Well, when speaking to God, Jesus always called God Dada, Father, except once.
We're about to hear a story that Jesus told.
We've already heard it in the kids' talk.
We're going to hear what Jesus said through the word as well.
And it's a story of father and two sons.
And we're told that listening to this story, there's two groups of people listening in when Jesus first said this.
There were sinners who had clearly broken God's rules, who thought they could find fulfillment in life by making their own rules.
And then there was the devoutly religious types who thought they could find fulfillment in life by keeping God's rules.
And Jesus is saying both groups have a wrong picture of God.
So as we hear this story, I hope we're all prepared to have our view of God challenged by this story.
So I'm going to invite James up to read us part one, and then I'll say a few more words.
So we'll be reading from Luke 15.
Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to him.
And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying,
This man receives sinners and eats with them.
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.
Not 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 the 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 will 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.
Treat me as one of your hired servants.
And he arose and came to his father.
But while he was still a long way off,
his father saw him and felt compassion,
and ran and embraced him and kissed him.
And the son said 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.
Well, let's imagine a family-owned farm.
It's been passed down generation to generation,
and we hear the younger son say to his father,
Father, give me my share of the property.
Now, you know as well as I do,
plenty of families argue over the will when someone dies.
But do you hear what he's saying?
To ask for this while his dad is still alive is to wish him dead.
It's to go, I want your stuff, not you.
Now, that would get the blood boiling in anyone, right,
in any father today.
But in ancient Middle Eastern culture back then,
to have your honour so blatantly offended like that,
any self-respecting man would have just cut him from the family,
kicked him out,
and said, you're not getting anything.
Get out.
So as shocking as the request is,
like it should shock us that a son would treat a dad like this,
what's more shocking is the father's response.
He divided his property between his sons.
His life was bound up with the land.
I think our indigenous brothers and sisters understand this better,
that it's not so much that the land belonged to him,
it's more that he belonged to the land.
So the word used here is actually he divided his life between them.
He didn't tear shreds off his son.
This father bears the pain of rejected love and he tears himself apart.
And then this younger son, thinking he can have a better life,
making his own rules,
takes his wealth as far away from the family as possible
and lives in self-indulgence.
And of course it eventually runs out.
If you live for things that can't last,
they don't last.
It runs out.
A feminine hits.
And his actions had cut himself off from all true family
because of his self-indulgence
and he ends up alone.
No one will give him anything.
Now I think self-indulgence,
it can't end in any other place.
If you put yourself before family,
you put yourself before community,
you put yourself before God,
when we lose everything,
of course we end up alone.
It's in hard times that we feel how empty life is
when we live for things that don't last.
So I'm wondering,
have you experienced rock bottom yet?
Have you hit rock bottom like this son did?
There's some things in life that just come from left field
and things you've been building in life on
just get stripped away.
Have you hit rock bottom before?
Maybe that's what's prompted you to come to church today.
If it is,
I hope you hear in Jesus' story
that you might feel really hopeless at the moment,
but Jesus is saying that hopeless feeling,
it feels like hell,
but it's actually the doorway to true hope.
This story gives you a picture of God
of the way back to true life.
But it's not in the way
that most people try and reinvent themselves,
and this story shows us that.
This son does what many try to do.
He comes up with a plan to redeem himself.
He knows he can't undo the past.
He can't.
He's done too much damage to the relationship.
But he comes up with a plan,
at least let me make it up to you a bit.
I know I can't be in the family,
but let me work for you.
Let me pay something back.
So he turns around
and he goes home.
And I think when we try,
when we experience hard times in life,
when we hit rock bottom,
I think a lot of people try and turn to religion,
thinking that if I come back to God,
if I come back to church,
if I give something back,
if I give a bit of money,
if I turn up a little bit,
if I volunteer a little bit,
then I can reinvent myself.
If I give something back to God,
he might help me turn my life around.
Now again, this story,
Jesus wants your life to be turned around,
but not in the way you might expect.
This father won't hear anything
of your self-made plan to redeem yourself.
He'll have none of it.
We hear in the story,
while the son's still a long way off,
his father saw him and felt compassion
and ran and embraced him and kissed him.
Now fathers back then,
they did not run.
Women ran.
Children ran.
So this guy,
his emotions are just letting loose.
His son's back.
He doesn't care what people think of him.
He doesn't hit or scold the son.
How dare you show your face?
He embraces him.
