our worship by singing to God's praise. This is on page 40 of the psalm book, Psalm 34.
We're going to sing from verse 8 down to verse 14, the tune of St. Columba. And this psalm,
in the verses that we're singing, it gives us this invitation that we're looking at today to come.
Verse 8 begins, come, taste and see, the Lord is good, who trusts in him is blessed. And verse 11
uses the same word. It says, come here, my children, gather round and listen to my word,
and I will help you understand how you may fear the Lord. We're going to sing from verse 8 to 14,
and we stand to sing to God's praise.
The Lord is blessed.
O fear the Lord, who sings with me,
You will not be oppressed.
The Lord, who sings with me,
And I will forget fruit,
But those who wait upon the Lord
Will all my many new
Come here, my children, gather round
And listen to my word
And I will let you understand
How you may fear the Lord
Does anyone delight in life
And long to see good days
And keep your tongue from evil's feet
Your lips from lying grace
If I can turn from evil past
And that is what is right
Decide to know the way of peace
I assume it with your mind
We're going to come to God in prayer
Let's bow our heads in a word of prayer
Lord our gracious God
We thank you for the beauty of this day
That it is a day that you have made for us
And help us to delight in it
And to delight in not just the beauty of the sun shining upon us
And the beauty of all that we see around us
But the beauty of your word
And the beauty of the message that it gives
We thank you that it is a word that speaks to us all
We thank you that it is a word that invites us to come
And taste and see of the goodness of God
It invites us as children
To come and hear, to gather round and hear your word
And we thank you for that delight that we have today
And being able to do so
And may you bless all that we do
Here in the church
And as the young ones go out to
Cresce and Twin East Sunday School and Bible class
We pray that you will be with us in all of these things
That you will guide us and help us
In all that we do and all that we say
And Lord bless us
Bless us with your presence
Bless us with your peace
That peace that passes all understanding
We pray to know it in our hearts
And help us to know Lord
That you speak to us through the Bible
Through your word
And may it be what directs us today
In all our days
As we ask all of these things
Knowing how often we fall short
How often we fail you in different ways
But thankful for your good mercy towards us
So bless us and be with us we pray
And pardon our sins in Jesus name
Amen
A word to the young ones before you go out
It was great to see so many of you
Yesterday as we had our church day out
First time in a long time
That the sun has shone for so long
I think I saw on the weather charts last night
That Stornway had the most sunshine
In the whole country
So we really couldn't have picked a better day
To have our church day out
And it was good to enjoy being together
Enjoying time on the beach
Enjoying time having games
And I'm sure you've all got your different highlights
Of the day
Maybe it was enjoying the food
Just enjoying being with friends
Or enjoying taking part in the sports
And I was so delighted to be on the winning team
Of the tug of war
It was just so good
I mean I expected the men to win
And they did
Isn't that right?
Is that true?
