigal’ relates to lavish or uncontrolled financial spending, the currency of our Lord is not the money of this world. When we look at this parable through that lens we can see how both sons were wasteful in their own way.
We will also touch on ‘type and casts’ and how things like land and places or people demonstrate lessons to us that can be applied in our daily lives. This too helps untangle some of the metaphorical language of the Scripture in a way that can lead to personal anagnorisis
Anagnorisis, (Greek: “recognition”), in a literary work, the startling discovery that produces a change from ignorance to knowledge. It is discussed by Aristotle in the Poetics as an essential part of the plot of a tragedy, although anagnorisis occurs in comedy, epic, and, at a later date, the novel as well.
#ProdigalSon, #TypeAndCast, #PracticalChristianity, #GodsLove, #ReconcileSin, #Forgiveness, #HCJC, #HCJCministry, #HCJCministries, #BibleStories
Kick Off Videos:
Image of God: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbipxLDtY8c
Understanding The Prodigal
Type and Cast Preface
Look at the following characters, and think about what they teach us as we talk through the lesson:
The Father
The younger son
Those who helped the younger son spend his inheritance
The master in the far off land
The servants of the Father's house
The older son
Setting the Context
Luke 15:1-3
Jesus is talking to the Pharisees, tax collectors, and to us. Let's look at the Pharisees:
What did the “Pharisees” want?
Respect. Power. Control. To lead the people.
So the desires of their heart were:
Pride. Power. Exalting themselves OVER others
What made them angry? Jesus TAKING IN sinners!
Where is “TAKING IN” - into Jesus.
What was their response? - To elevate themselves OVER Jesus
What was Jesus response? To humble himself
See Matthew 23:12 (ESV) 12 "Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted."
The Story of the Lost Son
11-12 Then he said, “There was once a man who had two sons. The younger said to his father, ‘Father, I want right now what’s coming to me.’
12-16 “So the father divided the property between them.
What does the younger son want?
What is he acting like?
WHO is he acting like?
It wasn’t long before the younger son packed his bags and left for a distant country.
Type and Cast - relates to geography too
Egypt = “the world” and Israel = “relationship with God”
Land of Moab = “sexual defilement and idolatry” and Land of Your People = “the body of Christ”
There, undisciplined and dissipated, he wasted everything he had. After he had gone through all his money, there was a bad famine all through that country and he began to hurt. He signed on with a citizen there who assigned him to his fields to slop the pigs.
Here we see a different “place”
Who helped the younger son spend his inheritance?
Signing on = becoming a slave of, but here a slave to sin
He was so hungry he would have eaten the corn cobs in the pig slop, but no one would give him any.
17-20 “That brought him to his senses. He said, ‘All those farmhands working for my father sit down to three meals a day, and here I am starving to death.
What is the younger son realizing?
I’m going back to my father. I’ll say to him, Father, I’ve sinned against God, I’ve sinned before you; I don’t deserve to be called your son. Take me on as a hired hand.’ He got right up and went home to his father.
Plan to deceive the Father - he has not fully repented yet
20-21 “When he was still a long way off, his father saw him. His heart pounding, he ran out, embraced him, and kissed him.
What does this tell us about the Father?
The son started his speech: ‘Father, I’ve sinned against God, I’ve sinned before you; I don’t deserve to be called your son ever again.’
22-24 “But the father wasn’t listening.
Attempt to deceive the Father - COMPLETELY FAILS - Why
Look what the Father WAS doing
This changed the HEART or SPIRIT of what the son was saying
He was calling to the servants, ‘Quick. Bring a clean set of clothes and dress him. Put the family ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Then get a grain-fed heifer and roast it. We’re going to feast! We’re going to have a wonderful time!
Why was the Father excited? He tells us -->
My son is here—given up for dead and now alive! Given up for lost and now found!’ And they began to have a wonderful time.
This is what happens when we receive Jesus as our Savior
Could the Father be Jesus? That is one way of interpreting this
If the Father is Jesus, then the younger son = the LOST
The younger son = us BEFORE we received Jesus
## Go back up to the son’s speech
We try to explain… Blah blah blah… Does Jesus know? Sure, BUT
Jesus is more excited that we’ve returned!
## Think about the spiritual warfare here
This is where Satan tries to tell us we are no good.
Why do we listen to him?
Isn’t it much more important what JESUS thinks?
