PRIDE AND THE PRODIGAL

The prodigal son gets all the spotlight, but the older brother is where the story starts reading us back. We open Luke 15 and sit with both sons: the one who runs off and wrecks his life, and the one who stays home doing “everything right” yet can’t celebrate when mercy shows up. If you’ve ever felt angry at grace, suspicious of someone’s comeback, or quietly convinced God owes you for your discipline, you’ll recognize why this parable still stings.

We also tackle the question that keeps popping up in church circles and online feeds: once saved always saved, and can you lose your salvation? We’re not trying to win a debate. We’re trying to expose what that fear can do to your heart when it turns into a measuring stick: “They can’t be as saved as I am.” The father in Luke 15 isn’t building a merit system. He’s restoring a relationship, and that changes how we talk about repentance, backsliding, confession, and the urge to “work it off” before we believe we’re welcome again.

Then we nerd out on the details Jesus puts in the story for a reason: the best robe as restored righteousness and right standing, the ring as the Father’s seal and authority, and the shoes as a renewed walk and mission. We contrast Spirit-led relationship with rigid systems that can become idols, and we explain why getting the Word for yourself keeps faith from going dry.

If you’re ready to stop keeping score and start thinking like a son, listen now.

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Transcript

Welcome And Why This Parable

SPEAKER_00 0:14

Hey, everybody, welcome to another episode of the Woe Foyo Podcast with C Dub and Bones. We had talked in our last episode about self-righteousness and how sometimes you can act like you got faith. And that's self-righteousness. And during that discussion, one thing came up, and rather than make two episodes, we just decided to leave it for this next one. So we've talked about this passage before, but we're going to get into a little bit different aspect. And one of the beautiful things about the parables of Jesus and the Word of God in general is how many layers there are to it, how much depth there is to it, and how you can read it 20, 30, a couple hundred times, and still the Holy Spirit will point out something new to you. That's one of the beauties of the gospel.

Reading Luke 15 Together

SPEAKER_00 1:18

So we are going to start in Luke chapter 15, verse 11. I'll be reading out of the English Standard. Parable of the prodigal son, verse 11. There was a man who had two sons, and the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me my share of property that is coming to me. And he divided his property between them. Not many days later the younger son gathered all that he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself, he said, How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger? I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants. And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his servants, Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet, and bring the fatty calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again. He was lost and is found, and they began to celebrate. Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing, and he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf because he has received him back safe and sound. But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, Look, these many years I have served you and have never disobeyed your command, and you never gave me a young goat that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatty calf for him. And he said to him, Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive. He was lost and is found.

Peter And Matthew As A Mirror

SPEAKER_00 4:37

You know, what those things are. One of my favorite takes on this is in the movie Jesus of Nazareth. And Matthew's the tax collector. Peter hates Matthew. He collects his taxes. He's raking them over the coals. Him and his brother, and John and James. He's scamming them. And Peter won't have it. And Jesus tells this parable and looks at his son and Simon Peter just go, Lord forgive me. I'm just a stupid man. Now, did that happen? Could have. But one of the things that we were talking about before last week was how we can get that self-righteous attitude here and we can be prideful. And I was going, well, part of that applies to the prodigal son, part of that applies to the the older son, too. We can actually get prideful um either way we go.

SPEAKER_01 5:46

It's very easy for us, I think, to to focus on the lost son here. Um we focus on the lost son with good reason. There's some good reason to focus on him. I think by focusing on the lost son, um I think we see ourselves in there a lot of times. Uh the that person or that son that has um strayed away and then come back. Uh we like we focus on that lost son because the lost son is the object of love and grace here. Uh so we we like to see that too. Um but there's something, there's something to be said about the elder son that I think can be pretty damning uh in in some aspects. And I think we avoid sometimes looking at the elder son because we do see ourselves uh in the elder son and we don't like what we see.

