Hey, hey, fam. Hope you guys are doing great. Today is a special day. I'm reading The Good
Father. So this is actually part of our training that's going on in the online School of Sonship.
But I thought we'd share this with people in the Masterclass group and on my Facebook
page today as well. But the session or the series that we're doing in the online School
of Sonship right now that is covering, you know, that this is a part of is actually the
Open Heaven Masterclass. And so I guess our theme this week is that an open heaven is
a love encounter. I'm really excited about sharing this love encounter with you guys
as we read The Good Father book. So I've put in the description if you want to get a free
ebook version of this, you can just click the link in the description of this video and get
a free version. And then you can see the pictures. It's beautifully illustrated all the way through
by Courtney Gordian from Queenstown. If you want to get a hard copy, the link is in the
description as well. Let me take a second to check the tech and make sure that everything's
happening as it should be. And then we are going live. Yep. Beautiful. It's happening.
One second here. Let me make sure it's happening where it's supposed to be.
Just need one second here just to make sure that the tech is working the way that it should be.
Hi there. I see you. Hey, hey, Darren. See you guys on my Facebook page in the Masterclass
group. But I don't see you in the online School of Sonship right now. Never mind. I'm just going
to share this. So if you're in the online School of Sonship, let me share this to you from my page
so that it's going there as well. Here we go.
Okay. Beautiful. There it is.
All right. I'm going to pray and then we're going to jump into this. So Papa, I just thank you
for your amazing love for all of us. And Jesus, I thank you that you came to reveal the Father.
And so Jesus, as we read this today and as we spend our time today thinking about your love,
thinking about your love, Jesus, I just thank you for releasing that full power of your love
upon us, in us and through us for your glory. Amen. All right. The good father. Chapter one.
Here we go.
Jesus' most beautiful articulation of the gospel,
or the good news, as he called it, is found in Luke chapter 15, verses 11 to 32.
Known to many as the story of the prodigal son or the story of the lost son, it could also be
titled the story of the good father. When Jesus told his story, his audience was a crowd of
tax collectors, sinners, probably addicts, prostitutes, thieves, adulterers, a whole
lot of people who were all the black sheep of their own families, and grumbling Pharisees,
religious people who were offended by Jesus' association with all these sinners.
Allow me to use some cultural context and a little poetic license to bring the story alive.
Please also read Luke 15, 11 to 32, for the full biblical account.
picture, there you go, there's the picture. You can see these pictures if you download that ebook
by the link that's in the description. Betrayal. This story begins with a notorious event that
shocks an entire village. The outrageous news spreads as one of the hot topics of gossip
beyond the village itself to the borders of the nation. When wives cautioned their husbands,
you don't want to be like that incompetent father, the husbands knew what they were hinting at.
When parents cautioned their children, you don't want to be like that disgraceful son,
the kids knew what they meant. The scandal was household news. It was commented on at the
synagogue and other public forums, where the strongest condemnation possible was expressed
at the complete moral failure of both the father and the son. What was the scandalous news that
was spreading from person to person and village to village? It was the news of a son's extreme
rebellion and a father's tragic incompetence. It took place within a wealthy family in Israel,
whereby in an act that defied the values of their entire nation,
this son disowned his father and his family. The son insisted that his father give him his
inheritance immediately. He wanted nothing to do with his father, he just wanted his money.
The son didn't care if his father lived or died. The scandal was household news.
In the context of Jewish society and culture, honoring your father was one of the highest
duties of a son. When Jesus listeners heard that this son had dared to request his inheritance
from his father, they would have seen him as one of the biggest scumbags on the planet.
I can visualize a corporate atmosphere of disgust towards this son rising tangibly
amongst the crowd. Even with all these sinners in the crowd, none of them are likely to have
ever done something that in their eyes was so vile. In any culture, this would be one of the
highest levels of betrayal and dishonor the son could possibly commit against his father.
These Jewish listeners believed the son in the story to be the public enemy number one. In fact,
they would have already been anticipating the next part of the story. They would have been
anticipating the son being completely disowned and a punishment of death by stoning. At bare
minimum, this son would be disowned and receive the beating of a lifetime. They would have been
anticipating the father's wrath to be poured out on the son. Surely this wicked son was about to suffer
the wrath of his father. In that culture, if there was a line to cross, which would incur
immediate rejection from your family, this was it. Dishonor your father by telling the whole
world that your father means nothing to you, and you would prefer that he was dead.
All he was good for was his money. The son had publicly disowned and dishonored his father.
In their culture, at that time, children could be stoned to death for dishonoring their parents.
The fact that this father did not explode in a violent rage would have perplexed the crowd.
It was a son's duty to honor his father, and it was a father's duty to honor his son.
The father's failure to punish his son was almost as much of a moral failure as the son's rebellion.
It would have caused the crowd hearing the story, and also the people in the story,
to perceive the father as a villain.
This tale that Jesus was telling these people was absolutely scandalous. It got under their skin.
It was causing an emotional response from the hearers who were anticipating wrath and justice.
This father's failure to punish his son caused the crowd to judge him as a morally deficient father.
The fact that this father did not follow the cultural protocol automatically set him part
as a very unusual father, and a very bad father. As the story proceeds, we now have two villains.
the crowd of listeners and in the eyes of the people in the story, the rebellious son and the
incompetent father. The whole village knew the family. Their culture revolved around community.
