Discover The Word

Monday, November 16, 2009, Part 5

“Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.’ But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. So he answered and said to his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’ And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found’ ” (Luke 15:25-32).

IDEA: The essence of what it means to be “a child of God” is that we have a vital relationship with Him.

PURPOSE: To persuade listeners that God doesn’t want slaves to obey Him, but sons and daughters who love Him.

Do you think it’s possible to live together as a family and think you’re a family, but only be people living together in the same house with the same name?

What makes a family? (Or at least a healthy family?)

Listen to a fragment of a story about a rather well-known family in Luke 15:25-32:
“Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.’ But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. So he answered and said to his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’ And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.’ “

Would people in the community have thought of this as a “good” family?

Would the son have thought of himself as a “good” son?

From what we learn in this story, what was the young man’s relation to his family?

How did he see himself as a family member?

How did he see his father?

How did he see his father’s friends?

How did he see his brother?

Is it possible to see yourself as a “good Christian” and others see you that way, but something essential is lacking? What is it?

Is it possible that our relationship to God’s family can be destructive, rather than positive? How?