Trinity Baptist Church

Obvious Truths from Obscure Scriptures

Coming to Oneself

Luke 15:17

 

Nestled among the great stories of the Bible are some nuggets of truth that are often overlooked.  We are seeking though these summer months to uncover some of those “Obvious Truths from Obscure Scriptures”.

 

This morning I want to turn our attention for a few moments to a little verse found at Luke 15:17.  Luke 15 is a series of parables the Lord told regarding things that are lost.  He talks about lost coins, lost sheep and a lost son.

 

The verse we are considering comes from the last parable of the chapter, the story of a prodigal, rebellious son.  Now because of the wording used in the parables, we are often tempted to lump all these parables together and use them to call people to salvation. And I think that is certainly appropriate in regard to the first two. 

 

But this third parable is different.  In the first two, heaven rejoices because that which is lost is found and Jesus makes it clear he is talking about sinners who repent.  But with the third one there is no mention of heaven rejoicing over this sinner who has returned home. Instead, it is a son who has returned home and the Father is the one rejoicing.

 

So in my estimation the third parable deals primarily, not with the lost person who comes to salvation, but a child who wanders away and returns back home.

And while that has always been my conviction, I came across a little phrase recently in verse 17 that sealed the deal for me.  I had read it many, many times and have even preached on it, but I had never seen it as I did this week.  Listen to what we find in

 

Verse 17

 

Now everyone is familiar with the prodigal son and in just a few brief verses, Jesus describes the kind of life this boy has been leading. We don’t find a lot of detail, but what Jesus leaves out, the older brother is glad to fill in. Jesus simply says he wasted what he had living like a prodigal.  The older brother adds that his money was wasted on prostitutes. 

 

And very quickly we are given this picture of an arrogant, rebellious young man wasting his time and money and life in the company of the wrong crowd and sexual i8mmorality.

 

He is self-willed, self-indulgent, irreverent and rebellious and there is a tendency to write him off and think how repulsive one like this must be to the Lord except for one little phrase found in the text.  And that one little phrase causes us to reconsider our assessment and suspend our judgment of this prodigal son.

 

And that one little phrase is he “came to himself”.  Now newer translations say, “he came to his senses” or something like that, but that’s not what the original text says.  It literally translates, “he came to himself”.  In fact, in the New American Standard version, this word is translated 91 times as “himself” and only once, here in this verse as “senses”.

 

In the King James, it is translated “himself” 110 times, “his” 19 times, “itself” 9 times, “ourselves” 20 times, “their” 15, “themselves” 57, “yourselves” 36 and never as “senses”.

 

He came, not to his senses.  He came to himself. So what does that mean?  It means that for that period of time when he was involved in prodigal behavior, he was not “himself”.      

 

What we see and discover and observe in the prodigal is not the real son. The real boy was the penitent, not the prodigal. He was never himself until his heart was breaking, and the memories of home came welling over him until he cried, "I will arise and go to my father, and say unto him, Father, I have sinned."

 

And by the way, you enjoy that same kind of allowance yourself.  How many times have you been cross or irritable or grouchy and someone has said of you, “She’s just not herself today?  When someone whom we have known for years or worked alongside does something uncharacteristic, we say, "That’s not the man he really is.”

 

I sat at the bedside of an elderly deacon’s wife in another town and witnessed what dementia had done in stealing her mind.  I listened as she cursed her husband of over sixty years with language that would embarrass the crudest of men. And I watched as he gently patted her hand and said, “That’s not momma.”

 

We need to remember that a man is more than his vices or his failures or weaknesses in a given moment.

If you want to know what a man really is, then you must see him at his best in the security of his relationship with God through Jesus Christ.  That’s why I believe this man was not a lost son who pictures salvation, but a son from start to finish who we see for just a brief moment through the parable of Christ.

 

By the way, how would you like for us to make up our mind about who you are on your worst day and expressing your worst behavior?

 

Consider how Jesus judged humanity. He was a perpetual optimist.  He always seemed to see the best in people.  He never made light of sin or condoned it. To Him it was always terrible and tragic.

 

But He knew when a believer was at his worst, doing what he shouldn’t, that was not the real man.  Sin was a bondage and an enemy and only when that enemy was defeated and that bondage broken could a man really be what God had designed him to be. And it is there we discover our first truth.

 

Listen:

 

 

Have you seen those “Snickers” commercials that says “You’re not you when you’re hungry?

 

Here’s one of my favorites.

 

There is a great spiritual truth in that.  Not so much when you’re hungry, but when you are sinning, you are not you.

I’m not making excuses or pretending our sin doesn’t matter.  I’m just saying if you are rebelling against God as a child of God, that is not who you are.  That is not what Christ died to make you.  It is not the desire and character of a true believer to live in the slop of the world.

