"have you lost something of value?

"
How have you felt after finding it?

Its quite relieving to find that which we lost.

The amount of joy we feel is proportionate to the value of the thing that we lost/found.
If it’s something worth of $5 or Rs500, we might feel sad a bit.
How about we loose an iphone or something like that, that's going to cause a bit more
anxiety and greater joy when we find it?
How about a parent loosing a child in a crowd? For sure, that is going to make them
extremely frantic, the joy incomparable to when we find the iphone.
You get the point.
The joy is proportionate to the thing that we loose and find.

Story of how I lost a camera in Korea and found it after 15 days.

Compare it with a person getting into train in Delhi, keeps his suitcase goes to restroom and
comes back.
The suitcase is gone. All his certificates were lost.

If you ask me what is Christianity, I'd tell you: in essence, it is about the story of a something
precious being lost and then being found.
Humanity, had lost its connection to God because of the choices.
Then God himself comes into the world as a human; Jesus came looking out for the lost
humanity.
The purpose of all this is restoration of that lost humanity to its creator. Through Jesus, once
again we can experience the love and grace of God.

Jesus, while lived on this earth some 2000 years ago, in a place called
Israel, he used many parables to teach important lessons. Parables are
short stories that communicate crucial lessons. Today I want to share with
you a well known important parable, called the parable of the prodigal
son.

We see the story of prodigal son in Luke chapter 15.

The word prodigal meaning "reckless" and "uncontrolled" "carefree"
This is a story of the prodigal son being lost and then being found again.

I want to highlight few important aspect of this parable.

Luke 15:11-12
The younger son lives in the house with the father, enjoys all the privileges and blessings;
yet, he takes everything for granted.
He shows great disrespect and distain towards his father.
When he asks "father give me my property." You know, only the property gets usually
divided when the father passes away. Usually no one thinks about going to the father asking
to divide the property. That's ultimate disrepect. This younger son shows ultimate disrepect
to his father. And his father still shows kindness to him.
Often, we do take our blessings for granted to. We have at different times, have shown
disrespect and distain towards God and acted like this younger son.

v.13
14-16
He has at least two misconceptions in his mind: misconceptions about
freedom and true happiness.
1. He wanted to be truly free. He thought true freedom comes from
completley breaking away from His father. Often people make the
same. We want to Breake away from God and do our own things.
God gives rules, commandments, we feel often those
commandments restrict us. We believe that by casting off all such
restrictions, we can find true freedom. This is a misconception. The
words of God in scripture has to be taken as instructions given to
help us. Think of this scenairo. my daughter is about 5 years old.
She has a kick bike. She rides the kick bike quite well. I take her out
to the park. I tell her, you can play in this area. I give her a lmit and
want her to play there. Now she says, I want to take my kick bike
and get on to the high way, as a father, I know she would get hurt. I
would say NO dear. Its not the time. That's not the place. My
daughter says "look how tyrannical my father is. He is restricting
my freedom to ride the bike on the highway." When the Lord gives
us instructions in scripture, they are not meant to oppress and
control us, rather to help us and direct us for our good. Without
such direction, we would be the one who would get hurt.
2. Also, the younger son wanted to be truly happy. He thought the joy
came from living the way he wants. Pursuing pleasure is what we
call headonism. The end of seeking pleasure is emptiness. King
Solomon, one of the wiseest king pursued different avenues to seek
pleasure: but finally said, it brought him emptiness and
meaninglessness. Bible says in Gal 5:22-23, joy is one of the fruit of
the spirit. The Joy and gladness that comes from with God is
extradinary. It is not momemtary, rather it is the glimpse of heaven.

Always remember: sin overpromises, but underdelivers. It promised him

endless pleasure but he found himself in a pleasureless end..miserable
end. That's what sin does to everyone who believe in its power to liberate
and provide endless stream of pleasure. It does not. We must be careful to
understand it.

Now we come to the moment of Realization: "he came back to his senses." What does that
mean? It means he was not himself! He was overcome by his passions for self fulfillment. He
was blinded from seeing the grace of God. Now, he realized. He was looking back to his
father. He realized the gravity of disrespect that he showed to his father.
He felt unworthy to be even called the son. he was surrounded by pigs. That's not the place
where is father would want him to be.
He said to himself "I will refuse to accept this life of misery." I will return to my father. He got
up and went to his father.

I believe God gives everyone a moment of realization. To come home to the God who made
us and loves us.
Some people return to God after wandering around a while.
For some it takes them to hit the rock bottom, the very lowest point before realizing the
need for God.
its important to act on once we realize our need for God. Let the moment of realization be
also the moment of decision. I will get up and go back to my father, to my God. That's what
we would call true repentence. Its not mere feeling of remorse and sympathy, rather an act
of will to set things right. To make a U-Turn; turn around from the path on which you are on
and return to God who loves you.

Now there is this big question: will the father accept him? What should he do to please his
father, gain the favor of his father? How could he earn the favor of his father? What must
one do to gain God's favor?

There are different answers given to this question by different cultures, religions and
worldviews.
I grew up in an extremely hindu community in southern india, in a state called Tamil nadu.
Every year, during the month of January, in tamil calander, it was the month of Thai, tamils
would go on a pilgrimage to certain designated hills. They would walk on barefoot, 100s of
kilometers; pierce themselves: their cheek, tongue, bodies; extreme pain and all that was
done on even children. It still happens today. They go on this painful, long journey to gain
the favor of god. They believe that their god wants them to suffer extremely so that they can
pay for their own sins and karma. Think about it. If I have a child that wants to please me, as
a father, I wouldn't allow my kids to hurt themselves to impress me or to get my attention. A
real father would not allow that. Bible calls God is our heavenly father. He doesn't want us to
hurt ourselves , spill our blood to gain his favor.

The younger son comes back home. How would he find favor with his father?

The description of the fatther here would have schocked the listeners when Jesus was
teaching this parable.

1. He father recognized the son while he was far away. Though the son left home,
father never forgot him. He was hoping one day, the son might come home. One
day, he would find his way back; father continues to wait for the son, despite the
son being away. Though the world has turned away from God, bible says thatt God
so loved the world and want the world to be saved and have eternal life, not perish
in their sins.
Also, The Father was filled with compassion and ran to his son, hugged
him and kissed him. In the first century culture, fathers would never run;
here we see, the father out of compassion disregards the social norms
Father takes the initiative in reconciliation. Compassion moves the father
to action. He ran to the son. The son who disregarded him, the son who
defied him, dishonored him, yet the father had compassion on Him. Psalm
86:15says "O Lord, you are compassionate and gracious God, slow to
anger, abounding in love and faithfulness. Our heavenly Father was not
triggered by the sins of the son, he was moved by the genuine repentence
of his heart. Father knew the heart of the son, allows him a safe place to
confess his errors.