Hello. My name is Frank Johnson, and I am speaking to you today from my video blog, ProdigalGod.com.

Today’s message will be the sixth in a seven-part series entitled, “Wayward Sons and a Prodigal God.”

Throughout this series, I’m basing my comments on Luke 15:11-32, so if you’d like to open your Bibles to that passage, you will be ready to follow along.

Let’s get started.

Last time we were together, we began to look at the life of the elder son in the story we traditionally call the “Parable of the Prodigal Son.”

And we saw that the elder son saw his work as slavery to his father and that he refused to enter into intimacy with his father.

Today, we’re going to examine the reaction of his father to the elder son’s attitudes and actions.

Entreated By The Father
In the parable, how does the father react to all of this? And since in the parable, the father represents our Heavenly Father, the answer to this question will also tell us how our Heavenly Father reacts to us when we refuse to enter into intimacy with Him because we believe that we need to work harder and live holier lives before He will accept us and love us.

How does the father react to the elder son?

Luke 15:25-32 says, “Now his older son was in the field, and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. And he summoned one of the servants and began inquiring what these things might be. And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ But he became angry, and was not willing to go in; and his father came out and began entreating him. But he answered and said to his father, ‘Look! For so many years I have been serving you, and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a kid, that I might be merry with my friends; but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with harlots, you killed the fattened calf for him.’ And he said to him, ‘My child, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to be merry and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.’”

“....and his father came out and began entreating him.”

This is abnormal. This is bizarre. This is strange, because no self-respecting Middle Eastern father would do this. He would certainly come out, but he would not entreat his son. Instead, he would beat him mercilessly to within an inch of his life, because the elder son is humiliating his father [Kenneth E. Bailey, The Cross and the Prodigal, pgs. 69-70].

And it’s interesting to me that this is the expectation of all who live by the elder son’s standard. We feel that the only way to gain the acceptance of our Heavenly Father is through faithful performance of duty, and when we fail to faithfully perform our duty, we expect to be punished, to be beaten mercilessly as it were.

But, beloved, can you see the heart of your Heavenly Father in the heart of this Middle Eastern father?

The father in our parable comes out and entreats his son. The Greek word which is translated “entreat” is parakaleo. It is made up of two words: para, which means “alongside,” and kaleo, which means “to call.” And so parakaleo literally means “to call alongside.”

And this is just what the father does. Instead of beating his son, he calls his son to his side. He calls his son to intimacy with himself. He is saying, “Son, all your life you’ve found your fulfillment, your satisfaction, your security, your stability, and your meaning in life in what you do, in attempting to faithfully perform what you feel is your duty to me. But hear the cry of my heart, son: I accept you and love you as you are, and I long for intimacy with you.”

And beloved, our God says the same to us: “All your life, son; all your life, daughter, you’ve found your fulfillment, your satisfaction, your security, your stability, and your meaning in life in what you do, in your work, in attempting to faithfully perform what you feel is your duty to Me. But hear the cry of My heart, son; hear the cry of My heart, daughter: I accept you and love you as you are, and I long for intimacy with you.”

A successful relationship with God does not depend on our correct behavior. Instead, it depends upon the love of God and upon our decision to accept and receive that love.

The Parable Of The Prodigal God
We call this story “The Parable of the Prodigal Son.”

Do you know what the word “prodigal” means? For many years, I did not know the definition of “prodigal.” I always thought it referred to someone who had gone away or separated themselves from someone else. But that’s not what the word means at all.

The word “prodigal” means “lavish, extravagant and unrestrained” [Lloyd John Ogilvie, Autobiography of God: God Revealed in the Parables of Jesus (Ventura: Regal Books, 1979), pg. 10].

Then who in the story is prodigal? Who in the story is lavish? Who in the story is extravagant? Who in the story is unrestrained?

It is the father who is prodigal. It is the father who is lavish, lavish in his love for his sons. It is the father who is extravagant, extravagant in his love for his sons. It is the father who is unrestrained, unrestrained in his love for his sons. It is the father who is prodigal.

This is not the parable of the prodigal son. It is the parable of the prodigal God [Lloyd John Ogilvie, Autobiography of God: God Revealed in the Parables of Jesus (Ventura: Regal Books, 1979), pg. 10], the God who is lavish in His love for you, the God who is extravagant in His love for you, the God who is unrestrained in His love for you. There are no limits to the Father’s love. There are no limits to the Father’s grace. There are no limits to the Father’s mercy. He is lavish, extravagant and unrestrained in His love for you. He is the prodigal God!

This concludes the sixth part of our seven-part series entitled “Wayward Sons and a Prodigal God.”

I hope that you will join me next time as we wrap up this series with a few simple words to the younger sons among us and the elder sons among us.

Thank you for joining me today.