2 Corinthians 5:16-21; Luke 15:1-3, 11-32 3-18-07
We want God’s power to be at work in our lives. That is the goal of Christ. Christ came to earth and died for our sin so the power of God could be at work in us. Paul tells the Corinthians that when we receive the love of God in Christ, we become a new creation, washed clean, forgiven from sin, set free from guilt and the powers of destruction.
In Jesus’ parable, the prodigal son said to his father, "I wish you were dead so I could have my inheritance." How much that must have wounded his father. But he was a grown-up. So his father let him go. What he did when we went was worse. The son turned his back on his home, his religion, on responsibility, on prudence. He wasted all of his dad’s hard-earned money.

I’ve done that. I can look back on my life and see the moments, years, foolishness, where I said to God, "I know yours ways, but I want to go MY way. I’m taking all the good things you’ve given me and heading off on my own." The truth is, I still wrestle with this.

Beloved, everyone who walks in this church is dealing with this. We have all messed up in our lives. We have all hurt our loved ones, told lies, been caught up in alcohol, drugs, or sexual things that were not right. We’ve stolen things, claimed credit for what was not our own. We’ve encouraged friends to do what we all knew was wrong. We’ve told terrible lies about others; we’ve been involved in abortions. Every one of us has done things that are shameful, false, and destructive.

Why didn’t the prodigal come home sooner? Why did he let things get so bad that he was starving? I think it’s our fear. We don’t give up destructive ways sooner – no just because we’re in love with things that ruin us, but because we are afraid that we are no good, rotten, failures, that we are no better than garbage and that God hates us.
The Prodigal Son has a breakthrough – the Scripture says "he comes to his senses." His breakthrough is the realization that his father will not beat him, disown him, and reject him. That if he goes back home – with everything he’s done wrong, his dad will still hire him to work on the farm and treat him decently. Out of the mess of his life, he comes to see his father clearly.

Beloved, this is my prayer for us today. That out of the mess of our lives, we can see God is a good and loving God. God does not want to smash us. In God’s eyes, we are NOT garbage, but his precious sons and daughters.
The Prodigal rises up and goes back home because he realizes his father’s nature is love. Beloved, we can rise up and go home to God.

The Prodigal shows us a key to the power of God working in us, a key to new life in Christ: that we quit hiding, quit running away, and own up to our problems (our sin).

We are stuck in our problems until we own up to them. "I messed up. I blew it. I was wrong." Our beginning is to face how we have messed up, how we have failed, how our souls are full of greedy, false, self-centered things. Scripture says that God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. Let us be humble, go to God and own up to our sin: "Father, I sinned against you."

Doing this involves prayer and honesty before God and others. OWNING UP TO OUR MISTAKES IS HOW WE BECOME FREE FROM THE THINGS THAT RUIN OUR LIVES. IT’S HOW WE COME HOME TO GOD. When we admit our failure, we open our heart to receive the power of Christ. When we ask for forgiveness and restoration, we offer ourselves to become new creations of God.

In the parable, Jesus shows us a picture of this. The Prodigal has faced his own sin and is coming back home. What happens? Jesus says, “While he was still a long way off, his father saw him.”  “Why did his father see him? Because his father was looking. His father was at the window every day, watching for his son to return home.
Beloved, our Father in heaven is at the window every day. He’s looking for you. He yearns for you to come home. You are precious to him; you are essential to the joy of his heart. The Father doesn’t just stand and look. He sends Christ out – into our world, into our lives – to knock at the door of our heart. If you hear truth, deep in your heart today, that the Father is watching for you, that God has sent His Son to the cross for you – THAT is the Holy Spirit testifying to the things of heaven, telling you that YOU MATTER TO GOD. Beloved, if you hear the Spirit, if you know that the Father is waiting at the window for your return, will you come home? Will you own up to your sin and receive the forgiveness of God?

Brother Jerome, at the Abbey of the Genesee in NY says, Jesus tells us that God our Father will hasten to greet and embrace all who confess their sins and humbly beg for His mercy and forgiveness. By the will of the Father and the working of the Holy Spirit, each repentant sinner is transformed into a member of the Body of Christ. The Son who did not know sin became sin so that we who are sinners might come to know the holiness of God.

When we come home to the Father, God will not only wash us clean, in Christ, God will also transform us in Christ. God gives us a new life – so we can be close to God, so we can see His power at work, so we can enjoy the good things of heaven, so our friendships can be loyal and good, so our families can be healed. When we yield to God, the love of Christ will fill us so we will be made new.

If you have been a prodigal, God is watching at the window for your return. If there’s something that you need to own up to so you can receive Christ’s forgiveness, God wants you to be bathed in mercy.
This church is glad to pray for you. Call the church office and ask that your prayer would be given to the Prayer Chain. Come to worship on Sunday and join in worship and prayer. Bring your needs and pain to the sanctuary and sit in the peace of God, receiving God’s love for you.

God wants to pour his power and healing into your life. God wants to take your pain and give you his joy. God wants to fill your life with His peace.