Thank you for joining us. By your encouragement, we bring to you this biblical sermon from Dr. Charlie Dates, preached at the Progressive Baptist Church in Chicago. We hope that it leaves you refreshed and inspired. If you're ever in Chicago on a Sunday, we'd love to have you in worship with us. Join now. This message already in progress. Luke chapter 15. Luke chapter 15. God have mercy on me in this church today. I want to pick up where we left off last week. And verse 11.
I want to remind you that this series that we're in is called Who's Your One? I'm preaching the series, Can I Get a Witness? But this is all about you and I finding our one. And it is a reminder that God cares about. In fact, Luke 15 almost says that the one is greater than the 99. That may not make sense numerically, but it makes sense theologically.
that God actually cares about people. And I'm concerned, church, I really am, that we don't communicate that care. We don't share that care. We do not have that care. And so as we go through this series, I'm trying to say... that our church cares about the unchurched, the de-churched, and the lost. And each of these parables that Jesus tells in Luke 15 and the several passages that we'll preach.
over the coming weeks, is all about how you and I need to see with a greater level of importance the masterpieces of God that walk around us. and care enough to actually say something to them. And maybe if you cannot do that, then you'll see yourself in this story today and rejoice over God's goodness, even in your own life. Beginning at verse 11 of Luke chapter 15.
This is how the Bible reads. It says, and he said, a man had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me. So he divided his wealth between them. And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country. And there he squandered his estate with... loose living. Now, when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country and he began to be impoverished.
So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country. And he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating. But no one was giving anything to him. I like the way really the old King James has verse 17. The old King James says, and when he came to himself. The new American says, but when he came to his senses.
I don't know who you are here today, but I'm glad you're here. This is my prayer for you. It's been my prayer for the last few days. And while you're in this church today, you'll come to your senses. When he came to himself, when he came to his senses, he said, how many of my father's.
hired men have more than enough bread, but I'm dying here with hunger. I'll get up and go to my father and I will say to him, father, I have sinned against heaven. And in your sight, I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired men. So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him and ran.
and embraced him and kissed him. I want to read that part one more time and I promise you I'm just about done. This is like the whole sermon right here. Look at all of these verbs compounded one upon the other. The father saw him, felt compassion for him, ran, embraced him, and kissed him.
And the son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his slaves, quickly, bring out the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand. and sandals on his feet and bring the fattened calf kill it and let us eat and celebrate for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again thank you lord He was lost and has been found. And they began to celebrate. Let me keep reading.
Now his older son was in the field, and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. And he summoned one of the other servants and began inquiring, what do these things mean? And he said to him, your brother has come and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has received him back safe and sound. But he became angry and was not willing to go in. And his father came out and began pleading with him.
But he answered and said to his father, look, for so many years, I've been serving you and I've never neglected a command of yours. And yet you hadn't even given me a goat so that I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours. When he came back, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him. And he said to him, son, you have always been with me and all that is mine is yours.
But we had to celebrate. We had to rejoice. This brother of yours was dead and has begun to live. He was lost, and now he's found. God Almighty, that's going to preach. God gives me grace today. I want to tag this text today. It's a long sermon title. Hopefully it ain't a long sermon. I want to talk from the thought that overwhelming, never ending, reckless love of God. You may be seated. I want to talk about the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God.
God in heaven, I do thank you now and praise you for Jesus Christ, our savior. Thank you for the hope and the help that is ours in his name. And I ask you to grant me now clarity of mind, concision of speech and conviction of heart that I may. Tell the truth today. The whole truth and nothing but the truth. I need your help, God. I pray that you will do in me, through me, and for me, for your people, what only you can do.
For your glory and for our good, in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. His name is Mitt Butterfield. He's the son of Stuart Butterfield, the founder of Flickr. And the co-founder of Slack. Billionaire by not even a stretch of the imagination. At $1.6 billion in the bank. Stuart Butterfield's son, Mint, ran away from home. Because listen, y'all, no matter how much money you make, how much money you have, wealth is not a garrison against pain.
disappointment and runaway children. This kid has been gone for several weeks now since April and his father Stuart has invested every resource he has into pulling together the authorities. all around the state of california to try to find his kid the kid has a history of drug abuse and He has kind of given his life to things that his parents do not approve of, but none of that has stopped Stuart and Mint's mother from spending every resource they have to go after this one kid.