SPEAKER_02 6:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:47

Um one of the things that caught my eye recently, um I was listening, I'm always listening to to people and I catch stuff that comes across my my Facebook feed and reels and stuff like

Can You Lose Salvation

SPEAKER_01 7:00

that. And I guess it's just the algorithm. Uh if you if you watch one thing, well then it wants to feed your uh your page with all the other stuff just like it. Um but one of the things I I was that caught my attention was the idea of once saved, always saved, and can you lose your salvation? And for me, when I first got saved, the whole idea of losing your salvation was uh a big point of doctrine for me. And my idea was that yeah, you can lose your salvation. You got saved and and you have to do these things and and and stay holy and and stay sanctified and and you know use all these buzzwords um to to keep your salvation. And and I had the the scriptures to to pick from it, you know, I have my cherry-pick scriptures. Um, but I saw the the the uh elder son just the other day in the whole losing your salvation kind of thing. Because sometimes I think when you're when you're lit up on fire and you're living for the Lord and you feel like you're doing what you're supposed to be doing, and not everything is maybe everything's good in your life, maybe it's not, but you still feel like you're living for the Lord, and you see somebody that you know should be living for the Lord, but's not, there's that part of you, at least for me it was. I had to be honest with myself on this. There's this part of you that looks at him and goes, Man, he d he done lost his salvation. There he can't be as saved as I am because he's out there doing what he wants to do. Um and I think that caught my eye the other day as I was reading and I saw the elder son here. I think the elder son really just got mad because the younger son was going out and doing all the things that the elder son wished he could do. Um, and so anyway, that was just kind of what brought my attention to it the other day. That, and I'm not trying to set doctrine or or or theology on once saved, always saved. Can you lose your salvation? Um, but I do believe this if you could lose your salvation, you bet your ass you would. Um, and if you could lose your salvation, um what are you doing to earn it and keep it in the first place?

SPEAKER_00 9:24

Well, well, this youngest son bet his ass and lost it, but he didn't lose his salvation.

SPEAKER_01 9:29

Exactly. If you lose your salvation, what do you do to get it back?

SPEAKER_00 9:33

Well, he here's here's an interesting couple things always pop out each time, and I've relayed this on the podcast before that I remember when I started reading the Bible, and this is this is before I got baptized in the Holy Spirit. I'm just reading, trying to read. And I remember reading this story, this parable, and I'm going, and I remember reading just now his older son was in the field, and he's going and he's issuing his complaint, and I'm going, he's exactly right. And let me tell you why, because bones, you and I are both the eldest kids. Yep, we are. And one of the things that gets drilled into you as the eldest, much less, I'll just say this, probably more so as the eldest, but both of our fathers own businesses. There's a responsibility for a family business. Uh, you have to be responsible for your siblings to a degree at times. Um, and and I'll just say uh being raised Catholic, responsibility was a thing. I could really identify with the eldest son. I could really identify, uh, especially with my younger siblings getting away with some stuff.

SPEAKER_01 11:08

Oh yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:09

I I could identify with that. I'm like, well, wait a minute. Now you told me to be, you told me about responsibility and the right thing, and and you know how how God's looking and got a reward and all that. And then sometimes my siblings just went out and did stuff, and I'm going, what in the world? Yeah, you know, where where's the smack you talked?

SPEAKER_02 11:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:36

Yeah, yeah. Where where's the reward here? And uh a couple things that I've noticed in this, though.

Older Sibling Justice And Father’s Heart

SPEAKER_00 11:46

What what I learned is as a father, the father's heart is different than the heart of a son.

unknown 11:58

Right.

SPEAKER_00 11:59

Okay. Right. Once I became a dad, there was a little bit of a paradigm shift there. Now, I will also say this. And no time did I think my my siblings were not my siblings, or um that any one of them were loved more than I was. They were just getting away with more stuff. You know, there's parties I didn't go to. There, there's things I didn't do. What I had to realize though, as I grew older, and I had to get, and I'm talking about in adulthood, and then looking at it as a father, is the doing right actually was its reward. Right. There there are some things that, yep, didn't do that, didn't do that. Guess what? There's some side effects of those things that I didn't have to deal with. And you know what? There were there was a time in the wilderness where I went out and did them things. You know, I I call it my screw it button. I I done did everything right. Done.

SPEAKER_02 13:09

You know, and I actually had the Lord tell me, you done?

SPEAKER_00 13:17

Done yet. And I'm going, well, well, Lord, I guess I am. Uh, if you're asking me that, I know what the answer has to be. Right. Um, and it that's a weird thing. Now, there's some interesting things here in this passage, though.

The World’s Economy And Identity

SPEAKER_00 13:38

The youngest son has an idea. He goes out, he's partying it up, he gets into another system, another economy, goes to another country. Um, I mean, that this is this is emblematic of the world, of the world system. I mean, with all its advertisement, with all its allurements, with all of the pleasures, you know, that it advertises, and you wake up and you know, is by like them guys the next day in the movie The Hangover. What in the world just happened? Except them guys are all broke now.

unknown 14:18

Right.

