The Parable of the Lost Son
Boys and girls, what a wonderful singing/praising you just did to our Lord Jesus! Thank you, Christine, Victorine and Tiffany our sweet worship leading team! Commander haven’t talked to you for a while, I am so happy to see you all in our virtual Children church! And we love to worship our God together even it is in a cyberspace, right?
Today, commander is going to talk about another parable “the Lost Son.” This is written in Luke 15:11-32. The Bible told us there is a loving father with two sons, the older brother is a papa’s kid, however, the younger brother is a very wild kid. Today, commander would like just focus on the father and his younger kid, who is a wild boy sometime we call him prodigal son. OK, let’s watch the skit carefully.
—– Skit play —-
Waah, the lost son finally came back and his father still showed love to him and even celebrated his coming back with a banquet.
Now commander would like to ask Timothy to read Bible verses Luke 15: 17-24 to us:
“17 When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. 21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
Now commander ask you a question: who is the father of the two sons Jesus intended to symbolize? Very good, Timothy, it is our Heavenly Father! Then who is this wild kid? Well, it symbolizes all the people who went astray from God’s salvation and ran away from God’s household. Such as the people who don’t want to recognize God as the heavenly Father, or the people who don’t want to obey God and hate to stay in God’s family.
Have you thought about that the Father is very loving kind and wealthy, why the younger son just liked to go his own way and suffered so much? Commander tell you, a lot of people they just never appreciate their parents’ love and they always grumble, they think the parents give them too many restrictions too many “no”. They even think that they are smarter than their parents. And with the same attitude within God’s family, they think our God is too rigid, too stubborn, having too many commands over them. Have you also had the same thought as follows? “We need freedom! We don’t want our parents to tell us how we should do.” “We want to go our own way, we don’t want the Bible to tell us how to behave.” Yeah, the younger son thought that staying at home is really boring and no fun, and he wanted to enjoy his own life in his own way. Well, then what was the result for this wild kid? Yeah, he used up all his money, and was hungry to death. The only way he can think about is going back to his father’s house. Well, now let’s turn our focus to the father. How about his father after this wild kid went away? The father never forgot him, probably he kept praying for the kid everyday and waiting for his coming back, right? Our heavenly Father, just like this father, full of love, mercy and patience. He always loves us even we don’t want to stay in Him, even we have sinned against Him! Our God is merciful and forgiving, that He even sent His one and only Son Jesus to be the atonement for our sins. Just like the wild kid, when he came back to his father’s house, his father accepted him and loved him and restored their father and son’s relationship, our heavenly Father surely will forgive us when we repent and return to Him.
The parable of “the lost son” sometimes we say “the return of the prodigal son.” Prodigal son means a wild kid recklessly spending money and behaving. And we know the happy ending is the prodigal son or the lost son finally returned to his father’s house and even he was totally failed he was totally forgiven!
Well, from this parable, what can we learn? Commander has three points for you:
- God is Trustworthy – He loves us, care for us. Just like 1 Peter 5:7 says: “Cast all your anxiety on him because He cares for you.” He gave us commandments for us to follow, because He wants to make sure we are walking in His righteous path.
- God is forgiving – Return to God when we go astray – Since God gave us “free will,” He will allow us to go our own way when we insist to do so, even God is very sad. Our God is always waiting for our returning. So, be courageous to turn back to God. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)
- God is Love – No matter how bad, how wild we are, God still loves us. As long as we confess our sins and repent, God has prepared His own Son Jesus to be the atonement for our sins, just as 1 John 4:10 says, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”
Boys and girls, remember, God is super trustworthy, therefore stay in God always, and if we do wrong and run away from Him, return to Him as soon as you can, as our God is super forgiving. And we are convinced that our God is super love, just confess our sin through Jesus, then we are reconciled with Him. And we are still the members in the family of God.
Boys and girls, Let’s bow our head and pray: “Lord Jesus, thank you for teaching us the parable of the lost son to let us know how much God loves us. Our heavenly Father, you are such a gracious, merciful and loving God! You love everyone of us, no matter how we look like, how smart or stupid we are. When we disobey you and go away from you, you still love us, and still wait for our returning. Holy Spirit, please help us have courage to confess and repent for our sins and dare to return to God knowing God always loves us. And Jesus, we need you to wash away all our sins with your blood, so that we can be reconciled with God and resume a loving relation with God. In the Lord Jesus’ holy name we pray, Amen!