Yes, no
No
It was actually when I woke up
In the middle of the night
I had a dream that we won
But we hadn't
We were well beaten
But I'm sure the ladies had a quad
Tied to one end of the rope
That was just pulling in that direction
But it was a great day out
And the tug of war reminds me
Of what we're looking at in the Bible today
And what we look in the Bible so often
It's this idea of being pulled
In different directions
God is trying to bring us to himself
He's inviting us to himself
There's that pull towards him
But so often there's other things
That are pulling us away
In a different direction
There's so many things
That will distract us from God
And keep us not looking to God
And yet he's still
Every time we come and hear his word
Every time we look to him
He's pulling us
He's calling us back to himself
And so maybe we're in a bit of
A tug of war today
Young and old alike
We're being pulled
In different directions
But the Bible reminds us
That when we know God
When we trust him
He has a hold on us
A strong hold
And he'll never let us go
We'll never be on the losing side with him
Because he keeps us safe
And he keeps us secure
So no matter what else
Pulls us away
In a different direction
As we trust in him
He has a hold on us
That is truth
The truth at the start of my talk
Was the men didn't win
But the truth with God
Is that he has won the victory for us
And that we are secure with him
So as we go into that struggle
That pulling in different direction
Trust God
And he will keep
A hold
Of you all
And we're going to say
The Lord's Prayer
Together now
So we'll say
The Lord's Prayer
Our Father
Which art in heaven
Hallowed be thy name
Thy kingdom come
Thy will be done on earth
As it is in heaven
Give us this day
Our daily bread
And forgive us our debts
As we forgive our debtors
And lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from evil
For thine is the kingdom
The power and the glory forever
Amen
We're going to sing again
To God's praise
This time in Psalm 95
Page 357 of the Psalm books
Psalm 95
We're going to sing from verse 1 to verse 6
And during this singing
Those going out to the Sunday school
You can come out through this door
To my left
So we're going to sing from verse 1 to verse 6
Again there's this great invitation
In the Psalm
Come
O come
Let us sing to the Lord
Come
Let us everyone
A joyful noise
Make to the rock
Of our salvation
The tune is done firmly
And we're going to stand to sing
To God's praise
O come
Come let us sing
To the Lord
Come let us
Everyone
A joyful noise
Sing to the Lord
All our salvation
Let us speak for His presence
Come with praise and thankful voice
Let us sing songs to Him with grace
And make a joyful noise
For God
On God
And make God
And make Him
Above all God
See His
Death softly
Have thou in His hand
The strength of ills is His
Give Him the spacious sea beyond
For He the sin did may
That wide and also from His hands
His form of thirst
O come and let us worship Him
Let us worship Him
Let us fow them with hope
And on our beach
Before the Lord
Our maker
Let us fall
We will turn together to read
In God's Word
We are going to read in the New Testament
And in the Gospel of Luke
Luke chapter 15
We are going to read from verse 11
Down to the end of this chapter
Luke chapter 15
And at verse 11
You will find it around page 1054
It's a well-known parable
That Jesus told
The parable of the prodigal son
So we are going to read from verse 11
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
And 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 field 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 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
Now his older son was in the field
And as he came and threw near in 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 home
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 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
He 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
Amen
And may God bless that reading from his word
Let's again just bow our heads in a word of prayer
Let us pray
Lord our gracious God
As we continue to look to you in worship
And look to you for your help
And for your spirit to be with us
As we read your word
And as we come to open it up together
We thank you that it is what is called the gospel
The good news
And that we live in a world that still has good news
To be offered to all
In the midst of all the bad and sad news
That we so often hear
We thank you that the word of God
Is that good news
That it speaks to us of such a gracious God
Even as we have read of in this passage
We thank you that it reminds us of ourselves
In so many ways
How we can go wandering away from you
How we can think that we have freedom away from you
And yet oh Lord
Help us to come to our senses
Even as the prodigal son
And to realise
That you have all that we need
And that you are all that we need
And so may you help us to come to you today