SPEAKER_00 14:20

Okay, but there's this line here in verse 17. But when he came to himself, it's an interesting phrase here. That means if he came to himself, then really everything he was doing wasn't himself. That speaks of temptation, that speaks of influence, that speaks of enticement. There was something enticing him to go out and do these things. I wonder how many people are out there, especially if you're caught up by sin. And there have been a couple things that have hid me up over the years, and and Paul's like, you know, the the things that I actually want to do, I ain't doing right now. Who's gonna save me from this wretched body of sin? He said, I think the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, it it's only through Jesus that you can get delivered from that stuff. Right. And it it's just interesting to me. So the son's out there doing this stuff, but in a way, it's not really him.

SPEAKER_01 15:35

He's having an identity crisis.

SPEAKER_00 15:38

It's a big thing today.

SPEAKER_01 15:40

You know, where um, and the the two economies here is the economy where you're living at home, living under mom and dad's roof. Um, they're paying your bills, probably buying your food, doing all these things, just like he did when you were younger before you moved out of the house, before you got your job, before you went in the military, doing all those things before you went off to college, even probably while you're in college, doing all those things. And he went from that economy out to into the world where now he's got to provide his own rent, got to provide, you know, put food on his own table and all those things. So I understand the two economies there. Um, but yeah, he his identity crisis is um I like what that guy has. I want to try to be like that person. Uh well, that person that's not really working for me. I'm gonna try to be like that person. Um, it's the constant lusting after what everyone else has, thinking that it's gonna bring some sort of satisfaction. Yeah. And it just doesn't. It just doesn't.

SPEAKER_00 16:41

I I remember reading the book, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, and he was talking about the things that got him hemmed up before he ended up going to prison and and converting to um Islam. And he was talking about getting out there in the world and learning how to hustle. And he said, credit. Oh man, I could I can get my hair done like this. I can go get a suit. You know, zoot suits back then, you know. Um, what do they call him? Philly Red. Uh what was his nickname? And here he is over in Harlem and doing all this stuff, and he's, you know, hustling, gets hemmed up. But he said, what I didn't realize, man, I'm stuck in this rut due to credit. And he ends up having his crisis, uh, getting holed up in jail. And there, there's a lot of that allurement in the world today of, oh, this is fun. You know, the stupidest thing, influencers. Oh, yeah. A lot of these influencers are idiots. They're just trying to influence you to be an idiot just like they are. You know, they're just being an idiot all the way to the bank until some out algorithm uh that that very title should should scare you. If you're being influenced, are you being yourself?

unknown 18:09

Right.

SPEAKER_00 18:10

Here's the thing. He came to himself. So he's once all these other influences have played out and he's hit rock bottom, it just it just trips me out. It says he came to himself. It says, How many of my father's higher servants have more than enough bread? Right. I'm out here starving. So here's humility because the son, the prodigal son, has a little bit of pride, a little bit of ego, he has a little bit of self-right. Man, I can go do this. His pride and his ego is in his own self-sufficiency.

unknown 18:47

Right.

SPEAKER_00 18:48

I don't need the father. I can go out and make it on my own, and he's ill-prepared. Now, the interesting thing is the father detects this, he knows. Being a father, you know, and you go, well, you're gonna have to go out and make some mistakes.

SPEAKER_02 19:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:08

But he says, I'm gonna get back in this economy, even if it's on the lowest run of the ladder.

SPEAKER_02 19:13

Right.

SPEAKER_01 19:16

There's some things I noticed when he came to himself. He said, He said, I will I'll go to my father and I will say unto him, confession.

Confession And The Urge To Earn

SPEAKER_01 19:29

That's not a bad thing. You know, he confessed, I've sinned against heaven and against and before thee. So confession is not a bad thing once you realize that uh you've been smoking, chewing, and doing and going with the girls that are doing uh all those things. So confession is not a bad thing. Um and he goes on to say uh he'll he'll go back and he'll be uh a hired servant. Well, that's interesting. I'll go back and work it off. That's not so good.

SPEAKER_00 20:04

Um this is the same mindset that's gonna prevail in the oldest son here in a minute.