They were a great example of the saying, it takes a village to raise a child. Enforcing justice was
a community responsibility. However, before the news got out to the whole community and before
they had time to get organized or gather their stones, the rebellious son had fled.
Not just to another village, the news of the incident and the resulting fatal justice it
deserved would have caught up to him in another village. Not just to another region, the news and
the justice would have caught up with him almost anywhere he went in the nation. The son fled the
culture, fled the justice, fled the fear, fled the guilt and the shame, and he kept riding with
his bags of money until he reached a distant nation. There would be no punishment inflicted
on the father except that of a ruined reputation. The whole nation passed a condemnation,
a condemning judgment on this father as a bad father. Here's the father longing for his son
to return. Jesus goes on to tell us that the son wasted his wealth on wild living.
The crowd surrounding Jesus would have been reading into that and assuming just as the
older brother did that he was hiring prostitutes and was without any moral compass. For this crowd,
the fact that he had wasted the wealth of his inheritance was considered as wicked as sleeping
with prostitutes. This young man is crossing every line of decency and they want to see justice,
they want to see punishment. With the escape of the son and rumors of his twisted lifestyle,
the story gathered momentum and the notoriety and notoriety throughout the entire nation.
Months had gone by. The father sat in his seat on the porch again alone in the middle of the night.
The servants had gone to bed, his eldest son had gone to bed, but the father couldn't sleep.
There was a bright full moon. The father could see clearly as he looked toward the horizon
and the long dusty road coming from the village. He could see that the road was empty.
He slowly drank his hot drink, warming his hands on the mug. His heart overflowed with love for his
son. In response to his broken heart, a silent glistening tear rolled its way to the corner
of his eye. The sun set up that night too.
The rumors were true. Actually, the rumors didn't even capture half of this lost son's story.
He had managed to keep his truly dark and defiling secrets hidden. The rumors did not portray how
deep the darkness was in this lost son's heart. The rumors did not portray how a part of him
wished he had been punished and executed. That would at least be a permanent escape from an
internal world of turmoil. Another wave of emotional pain brutally ripped right through him.
Once again, he reached for his half full bottle. A prostitute lay asleep beside him.
She was a sedative to numb the reality that his heart was void of love. He liked her,
but he hated her. He didn't even know why he hated her. He hadn't processed his own emotions
deeply enough to understand what was really controlling them and what was really controlling
him. But something about her made him angry. He wasn't aware that he hated her because she
represented the fact that what he desired most was out of his reach.
Thinking about the reasons behind his emotions was an unbearable feeling. He never went there.
Instead, he had another drink. The truth that lived deeper than his conscious awareness and
dwelt in his unexplored subconscious mind was that this prostitute made him angry because he
believed that was the only way that he could get love. And deep down, he knew
knew it wasn't real love. He hated her because she reminded
him that he did not believe he was worthy of love. He had never
believed that he was worthy of love. That was why he hated his
father too. He had lived in the same house with this man his
whole life, and he had never felt worthy of his love. He
didn't simply believe that he wasn't worthy of his father's
love. He believed that he wasn't worthy of love, period. He
didn't just hate his father because of this. Most of all, he
hated himself. Beneath the surface of things, even as he
grew up, he had always been tormented by a ferocious sense
of inadequacy. Ever since he could remember, he had felt this
way and had been tormented by the insecurities associated with
beliefs of inadequacy. It festered into a world of shame
and condemnation, and a raging case of unworthiness. Perceived
inadequacies had become his prison that isolated him from the
possibility of ever receiving love. Regardless of how close
and how unconditional that love had always been, he looked out
the window at the moon. He began thinking to himself again that
his loveless existence could never change. His heart
overflowed with hopelessness. In response to his broken heart, a
silent glistening tear rolled its way slowly to the corner of
his eye. Finally, it starts getting bare for the crowd. As
they hear that having wasted all his wealth, this wicked son is
now in poverty. Not only is he in poverty, he is subjected to
the ultimate humiliation of being the servant of pigs. Pigs
were considered ceremonially unclean animals and raising pigs
was unclean work. This son is now completely defiled and has
reached the pinnacle of failure. The crowd is hungry for justice.
He didn't go straight to the pigs. This son was so addicted to
his self-medicating practices, that he subjected himself to
desperate acts in order to fund his addiction. These desperate
acts only intensified the consuming conviction of his own
inadequacy. Eventually, every door closed on him. His
perpetual oppression by inadequacy, shame, condemnation
and unworthiness made healthy relationships impossible.
Everywhere he went, relationships failed and chaos
followed. He had nothing. He had no one. He was homeless. He was
broke. He didn't belong anywhere. On top of all this, he
was going through major withdrawals. At the end of
himself, he sat down in the shade. His back was against a
tree, his face towards the street. The Middle Eastern sun
was blazing. Beads of sweat swelled up from his forehead. His
tongue dried out inside his mouth. The unsatisfied urges of
his alcohol addiction whipped him repeatedly and ruthlessly.
The withdrawals caused his body to spontaneously spasm and
tremble. One of the high class prostitutes that he had spent so
many nights with, walked along the street in front of him
ready for work. His heart rate increased, his blood started
pumping. They had shared so many beautiful moments. He called out
to her and she turned. Her eye contact was powerful. Her eyes
used to dance and hold his gaze with erotic invitations. But
today, her eyes held no affection for him. No acceptance.