 

In fact, our true self is only seen when we are victorious over that sin and the power of God changes us into the very image of Christ. Think of how that is illustrated in other places in the Bible.

 

Think for example of the time Jesus is traveling to Jerusalem.  He had begun to speak very plainly of His upcoming death and it was all so terrible and shocking to Peter.  And when Peter had finally had enough, he just blurts it out: "Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!” And in a heartbeat, Jesus turns on this fiery disciple and says, “Get behind me, Satan."

 

Now just moments before, Peter had made that brilliant statement, “You are the Christ the Son of the Living God!”  And Jesus was so thrilled He says God had to tell you that.  And then He talks about building the church and the part Peter will play in that.

 

Now that was the real Peter, so close to God, he could discern spiritual truth that had never been uttered before.  And now that same mouth is moving, but it’s not the same Peter who’s speaking!

It was something lesser and lower than the rock.  It is that base, human nature within us that craves being in control.

 

And Jesus acknowledges that this is not Peter. He says, "Get behind Me, not Peter, but Satan." In other words, Peter was not himself then, any more than the prodigal out in the pigpen was himself.

 

And when Jesus looked at Peter, he saw the real Peter.  There were heights and abilities and gifts that no one saw but Christ.

And it was to that Peter that Jesus said, You are Peter!  You are the Rock.”

 

Aren’t you glad God doesn’t measure you by your failures, but instead by your potential? It’s easy to evaluate Peter by all the mistakes he made.  It’s easy to be critical of him cursing and denying and running and protecting his own backside.

 

It’s easy to measure any man by failures. Vices are much more visible than virtues.  But that’s not how God does it.  He doesn’t measure men by their lowest and basest elements.  He doesn’t kick us when we’re down.  He doesn’t throw us away when we mess up.

 

Peter failed and fell and stumbled and cursed and denied, but through it all Jesus proclaimed, “You are Peter” until he came to himself and was Peter indeed!

 

Now it seems to me the objective of this boy in leaving home was to “find himself”.  When he asked for his inheritance and took off from home, it was his intention to make his mark in the world.  He couldn’t stand being cooped up on that lonely farm any longer.

 

 

 

That was no place for an up and coming young man such as himself, and I am confident when he went away into the far country, he was convinced he was finally going to get to be his own man.

 

No longer would he be under the rules and regulations of home.  He was going to live it up and enjoy life and grab all the gusto he could.  The world had too much to offer for him to be sitting at home letting it all pass by him.

 

Life was too short, the opportunity too valuable to miss, so he left it all behind and journeyed, as the text says, to a far country.  He got as far away from home as he possibly could.  He left to “find himself”.

 

And sure enough he did but it wasn’t at all what he expected. Christ drops us into his story and we find him broke and broken, begging for pig slop, alone and desperate.  And what he discovered is that what he was out there in the world was not at all who he was.  It was only when he came face-to-face with how miserable he was that he “found himself”.

 

And the same is true with us. God is not content to leave us where we are.  It is His desire that we “find ourself” also. If you think as a child of God you can take your inheritance and waste it on the world and get by with, you are in for a rude awakening and that’s where we discover the second obvious truth from this parable.

 

Even though a child of God is not “himself” when he is out of God’s will,

 

 

 A man is no less guilty for his failures, because they do not represent his real character.  We can try to shift the blame and responsibility all we want to, but ultimately we must answer for actions.  It’s not your parents fault; it’s not society’s fault; it’s not because you had a bad upbringing or didn’t get to your vitamins as a child.  We must take responsibility for our conduct while we are in the far country.

 

I don’t suppose there is anything more off-putting than someone making excuses for their behavior and we find out early on in Scripture that God has not tolerance for excuses.  Adam and Eve mess up; God confronts them and immediately the excuses begin.  It was the woman’s fault; it was the serpent’s fault; ultimately it must be God’s fault.  After all he made the woman.

 

It is so easy to make excuses for ourselves.  We were tired or we were having a bad day.  Listen:  everybody gets tired and has a bad day from time to time but as a child of God, that does not give us the liberty to act like the devil.  We do not have the freedom to lose our temper or act like an idiot.

 

We excuse our behavior away and say “I just couldn’t control myself” or “It’s just the way I am”.  That is a cop-out and denies the very essence of our faith.  Jesus died and rose from the grave so you would never have to say that.  By the same power that resurrected Jesus from the grave, you and I have the privilege of living a victorious, overcoming Christina life, no matter what the circumstances of our day or how tired we are.

 

 

 

Of all the bad habits in the world, I don’t suppose there is one any more repulsive to God than making excuses for ourselves.

