In last week’s sermon, I stated that God has favorites. That’s seems to be a controversial statement. If you did an internet search about that topic, most articles that come up postulate that God does not have favorites and that He is impartial. While the Bible does say that God is not partial, those verses are simply explaining that God does not show partiality in the way He gives salvation to people. He forgives, accepts and loves all people who, through faith in Jesus, come to Him, and He does not discriminate against any person. All sinners can find mercy and grace through faith in Jesus.
But God’s impartiality is not the same thing as God’s favor. Favoritism is different. While God doesn’t show favoritism to people groups, He does show favoritism to individuals. But all people can seek God and be among His favorites. Unlike humans, there is no limit as to how many people can be favored by Him. Jesus no longer has the physical limitations that He had when He was on earth, when even He could not hold multiple conversations at the same time and He required rest. Now that He has ascended into Heaven, though, He is not limited in any way and all who desire to spend time with Him and talk with Him may do so at every and any given moment each day. As humans, it’s hard for us to fully understand God’s infiniteness. In our own lives, we can only be close to a certain amount of people and choosing someone to be a favorite friend of ours means we are choosing others not to be. We only have so much time in a day. God is not like that. So, as we talk about God’s favor today, I want you to keep in mind that God operates outside of our human limitations.
To really understand how God’s favor works, I want us to read the Parable of the Prodigal Son. To begin with, do you know what the term “prodigal” means? I will give you a clue: it comes from the same words as prodigious and prodigy. It’s been in English usage since the late 15th century, and it means recklessly extravagant or wasteful of that extravagance. Both the Tyndale Bible (1526) and the Geneva Bible (1560) use the term “prodigal son” to title this parable, and so they popularized that term for this famous parable. In the parable itself, we only see this word used once, in verse 13, and in the ESV it’s translated as “reckless living," but perhaps it should been translated as "extravagant living."
I also want to point out something about the inheritance that the son receives. According to the Jewish inheritance law in Deuteronomy 21:17, the first-born son would be given a double portion of an inheritance. So since there were two sons, the inheritance would be split into thirds, with the elder son getting two-thirds, and the younger son getting one-third.
Let’s read Jesus’ story. Luke 15:11-32 (ESV) says:
11 And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. 14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.
17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ 20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.
25 “Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 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.’ 28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, 29 but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ 31 And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’”
This is a very famous parable, and most likely you’ve read it many times before. To summarize it again: the younger son asks for his inheritance, the father gives it to him; the son wastes it, regrets his choices, repents and goes home; the father sees him and runs to him and throws him a party since he has come back; the elder son resents the forgiveness being shown to the younger son, the father rebukes the elder son. Does that sound about right? Did I miss anything in my summary?
It’s easy to read this parable, summarize it, and conclude that the message is that God rejoices when sinners repent and we should, too. That’s not an incorrect conclusion, but looking at this parable today, I want to consider how it speaks to us, not just how it might have spoken to the audience Jesus told it to. I think we should look beyond our surface reading of it and see what the Holy Spirit would say to us through it. If we do that, I think we find that it’s an illustration of the extravagant blessing and favor that the Lord offers to all people.
For what did the father in the story do? His younger son asked him for his inheritance. That in itself was a highly offensive thing for the son to do. He was basically saying, “I can’t wait for you to die. Can I have what’s mine now?” The father should have been rightfully offended and would be in the right to kick the son out right then and there. But the father showed such grace. He graciously gave the son his inheritance. In that time and culture, that would have been unheard of. Then the son wastes everything. And he ends up working with pigs. Which, as Ellicott’s Commentary points out, “To feed swine- we feel at once the shudder that would pass through the hearers of the parable as they listened to these words. Could there be for an Israelite a greater depth of debasement?”
But the father does not hold that against him, for when the son returns, the father runs to him and embraces him. Which again, was something that was just not done. Many commentaries I read pointed out that the running was highly out of character for a respected elder. But the father throws propriety to the wind, and runs. Then he embraces his son, who must have been really dirty. He doesn’t care though, he’s just thrilled his son is back. And so he throws his dirty, shamed, unclean son an extravagant party.