Today, her eyes fueled his internal narrative of
unworthiness and rejection. All the facades that his money had
bought him faded like smoke. Despite all the sex and wild
moments they had shared, this was the most vulnerable she had
ever been with him. This was their most honest moment. There
was no erotic dance in her eyes. Now the honesty in her eyes
shattered the illusions she had once portrayed.
The truth in her eyes struck him forcefully.
He finally realized the painful truth
that the shame inspired hatred
that he had felt towards her was perfectly mutual.
It's the pig farmer, this is what's coming.
The floggings, the withdrawal, the floggings of withdrawal
and the floggings of inadequacy matched each other
in their relentless administration of torture.
Physically, emotionally and spiritually,
he was pioneering new depths of internal darkness.
His only remaining friend, his only remaining escape was sleep.
Overwhelmed by everything, he laid down in the shade and closed his eyes.
He slept in the afternoon, quietly passed away.
Instead of being woken by a sleep terror this time,
he was woken by a bearded man, an ugly bearded man.
This bearded man was graphically ugly inside and out.
The ugly bearded man kicked him in the leg hard.
The twisted odor of narcissism clung to this ugly bearded man
like the stench of the pigs he farmed.
As the son's eyes adjusted to the light and to consciousness,
he could make out the eyes of the ugly bearded man who stood above him.
The first thing he noticed was the absence of kindness and warmth.
Instead, he immediately saw lethal brutality.
And manipulation flashing in his eyes.
The kick in the leg turned out to be a job offer.
He got it, too.
He got the only job he was fit for, feeding pigs.
There was no minimum wage.
He was a glorified slave.
The ugly, stingy bearded man didn't care
if this homeless bum lived or died.
If he dies, he can be pig food.
Until then, this street rat can feed my pigs,
thought the ugly bearded man.
It was while he was in this dark place that the sun began coming to his senses.
He assessed his circumstances and came to the sobering conclusion
that if he didn't figure out something soon, he was going to starve to death.
But which was worse?
Starve to death?
Or go back and face his father?
After the way he had publicly betrayed him, dishonored him
and squandered the family's wealth.
Then there was the fact that the whole village
and probably the whole country wanted him dead.
The thought of it instantly released a paralyzing explosion of fear
and shame through his whole being, maybe dying here with these pigs.
And his ugly bearded boss was better than that.
He carried on feeding the pigs and tried to avoid thinking about his father.
Time ticked by and the famine in the land
caused the food supply to slowly wither away.
The choice the son had to make started to become very, very real.
Die of starvation or return to his father and face the consequences,
however severe they may be.
Again, the thought of it was like a lightning strike of fear,
shame and negative emotions, the sense of being unworthy
that he had felt before he left home was now out of control
and coursing through his soul like venom.
He was persuaded that the darkness he had walked in defined him.
His failure to attain moral perfection reinforced his conviction
that he was worthless and unlovable.
His dark secrets tormented him and an ever present excruciating shame.
With an ever present excruciating shame, he decided to spend more time
with the pigs and his ugly bearded boss rather than face his father.
Courage.
The famine continued, stripping the land bear hope for this nation
evaporated like the streams.
He finally decided that one day.
returning to his father was his only survival option.
The withdrawal symptoms were subsiding.
His mind began to clear a little.
Throughout this story, the father is a constant.
He is always a good father.
The culture of the day had judged him as a moral failure.
Despite the fact that this father's morals
clearly surpassed their interpretation of morality.
This father has his own normal.
He has his own standard.
And that standard is a love that never fails.
The father's standard is a mercy
that triumphs over judgment.
The culture of the day had judged the father incompetent
for failing to manipulate and control his son
with threats, punishment, and violence.
He ignored their condemnation and judgment,
refusing to stoop to their shallow level of relationship,
which was infused with manipulation and control.
The father had something far more beautiful in mind.
He was willing to do whatever it would take
to share an authentic, mutual,
loving relationship with his son.
The father made himself totally vulnerable before his son
by respecting the son's freedom and power to choose
who, how, and when he would love.
The father's courageous vulnerability
empowered the son to break his heart over and over again.
If this son had understood how loved he had always been
and how much his father
had always desired a relationship with him,
he would never have come to the place
where he didn't care if his father lived or died.
The reality is that this son misperceived
who his father really was.
This son had a false definition of his father,
which caused a dramatic relational disconnection.
The belief that he was inadequate, unworthy, and unlovable
prevented him from ever seeing the truth
that his father had always loved him
with a perfect, unconditional love.
Even as he embarks on that dry and dusty road towards home,
it is clear that he still has no grasp of the extreme love
that his father has for him.
I wonder how many times the fear and shame
stopped him in his tracks
or caused him to turn back towards the pigs
or even run towards them.
Leaving hadn't been easy for the son.
There were internal and external obstacles.
One obstacle being that his ugly bearded boss
didn't like slaves running away.
Officially, he wasn't a slave,
but he didn't exactly have a job description or a contract.
In the abusive eyes of his ugly bearded boss
who didn't care if he lived or died,
he was effectively a slave.
He slipped out in the night
with a stash of stolen pig food to eat on the road
and put as much distance between himself
and his ugly bearded boss as he possibly could.
For the first week, he traveled at night and hid by day.
He had now lost count of how many days he had been walking.
Hungry, exhausted, and emotionally drained,
the son reaches the border of Israel.
After three more days of walking,
he can finally see his village on the horizon.
He was wearing a ragged cape with a large hood
that covered most of his face.
