A Father’s Love

All righty, Salt Church. How we doing? Hey, there we go. There we go. That was the one I was looking for earlier.

This morning, we have the great, great, great pleasure of hearing from Grant Sappington this morning. He has prepared a message for us from God about the love of a Father. So, Grant, if you want to go ahead and come on up. We are so blessed and so thankful. This is going to be a truly special treat.

Salt Church, how's everybody doing this morning? Am I on? All right, so good morning and welcome to Salt Church and Happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there. Happy Father's Day to others to be. So I know a couple in our church, if there's anybody else that's a father to be, happy Father's Day early, nine months early, however long it is.

So my message this morning is called A Father's Love. And I figured what would be, Father's Day would not be complete without a couple dad jokes, right? So there's only three. If they're too painful, you can get up and walk out and take a break. What did the baby computer call his dad?

Dad. Data. When does a dad joke become a dad joke? When it becomes apparent. And what did the daddy buffalo say to its son before it left for school?

By son. Yeah, she cheated because she already heard these jokes. Wait, you didn't hear this one earlier, did you? Okay. Okay, that's the only dad jokes there will be now.

So I have a couple quotes that I found that I think are also appropriate for Father's Day. The first one is from Reed Markham. And it says, being a father is like shaving. No matter how good you shave today, you have to do it again tomorrow. And that's the truth.

The other one is from John Green. And it says, the nature of impending fatherhood is that you are doing something that you're unqualified to do. And then you become qualified while doing it. So for anybody that's a father to be out there, I put that in here to encourage you. If you feel unqualified, or even if you are a dad today, a father, you know, there's stuff that you do along the way, you know, when they're a newborn, when they're a toddler.

There's stuff you've never done before. And you don't become qualified until you actually do it. So hopefully that's an encouragement to fathers out there today, this morning. So the scripture that this sermon comes from is Luke 15, chapter 15, verses 11 through 32. And this is the parable of the prodigal son.

And I'm sure some of you in here may be familiar with this parable already. But I just wanted to preach on this because I think it's important for us to realize the way that our father loves us and the way that he shows his love to us. And I think this parable shows that very, very clearly. So in Luke 15, 11, it says, And he said, There was a man who had two sons, and the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me. And he divided his property between them.

Now many days later, the younger son gathered all 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. 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 fattened 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. And there is a little more that goes to the rest of the parable. I didn't include that this morning because I just wanted to focus on this first portion.

So one thing before I begin the sermon is, in our lives, our earthly fathers that we have, they have a big impact on our lives. And sometimes, whether our father was distant or not interested, harsh or critical, or just, you know, if our fathers weren't there or weren't around, that can affect the way that we view our Heavenly Father. So just as an encouragement today, I just want this message to be an encouragement to you. If you had an earthly dad that wasn't around that much or wasn't that supportive, that's not how our Heavenly Father is. That is not how He is at all.

And hopefully this parable will help us understand the way our Heavenly Father is. So in this parable, at the very beginning, the son comes to the father and he says, he says, you know, what did he say? He says, The younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me. And he divided his property between them. So, God gives, He gives us the freedom to make our own choices in life.

God isn't there, if you notice in this parable, the father didn't say to the son when he asked him for his property, No, you can't have, no, you can't have that. You need to stay here and serve me. And like, you know, kind of kept him in bondage, right? He let him go. He let him make his own choice.

He let him take his inheritance that he had, and he let him leave. And God does the same thing with us today. If we choose to come and, you know, be in God's house, or not even in God's house, if we choose to serve God, you know, the Bible says, Choose this day whom you will serve. And God gives us that choice. He doesn't stand in our way.

God respects our independence, and He lets us go the way that we want to go. If we want to go and, you know, we want to go and, you know, live reckless living, riotous living, things like that, He'll let us do it. Psalm 24 and 1 also, everything that we have belongs to God. So everything that we have currently is His. And Psalm 24 and 1 says, The earth is the Lord's and everything in it, the world and all its people belong to Him.

And so in this story, in this parable, the Son, everything that He got came from His Father. All the inheritance, all these things that He got, all that money and all His possessions were the Father's, and He gave them to Him freely. So to me, that shows that God loves us so much that He'll give us everything that He has. He doesn't withhold anything back from us. And even when we mess up, later in the story, you know, in the parable, even when we mess up, God doesn't take away things from us.