 

Make excuses for others if you want to, but not yourself.  You don’t know what others are going through.  Maybe they’re having a bad day or are tired.  Make allowances for those that irritate you and trouble you and aggravate you, but when it comes to you, man up and take responsibility for yourself!

 

Study your Bible and you will make a fascinating discovery regarding the way Jesus treats people.  You will never find Jesus making allowances for the man who makes excuses for himself.  Jesus never joins our pity parties.

 

In fact, He presents this bizarre severity when it comes to how we must deal with our won sin.  He’s the one Who said, “If your right hand offends you, cut it off. If your right eye offends you , pull it out of the socket.

 

And if we will ever really be what God has designed for us to be, there will have to be that same kind of severity regarding our own sinfulness. It’s amazing what masters we are at excusing away our sin.  It’s just a little white lie.  It’s no big deal, but I submit to you any sin for which Jesus Christ shed His blood is a big deal!

 

Just get honest about it.  Realize it is that which keeps you from being like Christ and knowing the fullness of His blessing and the intimacy of relationship in His family.  And when we do, this amazing thing happens.

When we are the most severe with our sin is when we find Jesus the most merciful to us.  Travel with Jesus down to the temple as he observes two men praying.  One is a Pharisee who is so imipressed with himself.  He goes on and on about how holy he is.  He doesn’t even talk to God.  He just repeats for his own listening enjoyment what a fine man he is.

 

The other, a despised tax collector, won’t even lift his eyes, but overcome with his sinfulness, calls upon God to be merciful to a sinner like himself.  Jesus said, “Only one of the two left the temple that day right with God” and the one who found mercy was the one who was honest about himself.

 

Read the parable before us today and you will notice this prodigal made no excuses. He never said, "Well, boys will be boys. . ." He never said, "This is just the way my family is.  You’ve got to realize what kind of upbringing I’ve had and that my momma didn’t hug me enough.”

 

He said, “Father, I’ve sinned.  I’ve been a selfish, good-for-nothing reprobate and I don’t deserve to even be in the family.”  And it was then, when he was honest about himself that he was ready to go home.

 

One final truth we find here in Luke 15.

 

 

In fact, I would say that was the one great aim of Jesus while He was on the earth.  He came that we might know and demonstrate the fullness of what it means to be humans filled with God.

That’s exactly why He came as He did.  Jesus could have chosen any form he desired.  He could have been an angel or a giant monster.  He could have gotten the world’s attention in a myriad of ways but He chose to come into this world and live his life as a man full of God.

 

And that’s what He wants for us.  Early in His ministry, He said to those listening, “You are the salt of the earth and the light of the world.”  What a ridiculous statement to make to this little group of vagabond followers.  They were unlearned; uneducated, and even unprincipled.

 

But when filled with the Spirit of God, they became everything Jesus professed them to be.  It was as they became less and He became more in them that His words became flesh in them.  

 

He saw from the first encounter all that was hidden in Simon and Matthew, Lazarus and Mary and Peter and John. And He came to live with them and teach them and show them what He expected out of them.  And He modeled it and put it into living color before their very eyes and then He said, “Now you go and do the same thing.”

 

And after He left the earth, He sent His Holy Spirit to live in them and placed the Holy Scriptures in their hands and He stayed with the task until finally, just like the prodigal, they came to themselves.

 

And that is His goal with you and me.  He didn’t save us to let us sit and be what we’ve always been.  That’s not us.  No one is born with the true fullness of what they really are.

 

It is only when God takes up residence and molds and shapes and fashions and teaches and develops us until we finally come to “ourself” that His work is accomplished.

 

And I’m afraid that far too often God is more committed to that process than are we.  For too long, many of God’s children have been content to live as a prodigal.  And while you are satisfied with the slop of the world, your Heavenly Father stands on the porch anxiously awaiting the day you come to yourself and return home.

 

Now here is the great irony of the prodigal’s experience.  He left home seeking freedom and wound up in bondage.  It was only when he “came to himself” and returned home that he was really free.

 

Real freedom is not that we are free to do whatever we want.  It is the freedom to be ourselves under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.  The only way to come to oneself is to come to Christ.  And if the Son shall set you free, you shall be free indeed.  I want you to know the Father anxiously awaits your arrival.   Jesus believes in you and died to prove it.  The future is brighter than you could ever imagine.  The past may be disgraceful and embarrassing, but today you can put it all behind you.

 

For the prodigal, the journey to home began when he said, “I will arise” and the same is true for you.  Make up your mind right now that at the very first note of this invitation hymn, you will arise and come to Jesus so that you might come to yourself.

 

Let’s pray.