He didn't want to be seen,
and so far, nobody on the road had recognized him.
However, as the hills started to become more familiar
and he started coming closer to the village
that he grew up in,
other travelers on the road began looking twice.
He was a curious sight.
With his downcast look, bare feet,
poor dress, and unpleasant aroma,
he appeared a little suspicious.
Perhaps they thought he was a runaway slave.
A boy he went to school with passed him.
Did he recognize me?
He thought to himself in shock.
As his heart began thumping, they both kept walking.
He had to go right through the village to get to the farm.
So he decided to walk that section in the dark.
He found a distraction.
Greek place to camp, a day's walk from home.
He hid there and tried unsuccessfully to sleep until just after midnight.
Although he was used to fear, anxiety and stress,
he was now experiencing whole new levels of emotional chaos.
But he could see no other viable survival option.
Die with the pigs or face his father.
Honestly, right now,
as the fear and shame ravaged him internally,
dying with the pigs was becoming more and more appealing.
Compared to how savagely his own mind was treating him right now,
his ugly bearded boss was saintly.
The son easily escaped from his ugly bearded boss,
but he could not escape himself.
His internal voice of condemnation
was a prison in which he had lived his whole life.
The closer he came to his father,
the more intense the mental self-harm became.
If he hadn't walked so far to get to where he was now,
he may actually have chosen death with the pigs rather than facing his father.
His feelings of self-hatred reached a record high.
Every step that he took towards his father and towards the consequences
of his past was exponentially harder than the last.
Head down and anxiety high, he forced himself to walk on.
It was a motionless morning.
The road into town was dark, silent and empty.
This was it. Today, he would see his father.
As he walked along, he pondered as many potential outcomes as possible.
Every one of them scared him.
Every one of them reinforced his belief in his own inadequacy,
and every one of them endorsed his constantly growing hatred of himself.
As he walked silently and alone through the darkness,
he considered the fact that today could be the day that he died.
What had he accomplished with his life?
More harm than good, he thought to himself.
Every thought he had seems to inflict another level of punishment.
Even in his own, even his own mind had turned against him.
It took several hours to make his way to the edge of the village.
A few lamps burned in the houses in the village itself,
and he moved from shadow to shadow.
The occasional dog barked and roosters crowed at random,
but he made it through the village unseen.
Soon he stood on the crest of a hill overlooking the village behind him.
The sun was rising.
The cover of darkness was all but gone.
Half a day's walk before him.
Like half a day's walk lay before him and his past and his future.
Even though he was walking quickly,
his whole body was covered in a cold sweat of pure dread.
He had already passed a handful of people in the dark.
The road would now start to get much busier.
Less than an hour later, one of his old neighbors approached
with three donkeys fully loaded and bound for the village.
Shalom, said the neighbor.
Shalom, replied the son with his face to the ground.
For a second, the neighbor thought he recognized the voice.
After they passed each other,
they both looked back at the same time
and for a brief moment.
They locked eyes.
The neighbor knew instantly who it was.
The son saw condemnation
begin to flicker like hellfire in his eyes.
They both turned and picked up their pace.
The son knew that news of his return
would very soon be known throughout the entire district.
The severe consequences he had left behind had waited patiently.
for his return. The neighbour knew as well as the son, as well as the son did, the risk
the son had taken in returning. The neighbour knew that there may be a stoning today. He
took it upon himself, he took upon himself the responsibility to tell the village the
news. Everything else went on hold as the demand for justice took centre stage. The
son hurried on as discreetly as he could. Despite his desire to remain invisible, a
number of people recognised him. He heard some people speaking to him, others shouting
at him, but he could barely even register their existence. He was under so much internal
pressure that it required every ounce of his focus and energy to take each step. He was
consumed with agonising thoughts of his father. He blocked out everything and kept walking.
Finally the father's farm was in view. The climactic reunion drew ominously close. The
son took one more step over the horizon line and came into the father's view. The son had
no idea what the father's response was going to be. He paused before walking a little further
down the hill. Suddenly he saw that his father was sprinting towards him. The son stopped
right there, literally frozen in panic. He was unaware that a mob had gathered and was
fast approaching on the road, just a short distance behind him. Justice was a serious
community responsibility. Now justice would finally be served. At best the son thought
he may be able to desperately beg for mercy and possibly be given the role of a servant
in his father's house. That would be better than dying with the pigs and dealing with
his ugly bearded boss. His best case scenario was begging for the right to become a servant.
His worst case scenarios were either that beating he deserved or the stoning that the
village would demand. One thing was very clear. The son believed that because of his actions
he had forfeited his previous right to sonship. At least the crowd agreed with something in
the story that Jesus was telling. This son's behavior had completely forfeited him from
any right to sonship ever. He began to shake. The closer his father ran, the more terrified
the son became. All the strength that he had mustered to come this far and overcome so
much fear and shame had taken its toll. He was at breaking point. As he watched the unusual
speed of his father charging down the road, his sense of alarm began to grow. He began
to shake physically as fear and shame rumbled through his veins like thunder. He could no
longer hide from his past. He couldn't self medicate. He couldn't escape. He was forced
to face reality. He was forced to face this great terror in his heart. His father quickly
drew near. The father had been watching, waiting and longing for his son to come home. Longing
for relationship, longing for reconciliation, longing for intimacy. Longing for his son
to see him for who he really was and not as the monstrous father that the son's imagination
had invented. The father had never been able to overcome the son's persuasion that he was
unworthy of love. The father had never been able to overcome the son's persuasion that
he was unworthy of love. The son's own persuasion that he was unlovable had always prevented
him from receiving his father's love, no matter how desperately the father longed to pour
it out on him. Because the son never received love, he never felt loved. And the son used
this unloved feeling as justification for his theory that his father had never loved
him and that he would never be worthy of love. The son's image of the father was so warped
that he expected the worst from this moment. His father kept running, not jogging. The
father was in full.