God opened us. God received us, God opened us, God came in us, He's so loving and He's so kind that He still gives to us unconditionally. And the next area that I wanted to go over is that life has a way of bringing about the need, our need, for the Father. And in verse 14 it says, 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. So when our life is at its lowest, our need for the Father is at its greatest. So sometimes when life is easy, and things are going our way, and gas is $2.85 a gallon, we're like, I don't know if I need to tithe today. It's fine.

Gas is cheap. But when gas gets to like $5 a gallon, or you live in California, hopefully not, it's like $7 something over there, you're like, I need to tithe, God. I need your help today. So when our life is at its lowest, we need Him the most. And calamity and hard times have a way of bringing us back to the Father.

And rest assured that God has our number on speed dial. So I don't know if anybody knows what speed dial is. Hopefully you know what that is. He has us on instant messenger. He can send us a message anytime He wants.

So if you feel far from God, or you have family or friends that are far from God, He knows exactly where they are. He knows us better than we know ourselves. And so, and He also knows how to reach out to us at just the right moment. So just as an encouragement, if you have family or you have friends today that may not be close to God or close to the Father, you can rest assured that God knows exactly how to reach people when they need to be reached. He knows exactly where they are.

He knows what they are doing. And all of those things. And He loves them so much. The next point that I have is that broken people need the love of the Father. In verse 17, So the son realized that he couldn't make it on his own anymore.

And sometimes that is the way our lives are. We think that everything is fine and good until a calamity happens in our lives. Until something happens. And we realize we need God. What really gets me is where the son says in verse 19, Treat me as one of your hired servants.

So, he knew that he needed the Father. And he knew that he had messed up. But he said, You know, I am not worthy to be your son anymore. I am worthy to be a hired servant. That is the way he looked at himself in his own eyes, in his own estimation.

He did not think that he was worthy to go back and be restored to the same position that he was before. But God. And the Father eagerly awaits us to return to him. It is not like when this happened and the son was on his way to the Father. It says from a long way off, he saw his son coming to him and he ran after him.

He ran towards him. So, as soon as he saw him, he had compassion on him. As soon as he saw him, he loved him in spite of his failures. And the son had true repentance. He knew, the father knew already that his son had known, he knew in his heart, like, My son knows that he messed up.

Or, you know, my daughter, my daughter knows that she's messed up. And even before you, you know, if you've never known the father or, you know, you've strayed from the father and you're out there on your own. The moment that you decide in your heart to come back, God will meet you there. He will meet you there. He will not wait.

The moment you feel in your heart and your mind, he said, I need to go back to my father. He's waiting for you to come back. Yeah, he's already waiting. It's not like God is sitting there. It's not like the father is sitting there waiting.

And he's like, oh, man. Well, there goes, you know, there goes Grant. Or, you know, there goes, you know, whoever. I mean, they're just out there. I thought a couple names came to mind, but I figured I shouldn't say those.

So, it's not like God, the father was not just sitting by thinking about, man, my son is just out there. You know, my daughter's out there. And she is just, he is just wasting away all the inheritance that I gave, I gave to them. I can't believe that they're out there doing that. I am so disappointed in him.

That's not what the father was thinking. The father was thinking, I wish that my son would come home. I wish my daughter would come home. And for him to have that kind of compassion on us when we have done nothing, you know, nothing to deserve that is amazing. And the father also, he wipes our slate clean.

So, even though the son had squandered everything that he gave him, I mean, he had nothing left. He had nothing left. It says that he, let me see, I'm sorry, I keep having to scroll back up. So, it says, And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country and he began to be in need. And he was longing, skip down to verse 16, he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate and no one gave him anything.

You see, when you're out in the world, the prodigal son went out and he was in the world and everything was fine because he had a bunch of money. And he had all these things and everything was going good. He probably had a lot of friends, he probably drank with a lot of people, had a bunch of parties, you know, you know. So, but then when, yeah, I mean, yeah, I'm guessing, but that's the way it is in our life, right? We have the money, we have the prestige, we have the fame, the popularity, all of these things.

But when all of that runs out, where does it leave us? It leaves us with the pigs longing to be fed with the pods that they ate, but they wouldn't even give him that. So the world wouldn't even give him. That's a picture of somebody in the world today that's out there and they have nothing left. They have nothing left.