The father showed his son so much more favor than he deserved, didn’t he? He didn’t just welcome him back, he celebrated and acted extravagantly toward him. None of the four things he gave his son were necessary, although I’m sure he needed a clean robe, but he certainly didn’t need the best robe, nor a ring nor even sandals for his feet. I’m sure he was hungry, but he didn’t need to have the fattened calf butchered. All of those things were above and beyond necessities: they were to show the father’s great joy at having his son return to him. They were extravagant, and they showed how much favor he wanted to express to his son.
But I have a question for you. Which son did the father favor more? I think most people would say it is the younger son. The father gives him the inheritance, the son wastes it, but then the father gives him back what he lost. Is that right, though? Does the text say that the father restores the inheritance he lost? I don’t see that in the text. It says he gave him some gifts and celebrated, but it doesn’t say that his inheritance is given to him again. Some people have thought that the reason the elder brother is so upset is because he is going to have to give half of his inheritance to the younger brother. Timothy Keller even wrote a popular book about how it is at the expense of the elder brother that the younger brother is restored and therefore the elder brother represents a flawed elder brother and Jesus who is our “true elder brother” shows us what the flawed elder brother in the story should have done. I understand his reasoning, but I don’t see that in the text. The general understanding is that the elder brother represents the pharisees who were listening to Jesus tell this parable. But I actually think the person who the father in the story favored the most is the elder brother, but the elder brother didn’t realize it.
The reason I disagree with the commonly accepted idea that the father favors the prodigal son more than the elder son is because of what the father says to the elder son. In the parable, every time the father refers to his sons, he uses the word huios which simply means son. Then in verse 31 he uses the word teknon, which means child. It was a term of endearment. He tenderly says to the elder son, “My child, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.” If the elder son only represented the pharisees, why would Jesus say that they are always with Him and everything that He has belongs to them?
The father doesn’t reject that elder son for his resentment of his brother. Instead, he begs him to come to the party, and he lovingly reminds him that all that his brother has been given belongs to him, not to the younger brother, and he is welcome to partake of all it. The story ends, and so we don’t know how the elder brother responds, but I think there are many people who have the same wrong idea that the elder son exhibits in that parable. They resent that other people are being blessed by God, and they feel like they are not being blessed or favored, but it is exactly as the father in that parable says to the elder son. That son has been faithful and obedient, and so he says to him what He says to all of us who are following Him, “Child, all that is mine is yours.” Was it the father’s fault if the elder son never took advantage of all that was available to him to have? Is it the Father’s fault if we don’t recognize and take advantage of all that God has for us?
The thing to remember with the Prodigal Son, although the younger son made bad decisions and stopped obeying his father, he didn’t stop believing in the goodness of his father. Verses 17-19 tells us, “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’
We should not view this parable as permission to fall into sin, though, for things could have just as easily ended differently for that son. If the Prodigal Son had not returned so soon to his father, he might have walked so far away that he, too, could not have returned. For what would have happened if, instead of coming to his senses, he decided he enjoyed his life of sin? The only reason he was welcomed back was because he repented and left the pigsty.
But the reason the father was able to welcome him back was because he believed in the goodness of his father. The younger son had faith in his father. This is the same with us and Father God, and also the reason why it is not unfair or unjust of God to show favor to certain people. After all, look at what Hebrews 11:6 says, “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” It’s impossible to please God without faith, which means that it is our faith that pleases God. He rewards or shows favor to those who have faith in Him.
Which is exactly what we see in this parable, isn’t it? Again, the prodigal son never stopped having faith in the goodness of his father, and after he left his wayward life, his father forgave him and welcomed him back. The elder son, on the other hand, seemed to have stopped having faith in the goodness of his father. He was angry that his brother seemed to be getting all this favor and that he wasn’t. But not only was that simply not true, but his failure to see it was nobody’s fault but his own.
I remember a story from when I was in Bible College. It was my last year of school, and for all the years that I had been there, God miraculously provided for my school bill. I had a job and earned all that I could, but it still fell massively short of the total funds I needed. Each year, God paid it to the penny. It was truly miraculous. One of my friends told me that she would not be returning to school the next semester because she didn’t have the money she needed. I told her to trust God to provide for her and shared my testimony of God’s provision. She scoffed at that idea and said, “Well, that’s great that God provided for you, but it doesn’t mean He will provide for me.” She was like the elder brother: she resented the fact that God provided for me, because she doubted God would help her. Why would she doubt? God is Jehovah Jireh. He is our provider. If He had called her to the Bible College, He would provide for her, the same way He provided for me. But she doubted God’s goodness. She didn’t have faith that He would provide and so she left and didn’t return.