To come hearing your word
To come tasting of your goodness
To come and worship you
With all our hearts
And all that we are
And we do thank you for all who are here today
We thank you for seeing so many young ones
Going out to the Sunday school
And to the Bible class
And we pray for them Lord
That as they begin their classes today
And as they have begun school
In these last few weeks
Lord we pray for your blessing
Your protection over each one of them
And all our homes and our families
Lord we ask for you
To be with us Lord
In all our different needs
You know them
You know our very hearts
You know all the
The pools that are on it Lord
Pulled towards you
And pulled in other different directions
But we thank you for the strength that you have
That you are mighty and powerful to save
That you hold on to your people
With an everlasting arm
An arm that is full of power and might
And so help us to put our trust in you
And to know that you are with us
That you are for us
And we do pray Lord
That you will guide us
Even in these days ahead
As we go into this week
And you bless us
In all that it entails
Returning to our homes
And our families
Returning to our workplaces
In this coming week
Our places of study
Whatever we do Lord
We thank you that there is that promise
That you go with us
And so we pray that even your word
As we hear it today
And as we study it
Would go with us too
That it would be a word
That resonates in our hearts
A word that speaks to us
A word that we are able to share with others
To tell others what we have heard
What we have seen of your goodness
And we thank you that
There is that assurance
That even as we come to church today
As we come back to church
As we may be calling it
That your church is a people
That you are saving
A kingdom that you are building up
A church that nothing will conquer or defeat
And so we pray Lord
That your church
Not just here and throughout our islands
Or even our nation
But to all ends of the earth
To all corners of the world
In which we live
Might know your power even today
That as your truth is proclaimed
That it would be mighty to save
So Lord hear our prayers
Continue with us Lord
Today and in all the days
May you be our help
And our strength
As we ask all
Pleading with you
For forgiveness for all our sin
That you might cleanse us
And pardon us anew
As we ask all in Jesus name
And for his sake
Amen
We're going to sing again
Before we turn back
To look at this passage together
We're singing in Psalm 43
In the Sing Psalms
Page 54 of the Psalm books
Psalm 43
A psalm that reminds us
Of how God's truth goes out
And encourages our hearts
Encourages our souls
To know that we have a God
Who is with us
A God who is on our side
Come vindicate me
Oh my God
Against this nation
Plead my cause
Deliver me from wicked foes
And hypocrites
Who break your laws
And in verse 3 it says
Oh send your light forth
And your truth
Let them direct me
In your grace
And bring me to your holy hill
And to your sacred dwelling place
We're going to sing
The whole of this psalm
The tune is Rockingham
And we stand to sing
Amen
Defeat me
Oh my God
Against this nation
Plead my cause
Deliver me
From wicked foes
And hypocrites
Who break your laws
To harm my stronghold
And my God
Why them have you
Rejected me
I must act all
While thou thou art in greed
Untaunted by the enemy
O send your light
For thou art in greed
Let them direct me
In your grace
And bring me to your holy hill
Into your sacred dwelling place
And to your sacred dwelling place
And to God's altar
I will call
To God my joy
And my delight
And I will praise you
With the heart
O God you are
My God of might
Why are you
Why are you down
So my soul
Why are you so
Disturbed in me
Trust God
For I will praise him yet
My Savior
And my God
Is he
For our time
We're going to turn back
And look at the passage
We read in Luke chapter 15
And this parable
Of the prodigal son
Luke chapter 15
Now folks
It's going to be on
Verse 11 to 24
I just want to read
A couple of verses
So as we go into it
Verse 17
Speaks of the son
Who had gone away
From the father
And says
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 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 then it says
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
Back to church Sunday
Is what we have called today
Maybe you're here
Because you got
An invitation card
That had these words on it
Maybe you saw the banner
Outside the church
What is
Back to church Sunday
What does it mean
And what's it
All about
Well
It's more than just
Coming
To a building
It's more than just
Trying to get
Someone off your case
Maybe someone's been
Asking you for a while
To come back to church
And you think
Well I'll just
Do it now
And that'll be it
Done with
It's maybe something
You think you already
Know what it's going
To be like
Maybe you think
You know what
It's like in the past
And it's just
Just the same