SPEAKER_01 20:09

Yes, that's the same mindset that's trying to prevail in the oldest son. But when he does come back home, uh now remember the youngest son's got in his head that I'm gonna go back, I'm gonna confess, uh, and then I'm gonna I'm gonna work this off. I'll just I'll just work for him. But that's not what happens. He does come home and he does confess, but the father never even brings it up, never makes him work it off or anything. He just simply accepts him back to his original spot as his son, um, which is basically he just forgave all that ever happened. Grace, grace, grace, grace, grace. Um, we have that mentality too. When when we backslide, when we sin against the Lord, whatever you want to call it, um, and then we we repent, we come to that point where there's still in the back of our mind, we have this little voice telling us that you got to you gotta earn your keep. You you've got to do this. And that voice, if you're not careful, that voice to have you right back out um in bondage and and in slavery, enslaved again. Um, because that's not the father's wish. The father just simply wants you to come back home and and take your seat at the table. There's a fatted calf that is killed. Um, it's not a sacrifice, it's a feast. Yes. Where we think we're gonna come back and work it off and sacrifice the Lord saying, No, uh, I'm gonna bestow grace and we're gonna feast. Yeah. Um, it's I'll tell you what, this is this example of love here, the parable of the lost son or the prodigal son, has so many different layers to it. Um, so many different things going on. Meanwhile, the prodigal. I mean not prodigal, but the elder son is standing back going, wait a minute. I've been staying I stayed home, did what I was supposed to do. How come you didn't kill the fatty calf for me? You've been eating. You've been eating just as well the whole time. You've been feasting the whole time. There's some there's some stuff going on there with him too, because he's been doing all these things. He's been enjoying all of his father's kingdom and all of his father's household and doesn't even realize it.

SPEAKER_00 22:33

Well well, another thing here with the oldest son, he's been enjoying the benefits. I mentioned in one of the shorts a week or two ago about a pastor over in Mississippi named David Hurdle. And I heard him say, What good's being anointed if you never make a demand on the no on the anointing.

SPEAKER_02 22:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:56

You know, um if you never see this the son has the benefits, he's enjoying them, but he's never, he's never asked. Never asked to do any great thing for so the here the the the youngest son upon return is focusing on merit. And I'm a big merit guy, so that's probably why I identified with the oldest son, but the oldest son is focusing on merit. And to be fair, there's something to be said about merit. Um, uh I've always made the argument that when it comes to government, you should look at the old testament, use that as a model. When it comes to personal relationships, New Testament. Use that as a model for those. Um there, and the founding fathers kind of agreed with that because you look at how many Old Testament um references there were at the foundation of the country. One of the proposed seals was Moses leading the children of Israel through the Red Sea. Right. You know, there's definitely an Old Testament, you know, New Israel theme at the founding of this country. That being said, the father is not focused on merit, the father is focused on relationship.

unknown 24:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:20

Restoration and relationship.

SPEAKER_02 24:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:23

He he's like, son, we've never been in a bad relationship. Your youngest son has. The relationship has been restored. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:33

The truth is, the elder son, I think, was looking forward to seeing that younger son enslaved to his father. Was was looking forward to seeing his young that younger son being being a slave, working that debt off and all that stuff. And are we not any different sometimes?

SPEAKER_00 24:54

Oh man, I'm I'm I'm thinking about two cousins of mine. And um uh one's passed on, uh, unfortunately. Uh but David, they were two right next to each other, went two very different paths. Great parents, both of them, but both their parents are two of the most phenomenal people I've ever known in my life. My aunt and uncle are just phenomenal. Uh 85 and 80 years old. Right. Married over 50 heroes, role models. The one son went out, did military stuff, came back, they both got college degrees. One got caught up in desert storm, hit, and uh anyway, the one went into sales, and he was a little bit more hot-headed. Uh, the other one was more buy the books, let's do it right, let's do it right, slow, slow, slow, steady. And I remember we'd go up and visit, and the one's kind of egging the other on. Yeah, but I got this boat and I got this, and I'm selling insurance, doing all right, and did this and this and this. And, you know, there there was a without getting too much into family business, the the script kind of flipped eventually. It was it wasn't good. Uh, but this whole, I got this going on and I got that, I can definitely see this. I want to have the satisfaction of looking down because, you know, uh my my other cousin was an athletic star, was on a third place state team in basketball in Illinois, you know, 6'11. Uh dude, a little family story. This dude was 5'11 on his driver's license, and in a year and a half grew to be 6'7 when he graduated high school. So they thought he had a fake driver's license there for a minute. And uh by the time he got out of college, it was 6'11. And don't get me wrong, they're both my cousins, both love them, but I got to see that sibling rivalry there and that egging it on. And one thing I will say about my aunt and uncle was they were very, very good at celebrating both sons, matter-of fact, all their kids' success. And those kids have gone to different paths, everything from doctors to um admirals to housewives, yeah, to uh nuns, to you name it, uh teachers, educators, coaches, just all over the board, all computer scientists, all turned out pretty decent. But man, you know, and life, no, don't get me wrong, life can hit everybody. Life can actually hit everybody. But man, I got to see the gloating. I got to see the gloating. I go, man. And eventually, if you're gonna gloat, there's coming a time where the script's gonna get flipped.

