Welcome again everyone to the wonderful world of Zachary Holzer and the experience that is Virginia Beach Leadership Training 2013. Here comes another post!
This post is all about the beginnings of week 5 here in good ole' VB!
This week's speaker comes from The University of Cincinnati. His name is Matt Hildebrand, and he is quite the character. He is the head pastor there and actually the one who led the church plant from Bowling Green State University to that campus. It was quite a pleasure to have him join us this week!
The name of his message was called "The Heart of God."
One of the most important things that we need to realize is that God has a real heart for us and to also understand how God really feels about us.
As mentioned before, every monday message reflects a teaching on one of the parables that Jesus used during His ministry. In this case, Matt decided to speak on the parable of the Prodigal Son (or the parable of the Lost Son in certain translations). The reference is Luke chapter 15, verses 11-32.
Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
“Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
“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! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 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.
“The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
“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. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
“Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!' “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”
Vocabulary lesson: If someone is described as prodigal, they are described as a person that wastes. In the case of the prodigal son, he wasted his inheritance that he got from his father. He didn't really care about his father, he really just cared about what he could get from him. That's probably not the best relationship a father and a son could have. But that's why this story is really impactful. And for me, it was a very eye-opening message. Here we go!
In verses 14-20, the story shows how the son got what he wanted but then squandered everything he had and hit rock bottom. He hit the lowest of low and then decided to come running back. In our case, this relates a lot to our relationship with the Lord. Sometimes, we stray from God, our Heavenly Father, and try to follow our own path. We need God to lead us through, and unfortunately, sometimes we (just like the lost son) learn that God has to lead us through, because without him we easily fall on the path we try and lay out for ourselves.
We need to pull ourselves back to the Lord. Each one of us has to be redirected sometimes. It's natural, and sometimes it's unfortunate, but it's the truth. We stray and we have to be turned straight when things just don't go the way we plan. Our plan is not God's plan. And honestly, God's plan is so much better than anything we could ever think of.
So, in all of this, are you starting to see God's heart for us? If not, then I will continue! (Mainly because Matt continued too.)
Verses 20-24 show the heart that the father had for his son once he returned. The kiss he gave him was a symbol of forgiveness for his son leaving and losing, the robe he gave him meant honor of his return, the ring showed authority that his son received upon returning to his father's estate, and the fattened calves that were killed were meant as a celebration of the son's return in general.
Everything mentioned is the kinds of things that God wants to do for us upon returning to him. Finding God again is always a cause for celebration!
But even though this all happened with the son that was lost and came back, what happened to the older brother of this lost son?
He was exactly who most Christians today are. He was bitter and unloving towards his younger brother because even though he was faithful and never left he was in a way, placed below his brother. Clearly, he was not happy. Yet the father still didn't lose his joy for his other son. And again, most people today think the same way as the older son. We tend to be less loving and more legalistic, we love people less when they sin instead of love them more, and we tend to do things out of obligation instead of doing them because we simply have a true heart for doing them.
But the bottom line, despite all of the things aforementioned, is this:
BOTH sons were lost, but God loved them both. God loves us no matter WHO WE ARE OR WHAT WE HAVE DONE. THAT is God's true heart for us all. His heart is love. His heart is joy. It's every good thing that we could possible imagine.
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