I wasn't listening then
I'm not going to listen
Now
There's so many ways
We can think about
Coming back
To church
But whether you've
Never been to church
Whether you haven't
Been to church
For years
Or even if you're
Coming back today
After being here
Last week
There's something
We all
Have in common
And it's that
None of these
Are the way
That we are to come
Back to church
It's not just
Coming back
To see a building
It's not just
Coming back
To please someone
It's not just
Coming back
Out of habit
It's more than that
Coming back
To church
Even coming back
To church
Week by week
If we're in that
Routine
In that habit
It's to meet
With someone
It's to meet
With someone
Special
And to hear
A story
That changes
Lives
And continues
To change
Lives
Continues to change
Even the Christian's
Life
Week by week
Day by day
It's a glorious
Story
About a glorious
Saviour
A Saviour
Who is
Jesus
That's who we
Come
To meet
With here
That's the purpose
Of coming
Back
To church
To realise
That we have
A loving God
Who is the
Father we see
Described in this
Parable of the
Prodigal son
A loving God
Who has given
Us his own
Son Jesus
Who has given
A son Jesus
That we might
Know the joy
Of salvation
In him
Now what was
Your expectation
Maybe coming
To church
Today
What was your
Thinking
Coming to
Church
Today
Maybe you're
Thinking even
With the sun
Shining outside
I could be
Doing so many
Other different
Things today
Maybe your
Expectation was
Just to come
And to go
Maybe your
Expectation was
To sit
And just not
Listen
But even the
Psalms that we
Have been singing
They remind us
That we are to
Come and sit
And listen
And hear
And worship
Worship the God
Who is speaking
To us
And to come
And to know
Him as he
Speaks to us
Through his
Word
And Jesus
We find in
The gospels
Whether it's
Matthew, Mark, Luke
Or John
As you look
Through them
You find
Jesus
Who was
A great
Storyteller
He often
Used stories
Or parables
As they're
Called
To speak
To the crowds
Who had
Gathered round
To speak
To them
About their
Lives
And their
Circumstances
And what
Was going
On
But also
To speak
To them
In a
Special way
That reminded
Them of
Their need
Of God
And that's
What we see
In this
Parable
We think
Of storytelling
Maybe you've
Known people
Who would
Tell stories
Maybe you know
People even
Today who
Tell stories
But storytelling
In many ways
Is a dying
Art
Now that we
Have so many
Other forms
Of communication
Is often
Through a
Screen
A one
Way
Communication
And we're
Just listening
But it's
So much
Better to
Be in the
Company
Of someone
Who is
Telling
A story
And here
As the
People were
Gathered
Around
Jesus
They were
Here listening
To this
Man who
Was just
An incredible
Man
They were
Astonished
At him
So often
And what
He was
Saying
And what
He was
Doing
And they
Were hearing
Jesus
The son
Of God
Speaking
To them
And today
It is the
Same
For us
We meet
With this
Great
Storyteller
We meet
With Jesus
Jesus
Who speaks
To us
And speaks
To us
Here today
Through this
Parable
Of the
Prodigal
Son
But what's
This story
About
Maybe you've
Heard the
Story before
Maybe you've
Grown up
Hearing this
Story
And you've
Heard it
Maybe many
Times
The parable
Of the
Prodigal
Son
It's a
Well known
Story
That Jesus
Told
But what's
It about
Your
Immediate
Reaction
Maybe
It's about
This young
Son
Who just
Wanted to
Live life
To have
Freedom
To get
Away
From
Everything
Maybe you
Think it's
About the
Older
Brother
The one
Who
When this
Young son
Came back
He was
Jealous
He was
Angry
He didn't
Wanted to
He squandered
His
Inheritance
He treated
Them
Unfairly
Unjustly
And he
Was
Just
Not
Wanting
Anything
To do
With
Them
Is
That
What
The
Story
Is
About
Well
Neither
Of
These
Are
The
Main
Character
See
The
Main
Character
In
This
Story
As
Jesus
Is
Telling
It
Is
The
Father
And
The
Father's
Response
To
His
Son
We're going to look at his response to the younger son today.
And in this we see the great invitation of the gospel.
That's the title of our sermon this morning, the invitation to come.
To come.
We see this father who is already looking for his son as he comes to return to him in verse 20.
While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion and ran to him and embraced him and kissed him.
It's like Jesus is telling the crowd.
He's telling ourselves, this is who we need.
This is the father that you are to come to.
To come and know the warmth of this welcome.
And to see the glory and the power that is in Jesus himself.
The one who is, as the Bible describes, the way to the father.
Come.
Come is what the Bible so often says to us.
Come.
No matter what our situation.
No matter what our circumstances.
The text on the invitation card was,
Come, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Wonderful invitation.
Come.
When you think of the word come itself, if you take each letter of that word, you could put it like this.
Come, because Christ offers me everything.
Christ offers me everything.
