MOTIVATED BY LOVE

Luke 15:11-31:  The parable of the “Prodigal Son” 

• The father had a large property. (Estate)  

• The younger son said to the father, “Give me my share of the estate.” 

• Set off to a distant country. 

• Wasted all his money on wild living. 

• Then he came to his senses and came back to the father. 

This morning, I want to start by talking about the older brother: 

Luke 15:25-27 (NIV) 25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’  

28   “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him.  29 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.  30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’  

Take a look at the older son. 

1. Serving the father out of obligation instead of the right motivation. 

V: 29 “all these years I’ve been slaving for you…… 

• He has the wrong Heart in his serving. 

• Doesn’t serve the father out of Love, but duty…. 

• Got to go and feed these goats and look after the property because that is what a farmer does. 

Same attitude as does some Christians 

• I have to go to church, because that’s what Christians do.  

• Out of religious obligation or duty. 

• If you say, “I have to go to church,” you need to look at your motives. 

• Instead of, “I’m so blessed to go to church. 

• Slave does what he has to do, whether he likes it or not. 

• If you are in the father’s house out of obligation 

• You have lost your first love……… 

How do you think the father would have felt when the Son said, 

‘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.  30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’  

You never gave me anything  

• It must have grieved the father when he saw the Sons heart. 

• It sounded like he was only there for what he could get…… 

• I come to church because I want to be blessed…… 

• I serve the lord so that I can be healed, set free, prosper…… 

• I serve God so that I can go to heaven…….  

That should never be our motivation: 

• You should serve the father because you love him. 

• But I do everything you tell me to do…..  

NEVER DISOBEYED YOUR ORDERS……….. 

• That shows you that I love you? 

• You can obey your boss at work…but that doesn’t mean you love them….. 

John 14:15 (CEV) 15 Jesus said to his disciples: If you love me, you will do as I command. 

• Not if you obey my commands, you show you love me. 

• Love for God comes first. 

• Everything we do, must be motivated by a love for God. 

SO IF YOU ARE SERVING GOD OUT OF OBLIGATION YOU NEED A FRESH REVELATION OF THE FATHER’S LOVE FOR YOU. 

1John 4:19 (NIV) 19 We love because He first loved us. 

The parable of the Prodigal Son should be called the Parable of the Loving Father. 

• Because when we read the story it’s all about what the father did and very little to do with what the son did. 

• The prodigal son is a picture of all of us. 

Luke 15:17-20  “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!  18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.  19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your servants.’  20 So he got up and went to his father.  

• All the son did was wake up to himself and make a decision to go back to the Father’s House. 

• The rest of the story is all about what the Father did for the son. 

“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.  

Luke 15:21   “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22   “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.  23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate.  24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate. 

He was expecting the father to treat him like a servant because of what he had done. 

• But that’s not what happened 

• His father saw him coming and ran to him. 

• Filled with compassion (love for his son) and kissed him….. 

• custom to kiss on the cheeks….. 

• Then the Father began to shower him with gifts. 

1 John 3:1 (NKJV) 1 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!  

1. The Father gives us the best robe: 

• Quick… Bring the Best Robe: 

• His life was changed in an instant….. 

• Told the servants to serve him…. You put it on him….. 

• Restored not as a servant or slave…. But as a son. 

• Stola = robe that an honoured guest would wear…… 

• Garment that no slave would ever wear…….. 

• It was the best robe… 

Best robe that you can wear is the robe of righteousness. 

Is. 61:10 I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, 

2Cor. 5:21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 

• All our sins are washed away.  

• Our past is gone and forgiven. 

• Right standing before God. 

• God gives us the robe of Righteousness. 

• Come boldly into his presence……. Without fear. 

• Now have a relationship with the Father through Christ… 

• Only one way to get it and that is through Christ…. He has clothed me with the garment of salvation. 

Rev 3: To the church of Laodicea, Jesus said, “Come get from me garments of white. 

When we come to the father, he gives us a robe of Righteousness. 

1. The Father puts a ring on your finger:   

Signet ring was a sign of Authority.…. (Seal)     

• Story of Joseph………. 

• Interpreted the dreams of the pharaoh and was promoted by Pharoah.  

Gen. 41:41   So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt.”  42 Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his finger and put it on Joseph’s finger. He dressed him in robes of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck.  43 He had him ride in a chariot as his second-in-command, and men shouted before him, “Make way!” Thus he put him in charge of the whole land of Egypt. 

• Ring gave him authority over the land…… rule and reign and have dominion. 

• He now had the authority of the King. (Seal) 

• Next to the king he was the most powerful person in the land…… 

Luke 9:1-2   When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. 

The Signet ring entitles us to the Father’s provision: 

Luke 15:31   “My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.   

• And entitled him to everything that the father owned. 

1John 5:13-15   I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.  14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.  15 And if we know that he hears us — whatever we ask — we know that we have what we asked of him. 

When we come to the father, he gives us authority and blesses us. 

1. The Father puts sandals on our feet: 

• Slaves were not allowed to wear shoes or sandals…… 

Sandals were the sign of a FREE MAN. 

When we come to the Lord we are: 

Free from Past Sin, 

Rom. 6:14 For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace 

Free from Guilt and Shame. 

Rom. 8:1   Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,  2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. 

Free from the past. 

2Cor. 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 

Free from the dominion of the Devil. (No longer has control over our lives) 

Col. 2:15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross 

Free from our addictions and bondages. (No longer have a hold over us) 

John 8:36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 

Gal. 5:1   It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. 

Free from Judgement and Hell 

John 3:16   “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 

Free from Fear. 

• Perfect love drive out all fear. 

Now we are free to: 

• Worship him……… 

• Free to serve the Lord. 

The last thing the father did was: 

23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate.  24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate. 

1 John 3:1 (NKJV) 

1 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!  

1 John 4:9-10 

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.  

Celebrate: 

Luke 15:10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”