THE JOY OF PARENTING | 2 Corinthians 12:14

SCRIPTURE: Luke 15:29 “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.  30 But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him."

OBJECTIVES:

1.    To have the understanding of having a heart of a son or daughter before our Father God.

2.    To enjoy what God has in store for us.

INTRODUCTION:

➢    Many of us here are familiar or very familiar with the story of the Prodigal Son.  He asked his father the freedom to live on his own, so he asked for his share of his father's inheritance and went his way, live an extravagant life until he suffered need, went to the lowest point of his life - no money, no friends, no home, hungry and working as a slave in a foreign land.  Until one day that he came to his senses and decided to go back home to his father and was restored back as a son dearly beloved.

➢    On the other hand, the older brother, who, the bible described as righteous in his own self - not wanton, obedient, never leaves home, but was not very happy when his younger brother came back. He blamed the younger son for leaving home and wasting the family's substance.

THE ATTITUDE OF THE OLDER BROTHER.

➢    When the time the prodigal son came back and restored into the family, there was not a small celebration.  The father caused a calf to be butchered for a grand welcoming of a bad son?  No, the father celebrates a son who was lost but now found!  He was celebrating a dead son resurrected to life again!  That was the cause of the celebration!  But the older son misunderstood it and began to complain.  Perhaps he was not happy that the favorite son came back home again.

➢    He was in the house of the father, but he seem not to have the heart of a son.  He had no true family identity and did nit enjoy what God has for him in that family.

➢    How was it home with us?  We don't intend to stir up something in your memories today.  We have different stories to tell and some may not be pleasant.  So let us focus about the the heart of the son in relation to our Heavenly Father.

THE PRIVILEGE OF BEING THE YOUNGEST.

➢    In almost every family, the youngest among the siblings seem to always have gained the favor of the parents.  This may not be true to some families.  But the fact is, the youngest is given more attention not because they are the favorite, but because he or she is the most helpless and vulnerable among the kids.  So this is the cause of jealousy among the kids and the usual cause for sibling rivalries.

➢    For most parents, I believe it is not in their intention to have favoritism over the youngest or the older or whomever.  Child favoritism develops without the parents conscious premeditation.  It is being developed as the kids demonstrate certain desirable or undesirable attitudes.

➢    There are also scenarios where the parents demonstrate fondness over the youngest until they became the favorite child and becomes the envy of the others.  So in the context of our scripture, this seemed to be the case - the younger son won the heart of the father: he had the heart of a son.

➢    Even though we are not the youngest, we can still win the heart of our father in our respective families, our Cell Leaders, our Pastor or Pastora and most especially our Heavenly Father.

HOW IS THE HEART OF THE SON?

1.    NEW.  He was the younger son. The younger son's heart is like a child - innocent, believing, dreaming.  This is the kind of attitude our Father God's wants us to have towards Him.  Always believing and dreaming our Heavenly Father's promises. 

2.    TALKING.  Always coming and talking to the father, connected by constant communication.  We know the crucial importance of talking or communicating with our father, our leader and our Heavenly Father.  A sincere talk which gets through the heart of the father. Lack of good communication causes problems in any relationship.  Come to the Father, more frequently, in the Secret Place where you could have a heart to heart talk to Him.

3.    DEPENDENT.  He was dependent on the father.  Sometimes we have a tendency of becoming independent and we rely on our own strength or abilities.  But the heart of a son or daughter always shows trust and dependency on the Father.

4.    IMPERFECT.  As a son he also makes mistakes.  We make mistakes, we should admit it.

5.    SENSITIVE.  He realizes what he has done and knows where to place himself. 

6.    HUMBLE.  He humbles himself.  We should always humble ourselves before our father at home, our Leader and most specially towards our Heavenly father.

7.    ALWAYS RETURNS HOME.  Always returns to the father. 

BLESSINGS OF HAVING THE HEART OF A SON:

1.    The father gives anything he wants.  (Luke 15:12 “And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood.)

2.    The eyes of the father are on him.

3.    He has the power to move his father' heart.

4.    The father ran to him. (Luke 15:20 “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.")

5.    Has the father's affection.

6.    He received the best.  (Luke 15:22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet.")

7.    He is the reason there is a party in the father's house.  (Luke15:23 ‘And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry...")

CONCLUSION:

             This a good opportunity to restore us back into the fullness of our relationship with our Father God.  Tired, Weary and burdened?  He says, "Come to Me!"  Ask God to give you the fullness of having the heart of a son or daughter.