SPEAKER_01 27:55

Yeah.

unknown 27:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:57

I think we can see this as an excellent example of love. Um, an example of the the the father here. Um, if we want to see what love is and and what it ain't, uh we can go to First Corinthians chapter 13. Paul lays out uh a list of what love isn't, what love is, what love does, and what love doesn't. Uh that's the the scripture that I'm sure everyone's familiar with. Uh talks about uh uh love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, does not boast, is not proud, it does not dishonor others, uh, it's not self-seeking, it's not easily angered, uh, it keeps no record of wrongs, uh does not delight in evil, but always rejoices with the truth. So we can see if if you're ever curious or ever wondering what love is or if you're operating in love, there's a pretty good litmus test there. There's a pretty good list of things uh to bounce your actions off of to see if you're operating in love or not.

SPEAKER_00 29:13

One of the things that that you touched on was the calf, the killing of the fatty calf.

SPEAKER_02 29:21

And I go, huh.

Robe Ring Shoes And Restored Authority

SPEAKER_02 29:29

The father said to his servants, bring the best robe. You know, there's a little bit of symbolism behind robes. Robes.

SPEAKER_00 29:43

Robes represent in the Bible righteousness. Righteousness, yeah, and I could start pointing to Old Testament, New Testament. Robes represent righteousness. So what's restored in this, he's saying the relationship is still here, son. Yeah, but I'm restoring your righteousness. And righteousness publicly.

SPEAKER_01 30:09

Yeah, righteousness is a word we throw around a lot. Um, it's a big word, but it's easy to forget what it means, though. Uh, right standing. Yes. And that's very important because his his right standing, his rightful place, his relationship, his position, all of that is that that's what was restored. And that that's all that represents is represented in that robe.

SPEAKER_00 30:36

And and as as much as it can be misused, one of the things that righteousness gives you is rights. Rights and access. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So speaking of access, bring the best robe. Whose robe is it? It's the father's. It's the father's. And he's making it yours. It's Jesus' righteousness. He's making it yours. Now, this is the righteousness of the Father because of the sacrifice of Jesus or putting on you. Put a ring on his hand. What kind of ring? I bet you it ain't just any ring. It's a signet ring.

SPEAKER_01 31:16

It's a signet ring.

SPEAKER_00 31:17

The seal. This is this is my seal, so I'm putting my seal on you. What what what were the two places that they would always get sealed? You know, look at the book of Revelation. Uh the seal, the anointing, is either on the hand or on the forehead. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:33

A scroll could be sealed. Um the tomb was sealed. Uh that we we use that that word seal interchangeably. We know that the Holy Spirit was given to us as a um as a seal of the covenant. Um so yeah, there's there's there's uh significant symbology there in that ring, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 32:01

Uh so authority is restored. Whose authority? Is it the son's ring? Well, the father's giving it to him, so he's making it yours. Right.

SPEAKER_01 32:13

When when you got a letter, when you got a letter from someone that would that had a seal on it, it was sealed, and it had that crest stamped in that wax, didn't you knew that the the authority, everything in that letter come in the name of that particular crest, whoever crest that was. So yeah, there's there's authority in there.