This is a trap we can all fall into if we aren’t careful. If we doubt God’s goodness toward us, how will we trust Him to come through for us? We might be so focused on what other people have that it makes us bitter and we miss out on what is right in front of us. If we are focused on what other people have instead of what God has for us, we might miss what He wants to do for us.
That’s why I think, even though he didn’t realize it, if you want to add up blessings, the elder son was actually the most blessed of the two. He didn’t leave and squander his inheritance, fall upon hard times and have to be humiliated and suffer in order to come to his senses and crawl home. He stayed home, was given the majority of the inheritance, had everything he could need, and yet because he was angry at his younger brother for how he wasted his inheritance, it robbed him of his joy. But like his father said to him, everything that he had was his. He could have had that robe, that ring, new sandals or that fattened calf whenever he had wanted, but he never took advantage of any of it.
That’s why I don’t think the more favored son is the prodigal. I think the more favored son is the elder brother, only he just couldn’t see it. He misses out and doesn’t receive all that is his for the taking. The younger son took the gifts, but then he squandered them and wasted them, and upon returning received some gifts, but not his lost inheritance. There was still consequences to his reckless living. The elder son stayed faithful to his father, but he didn’t believe in his father’s goodness and so he didn’t take the blessings that were always offered to him.
Again, I think we can be just like that elder son. God wants to bless us. He has given us everything we need. He wants to bless us, yet we might miss all the blessings He has for us if we don’t bother to take advantage of all that He offers us. And I’m not just talking about material things. I’m talking about the spiritual blessings He wants to lavish on us. All the things that are more than just our basic spiritual necessities like forgiveness and salvation. I’m taking about the extra other spiritual blessings that are available to us. All the spiritual fruit the Holy Spirit offers to us if we will but take them. I think the Holy Spirit wants to grow all the spiritual gifts inside of us, but they won’t grow if we are bitter and focused on other people rather than being focused on how good it is to be a child of God. God wants us to receive His gifts of the Spirit. He wants us to be filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. He also wants us to operate in the spiritual gifts that He wants to give us: gifts of mercy, praying for healing, speaking in tongues, words of encouragement, and gifts of faith.
We are told in 1 Corinthians 12:7-11 that we are to seek these gifts. It says, “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.” Then verse 31 exhorts us, “But earnestly desire the higher gifts.”
The Father wants to give us good gifts. As I mentioned last week, every good and perfect gift we have received has come from the Father. Jesus, too, talks about giving us gifts and lavishing favor and blessings on us. He says in John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” He also says in Matthew 7:9-11, “Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”
Metaphorically, God has given us a fancy robe, a ring for our finger, sandals for our feet and a fattened calf to celebrate with; but will we receive these things? Or will our bitterness and lack of faith keep us from seeking God’s blessings?
And these items that the father gives the son, I think they are representative of other things. Jesus doesn’t explain in the text, but it seems like the robe could represent the robe of righteousness given to us, the ring could represent God’s authority which transfers authority to us because we are under His authority, the sandals which would not be worn by slaves could represent that we are no longer slaves but are adopted into His family, and the fattened calf which is slaughtered is surely representative of Jesus who became the sacrifice for our sins. We have all these gifts from the Father through the blood that Jesus shed for us on the cross. God has given us so many gifts and lavished us with such extreme love, we only have to realize it to feel the favor of God.
But like the elder brother, we can lose sight of the goodness of God. I think in an attempt to not be disappointed, sometimes we will not bother to pray for things. Rather than risk being let down, we don’t want to take a leap of faith. We don’t want to hope that God is really for us and loves us. But the Father does loves us. He does want to give good gifts to us.
Don’t stop believing in the goodness of our Father. If you want to be a favorite of the Father, all you have to do is believe in His goodness. Let Him show you His extravagant love and favor.
Pray: Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your extravagant love that You have given to us. Thank You for sending us Jesus to show us Your love. Please help us not to squander the gifts You have given us, but to remain faithful and loyal to You. Help us, too, to believe in Your goodness toward us so we can allow You to shower us with the gifts of the Spirit. We love You and praise Your nam
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