He doesn't rub his son's nose in what he's done,
like keeping him in guilt,
going,
you better make it up to me.
He doesn't do that.
He kisses him.
The son tries to implement his plan.
I've sinned against heaven and against you,
but he can't even get the words out.
This father will have none of it.
He won't even let him take a bath.
This son has no opportunity to clean up his act.
This father gets the coat,
puts it on him.
The father brings him back,
puts a ring on his finger.
He's part of the family.
You can't earn your way back.
This father will bring you back at his own cost.
Bring quickly the best robe and put it on him.
Ring on his hand,
shoes on his feet.
And this father wants to celebrate
because he's got his son back.
This son of mine was dead and is alive again.
He was lost and is found.
Do you know God like this kind of father?
You might be here today, like I've said,
trying to have a fresh start for yourself,
thinking that getting into religion
might start improving things.
But this father, God the father,
he won't let you clean up your act and prove yourself.
He will come to you.
At his own cost, he will bring you back.
He wants to embrace and kiss
and bring you back into the family.
And we know this for sure
because the one telling this story
is on the road to Jerusalem.
He's on a road where he knows at the end of it
is a cross.
And he's telling this story.
This father will bring you back at his cost
and he paid that cost on the cross.
It's not your plan of redemption that works.
It's his plan of redemption.
It's his cost.
He wants to bring you back.
So can I urge you to leave whatever plan you've got
to clean up your act at the cross
and just look to him.
Let him clean you.
Let him clothe you.
Let him make you God's child again.
You might feel a very long way from God.
But the moment he sees a desire to come back,
he will come to you.
He will meet you where you're at right now.
So can I urge you,
turn back to this kind of father.
Do it in your mind now.
Do it in the car on the way home.
But I suggest you get ready to pull over
because the tears are going to flow.
Be careful about that.
But do it.
This father just wants you back.
That's the kind of God he is.
And he wants to celebrate when you come back.
So that's part one of the story.
We've got part two coming.
But I want to pause there.
And we're going to sing another song.
And then we're going to hear from Don McMurray
who's going to tell us a bit of his story
of how he was brought to this father.
And he asked me to say he's truncated the story down.
And then James will bring us part two of the story
and I'll say a few more words.
So let's sing and then we'll hear from Don
and then we'll hear the next part.
If anyone's looking for pride and prejudice,
I've got the DVD at home.
Of course, the first thing that God hates
out of six things is pride.
And I think pride was the downfall of my life
in part of it at any rate.
But at the age of zero, being born,
like the newborn baby just heard about,
they called me Donald.
Donald meets proud chief.
And pride is always there with me
as a bit of an extrovert
and a show off in so many ways.
But I can't remember never being at church
unless I was sick or something else was drastically wrong
from the age of two,
riding on my father's shoulders,
coming from the Presbyterian church at Bangalore.
And even as we moved to Newcastle in 1938,
my father was an elder in the Presbyterian church
at St Andrews,
superintendent of the Sunday school.
And I was always there at church.
By the time I was 14,
I was in year nine
and knocked around with a bit of a mob
around the Cooksville area,
stealing, lying, cheating,
and filthy and thought and word and deed.
And I was so bad at school,
I neglected everything then
and failed every subject
and they put me back to year eight from year nine.
I shamed my father and my mother
and people that looked to me
and thought I was a lovely little boy,
they didn't know my heart.
I brushed up my act,
left the mob
and did well at school the following year
and I thought I'd be a teacher,
went on to year 10,
but mucked up a bit at school
and decided I'd leave school again
and earn some money like my mates.
My third job was in a bank,
a union bank in Hunter Street
and at 18 they wanted to send me to the country
and no way was I going to go
because I just started playing state under 21 hockey
and hockey became my god.
Sport was the thing that I lived for really,
although I was everything at church.
At 18 also I joined the Freemasons
with my father and two brothers.
To be a Freemason you had to be good enough
and so I felt pretty good about that
and everyone blackballed me
and I thought, well, I'm doing pretty good.
By the time I was 20
I'd been selected in a
under 21 Australian hockey team on paper.
It was all amateurish then
and we never went anywhere
but here I was,
I thought, boy, this is good,
I'm heading for the 56 Olympics
and then after church one Sunday
I went to, down to the park
just nearest it at Cooks Hill
and the boys were playing a game of hockey.
There was no Sunday sport
but they organised a social game
and they said, come on, we want you to play.