And that's what we see with this young son who goes away from his father, but who comes home, as it were.
So we're going to see three things in this parable for ourselves today.
Three things that we can relate to, I'm sure, ourselves in many ways.
We can relate to this younger brother.
And the first thing I want to see is a recognition.
A recognition.
When you read of this young brother, do you see yourself, the young son, do you see yourself in him?
I'm sure many of us can look at this young son and think, that's me.
That's maybe me just now, or that's been me in the past.
You recognize the kind of situation he's in.
You recognize the kind of attitude that he has.
He's just, in his life, he wants to get away and have freedom.
He wants to enjoy his life, but everything seems to be just restricting him.
And he's like so many, so many since Jesus told this parable down through all the generations.
Right to this very day, there's so many who can relate to this young son.
Men and women, boys and girls, down through all the generations.
This kind of attitude, this kind of outlook on life is so often a stage that we come to ourselves.
A position we find ourselves in.
And what is it that we see?
Well, it's like Jesus is describing so many that are brought up, as it were, around church circles.
Like many of us today, we may have even brought up either going to church or knowing about church in a Christian community where we see so many different churches.
And it can leave us asking so many questions.
It can even leave us looking around and think, what's the point in it?
Oh, I just want to get away from this.
It just seems to stifle our lives.
It seems to just tell us, you can't do this, you can't do that.
It's so often the way we think of the community that we live.
We've been there. I've been there.
And we start speaking to ourselves just like this younger son and saying, I want my freedom.
I want to get away from all of this.
And you see it in this young son.
He said in verse 12,
Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.
Give me my share.
Give me my inheritance.
Give this to me so that I may go away and live my life, enjoy my life.
He wants to be his own boss.
He wants to do his own thing.
He wants to live life the way he sees fit himself.
It's like that cry in Braveheart that Mel Gibson so often puts out, if you've watched the film.
The cry, freedom.
That's what this young son wants.
He wants his freedom.
He thinks he recognizes his need in life.
He thinks he recognizes how he wants to live his life.
He wants to get away from all of this.
He wants to be free.
But you realize the seriousness of his request when you recognize in verse 12 what that actually means.
When he says, Father, give me the share of the property that is coming to me.
It should only come when the father dies.
And he's basically almost saying to his father, I wish you were gone.
I wish you would just let me have my freedom and live my life.
And can we not relate to that, recognize that perhaps in ourselves today or in our past?
This recognition that all we want is to do things in our own way and on our own terms.
We're almost saying to God, that's what the parable is telling us, God, we don't want you.
We want nothing to do with you.
I just want to get away from you and have my freedom, have my life.
This is what he thinks that he needs.
And so he goes away.
Goes away to enjoy himself, or so he thinks.
And it goes on to outline his life.
Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had, took a journey into the far country,
and there squandered his property and reckless living.
This is the freedom that he was looking for.
This is what he was wanting to enjoy.
This is what he thought he recognized life to be.
Living life to the full.
Enjoying himself.
Having his liberty.
And yet it's described as reckless living.
Reckless living.
And that's what it is.
Because without God, our lives are in danger of ruin.
The parable is called the parable of the prodigal son
because prodigal means spending our resources just lavishly and freely but recklessly.
It's about an extravagance.
And that's the way he wants to live his life.
Is that you today?
Is that the way you want to live your life?
Is that the way you are living your life?
Just give me my freedom from God.
Give me my freedom from this place.
These people.
Let me just get away from it all.
Maybe you've been running away like this.
Looking for answers in many different places.
Hoping to come to the point where you're able to say,
Now I'm free.
Running away so often seems like the answer.
Running away is where we think we recognize the answer to all our problems.
But it's not.
And the son soon recognizes the emptiness of it all.
He soon recognizes just how far away he has gone to the extent that when a severe famine comes,
he ends up living with pigs.
Just wanting to eat some of their food.
His life just comes to a low ebb.
In his freedom, he's not free.
He doesn't have what he expected.