I bring it up this morning because missing persons is not like something new to our culture and our society. Runaway teens are nothing new to our culture and our society. But the extent to which people will go to recover their lost children is an open window to view the magnitude of emotion that this father displays in Luke chapter 15. In other words, who here today is so stony of heart, so brutal, so cold of spirit, that to think of a child who runs away from home, who gets away.
That a parent should just stay their hand and not care at all. I don't know how you feel about the value of children, but I feel like in Chicago, we got a whole slew of runaway kids. Running away from education, running away from discipline, running away from morals, running away from a stable family situation. It surrounds us. It's kind of the story, the telltale story of life. And maybe that's why I consider this parable in Luke 15 to be the greatest story ever told.
You'll remember from last week that this is the third story that Jesus tells. And the pattern is the same. Lost, found, celebrate. Say that with me. Lost, found, celebrate. One more time. Lost, found, celebrate. Celebrate. And in every one of these parables, the three, the value of the lost thing increases. In the first parable, there was a sheep that got away from the shepherd. It was one of... 100 sheep shepherd left left the 99 and went after the one that's valuable
In the second story, a woman, the Bible says God is like this woman who had 10 coins. One of them fell out and she went all night in her house to find it. She found it. She celebrated. But that coin. is worth more than that lost sheep and now we come and I hope you can appreciate this to the story of a father who has two sons one of them gets away
And the value of that child is on clear display. It has increased in the story. But listen now, Jesus doesn't just tell these stories just to be telling stories. Jesus likes to sneak up on his hearers in a subversive way. He likes to reveal that there's a larger issue at work here. And just when you think you're the winner in these stories that Jesus tells, Jesus...
Kind of comes up on you, sneaks up around you, and shows you how desperately you need him. That's the way that these parables work, and that's the way this parable works. It's a scandal, intrigue, and shock. You remember the story of the Samaritan, don't you? The Levite who walked by, scandal. You remember the story of the moneylender in Luke 7 where Jesus graciously forgave them both. Scandalous.
You remember the story of the compassionate employer in Matthew 20 who pays a full day's wage to a half day's worker and gives no increase to those who work the heat of the day. Scandal. Scandal. Scandal. And now the scandal of a lifetime. Are y'all ready? You.
you sitting in this church this morning, having done all that you have done, don't nobody know all that you have done. I wish to God, I say this from time to time, that we could take your moments of indiscretion and put them up on that screen right there. You'd be happy if the whole thing got blacked out like that corner. And then right here for all of us to see just how wild of a child and adult you have been in your life. Maybe you would be a bit more generous with it.
your amens here today. But here you are sitting in this church after all you done did, all you've been through. And you look good this morning. You got your suit on. You got your dress on. Your hair is put together. And don't nobody know you as crazy as you actually are. God has brought you into this place today, and I got a word for it, scandal. Scandal, scandal, scandal, because you are the kid who God...
And in this two-stage parable, I want to show you that just like God cared enough to rescue you behind, you ought to care enough. Hold my tongue, did you? You ought to care enough.
about other folk you know who are far from him. Now, let me wrestle the passage down real quick because we call this text the prodigal son, don't we? You know what that word prodigal means? It means lavish. It means extravagant. It means... reckless but really this passage is not about the prodigality of the son no Curtis the prodigal one in this text is the father
He's the one who is radical and extravagant and reckless in that he shows no restraint in going after the kid that he lost. And you got to appreciate this lost kid today. You got to appreciate the way that this story comes to us, because if you read it right, you will be able to see it more as a mirror than you do as a window. The Bible says that a man had two sons.
And the younger of them said to his father, Daddy, give me the share of the estate that falls to me. So he divided his wealth between the two of them. And not many days later, the kid ran off. gathered everything he had, went on a journey to a far country, and squandered his estate with loose living. Do you want to see yourself in this text this morning? Here it is. This kid...
views the essence of life as getting as far away as he can from the Father. Some people think that that's what life is about. Getting as far from God as possible. And the reason people try to run away from God is the same reason you've tried to please yourself. People have very little tolerance for delayed gratification. This text says that the younger son, he's probably in his upper teens, maybe low 20s.