I said, oh, no, I promised the Lord
I wouldn't play any Sunday sport
and so they badgered me
and not being a true believer
I soon got my gear on
and said, something's going to happen
and sure enough
towards the end of the game
I was flat on my back
my nose splattered across my face
and that was the end of my Olympic dreams.
By 21 I was engaged to a teacher
by 22 I was disengaged
and then I started to go with my wife
who was in the choir with me, June
my later wife-to-be
and we were married
and we moved to the house
that I now live in at Charlestown.
After we'd had two children
still going into town
we had no car for seven years
still going into town
to St Andrew's Preparation Church
pushing a stroller up
towards Charlestown Road
there was no footpaths in those days
and we just got a bit sick of it
and we thought
well, let's go to the local church
so we went to Charlestown Presbyterian.
Now the Presbyterian Church
in those days was all liberal
in other words
that they preached
they didn't preach the gospel
that we're hearing today
they preached about
a moralistic type of life
a good life
and we had a wonderful time
amongst the people
but we went up to Charlestown Presbyterian Church
just a kilometre up the road
and it was there that we met
Bruce and Olive Boots
they were later the ones
that started Courant Books
but Bruce and Olive Boots
are in this church
a liberal church
and they were true believers
they'd been converted
in the New England area
and they saw that
we were quite religious people
through the Freemasonry
I'd now come to the point
where I'd become
Master of the Masonic Lodge
at Lord Robert's Temperance
and I was feeling pretty proud about that
that I'd reached to this height
in Freemasonry
but Bruce and Olive could see
that we were very religious
but not Christians
I was then elected
to the eldership
of St. David's Presbyterian Church
at Charlestown
unconverted
with a number of other people
unconverted
very few Christians
in the whole church
and
I must say
that we
I'd had a few tragedies
in the house
in the home
my father died
nine months before
we were married
I had a brother
who died in
Morristet Mental Hospital
on a criminal charge
he was 44
left six children
I had another
my oldest brother
was dying
of lung cancer
and
in the
January of
1961
I
I was just
I went to visit him
I could hear the death
rattles in his throat
and I just couldn't
stand it any longer
I was caring for my mother
trying to provide
for my wife
and two children
and
with all these deaths
and things going on
I just couldn't cope
and I just wanted
to commit suicide
I spoke to my wife
and to my cousin
and
we went
I went to see
Dr Chambers
at
near the police station
up in Newcastle
and told him my story
and
he said
well how are you
with God
I thought
this man's a bit of a nut
I've always been at church
who could be more
better than I am
I'm always there
everything at church
I go out talking to people
about God
and at any rate
that night in bed
I hadn't slept well
and
conviction came over me
that
I wanted to be like my father
an elder
I was
but had no peace with God
I'd risen to the height
of a sonic
lodge in the first three degrees
but I had no peace with God
I thought
well
I was pretty good
going to church
all the time
but then
the Lord
just showed me
that
the church
didn't die
for my sins
showed me
that my sin
was against
the holy God
I'd done plenty
of things wrong
but
I was better
than most people
but when he
showed me
that my sin
was against
the holy God
and that
Christ came into the world
to save sinners
not good people
that I went out
in the lounge room
during the sleep
in the bed
and I just
clonked down
in front of the chair
that I now sit in
and I
just called on the Lord
that he might save me
first the scripture
came to mind
which I can't remember
ever reading
but it did
no temptation
has taken you
except such
as is common
to man
but God
is faithful
who will not
allow you
to be tempted
beyond what
you're able
but with the
temptation
will also
make a way
of escape
that you may
be able
to bear it
I didn't
want to bear it
I wanted to be
zapped out
of my problem
but the boots
kept pointing me
to Christ
and I believe
the Lord
changed me
on that
that evening
and gave me