All that he thought he would recognize as good for him and good for his life, good for his freedom,
it's nothing.
It's empty.
And do you recognize that in your own life today?
Running from God just leaves you empty.
You can imagine the crowd who are hearing this story.
They're hearing Jesus telling this, and they're shocked by it.
The behavior of this son.
And they would be thinking,
We're going to hear something here about what Jesus will do to those who turn their back on him.
How he's going to punish them.
How he's going to be hard upon them.
That they're going to get what's coming to them.
This son, they're probably waiting just for him to come back,
and then they're going to see how he's going to be treated.
Well, it's not what they expect.
Perhaps today, you're coming back to church.
You're thinking, you know what kind of response you would get.
You think you're maybe going to be judged or looked down on.
You don't deserve anything.
Anything.
And yet we see the response of this young son.
And the response of the father.
And how different they might be to our expectations.
How different they were to the expectations of the crowd that was looking on.
Because when you look at the response, which is the second thing we see here.
We see first the response of the son.
It says in verse 17,
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.
The life of freedom and joy that he was wanting to have it hadn't lasted long.
It wasn't what he anticipated.
It wasn't what he expected.
He had spent all his money on reckless living.
And then this famine arrived in the country.
And he had nothing.
He was left empty handed.
I'm sure many of his friends were turning his back on him.
Once the money was gone.
Once all the fun was gone.
Once the trials came.
They were gone.
And he's left by himself.
And the crowd watching Jesus telling this story.
They're thinking,
Here comes the crux.
Here comes when we see what's going to happen to him.
The punchline is coming.
But it's not what they expected.
The son says,
I will rise and go to my father.
And we'll say to him,
Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.
So he has this response.
He almost knows where he needs to go.
But his expectation is so low now
that he's only going to be just like a servant in his father's house.
He doesn't deserve anything.
But it says this,
He came to himself.
And it's a wonderful phrase that.
Because it reminds us all that no matter how far away from God we've tried to run,
that there is always a point where we can come to our senses,
come to ourselves,
and think,
Is there not better?
Is there not hope in this world for me?
Is there not something I can look forward to,
something I can enjoy?
The course that starts this week and Thursday evening,
it's about hope explored.
It's about looking into this in more detail and thinking,
There is.
There is more that we can enjoy in this life.
There is more to life than just finding my freedom myself.
It's about finding our freedom in Christ.
And this is the beginning of this son coming to his senses,
coming to realize,
I have done wrong against God.
I have done wrong against my father, as he describes here.
We have done wrong against God,
but that we can still come to him.
That's the invitation of the gospel.
That's the invitation of the word of God.
It's for all to hear.
Every one of us to come.
To come, whether it's for the first time,
for the hundredth time,
no matter how often we've already come back to church,
it's about coming back to our Savior,
coming back to Jesus,
day after day,
week after week,
and keeping close to him,
because he realizes there is better.
When we go away from God,
when we do as the son did initially,
when he asked for his inheritance,
run away from God,
what was he doing?
Was he stopping worshipping?
He wasn't.
When we go away from God,
it doesn't mean we worship nothing.
We worship something else in the place of God.
He was worshipping the money,
his inheritance.
He was worshipping his freedom,
his lifestyle.
All of these things were his God.
But these gods left him empty.
There's a song that's sung.
It's called,
I'm Coming Back to the Heart of Worship.
And it says this,
it's all about you.
It's all about you, Jesus.
I'm sorry, Lord,
for the thing I've made,
when it's all about you,
it's all about you, Jesus.
We end up worshipping
the idols of this world,
the false hopes of this world,
when we run away from God.
But he invites us to come back.
He invites us to come to himself.
Now, this young son,
he'd forgotten many things,
but he hadn't forgotten his home.
He hadn't forgotten his home
or his father.
In verse 18,
I will rise and go to my father
and will say to him,
Father, I have sinned against heaven
and before you.
He hadn't forgotten
that there was a place
for him to go.
And maybe you had forgotten
that there was a church
to come to.