SPEAKER_00 32:35

When we pray in the name of Jesus, it is that same concept. Yeah, yeah, it it's the authority of Jesus Christ, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Now, um what one of the other things about this is when you when that message is sent, like you said, uh you're an ambassador, you're a representative of a foreign country, you are a representative of the king. Even here in America, the the way the rules are set up is if you have an embassy set up somewhere, if the United States has an embassy set up somewhere, it is an extension of that nation. If you are if you are over in Great Britain, if you are over in Japan and you go to the United States Embassy, you're now, even though the soil might be Japanese, you're on United States government property. And that works the opposite way. And you know what? If things get too hot, they will pull up an embassy. But that has to be honored, or else we will not have an embassy in a country. The one other thing is the shoes. So shoes, sandals, you know, uh having your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Really, this is talking about your walk. Um, you know, it's always interesting that, you know, the priest ministered barefoot when Moses steps on hollow ground to see the burning bush. Uh, several other passages, I believe, even with Joshua, uh, they remove their shoes. They're they remove their shoes, for they're on hollowed ground. They're in the presence of the Lord. But this is not required. Matter of fact, he showed up with no shoes on his feet. Right. And the father's going, put shoes on his feet. So, what this speaks to me is it talks about your walk. If you have a walk, uh, then not only has the righteousness been restored, not only is there this celebration with the fatty calf, not only is there authority restored in putting that ring on his hand, that signet, there's a mission. And man, I can relate to that. Uh, there there's a walk I've called you to walk, there's a mission I've called you to go on. Hey, if you were just kicking it around the house, or if you were just in a servant's thing, you wouldn't need shoes. Right. You know, the the priest didn't need shoes. I I I'm gonna send you on a mission. I've got some duties for you to perform, and you're gonna need shoes on your feet to do them. So that speaks of equipping as well.

SPEAKER_01 35:43

Yeah, having your feet shod, meant, meant prepared, ready to go, uh, ready to move on on a minute's notice. Um that was one of the things we we dealt with in the military on on some of our quick reaction uh um stints that we had to pull. Uh we could take we could take our uniform top off, but we couldn't take our boots off. We had to keep our boots on during our quick reaction uh time because we had to be ready to go. Um that's what sticks in my mind, having having your feet shod, ready to go, ready to walk out the door, all you gotta do is grab your stuff. So there is a there's a preparedness, like you say, there's a uh being on point, being on a mission there.

SPEAKER_00 36:32

No, one one of the other things that uh that that I'm looking at is it is if there's a mission, you know, you're talking about the boots and stuff. The youngest son, if the father has a message to send into that other nation, because he obviously has some kind of authority as a landowner, uh as some kind of business owner, as somebody who's probably doing commerce, because you can tell that he's involved in some kind of trade, and he has done so much that he's given the young son his portion, and he's given it right back and ain't even missing nothing. Guess what? That means during that time, he's replaced what he's given the younger son. The the kingdom of God is not a zero-sum game. Right. He has unlimited resources. What he's looking for is obedience and relationship and a willingness and a willingness to obey. He commends the oldest son. I like to point this out. But if he had a mission to send where business needed to be done in that other country, guess who now has a working knowledge of that other country? You know, we we like to say, well, I always never did this, and I yeah, but if the Lord sends you in a mission to go out in the world again, who's best equipped?

SPEAKER_02 37:56

Right, right.

SPEAKER_01 37:59

Yeah, we um I think we've been so caught up in the in the church, we've been so caught up with with doctrine and theology and worried about uh am I

Relationship Over Systems And Labels

SPEAKER_01 38:14

saved? Am I not saved? Is that person saved? Are they not saved? That we have confused places in the scripture where um where the Lord's talked about relationship rather than salvation and whatnot. Because I can definitely see in this parable where there's more of a relationship issue than there is a salvation issue. Um but I can also see where you know folks, you know, look at it the other way too, and you know, well, there is a salvation issue going on because you know, he was lost and now he's found. Well, I guess if you you know, if if if you put that in the in the filter of amazing grace and the lyrics to amazing grace, I I I I guess I can see that. Um but we've gotten so caught up on doctrine and theology that we've we've forgotten about relationship and position and access in the kingdom. Um if you're if if you've been saved, all you got to focus is focus on is that relationship. That's the best thing to focus on. You won't have to worry about salvation anymore.

SPEAKER_00 39:30

Yeah, I'm not gonna tell you that if you focus on relationship, you're not gonna make mistakes. But this idea of worrying about losing your salvation, yeah, if you're focusing on relationship, it ain't even entering into your mind. Right. Now, the danger is you can focus on your doctrine and all this other stuff and the do's and the don'ts, and it and I will be the first to tell you that as much as I might make fun of like the Calvinists and some of these other groups, they were really good at establishing a system to where you could kind of mass produce results, and uh they were good for government. Uh, they were good for how to set up uh something that was duplicatable, they were good for um setting up ways to promote honesty, ways to keep from um getting bogged down in the excesses. Uh and if you look like at our government today, you know, it it's there's so much excess that the excess has become a right. And if you say live within your means, now it it's it's villainized. Right. Because everybody's used to the excess and the corruption. And one of the things the Calvinists taught was uh how to set up the system to limit that. That being said, we call on relationship. Right.