a hope
that God
is faithful
I started
to read
my dad's
old Bible
and Lord
was speaking
to me
I was in
depression
for about
three years
before I left
the Freemasonry
and then there
was this peace
that I had
that God
is good
pride
is awful
self-righteousness
God hates
but Lord
he loves
sinners
who come
to him
with nothing
but a hope
that he might
save them
now his oldest
son was in
the field
and as he
came and
drew near to
the house
he heard
music and
dancing
and he
called one
of the
servants
and asked
what these
things meant
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
was angry
and refused
to go in
his father
came out
and entreated
him
but he
answered
his father
look
these
many
years
I
have
served
you
and I
never
have
disobeyed
your command
yet you
never gave
me a young
goat
that I
might celebrate
with my
friends
but when
this son
of yours
came
who has
devoured
your property
with prostitutes
you killed
the fattened
calf
for him
and he
said to
him
son
you are
always with
me
and all
that is
mine
is yours
it was
fitting
to celebrate
and be
glad
for this
your brother
was dead
and is
alive
he was
lost
and is
found
well
like Don
I'm
assuming
that many
here today
have
grown up
in and
around
church
circles
as I
have
and if
that's
you
it's
the story
of the
elder
brother
that really
challenges
your view
of God
and your
view of
sin
and your
view of
why Jesus
came to
save us
so as we
picture this
elder brother
dirty and
tired
working in
the field
and he
hears music
and dancing
and what is
that
what's going
on
and he
finds out
and he
is
he is
livid
like he
is furious
now who's
he angry
at
he's mainly
angry at
his dad
and he
shows his
anger at
his father
by publicly
humiliating
him by
not going
into the
greatest
party his
dad has
ever thrown
it's like
at a
wedding where
everyone's
celebrating
inside and
there's a
family argument
happening
outside
he's standing
outside
and he
lets
he just
gives full
vent to
his anger
he doesn't
respect him
calling him
father
he goes
look
these
many
years
I've
served
you
and I
never
disobeyed
your
command
yet you
never
gave me
a young
goat
that I
might
celebrate
with my
friends
but when
this
son of
yours
came
who
has
devoured
your
property
with
prostitutes
you
killed
the
fattened
calf
for
him
why
is he
angry
and
not
relieved
and
full
of joy
like
his
dad
I
think
notice
that
he's
upset
about
the
fattened
calf
you
gave
the
calf
to
him
I
deserve
your
stuff
not
him
you
haven't
even
given
me
a
goat
now
I
know
that
calf
and
goat
probably
isn't
relating
too
well
to
us
you
gave
the
family
car
to
him
you
kidding
after
years
of
obeying
you
surely
I
deserve
some
reward
for
my
efforts
surely
this
gathering
if we're
going to
celebrate
anyone
it should
be
celebrating
me
for
my
obedience
not
this
self
indulgent
son
of
yours
can
you
understand
his
anger
I
can
I
think
I
know
it
too
well
I
think
I
know
when
I'm
thinking
like
this
when
things
don't
go
well
in
life
and
I
feel
like
God
has
short
changed
me
I'm
one of
the
good
ones
like
I
try
my
best
with
my
family
I
sacrifice
the
church
I
did
the
prayers
you
haven't
given
me
the
health
for
me
and
my
family
you
haven't
helped
me
given
me
that
peaceful
holiday
you
just
feel
angry
that
you're
not
getting
what
you
deserve
and
I
got to
admit
I
struggled
to
get
my
head
around
the
father's
response
and
I
think
I
struggled
because
if
I'm
like
anyone
I
think
I
can
relate
more
to
the
elder
brother
here's
what
the
father
said
son
probably
more tender
than that
son
you
are
always
with
me
as
compared
to
the
other
you
are
always
with
me
and
all
that
is
mine
is
yours
now
how
does
that
answer
the
claim
of
unfairness
you're
always
with
me
and
all
that
is
mine
is
yours
how
does
that
answer
the
claim
of
unfairness
because
he hasn't
been
rewarded
for his
obedience
I
think
to
understand
that
we
need
to
put
ourselves
in
the
father's
shoes
and
we
need
to
feel
the
heartbreak
that
the
father
felt
he's
hearing
his
son
basically
say
I
was
doing
all
this
I
was
obeying
you
to
get
the
calf
to
get
the
goat
you
mean
all
these
years
you
obeyed
me
to
get
the
stuff
all
I
own
is
yours
we're
family
I
thought
you
were
obeying
me
because
you
love
me
here
I
thought
relationship
is
the
reward
I
thought
you
were
obeying
me
because