And even the pods that the pigs eat, they don't even get those. So the world will not, when you're down on your luck, the world and the people in the world, they're not going to give you. They're not, they're going to turn their back on you and you're going to be alone. And the only person that you're going to have to turn to is the father, is the father. And when you turn to him, he wipes your slate clean.

And redemption of the son was also, it was a great time of celebration. It wasn't like, you know, oh, well, look, I mean, my, oh, yeah, okay. Look, you know, the prodigal son has returned. He's come back now. You know?

What do you have left? Oh, you don't have anything left. You have no money left whatsoever. Are you serious? You didn't save anything?

You didn't put anything aside? Nothing. You have nothing left, right? Okay, well, yeah, okay. Come back in, I'll make you one of my hired servants, and you can work off the inheritance, right?

Is that what he did in the story? No. No, he restored him back to a position and a place of honor. The same position that he was at when he left. So the prodigal son left, he was a son, and this is a picture, this parable is a picture of somebody that knows the father and decided that they're leaving.

They're leaving and they're going to go out, and they're going to do their own thing. This isn't really a picture of somebody that's never known the father. He was already a son already, or a daughter. And when he came back, what did he do? He gave him a robe.

It says, But the father said to his servants, Bring quickly the best robe, not just a robe, the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet, and bring the fattened 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. So, if you think about that whole, those verses, he brought out the best robe.

He brought out a ring, which indicates sonship, right? He didn't say, Oh, I'm going to hire you back as, you know, you're going to be one of my hired servants and you're going to work for me. He welcomed him back as a son. And this today, this is the exact same thing that God does with us today. It doesn't matter what you've done.

It doesn't matter how long you've been gone. It doesn't matter how much you've squandered. The only thing that the father cares about is that you come back. That's the only thing that the father cares about is that you come back. And that's what he's waiting.

He's waiting on. So, also, nothing can separate us from the father's love. God's love is stronger than all of life's troubles. Anything that you can go through, anything that you've been through in the past, his love is stronger than all of those things. Any past relationship that you've had, no matter what the relationship that you had with your earthly father is, that is not the way, if your dad was absent, if he was critical, if he was harsh, if he wasn't there, your heavenly father is not like that at all.

He is kind and compassionate and loving. And he always holds on to us, no matter what happens. Even when we let go of the father, he is still holding on to us. So, his love never fades. In Psalm 136, verse 26, God's word says, Give thanks to the God of heaven, for his steadfast love endures forever.

That means that his love is never ending. It means that you can't do anything, you can't do anything to make God love you any less. So, you may have done, you may have done things in the past to upset people or parents or things like that. But that doesn't mean that that's the same relationship that God has with you. So, please know that today.

Please know that God loves you. The father loves you. And he wants you to be with him. Like he can't wait. I don't know if you understand, but it's not like he's waiting.

He's sitting around waiting for you to come back, playing, you know, Angry Birds or something on his phone. Like, he's eagerly awaiting you to come back. If you're not there, he misses you. Like, he wants you to be there with him. That's good.

That's right. Excuse me. So, as believers today, what is our role? As Christian brothers and sisters, what is our role? Or what about the prodigals in our lives?

I'm getting ahead of myself. We may think in our own estimation, in our own minds, you know, in hearts, about people we know, family, friends, acquaintances, people we work with. Oh man, they are far from God. They are completely, they are so far away that I don't think it's possible for them to ever find the Father, ever find God. But I'm here to let you know today that God knows exactly where those people are.

He knows what they're doing. He knows them intimately. Even if they don't know Him, He knows them. And He also knows exactly how to bring them back. So, we may think that somebody is lost beyond measure, but there is nobody that's lost, too lost for God to find.

Even if they don't, even if somebody can't make it, or sometimes through life circumstances, that's why this parable is so, so appropriate for some people, because some people may never see their need for the Father unless they're trying to eat the pods that pigs eat. And that's the thing with us is, you know, we need to keep on praying for people. So, our role, for our friends and our family that don't know the Father, the one thing we need to do is never give up. Never give up on them. The Father never gave up on His Son and hoping and knowing one day that He would return.

And He also kept believing. He kept on praying. And He kept on loving. He kept on loving His Son no matter what. And that unconditional love is something that God shows us, the Father shows us every day.

You know, whether we are a believer, you know, we know the Father or not. So, today, I really think as Christians, as believers, we need to do the same thing as the Father in this story, is, you know, praying for people, believing that they're going to, you know, they're going to come back one day, and then receiving them with joy when they come back. You know, we should receive people with joy. When they get saved, they first come to know the Lord, that's a joyful thing. I mean, it says in the Bible that angels rejoice in heaven, so why don't we rejoice?