Goes to his dad and says, dad, I know you're wealthy. I want my share of your estate, the part of the inheritance that belongs to me. Let me tell you how painful this is. People didn't carry cash like we do in that time. They didn't have stocks in the market. They basically were landowners. Their wealth was put into the stuff that they owned. So in order for this father to liquidate.
the wealth and to give it to the son, the father had to sell off land, liquidate the sale, and pass the currency on to the kid. But really, the way that the Greek New Testament writes this is even more scandalous than this. Because what the son actually says is, I want my portion of your life. In other words, help me, Holy Spirit. I wish you were dead. Because I want your stuff, but not you. Come in here, talk to me real quick.
Even folk in church live like this. You want God's stuff, but not God. You want God's air, but not God's discipline. You want God's resources. but not God's lordship. You want God's wisdom, but not God's leadership. You want all the perks of being a child of God without actually being a child of God. And the world has lost its way because it thinks that the real meaning and purpose in life, the great fun in life, is actually not being under the Father's rule and reign.
But I want to caution you today, even some young person listening to me here today, to tell you that that's not the essence of life. That's the insanity of life. The insanity of life is putting distance between you and God. I'm preaching today to somebody who needs to hear very clearly what I'm saying. You may actually be in church this morning, but you're keeping yourself at a comfortable distance from God.
You will never be fully and finally satisfied when you actually keep distance between you and God. Your soul needs to be close to your Savior. And if today you're trying to give God some square footage, but you ain't willing to give him all of the square footage, then you fooling yourself. Child of God, God will never be satisfied until he gets all of you.
So the father does something to scandalous. And this is what I, this is what the way I need you and I to think about how this passage would strike those hearers and more so how it moves you and I. It is the love of God that permits the reckless behavior of his children. Because the real scandal at the opening of this text is that the father says, okay.
That's what you want? Here you go. Y'all ain't ready for me just yet. Let me just draw the parallels. The father in this text is God. The kids in this text are me and you. Let me see if I can come. Now to where you and I sit. You want to act a fool? God will let you act a fool. So you think that God's going to put his hand on the back of your neck.
at every indiscretion you want to take, but God will warn you and tell you, don't do that, don't do that, don't do that, and you go, I'm going to do it, and God goes, that's what you want? Go for it. I'm looking at some of y'all who's still dealing with the debris. trying to recover from how you blew your life up because God told you don't do something and you did it anyway. Oh, to God. Oh, to God that Negroes would be scared of God again.
I'm confused at how some of us live totally unafraid of God. Like we just going to do whatever we want to do without any consequence. Can I tell you life don't work that way? Try it and come back and tell us how that worked for you. God will let you go act a fool only so that you will discover that living like a fool never pays. It's the reckless love of God.
That permits the reckless behavior of his children. Oh, I feel like turning this thing if I can, though, because I don't want to make you feel bad while I'm preaching. I want to turn a corner to help some of y'all testify in this room. One of the best things God ever did for some of y'all is that he gave you what you wanted when you didn't need it. to let you go so that the world could whoop your behind and that would make you want to run back to him the psalmist says it was good
for me that I had been afflicted so that I could learn that you were telling the truth in the first place. Anybody here glad that God will give you what you want only to show you that he's the one you really wanted all along? Father liquidates his resources here, gives it. And the way that he gives it is really striking because in this context, the younger son would have gotten a third.
The older son would have gotten two-thirds. So at the same time he liquidates his resources, the young son grabs what he has, leaves, and the elder son technically... becomes the executor of the estate, even though the father's still alive. What does the young son do? The young son does whatever you would do. He buys a one-way ticket to Vegas because he heard, he read in an advertisement,
That the pink monkey had just expanded. A new gentleman's establishment. So he goes on in. Can't you see him with his American Express? Fresh off of his jet, walking into the Pink Monkey. Drinks on me for everybody. Bottle service for every corner of the club. Oh, people are enjoying this. And I'm amazed because y'all looking at me like you ain't never enjoy none of this. But I'll preach anyway to you hypocritical stair gazers looking back at me.
Just because your hair gray, you ain't fooling nobody. We know how you used to get down, too. There he is. Goes to the ATM. He pulls out a few stacks. He got enough. It ain't no thing. So nice Cuban cigar in his teeth. There he is tossing them up in the air. Everybody's singing his praises because ain't nobody got to pay for liquor tonight in the club. And all the ladies are loving him and he's loving them.