Jesus' crowd of listeners can't believe that the son didn't die with the pigs.
How did he manage to escape justice once again?
But now that the son has been forced to crawl back to his father, justice can at last be
served.
How cunning of the father to wait until the son had to come crawling back before administering
a severe punishment on top of his ultimate humiliation.
Perhaps there is hope for this father to redeem himself in the eyes of the crowd.
The father is running towards this defiled, useless, disgusting boy, and this rebellious
wicked outcast is about to get the pent-up wrath of an offended father unleashed on him
in full fury.
At last, the father's wrath will be fully satisfied.
The son can't take his eyes off the father.
This was it.
This was the moment of truth.
His entire focus was consumed by his father.
He did not see the growing crowd behind him, gathering stones and drawing dangerously close.
They were rushing.
They were aggressive.
They were demanding justice.
They were demanding punishment.
Fueled by wrath, they raced towards the son.
The father could see the crowd coming.
He had sat through many conversations with his own relatives, neighbors, and friends
as they told him what they would do to his son if he ever showed his face again.
There was no way he was going to give them a chance to inflict their form of justice.
Inspired by love, the father raced towards the son.
Heart pounding, chest heaving, covered in sweat, the father reaches his son.
He instantly embraces him with a deep compassion and a fiery love.
Consuming the son in arms of love, the father holds his child who once was lost but now is found.
The son could not hug back.
He could not express affection.
He just stood there, rigid yet trembling.
The son is obsessed with and oppressed by the conviction of his own inadequacy.
He breaks down and gets to the root issue of what he has been secretly feeling forever.
It all comes out before his father as he gets more vulnerable than he has ever been and admits the truth
of what's really causing the emotional turmoil in his heart.
Everything inside him explodes.
The tears, the fears, the shame, the desperation.
I'm not worthy to be called your son.
He screams tears and emotion everywhere.
This conviction that he was inadequate and unworthy to be called a son is what drove him from home in the first place.
Now it all comes out, messy and painful.
Tears, snot, raw emotion and full exposure.
This son's broken and infected heart bleeds out before his father.
The son's tears cover his father and the father's kisses cover his son.
The unconditional acceptance, the love, the honor and the favor that the father lavishes on the son leaves everyone bewildered.
The crowd listening to Jesus cannot believe what has just happened.
This is the worst, most scandalous story they have ever heard.
It makes no sense.
In fact, it makes them vibrate with anger.
The son is speechless, hyperventilating, gasping for breath, gasping for breath and choking on a rise.
stream of tears, the father is ecstatic. When the older brother hears about what has happened,
he is wild with anger. The only one that Jesus' audience can relate to is the older brother
and his outrage at the absence of the flogging of a lifetime or worse. But as this story
sinks in, as Jesus' audience reflect on this foreign love, a deep place in their hearts
is jealous to experience it for themselves. They begin to feel a once dormant, deprived
part of their hearts physically aching to know the radical love that has been poured
out on their son. In that moment, some of them ask themselves, what would it be like
to be loved so unconditionally? Shouts begin to rise from the gathering. Deadly demands
for justice ring out from the priests, the elders, the lawyers, the cousins, the uncles,
the aunties and friends. What will the father's decision be? What shall be done with this
worthless son? They grip their rocks in rage. The gentle love and kindness in the father's
eyes blinds sides and captivates the son. They immerse themselves in each other's gaze.
The father's eyes tell a story that the son has never known. The son has known the looks
of rejection, hatred, brutality and condemnation. But no matter how deeply he reaches into his
father's eyes, there is not a trace of these things. He plunges desperately into them expecting
that rejection is hidden somewhere inside. His father's eyes are baptizing him in the
purest love that he has ever encountered. The rejection that he assumed was there had
never existed. Waves of acceptance crash over him again and again. He can't understand
why he had never seen it there before, but he can see it clearly now. The eyes of the
father are a cosmos of ecstasy and delight in his son. The son is discovering that he
has always been the focus of his father's delight. The son can see that this limitless
love in the father's eyes could take a thousand lifetimes to explore. It is beyond his capacity
to understand. He doesn't know why he's never seen it before, but he cannot ignore it. He
cannot resist it and he cannot live without it. For the first time since he was a little
boy, he buries his face in his father's chest. They grip each other in an embrace that simultaneously
communicates a lifetime full of pain and a future full of hope. The father has an unprecedented
response to the son's begging and the crowd's demands. He does not let the son continue
to berate himself and beg like a slave. The father breaks everyone's cultural protocols
and expectations as he demonstrates unconditional love for his son. The son himself is in serious
shock. Where is the wrath of the monstrous father that he believed had never loved him?
The father's love collides with his false perceptions like a sledgehammer on glass.
The core beliefs that he built his world on are shattering. The love is tangible and strong,
so strong that the son loses all his strength. An electric love surges right through him.
