“The Prodigal Remembered” | Sunday AM | Pastor David K. Caruthers

Original Broadcast of Sunday Morning 11 AM Worship, 05/31/2026

Speaker: Pastor David K. Caruthers

Message Title: "The Prodigal Remembered" 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Again, thank you so much for joining with us today. Luke chapter 15, verse 17 says, and when he came to himself, this is the prodigal, he said, How many hired servants of my fathers have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger. And I want to preach to you for a few minutes today the prodigal remembered. Lord, we thank you again for your word and for every person that has gathered here. We pray, God, that you would speak to our hearts, touch our lives. Help us by your power and grace. Let your work be done as we open our hearts to you. Bless every person in this place by your presence, power, and mercy. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen. Smile if somebody shake their hand before you're seated. We're so glad you've joined together and worship with us, and we want to know you. I want to invite you to be a part. Those of you who join us online today, thank you so much for being with us. Ask you to open your heart, allow God to minister to you. When all that you know is the worst of life, hardships, pain, when that's all you really know about life, it's difficult to imagine anything better than that. It's difficult to imagine hope. It's difficult to reach out and grasp hope. But when you've known love, when you've known security, when you've known blessings, when you've known, let me say, the love of God, your memories become a preacher that calls you back to what you had, that wakes you up from the status quo of your circumstances, and that reminds you of who you are, who you were, and who has called you. In Luke chapter 15, the Bible gives us some stories, some illustrations, some parables that Jesus told. Parables, of course, are stories told to make a point. They're not true stories per se, although they could be true. They're not true stories per se, but they're stories to illustrate a point. And this chapter has uh sort of three lost and found stories that Jesus told. The first is the story of the lost sheep. It tells about a shepherd and sheep, where when they brought, when the shepherd brought the sheep back to the sheepfold in the evening, one of the hundred was missing. The shepherd went to look for that one hundred and found him. And Luke 15 and 16 says, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost. The second story is the story of a lost coin. It's the story of a woman who had ten silver coins, misplaced, lost one of those silver coins, searched diligently in her house, found the coin, and ends with a similar reframe Rejoice with me, for I have found the peace which I had lost. And the third story is very common to us all. It's the story of the lost son, or what we often call the prodigal son. Excuse me. And this is probably the most poignant of the stories, and a story that in many ways has been repeated over and over again in human history. And so it's a story that's familiar to us, this story we can connect to it. You don't have to be Jewish to connect to it. You don't have to be of a certain culture to connect to it. You don't have to be of a certain background to connect to it. It's a story that we can all relate to. And we can all relate to at least parts of the story, at least understand conceptually what has happened. And the parable itself is, let me say, it's such a classic, and it's so often repeated and so close to real life happenings that today I would just like to read it in Jesus' words. When he said, A certain man had two sons, and the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me. And he divided unto him his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land, and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed the swine. And he would fain filled his belly with the husk that the swine did eat, and no man gave unto him. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my fathers have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger. I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and am no more worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired servants. And he arose and came to his father, but when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight am I no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet, and bring here the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and be merry. For this my son was dead and is alive again, he was lost and is found, and they began to be merry. The prodigal, the prodigal son, the prodigal young man, the younger son in this story, took what his father gave him, and in the excitement of the new adventure, and perhaps the excitement of the forbidden, he left his father's house. And in such cases, as you would imagine, a young man adventuring on his own with a substantial amount of money and resources found plenty of new friends and opportunities available to him. And as long as the money was plentiful, the friends and the fun remained. But as is always the case, when the money shrunk and he had to be more careful, the fun began to wane, and the friends began to melt away. And soon he was peering beyond the painted glamour of the fun facade of sin and in the face of reality. The friends passed him for the next free drink wherever they could find it. The women that were once intriguing and desired him and desired his company now scowled at him with disdain. He was alone staring into the eyes of the glum reality of having no money left, no income, and a downturn in the economy of