Spirited Word
By God's Word proclaimed, the Holy Spirit works faith in God's grace in Jesus, when and where he pleases. Sermons by Pastor Adrian Kitson, Lutheran Church of Australia.
St Petri Lutheran Church, Nuriootpa, Barossa Valley, South Australia.
www.stpetri.org.au
Spirited Word
Earthy Faith: Everything I have is yours!
As we continue living this earthy faith in Christ we hear this masterful parable and are confronted with how we can easily be lost, even without ever leaving home. The younger sons lostness is focussed and easy to see. He does all the things that a ‘lost’ person would do. He insults his father, weakens his family, binges on substances and sex, blows previous resources others have worked to earn and destroys himself and his high standing by chasing after the wind – short-term gain, plenty of pain, and for no gain!
His dad shines. He reinstates the boy and throws an expensive and public party in his honour. The real character for us who have been in the church ‘home’ for a long time is the older brother. He is apparently lost too, and he has never left home. How can that be? The conversation between this same shining father who also comes to meet this older son seething with anger at this dad, shows us our own hearts and most importantly the Father’s heart for all of us lost ones. The person speaking this parable is the Son of God himself. He is showing us his heart for us today.
Praying that you can feel his embrace and hear his promise, “Everything I have is yours”.
Pastor Adrian