He melts in his father's arms. The father upholds him in this eternally desired expression
of delight. For the first time in his memory, the son drops his guard. For a moment, his
sense of inadequacy is eclipsed by his father's love, and he receives this divine love into
the depths of his love-starved soul, his love-famished soul.
or feasts at the same time as an uncontrollable flood
of tears and snot and pain continue pouring from him.
The double edged blade of love penetrates his heart.
It's hurting, but it's healing.
The father continues to demonstrate to the son
and to everyone watching his unreserved endorsement
of the legitimacy of his son's sonship.
At this stage, the son's world is spinning out of control.
The father called for his best robe.
Immediately, the father placed his most exquisite garment
on his son.
This robe is a statement of the father's protection.
The moment that the father's robe was placed on the son,
every condemning accusation against the son was canceled.
The son is now wearing the best robe of the household.
It is the father's covering.
It represents the father meeting the son's need
for protection.
It is a declaration of safety to the son.
This act of love is casting out all fear of punishment.
This act of love is canceling every offense
and every accusation of judgment and condemnation
associated with the son's failures.
This act of love is a declaration of total vindication
and reconciliation.
This act of love is a declaration
that the father has freely forgiven his son.
This act of love is an undeserved declaration
of redemption and freedom from the darkness
of the son's past.
The level of offense in the crowd is now rising.
Where is the justice?
To them, this is immoral, scandalous,
against the laws of God and nature.
This is blasphemy, heresy, and surely Gentile theology
all in one.
They believe that justice looked like punishment,
but the father is overwhelmed with delight.
He has no regard for the crowd's preconceived assumptions
that he would pour out wrath on his son.
The father had no intention of punishment.
It wasn't what he had ever wanted.
To the father, justice looked like redemption
and he gets exactly what he wants, his son.
The crowd's appetite for blood
is left completely unsatisfied by the father.
Moments later, the father rushes a ring
onto his son's finger.
This ring symbolizes identity.
In giving this ring, the father is meeting
the son's extreme need for identity.
The father is saying that everything
which the son once believed defined him,
all his failure, all his dark secrets,
everything negative that had ever been said about him
or that he had ever believed about himself is irrelevant.
The ring symbolizes the name, nature,
and identity of the family and declares to the son
that he is exclusively defined by his father.
The ring declares to the son
that the only valid reference point for his identity
comes from his father.
By doing this, the father also powerfully communicates
that this son has a home and a place of belonging
in this family.
He will be seated at the family table at the father's side.
The son can't stand.
He is overwhelmed with love and emotion.
He collapses to the ground and his servants run to him.
Sandals are tied to his feet.
Slaves and servants did not wear sandals.
This act of the father was a declaration of provision.
The father was saying that he would not receive him back
as a slave or a servant.
He would receive him back as a son
and he would provide as a father.
Each of these three actions endorsed.
legitimacy of the son's sonship. Each of these actions revealed the nature of the father to
supply protection, identity and provision. Following this, the father killed the fattened calf.
This calf would have been enough to feed the whole village. It was a custom for wealthy
families to invite the whole town or village to a banquet to celebrate Bar Mitzvah. A Bar Mitzvah
is a coming-of-age celebration which took place on a son's 13th birthday, where a son is legally
and publicly recognized as a son with all the legal rights, privileges and responsibilities
of sonship. This was not an official Bar Mitzvah celebration, but the father was making a public
statement similar to that of a Bar Mitzvah. The father was publicly celebrating, recognizing
and endorsing the full rights, privileges and responsibilities of his son's sonship. The whole
village was invited to witness the father testify to the legitimacy of his son's sonship. The father
wanted to endorse his son's sonship in the most public way possible. Both the community
around the father in the story and Jesus's audience were having a major culture shock
as they tried to process the actions of this eccentric, heretical, villainous father. This father
defied their cultural expectations for wrath and punishment and dumbfounded them with his
unconditional acceptance and extravagant love. The son was received home as the object of his
father's delight. While the son still smelt like a pigsty, the father had wrapped him up in his
passionate embrace. Instead of separation, condemnation, wrath, humiliation and bloodshed,
this son was sitting in the best seat at the father's side, wearing the best robe with the ring
on his finger and brand new sandals on his feet, feasting at a celebration thrown in his honor to
endorse the legitimacy of his sonship. This son has discovered his seat at the table.
Seated beside his father, this son has finally found where he belongs. Instead of dying
with the pigs, he is dining with the father. Although the crowd was confused, speechless
and offended, the story awakened within each of them a deep and ancient desire to experience
such a love for themselves. A jealousy for such a pure love began to sting the open wounds of lack
and inadequacy in their own hearts. Could such a love be any more than mythology or heresy?
They reflected on their own experiences of what a father's love could look like.
They all had different images coming to mind, the good, the bad and the ugly. All of their
experiences of what a father's love is like were different, but all of them paled in contrast
to the extravagant love of this father.
Could I ever hope to experience a love like this? They wondered secretly to themselves.
Even the son is seriously questioning whether this is too good to be true.
Is this really happening? All his expectations, his entire worldview, his reality has been
completely devastated by his father's love. Truth is staring him in the face and declaring that life
is better and brighter than he had ever imagined. His heart, his brain, his emotions, his spirit and
his soul are all exploding.
thing at the same time. It's too much to grasp the full meaning
of everything. This love has blown a brain fuse in the sun.