It's about 3 in the morning now. He can't take much more. He's tired. He flew in. He traveled all day. He got to go find his penthouse suite. So there he is, 3-4, under his arms. And he walks off to his face. Well, this goes on and on and on. I'm trying to tell you, the Bible actually will read you. This goes on and on and on. This goes on for days, Sam, and then for weeks and then for months.
And then one day he walks into the club and he goes to throw that Platinum American Express on the bar. The bartender takes it to swipe it to open his tab. And there's that sound nobody wants to hear. He says, no, sir, your cards are declined. No, no, no, try it again. Try it again. So I said, nothing this time. What happened to all the people who were hanging on to him?
what happened to all the folks who were singing this praises because they didn't have to buy liquor in the club. And to be honest with you, if I'm being an honest exegete of this text, I really don't know what he did. What I do know is human nature. And the Bible says he squandered his money on loose living. He was extravagant and luxurious and just putting it out there. And right when he ran out, so did his friends.
And to add insult to injury, a famine strikes the land. And nobody has anything. Because when you put distance between you and the father and you run out of resources. The next thing coming is famine. It doesn't matter how the famine comes, if it's food, if it's economics. If it's relationship, you will never have plenty of supply apart from the father. And so there he is. You got to get a job. And you can tell he's desperate because the only way, the only person to hire him.
is a person who gives him an assignment to feed pigs. Now, no self-respecting Jewish young man. would work with pigs, would feed them, would eat with them, would do this and would do that. But he apparently is so desperate that he will, you're not ready for this, hire himself. Oh, thank you, Lord. The way that the language is written is he attached himself. He just unattached himself from his father.
Because you, the enemy will make you and I think that real freedom is unattachment to God. But once you unattach yourself to God, you end up having to attach yourself to somebody else. And if I got to be attached to anybody, help me, Holy Ghost, it ain't going to be you or your mama or your cousin or somebody else. No, I need to be attached to God in heaven. But the lie on earth.
is that if you unattach yourself to God, you will be free, but the reality is you won't be free. Oh, he thought that this life was satisfying, but it ended up bankrupting him. So there he is, there he is, throwing the pods to the pigs. And all of a sudden, the pods, these... Little round stalks of grain with sweet seeds in them start to look good to them. Man, you're in a bad shape when what you're feeding the pigs starts to look good to you.
God, give me a church. Maybe he will in another week. But some of y'all can read through the lines of this parable. Stuff you would have never thought was attractive. You got out there so bad. You start considering doing the very thing you hate that other people did. God, give me a church. I wonder, is there anybody here this morning willing to be honest enough that you tried some stuff?
That you never in a million years thought that you would try because when your soul gets hungry even bitter things start to look sweet I'm trying today to tell somebody that's not just your story, but it's the story of a lot of other people out there. We need not look down on people. We need not look.
disparagingly upon people because the reason folk are doing stuff out there the way they're doing it is because their soul is hungry. They have not found the well that never runs dry. They have never found the bread of life they do not know that God can satisfy far better than Tito's or Kettle One or whatever it is that you prefer to drink they have not discovered that there is real life And so they spend their lives trying to fill themselves. Staring now at these pods.
And the reality is he wants them, but he can't have any because the text says that nobody would give him anything. Oh, friends, catch me now as I turn the corner. I'm almost in my seat. This is the moment. That I hope the light bulb goes off for somebody in this sanctuary today. He came to himself. He said to himself, self. The folk who work for my daddy are doing far better than I am. Maybe if I go back home and tell my father.
that I made a mistake then maybe my dad will hire me I ain't even got to be a son maybe I could become a slave y'all ain't in here with me today know that where I've been has been so broken and so messed up that I do not deserve to be part of the family I know y'all know we know that we do not deserve to be part of that so maybe if I repent if I go back
then I can talk my dad into not making me a son, but hiring me. And do you see the boy? I wish I came dressed for the part. Do you see the boy? Clothes all tattered. Things falling off of him. Not put together no more. He left home in good shape. But now life has got a hold of him. And he ain't in the shape he used to be in. He lost that watch that cost him a lot of money.
He lost those diamonds in that coupling. His clothes were dirty and messed up. None of the jewelry fit him like it used to. He smells like a stench. He's been way out there and he's walking back home. He don't look. the way he looked when he left home. And he's putting his speech back in his head. Daddy! I know! You gave me good clothes when I left home. I know that you put it on me.