Maybe you had forgotten
that there was a place
you could come.
Maybe you thought it was a place
you wouldn't be welcome.
But everyone is welcome.
Everyone is invited to come.
To come because here we see
that we need this father ourselves.
All of us.
Each one of us.
We need God.
And so his answer was,
I'll go home.
How many of us have longed
to get away from home?
In our young days,
we've longed to get away
and just enjoy life,
live life.
And it wasn't what we expected.
But the wonder of God's grace
is that it so often speaks to us
and reminds us that there is a place
and that the father hasn't forgotten about us.
You see, the father here,
his response in verse 20,
while he was still a long way off,
his father saw him and felt compassion
and ran and embraced him
and kissed him.
What he didn't expect,
he got and got it in abundance.
It's an amazing picture there
of just the grace
and the love of God.
Ronrig sang a song,
it's a Gaelic song,
Chile Migachi.
I'll return home.
And it says in the line as well,
chachadil mi,
gynchail mi,
gynmog rach.
I will not sleep
until I return
to my love.
And that's the way
we should be with God.
Return home.
Even if it means
sleepless nights,
unrest,
because God
so often stirs up an unrest in us
like he did in this young son.
He wasn't resting.
He wasn't happy.
He wasn't enjoying life
until he came to his senses
and returned home.
Even to be a servant,
that he says.
It's a time
to come home.
Not just
back to church
in the sense of being
in a seat
or being part of the worship service
sitting in or tuning in online,
but coming home
to Jesus.
to come
because Christ
offers me
everything.
There is a response
of the son
and the response
of the father.
The third and final thing
we see here
is the rejoicing.
The rejoicing.
The expectation
of returning home
for the son
was that he would receive
nothing.
just wanted to be
a servant.
Just wanted to have
a little bit of food.
And he comes to the father
in verse 21.
He says,
Father,
I have sinned against heaven
and before you.
I am no longer worthy
to be called your son.
And that's the way
we can look at ourselves.
I'm not worthy.
I'm not worthy
of any of this love
of God.
I'm not worthy
because of the way
I've lived my life,
that we have gone away
from God,
that we have shunned him
and just turned
my back
on him.
And you can imagine
again
the crowd here.
The expectation
of the crowd
would have been
that this young man,
he was going to be given
the punishment
that he deserves.
The father will sort him out.
The father will make him,
pay him back
every last penny
that he owes.
And we feel this burden,
this weight.
How can I possibly come?
How can I repay
a Lord
who I've shunned
and turned my back on?
And yet we are reminded
it was not about us
paying the price.
When you look at the gospel,
the good news
and the invitation
that it gives to us
to come,
it's come to Christ.
Christ who offers me
everything.
Christ who has done
everything for me.
Christ who went
to the cross
to pay
for my sins.
Christ who has risen,
who has ascended,
who is coming again.
It's not about
what we do,
it's about what he
has done
for us.
We have to come
acknowledging
our sin
against him.
But not come
with our own
expectations
of what we need
to do.
Perhaps your expectation
coming here
is very little.
You're thinking
just lowly
of yourself,
undeserving
of any of this.
Maybe you're even saying,
I don't want
any of it.
But the amazing
thing about the gospel
is it's an offer.
It's an offer
to us all
to come.
And when we see
the love of God
here,
what does
the Father
give
to the Son?
The last thing
the crowds
would have expected
to hear,
the best robe,
a signet ring,
give him shoes,
go and kill
the fattened calf.
All of the best,
all of the goodness
and love
of God
is seen in this.
The kindness,
the mercy,
the grace
is overwhelming.
It breaks us
to think
how undeserving
we are
and how much
God wants
to give
and has
given.
The Son
here realizes
he doesn't
deserve it.
But nonetheless,
he gets it.
And that's
grace.
The grace
of God.
He
has paid
the price.
All our
debts
all our
sins,
all our
forgetfulness
of God.
Jesus
has paid
the price.
And he
says,
come.
Christ
offers
me
everything.