He makes the best decision of his life and chooses to simply
receive his Papa's love. Even though it's beyond his
comprehension, and his mind is spinning, his heart knows that
he belongs in this seat at his Papa's table. Truth is
convincing him that he is perfectly loved. For the first
time in his life, he is starting to see his Papa as he really is.
He is discovering that his Papa is a perfect lover. The more
accurately he sees his Papa, the more he loves him. The
offense and hatred he once held towards his father has been
swallowed up by love and honor. His Papa's love is redefining
everything that he ever knew about love. He has never felt so
safe. He has never felt so secure. In the context of perfect
safety, vulnerability is losing its terror. Surrounded by
safety, authenticity cautiously emerges like a snail's antennae.
The masks of false identities that the sun had worn as self
protection mechanisms were becoming irrelevant. This
unconditional acceptance is drawing the sun outside of
himself. He is discovering that nothing he has ever experienced
compares to the ecstasy and the bliss of this perfect love. This
once lost sun has found a seat at the table. This once lost sun
is discovering the bliss of sonship. A genuine smile lights
up his face. His eyes radiate with the delight of a son who
understands that he is perfectly loved.
Conclusion. The term sonship is used here in a non, in a
generic, non gender specific way. The term identity is used
here to refer to the generic identity of humanity as those
made in the image of God, not a person's unique individuality
and personality. This parable of the good father is based on the
idea that the good father is Jesus' most masterful
articulation of the good news. Jesus exquisitely communicates
the essence of the good news with power and precision. Jesus
presents his definition of perfect theology, who God is, and
his definition of the gospel, what the good news is, in one of
the most gripping stories in the entire Bible. A father, a
lost son, betrayal, scandal, secrets, fear, shame, heartbreak,
villainy, tragedy, brokenness, addiction, bondage, isolation,
courage, vulnerability, forgiveness, love, redemption,
identity, reconciliation, restoration, sonship, family
belonging, hope. This story incorporates the most powerful
in life. It answers the most profound questions in life. The
pinnacle revelation in the midst of it all is the unconditional,
unfailing, unparalleled love of our father in heaven, whose
unshakable love conquers the most hideous betrayals without
flinching or being damaged, or reduced or inhibited or
restricted in any way. It's a love that defies every adversity
and never relents, a love that yearns for redemption, not
punishment, and reconciliation, not distance. Using this story,
Jesus exposes the root issues of the human heart, believing that
we are inadequate and that we won't have enough. These
beliefs flow from false definitions of our father in
heaven, and false definitions of our
own identity. When we have a false definition of who our
father in heaven is, we come to believe that we will lack the
things that we need, protection, identity, provision. Whenever we
believe that we will be in lack, it produces fear. The nature of
love, the nature of the father is to supply. Lack produces
fear, but love, love supplies. That's how love casts out all
fear. Love brings a promise with it that there will be more than
enough. Lack produces fear, but love supplies. Love supplies the
truth that we need to be free from fear. Love supplies the
revelation that our hearts need to be fully persuaded of our
papa's provision. When we are fully persuaded that our father
in heaven will provide for us, then it will be clearly
evidenced by the reality that there is no fear, anxiety, or
worry in our lives. The only way to get free from fear is by
discovering what this son discovered. Eventually, he
discovered that his father's love was unconditional, and he
had always been loved. Nothing he did or didn't do ever stopped
the father from loving him. That is who the father is, a perfect
lover. After a lifetime of living in an unnecessary love
deficit, the son came to realize that his actions and mindsets
did not alter or diminish the father's love. They altered his
ability to experience the present reality of his father's
love. It took great courage from the son to make the journey home
and to become vulnerable before his father. However, it was in
the context of his courage and vulnerability that he discovered
the present reality of the love with which his father had always
loved him. The father's unconditional acceptance
establishes an atmosphere of perfect safety, an atmosphere
that is safe to come home to a place where it's safe to be
honest, real, transparent, and vulnerable, a place where it's
safe to be ourselves. In the context of unconditional
acceptance, we can expose ourselves and still be loved. We
can be known, we can be intimate without fear of
rejection. In this place of unconditional acceptance, we are
given the opportunity to build trust. As we protect and steward
and trust with as we protect and steward trust with safe
behavior, intimacy grows. As intimacy develops, a sense of
belonging grows with it. As the son courageously came home into
that atmosphere of safety and acceptance, his heart melted. He
repositioned his heart from a place of offense toward his
father to a posture of honor. He discovered that offense shut his
heart down to receiving love but honor opened his heart up to
receiving his father's love. Honor opened the floodgates for a
baptism in the father's love. A false definition of our father
in heaven is not only the source of lack and fear, it is also the
root of inadequacy and shame. We were made in the image of our
father, our papa in heaven. He is the blueprint of our divine
design. We were made perfectly in his image, and he alone
defines us. However, if we are not fully persuaded that we are
perfectly made in the image of our father in heaven, then we
begin to experience feelings associated with beliefs in
inadequacy. Perfection is the secret standard inside of every
human soul that we measure ourselves by. If we come to
believe that we are less than perfect in any way, then
inadequacy and shame begin to spread like a vicious rash on
our soul. The pathway to freedom from shame is becoming fully
persuaded that despite what you have been through in life, the
only valid reference for your identity is your papa in heaven.
Nothing we have ever experienced in life has any
authority
to redefine that which our Father in heaven has already exclusively defined in His image
and we have been forever defined by Him alone.
Believing in lack will produce fear and believing in inadequacy will produce shame.