a famine. I want to tell you today that the backside of sin is never pretty. The pleasure of sin, as Hebrews 11, 25 indicates, is a short-lived season and soon transforms into the ugly realities of the consequences of sin. It's as is said in some cultures and some Southern American vernacular, it's like putting lipstick on a pig. It may be shiny and it may look good on the surface, but it's never the reality of the situation. Because the backside of sin is never pretty. It always ends in destruction, it always ends in harm. It always ends in pain. This young man had few skills and little experience. In fact, the only experience he had was the experience of being the son of a man who had a farm and perhaps animals to care for. That was his only experience. This story is told in the context of Jewish people, and to understand that, to understand the full brunt of this illustration or this story, you need to understand their culture a little bit. Because times were so dire, so difficult for this man. He wasn't a boy, he was a man. Everything had melted away, the friends, the money, it was all gone. And now the Bible says the story tells us it was a famine. That means the economy is in bad shape and he needs a job. And he finds a job, except the only job that he can find is feeding the pigs, which is a particular affront to a Jewish person. Not only do you have to care for to eat the pigs, but to care for them and to maintain them for someone else. And it's almost as if the employer is taking advantage of this situation, taking advantage of him and taking advantage of the moment. Because it's clear in the story that he was uncaring, that he gave nothing to help this young man, only the small penance, only the small morsels of what came for the pigs. No one helped him. But it was the only job he could find. It's the only job he knew how to do to take care of animals. It's the only job available to him, and it's a terrible predicament, not only because the job itself is so humiliating, but also because the compensation is so low that he cannot even feed himself with the money. And so in that moment, the food for the pigs looked appealing. A repulsive job. But one with which he would acclimate day in and day out as he worked. This became the reality of his life. This became what he was accustomed to. His memories of long ago were faded in the past. This was how he had to live today. No point in being angry at the world. He did this to himself. Everyone was going through hard times, and he was too. His focus, his intent was on survival. Just surviving. It is quite astonishing how people can get acclimated to such a life. Sin will take you further than you ever meant to go. It'll keep you longer than you ever meant to stay. And it will cost you more than you ever meant to pay. Yet people get used to it. They acclimate to misery, they adjust to bondage, they adapt to a pig pen life. But God never intended for it to be that way. God never intended for people to live that way. But people seem to get acclimated to the sinful consequences of their lives. A few morsels of excitement here and there is just enough. Just enough pleasure, just enough joy to keep them in their current position, to keep them where they are, to hold them there. They're busy existing. So busy existing that they can't see anything more than that moment. And that's where this young man lived. This is where he was in the story that Jesus told. He was lost. Lost. Not just in the sense of salvation, but he's lost to who he was and what he could have had and what he could be living in and all the things around him. We read the story, it is a parable, but we read it condensed in time. But in reality, these stories are not condensed in time. They're moment by moment of a reality that people can adapt their mindset to. They can begin to embrace as normal. They can begin to get accustomed to. And just a few morsels of pleasure can hold them there. But that is not God's plan. But then a miracle happens. And this is the point I want to get to today, because a miracle happens that is it changes the entire situation. And as I read to you, the Bible describes it this way, and when he came to himself, when he came to himself, instead of some far distant memory of yesterday's youth, suddenly he came to himself, he awoke to the reality of where he was and where he could be. Something changed in his mindset. He didn't get a raise. He didn't get a blessing. He didn't get a miracle. He got his mind back. He got his memory back. He remembered his mind was restored in that moment and his memory awakened in him. He remembered his father. He remembered the home he came from. He remembered the provisions that they had. And I want to serve as your memory today. I want to serve as your memory today and remind you that your Heavenly Father has offered you so much more than a few morsels of pleasure or a few morsels of satisfaction, but he has offered you a life that is filled with love and grace and so much more than your basic necessities and your needs in life. He will make your life rich beyond measure, not in your bank account, but what is really important, what really makes your life worthwhile. He will change your life and transform you. But the memory is not enough. Just remembering it was not enough. Just knowing that it was there was not enough. His memory had to compel him to do something, to respond in some way. And so he said, I'll arise and go. And so he returned to his father's house. But he returned a different man than the man that left. He returned a man that was broke. He returned a man that was dirty. He returned a man that's been taking care of