There was
a father
called
Patrick
Henry
and he
knew his
life was
coming
to an
end and
he was
sorting out
his
will.
he had
a family
and his
family were
to receive
all that
he had.
He was
quite a
rich man.
And he
said this,
I have
now disposed
of all my
property to
my family.
He arranged
it all so
what they
were to
get.
But then
he said,
there is
one more
thing I
wish I
could give
them.
And that
is faith
in Jesus
Christ.
if they
had that
and I
had not
given them
a single
penny,
he said,
they would
have been
rich.
But if
they had
not that
and I
had given
them all
the world,
they would
be poor
indeed.
This young
son,
just like
ourselves,
he thought
his riches
was found
in living
life to
the fool,
but living
it recklessly
without God.
And he
ended up
poor.
But in
coming back
to the
father and
in receiving
his mercy,
he ended
up rich.
There's a
time to
come to
your senses.
There's a
time to
come home
and to
see the
father you
thought,
he won't
welcome
me,
but to
realize he
longs for
you.
He's
looking for
you.
Even as
a father
here was
looking for
his son,
he saw
him a
long way
off and
ran
towards
him.
But the
Lord is
waiting for
you to
come.
The
invitation
is there.
Come,
Christ
offers me
everything.
Not just
come back
to church
today and
that's it.
You can go
away and
not come
back again.
But to
come today,
not to a
building,
but to a
person who
is Jesus
Christ.
And to
come to
him tomorrow
and every
day to
entrust
your whole
life and
your being
to him.
For he
loves you
and longs
for you
to come
home.
Come.
Come today.
Come tomorrow.
Come in the
week ahead.
Come to him
for all
eternity and
know that
love of
Christ that
wants what
is best for
you.
Come,
because Christ
offers me
everything.
Let us
pray.
Our
Father in
heaven, we
thank you
that you
are one who
will never
turn us
away from
yourself, but
that you
are even
today looking
out for
us, that
you are
longing for
us to
come home
and help
us, Lord,
to know that
in you we
have one who
will give us
a warm
welcome, who
will receive
us gladly,
that even as
the Father
said in
this passage,
this my
son who
was lost,
he is
found.
We pray,
Lord, to
know that
rejoicing even
today in
our own
hearts, that
we would
come from
being a
people who
are lost
and running
away from
God to
being a
people who
are trusting,
who are
receiving that
welcome home
and knowing
the love of
God and
rejoicing in
your goodness
to us through
Jesus Christ.
So hear our
prayers and
continue with
us.
We ask the
forgiveness of
our sin in
Jesus' name.
Amen.
We're going to
conclude by
singing to
God's praise
in Psalm
100 in
the Scottish
Psalter
version,
page 362,
the first
version of
the Psalm,
Psalm 100.
Page 362,
we'll sing
the whole of
this Psalm,
a Psalm that
just reminds us
of giving
praise to
God and
coming into
his presence
and going
on in
his strength.
All people
that on
earth do
dwell,
sing to
the Lord
with cheerful
voice,
and serve
with mirth
his praise
forth tell,
come ye
before him
and rejoice.
The tune
is Old
100th and
we'll stand
to sing the
whole of
this Psalm.
All people
that on
earth do
dwell,
sing to
the Lord
with cheerful
voice,
and serve
with
marvelous
praise for
tell,
come ye
before him
and rejoice.
all that the
Lord is
God
did
deed,
without
doubt
it
he did
us
say,
we
are his
not
love he
in
not
bad
is
weary
to
take
o'er
into
and
his
ire
to
earth
fors
lee
is
un
irtland
Proach with joy his courts and two.
Praise God and bless his name always.
For it is simply so to do.
For why the Lord our God is good,
his mercy is forever sure,
his truth at all times firmly stood,
and shall form his true age in truth.
After the benediction I'll go to the main door.
We'll just close with the benediction.
Now may grace, mercy and peace from God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit rest upon and abide with you all
now and forever. Amen.
Amen.
Thank you.