SPEAKER_01 40:58

And but in in those cases, the system becomes the system becomes the idol. Yes. Uh, and then that that uh that system becomes your relationship, you know, or or in lieu of a relationship, and and we forget about uh we forget about the need for prayer, uh, the need for a relationship, the need for praise, the need for worship, uh all those other things, and it would turn it into a check-the-box system to where I've done this and I've done that, so I must be okay.

SPEAKER_00 41:28

Yeah, worship becomes a system rather than uh a sincere expression of affection.

SPEAKER_01 41:34

And here's where my gripe, here's where my gripe has been. Not that they have, whether it's Calvinists or Lutheran or any of those other groups, not that they have good systems, but my gripe has been they didn't need a system because it's already explained in the scripture.

SPEAKER_00 41:53

Perhaps.

SPEAKER_01 41:54

There's really no need to add to it.

SPEAKER_00 41:56

But if you if you yeah, if you look historically, though, um, we've had times where we focused on relationship and it give you a good case in point Jesus movement, uh, when the hippies and stuff. Oh man, that's just old school. And the next thing you know, we're letting things happen on our watch. It's all about love, man. Well, you have some responsibilities too. You know, the one thing the father does with this, the relationship is restored. But it again, you look at what he did with a signet ring, you look at what he did with robes, you look at what he did with the shoes. Yeah, we're having a celebration with the calf, but he's also kind of given some duties as well.

unknown 42:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:42

Well, I go right back to 1 Corinthians 13. Um, talking about love, rejoices with truth, always protects, you know. Yes. We we weren't protecting then. Uh we were just, you know, going out, you know, willy-nilly, letting everybody do what they wanted to do in the name of love. Well, that wasn't that wasn't Christ's love. That was that was earthly love, man's love.

SPEAKER_00 43:04

Uh and and and the results showed.

SPEAKER_01 43:06

Yeah, the results showed for it. Um, but but th you can find a system for for just about every for everything, for every concept in here. And the systems are good to the point where, especially back in times when um Bibles were not mass produced, and so uh and literacy was rare. So not everyone had had uh access to the written word. So yeah, systems were were even more beneficial then. Um but the bottom line is man, it's all right there in the scripture. Uh, all we gotta do is read it and focus on that relationship, and it's supposed to work out, and I think it does.

SPEAKER_00 43:55

I I think one of the things that can happen, you mentioned becoming an idol. We we start to rely on these things without the Holy Spirit. We start to lean on our own understanding, and that's what gets us hemmed up. You know what? The youngest goes and does things without the Holy Spirit, he's leaning on his own understanding. Yep, the the oldest is rendering a wrong judgment, has a wrong attitude. Why? Because he's leaning on his own understanding, and like I said, some of these systems and things like that, sure, they're great. But if you don't have the Holy Spirit now becomes very, very rigid and you can't adapt. Yeah. And it ends up dying, even though it started out as a good thing with good intentions. One of the reasons that we talk about getting the word for yourself and why the baptism of the Holy Spirit is so important is it will help you to rightly divide the word of truth and keep it from becoming dry. And it will it's almost like the Lord will go, Okay, you just read that. Now, what does that mean? What does it mean? Well, what's the intent?

SPEAKER_01 45:02

Exactly. Exactly. I bet we've read this particular passage, the parable of the prodigal son or the lost son. I bet we probably read it a hundred times, but everybody's probably read it a hundred times. It's one of the more famous uh passages. Gets a lot of attention. I bet I've heard it preached a hundred different times. There's always something different to glean from it. God has always got something new to show you. Um, you got to get what he showed you last time first before he'll let you see something new. So if you're struggling and you're wondering why you're not progressing or you don't think you're progressing, yeah, maybe you just uh maybe you're still walking that out. Maybe you're still walking the the last uh the last example out. And that's okay too. Yeah, because you're gonna get there. You'll get there. Exactly.

Final Challenge And Where To Listen

SPEAKER_00 45:57

Hey everybody, thanks for listening. We hope this challenges you and causes you to grow. You can always check us out at woefoyo.org or subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Audible, or even check us out on YouTube. Remember, folks, if you're going to grow, you got a BoFoyo. Get in the word for yourself.