Why don't we rejoice? When people come to the Lord or they come home, we should be dancing and shouting and singing. We should not be able to wait until people come back to the Father. I mean, we should be able, I mean, if we see people coming, I mean, no matter if it's the church building or if somebody calls you in the middle of the night or they text you or they're on Facebook and you can tell that they're ready. You can tell that they're like, hey, I don't know, like, what's going on in my life.

I'm not sure what to do. I'm not sure how I'm going to get gas in my car or this or that. That's your moment to reach out to them and help them realize, show them God's love, that you cannot wait for them to come to the Father. Here we go, there. So, some questions that I thought about when I was reading this parable is, what if this is actually true?

What if you have a Heavenly Father that actually loves you like this and loves your family and your friends like this? What does that mean? What does that mean for us? What if God is actually like this? And He actually is like this.

What if God can't wait to have us around? And what if He doesn't care about the half-hearted I'm sorry's that we bring? Because in the parable, the son rehearsed this great speech that he had, you know, I've sinned against you, I've sinned against heaven, please make me one of your hired servants. But he only got through like half of it. He only got through a part of it before his father said, no, no, bring quickly the best robe.

Bring the ring. Bring shoes and put them on his feet. And then the last question is, what difference would really believing all this make and how I look at pretty much everything in my life and the people around me? And what would it look like if I love the way God loves in this story? So in this parable, it's not a story.

So I just want to encourage everybody today and let you know that the Father truly loves you. And if you're far from God today, if you feel far from God in your hearts, in your heart, He's waiting for you to come back with open arms unconditionally. There's no conditions to it. There's no strings attached. There's nothing that you have to do to return to the Father or come to the Father for the first time if you've never come to the Father.

God doesn't attach any strings. There's no, you know, exit clauses. I think I was watching Shrek the other day and, you know, we were watching it with our daughters and, you know, we're Rumpelstiltskin is like, he has Shrek sign the thing to become an ogre for a day. You know, and the donkey's like, his exit clauses are sneaky. So God doesn't have, God does not have any entrance or exit clauses for anything that you have in life.

So any relationship that you've had with a parent, a father figure, or your real father, mother, anything like that has no bearing whatsoever on the way that you have a relationship with your heavenly Father. And if you're a father out there and you mess up, as we do a lot, it's okay to mess up because we have a great example of our heavenly Father, you know, and Jesus Christ and the way that he treated children, the way that he treats us is the way that we treat our children. So we fall short, but as long as you're, you're doing your best, uh, you know, and you're, you know, you do your best, you love your kids, everything will come out, you know, in the end. So, I mean, again, if your earthly father, father disappointed you and was not there, you can trust God. He will never leave you and he will always welcome you back with open arms, with loving arms.

So I just want to go ahead and close us out in prayer today. And, uh, I just want to thank you guys for the opportunity to, uh, to preach this morning. Um, so, uh, with all eyes bowed, uh, heads bowed and eyes closed, heavenly father, we thank you for this day, uh, that you have blessed us with. We thank you for the worship service today. Thank you for, uh, the serve team that set everything up this morning.

We, uh, pray that you would be pleased with everything that was done here today. Lord, uh, we pray that, uh, for those that aren't here today with us, that are people online, we pray that you would be with them and that your Holy spirit would rest on them wherever they are. Uh, we pray for anybody today, Lord, that doesn't know you, uh, and has never known, known you father God. And we ask that, uh, that today, today is the day that they can know you Lord. Today is the day not let today be the day, but today is the day that they can come to you, Lord God, and you will accept them with loving and open arms unconditionally.

And also if there's anyone here today that feels far from God in your hearts, you may have been here in church or, or watching online and you're a believer, but if you feel in your heart that you're far from God, you can still come back. You can return to the father and he will also, it doesn't matter what you've done. It doesn't matter if you feel like you've messed up. I mean, the son, the son of the story came, went from eating with pigs and came back to his father. So you can come to God and you can come to the father in any way that you are right now.

Lord God, we, uh, we pray that you would be with each one of us today. Lord, we thank you for the service and I would pray that you would go with each one of us here today and that your spirit would go with each one of us. Lord, we thank you for all these things in Jesus name. We pray. Amen.