Jesus tells us what HE THINKS right here - straight from His mouth!
What do we need? The Helmet of Salvation - knowing exactly who we are in Jesus
Let’s look at the OTHER son
25-27 “All this time his older son was out in the field.
Where is this “out in the field?”
Working for the church
Religious practice
What happens when we get too far into religion and not relationship?
When the day’s work was done he came in. As he approached the house,
Where is “the house?” Metaphor for what?
The command center or hub for the farm?
Jesus is the true vine. The father waters and prunes...
Where the Father lives
>> Relationship with the Father / Jesus
he heard the music and dancing. Calling over one of the houseboys, he asked what was going on. He told him, ‘Your brother came home. Your father has ordered a feast—barbecued beef!—because he has him home safe and sound.’
So what happened here?
Weren't WE GLAD when our return was celebrated? So Why isn't the older son glad?
Spiritual war going on with this son
Jealousy? Pride? Elevating himself over the Father
Feels like the Father’s actions are not correct
28-30 “The older brother stalked off in an angry sulk and refused to join in.
The spiritual things against this son cause the reaction
Where does he “stalk off” to? Where is “OFF”
AWAY from the Father, the house, the relationship
But what happens -->
His father came out and tried to talk to him,
AGAIN, Isn’t this what JESUS does? He comes after the lost sheep?
So, WHO is the older brother?
Isn’t this a good picture of how we behave many times?
Doesn’t Jesus come after us?
but he wouldn’t listen. The son said, ‘Look how many years I’ve stayed here serving you, never giving you one moment of grief, but have you ever thrown a party for me and my friends? Then this son of yours who has thrown away your money on whores shows up and you go all out with a feast!’
The older son IS LISTENING, but NOT to the Father
Who is he listening to?
The spirits attacking him: Jealousy? Pride? Resentment? Bitterness? Anger? Entitlement?
31-32 “His father said, ‘Son, you don’t understand. You’re with me all the time, and everything that is mine is yours
Where is “WITH ME”? It is the relationship right?
Religion leads to a wrong understanding of who God is
Relationship gives us a much better view
## Go back to the son wouldn’t listen
The older son is looking at this through the filter of religion
This IS like the Pharisees, but also like us when we become like them
— but this is a wonderful time, and we had to celebrate. This brother of yours was dead, and he’s alive! He was lost, and he’s found!’”
This is the view the older son SHOULD have
Does it matter to us HOW people get saved?
Shouldn’t we want ALL people to be saved?
Even the people who have hurt us?
How do we do that?
Type and Cast Review
The Father
Acts Like: God the Father; Jesus the Son
Teaches Us:
How our Heavenly Father is to us. He runs for us when we return. We make the first step, but a slight step evokes a huge response.
He comes to us when we are sulking. We need to learn to listen to him. Use His spiritual armor to defeat the lies of the enemy.
Younger Son
Acts Like: The lost; us before we were saved
Teaches Us:
Worldly possessions are temporary
Heavenly riches are eternal
The value and relevance of fighting on God’s side
Those who helped the younger son spend his inheritance
These characters are not explicitly mentioned in the story? Why? Because God covers sin. And when we repent, He completely FORGETS our sin, transgressions, and iniquity. Nonetheless, we can infer through the younger son's living that these characters were there.
Acts Like: Demons; Inciters of sin
Teaches Us:
To think about the spiritual warfare
Avoiding these areas when we can
Protection with our Spiritual armor
Addressing them spiritually
The master in the far off land
Acts Like: Demonic servitude
Teaches Us:
Repeating sin results in transgression and iniquity
Being “sick with sin”
Development of demonic strongholds
Servants of the house
Acts Like: Angels (perhaps); The Holy Spirit
Teaches Us:
The Holy Spirit quietly and responsively is always doing the Will of the Father.
The Holy Spirit is never out of alignment with the Father and the Son
Older Son
Acts Like: The Pharisees; tax collectors; Us as believers
Teaches Us:
Don’t “fall” to religion
Focus on relationship with Him
Learn from His perspectives & character
Summary
There are 2 ways to fall: The Lost - The Religious
We must be aligned to Jesus so we are balanced and in relationship with Him.
And THIS (balance through alignment to Jesus) brings into fruition the kind of people we need to be to advance what the Bible Project video calls “The Human Project.”
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