you
wanted
to
express
your
love
for
me
you
love
being
my
son
but
you
too
just
want
the
stuff
and
not
me
both
sons
saw
their
father
in
terms
of
rules
the
younger
son
didn't
want
anything
to do
with
the
rules
they
thought
no
way
I'm
getting
out
of
here
I'm
going
to
find
life
away
from
God's
rules
whereas
the
older
son
was
thinking
in
terms
of
rules
as
well
okay
I
don't
like
the
rule
I'll
do
it
they
both
were
thinking
in
terms
of
rules
when
the
father
wanted
relationship
they
both
wanted
the
stuff
and
not
the
father
himself
and
I
think
this
is
why
there
can
be
so
much
religious
activity
going on
and
we
heard
a glimpse
to
that
without
real
love
for
God
we
don't
fully
appreciate
why
Jesus
had to
die
on
the
cross
until
we
understand
that
I
we
need
to be
saved
for the
motivations
for doing
right
we need
to be
saved
for the
wrong
things we
do
but we
also
need
to be
saved
for the
motivations
for why
we do
the
right
thing
because
if we
do
the
right
thing
to
try
and
control
God
if I
do
this
for
you
owe
me
or
if
we
do
the
right
things
to
bolster
our
sense
of
self
importance
we
compare
ourselves
to
others
they're
failing
I'm
succeeding
then
it's
not
true
love
for
God
it's
the
elder
brother's
self
righteous
goodness
that
makes
him
lost
he
is
just
as
lost
as
the
younger
brother
it
just
looks
different
he
is
worlds
away
from
loving
the
father
for
his
sake
we
can
know
we
are
lost
like
this
I
think
we
can
feel
it
and
sense
it
when
we
are
comparing
ourselves
to
others
we
hear
this
older
brother
go
this
son
of
yours
he
wants
nothing
to do
with
him
he's
comparing
himself
and I
think
we can
do the
same
when
we
don't
want
others
to be
forgiven
because
we
think
we
don't
need
forgiveness
ourselves
a
true
son
wouldn't
be
comparing
like
that
a
true
son
would
share
this
father's
longing
to have
all the
family
come
home
so
this
story
Jesus
is
telling
is a
confronting
story
it's
bad
people
good
people
you're
all
lost
we're
all
lost
because
we're
all
looking
at
God
as
if
it's
all
about
rules
trying
to
run
away
from
rules
or
trying
to
keep
the
rules
to
get
his
stuff
we're
all
lost
when
this
father
wants
relationship
as
the
reward
all
year
round
but
especially
at
Easter
we
celebrate
that
we
have
a
true
elder
brother
this
elder
brother
could
have
left
the
home
and
searched
for
the
younger
brother
and
brought
him
home
but
he
didn't
but
we
have
a
true
one
we
have
one
who
left
heaven
to
come
and
find
us
he
left
his
home
in
heaven
there
is
one
son
who
always
saw
his
father
as
he
really
is
and
who
obeyed
him
out
of
love
not
to
get
his
stuff
but
willing
to
lose
it
all
even
to
the
point
of
death
there
was
one
time
he
didn't
call
god
father
and
it
was
on
the
cross
my
god
my
god
why
have
you
forsaken
me
he
was
cut
out
of
the
family
so
that
you
and
I
can
be
brought
in
with
his
resurrection
we
can
now
enjoy
a
relationship
with
this
father
as
close
as
Jesus
has
a
relationship
with
God
the
father
and
we
can
celebrate
that
forgiveness
is
done
reconciliation
is
done
so
Jesus
gives us
a picture
of what
God
is really
like
he
runs
out
to
us
he
comes
out
to
us
to
plead
to
come
in
and
there's
only one
question
that
remains
it's
the
cliff
hanger
of
Jesus
story
will
the
elder
brother
come
in
he's
outside
in
the
dark
angry
feeling
entitled
he
won't
come
into
the
celebration
because
he
doesn't
think
he
needs
forgiveness
will
he
come
in
we
don't
find
out
and
it's
the
cliff
hanger
of
my
story
your
story
will
you
come
in
or
will
you
stand
outside
and
be
in
the
dark
because
you
think
you're
too
good
will
you
come
in
and
celebrate
forgiveness
and
see
this
father
as
wanting
relationship
not
rules
yes
obedience
but
obedience
because
you
love
the
father
not
to
get
stuff
from
him
so
I'll
leave
it
with
you
will
you
come
in
to
the
party
that
has
started
the
resurrection
means
the
party
has
begun
peace
with
God
as
Don
talked
about
has
been
achieved
it's
time
to
celebrate
and
I
think
the
moment
we're
in
right
now
is
kind
of
like
at
a
wedding
reception
when
the
party
has
begun
but
we're
waiting
for
the
groom
the
bridal
party
to
show
up
it's
going
to
kick
up
a
notch
when he
comes
back
but
right
now
we can
start
to
celebrate
because
we have
peace
with
God
so
will
you
come
in
and
celebrate
his
forgiveness
and
begr
they