At the shape I'm in. But are y'all ready for the scandal in this text? I said, are you ready for the scandal? Before he can open his mouth. The Bible says that the father was moved. Because God don't need your confession before he gives you his compassion church today like me that's grateful that God didn't wait for me to give him a long speech about how sorry I was how messed up I am but when he saw me making my way to his house he was If you're here today and you don't know Jesus
And you are coming in here acting like you're the worst mistake you ever made. I want to tell you, you are not the worst mistake you have ever made. You are not what you have done. No, when God... looks at you he sees a masterpiece that matters to him and the day you ought to give your life and your heart to him don't hold on to your pride
No, you're broken. You messed up. But you're home today. You're home today. In a moment, we're going to invite you to come in the same way that this son has come. And we're going to urge you today. And the moment the door opens, run out of that seat. Don't sit up there in that balcony like you got it all together. Don't sit back there on the floor like you got it all together. No, come to the Father. Just as you are.
wounded and sad. I'll tell you, you'll find in him a resting place and Jesus will make your heart. Put my clothes back on. Got out of my shoes. Let me finish my sermon when I tell you now that this son comes back. And the father puts the best robe on him. He reinstates him. Puts a ring on him. He gives him authority again. And then. He kills the fattened calf. Y'all ain't ready for this. No, see, they used to keep a cow and feed the cow just for the day when they wanted to have a big party.
You know how many people a cow feeds? And that day when the son came home, they threw a party. And don't y'all hear them partying? No, y'all ain't. This is a wealthy father. Didn't you see him send that plane for Beyonce? Say, my son is back. You got to come and you got to perform at the celebration. And there is Beyonce singing to all the single ladies. All the single ladies. All the single ladies. And do you hear them? Do you hear them?
Putting on all the house music. Do you see folk getting ready to do the electric slide? And everybody... one person. Y'all.
celebration y'all ain't in here with me today because there are some of us I'm not talking about just y'all now I'm talking about me and Sam there are some of us who have tried to please God so long we tried to keep the rules we didn't go else we tried to do what was right and we thought that that would entitle us to God's grace and favor but when you walk with God you come to see that walking with God ain't about rules it's about
relationship. It's about if God never gives you the stuff you want. If he never gives you the things you desire, and guess what? It's okay. to rejoice with the lost people because you didn't have the prize all along says now young son older son says daddy this kid all of this. I'm disappointed in you. Who gonna pay for all of this? That's the real question.
Because I told you that when the estate was liquidated, a third of it went to the younger son. The two-thirds went where? What the older son is saying to the fathers, you spend in my money. on this kid. It's the cliffhanger. The story is left with the younger son partying and the older son outside mad. And I'm asking y'all to pass out cards. But you don't do it because you, man. You don't, you really on the inside don't think those people deserve God's goodness. You say they worse than me.
God ain't did this for me or God ain't going to do this for them. And so you won't even open your mouth to tell a lost person that they matter to God. That's the problem with the church, and I think that's why Jesus tells this parable to these here Pharisees and scribes, because they are the people who should have gone after their younger brothers. I don't want us to just be a church that just come on Sunday morning. I want us to be a church that goes Monday through Saturday.
Because there is somebody who had to pay for this party. I'm done. But my soul is happy. So let me just see if I can get it out of my mouth the way I feel it in my heart. When we were... Out in a far country. Lost on our own. The father didn't just have to send the older brother. Our older brother came looking for us. Oh, church.
I said he came looking for us. And I don't know where he found you. Some of y'all, he had to find you in a crack house. Some of y'all, he had to find you in a corporate executive suite. Some of y'all he had to find in city hall. Some of y'all he found in your classroom. Some of y'all he found smoking and blowing trees. Some of y'all he found in somebody else's bed. But wherever you are, aren't you glad this morning that...
He came to find you. And how did he come to find you? Well, he came through 42 generations. He came now. two fish and five loaves of bread. He came and he looked with compassion and pity. And when the death for your sin and my sin was called in, he did not stutter, but he left. said jesus paid it all yeah and all to him we all had left the crimson stain but he washed me white as snow. What can wash away my sin? What can make me whole again? I'm sorry, y'all, but when I get happy...
I started singing and talking at the same time. What can wash away my sin? What can... He reaches For more information about our church, visit ProgressiveChicago.org. Progress is yours through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.