swine. He returned as a man that was ashamed. He returned as a man that was empty. He returned as a man was humiliated. But the point is, he returned. He got back to where he was. He didn't forget where the father's house was. He didn't forget what was there. He returned there. Something in him, the memory screamed to him loud enough that he was able to return. He was able to get over all of those things. And he returned in an attitude of repentance. Not feeling sorry for himself. Not trying to tell all the story of why he was mistreated or why his friends left him or why the money was wasted. But he came. Repent it. Acts 3.19 says, Repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out. Repentance is a movement, it's a change in directions. It's a turning your feet toward the Father's house. Repentance is not fixing everything you've ever done wrong. Repentance is changing your direction and moving towards God. And so we read the story. In fact, he was so fixated on the story that he was going to tell to ask his father if he could just be an employee. That was his mindset. If I can just get a good job at my father's house, if I can just get a job to sustain myself, if I can just get enough to resolve the crisis that I'm in. And he goes to his father's house with this story in mind. You can see it rehearsed. You can hear it as you read the parable. He's rehearsed this story. He's got his plan. He knows what he's going to say. He's probably repeated it over and over again to himself so he would know what he needed to say to his father. He has his story ready. But he was only seeing one side. He was only seeing from his perspective. He was only seeing through his eyes. Because the Bible says when his father saw him yet a great way off. A long way down the road, his father had compassion on him and ran to meet him, fell on his neck, embraced him, kissed him, and restored him. While the son was saying, let me be an employee, while the son was stating his story, while the son was saying, here's what I'm asking of you. Just let me come back to a place where I can, you know, provide for myself or take care of myself. While the son is going through all of those details, it's like the father is completely ignoring all of that. He's not ignoring his. Son, but he's ignoring everything his son is saying. He's not really not really processing all of that. His son, you can see it, it's like he's insisting on saying it, but when he says it, it's like it's entirely out of place in the story. Because the father has an entirely different approach. His father said, This is my son. This is my son. Those are not incidental words to the story. That is the core of the story. This is my son who was lost, but is now found. This is my son who was once dead, but is now found. This is my son. This is not my servant. This is not, this is not someone I need to show benevolence to because I'm obligated because of their need. This is my son that has an entirely different approach, a different approach to it entirely. And so what did he say? He didn't even discuss employment. He said, Bring the best robe. Put the ring on his finger and shoes on his feet. The robe restored this young man's dignity. It took away the filth and the grime and the results of where he had been. The ring restored his authority, put him back in the position of a son. The shoes restored his identity, made him part of the household, not a servant. So in closing today, I want to just say if you've drifted, I'm asking you to remember today. Remember. Remember what God has for you. Remember what God has promised. Remember what you have experienced with God. If you've fallen, remember. Remember. If you feel far from God, remember the Father's house. Remember the Father's love. Remember the Father's mercy. Remember the Father's bread, his sustenance. Remember the Father's open arms. And that memory will bring you back. That memory will call for you. It's not a memory that preaches condemnation or shame or how dare you waste. It's a memory of love and grace and goodness. And God calls you. God calls you. It's a memory that can wake you up and save your life today. In Isaiah 55 and 7 it says, Let the wicked forsake his ways and let him return to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him. And I've come today for a simple message to you. To say, remember what God has for you. Remember what God has promised. Remember who you are. Remember what God has made you. And He is calling you to that today. He is calling you to that today. I know you have a story. Whatever they are, stories of failure, stories of things that didn't work like you expected, stories of things you didn't expect to happen at all. Maybe even things you never expected that you would do. But Jesus is calling you as a father of mercy and grace and kindness today. Would you stand together with me? I believe God is calling someone today. No one's here to measure, no one's here to hear the story of your mistakes or your failings. No one's here needing to know any of those things. We're just here trying to point you to the Father who loves you, who wants to show you grace and kindness today. And we're asking you, would you take a step? Would you take a turn? Would you come to the Father? Would you hear the memories calling you? Not just a pastor's voice or a moment, but you know what God has for you. You've heard his voice, you've heard his call, you've read his word, you know that he is waiting, but you are feeling lost today. You are feeling in a position where you need help and you're vulnerable. I want to tell you that God is here to love you, to restore you, to feel you, to minister to you.