Humans are allergic to shame.
Shame is a toxic substance.
Shame comes from believing that you as an individual are inadequate in some way.
The belief that we are inadequate comes from a perception that things we experience have
authority to define our identity.
This world is full of extreme trauma.
I have more friends than I can count who have been through extreme abuse and trauma.
The ones that get free from shame are the ones that embrace the truth that their experiences
have no authority to define their identity.
The negative words spoken over their lives, the neglect they suffered, the rape, the violence,
the incest, the rejection, the betrayal, the failure, the sin, the wounds, the fall, the
works, none of these things have any authority to define us.
Everything that we have ever experienced has the authority to redefine that which the Father
has already exclusively defined in His image.
We have been exclusively defined by our Father in heaven.
He is the only valid reference point for our identity.
He is the blueprint of our divine design.
If we are experiencing condemnation, shame, or a belief in unworthiness in any expression
in our lives, it is because we have allowed ourselves to be defined by something that
has no authority to define us.
There is one outstanding and exclusive definition of our identity that has the executive
authority to define us, and that is Jesus.
Jesus perfectly revealed and modeled our Father in heaven, and in doing so, He perfectly
articulated humanity's true identity as those made in God's image.
Every form of information that you have ever received that gives definition to your identity,
which is not in harmony with what Christ revealed, is not valid.
Jesus called the Son a Son for the entire story.
Even in His darkest hour, the Son was still a Son.
He was still as Son as a Son could be.
Discovering the present reality of His Sonship required the lies in His belief system to
be shattered entirely.
His whole way of processing what defined Him had to be completely rewired.
He had always believed that what He did, what people said, and what He experienced defined
His identity.
This way of thinking is a system rigged to fail, a system that will keep us chained to
inadequacy, shame, and condemnation.
The Son discovered that the legitimacy of His Sonship had never been compromised by
all His failures and rebellion.
As the Father endorsed the authenticity of His Son's Sonship, He began to see that the
only valid reference point for His identity was His Father.
He was exclusively defined by His Father, and He had always been His Son as a Son can
be.
Combining these two revelations in our lives empowers us to discover the bliss of Sonship
that this Son discovered.
In Jesus' gospel narrative, discovering unconditional love and unconditional Sonship is what
seats us at our Father's table.
Our Papa is a perfect lover, and we are exclusively made and defined in His image.
We are all perfectly loved, and we are all perfectly worthy of love.
We have not been qualified or defined by our own failed attempts at perfection.
We have been qualified and defined.
by our Papa in heaven, who made us in his image,
and who has declared that we are his beloved children.
Just like the sun in the story,
your father in heaven longs to have you return home.
He has reserved a seat at the table for you.
He longs to celebrate you.
The way the sun in the story was celebrated.
He longs to feast with you at the family table.
He longs to place his robe of protection over you,
to place a defining ring on your finger,
to promise you provision
and to welcome you home as a beloved child.
He wants you to take your place at the banquet of heaven.
He wants you to sit at the dining table.
Your Papa longs to publicly celebrate
and endorse the legitimacy of your sonship.
He wants the whole world to know
that you are perfectly, unconditionally
and extravagantly accepted and loved by him.
Thanks so much, family,
for joining the live reading today of The Good Father.
I'm gonna pray for you,
and then we're gonna wrap this up.
Papa.
Wow.
Papa, thank you for your goodness.
Thank you for your extravagant love.
Thank you for,
and thank you for your unconditional love.
And Papa, right now,
right now, Papa, I just ask that you
wrap people's hearts up in your love.
Papa Romans 5.5 says that the love of God
is poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.
So Holy Spirit, right now.
Holy Spirit, right now.
Holy Spirit, I ask that you flood
through every life right now.
I ask that you release the atmosphere
of heaven over people right now,
that there would be an atmosphere for love encounters
swallowing people up right now.
Papa, I ask that your Holy Spirit
would capture people's hearts.
I ask Holy Spirit that your love would infuse them
and flood them and consume them.
Papa, I ask that your love right now
would be like lightning,
that it would be like thunder,
that it would be like oil,
that it would be like fire,
that it would be like waves,
that it would wrap people up
and consume them in your love.
Papa, may that supernatural outpouring of your love
freshly encounter people.
Papa, not on a surface level,
but Holy Spirit, would you pour out the love of the Father
into the very core of our being,
that we will be consumed and baptized,
that there'll be a fresh release of a baptism
in the Father's love,
that the power, the weight, the glory, the fire,
the intensity, the wonders of the Father's love,
let that be released right now in Jesus' name.
Let it be a storm, let it be a flood,
let it be a baptism,
let it be an encounter, let it be fire,
let it be lightning, let it be thunder,
let it be wonders, let it be glory,
let it be all-consuming and penetrating and heart-pounding
and soul-blazing in Jesus' name.
I just say more, more, more.
We just wanna wait on you, Holy Spirit.
We just wanna wait on you.
We just wanna receive your love
going deeper and deeper and deeper
in your beautiful name, Jesus.
Whoa.
Amen.
Wow, family.
Thank you so much.
Yeah, lots and lots of love to all of you.
And like I said, if you want a free copy of the book,
you can grab that in the...
the description right now.
And also there's a hardcover version as well,
which these are really, really amazing
for sharing with people who don't know Jesus yet.
It really rocks their lives.
So thanks so much, family.
Bless you, and we'll see you all again soon.
Bye-bye.