The prodigal son

Jesus taught by way of parables, earthly stories with heavenly meanings.

One of the most powerful stories in the Bible is recorded in Luke 15: 11-32, the story of the lost son – and this story communicates many of the truths which we believe about who God is and how He relates to us and who we are and how we relate to God.

The story introduces us to who God is, the father and who we are, the two sons.  The father is the owner of everything in his household in the story.  We believe that this helps us to understand that God is the creator of everything on earth and in heaven and that everything belongs to him.

The two sons represent each and every one of us, each with the right to exercise our freewill.  The younger son exercises his will by demanding of his father that he be given his inheritance, right now!  We believe that this represents our sinful rebellion against a good God as we communicate through our thoughts and actions that we know best.  The younger son receives his inheritance and lives a life which is centred on self-interest with no regard for his father or his brother.  But he comes to his senses and makes a decision to say sorry for his rebellious, selfish attitudes.  We believe that the Holy Spirit helps us reach that point of acknowledging our sins and saying sorry for them.

The Father’s Compassion

The younger son returns to the father, but while he was still some distance away, the father, filled with compassion, runs to meet him, embrace him and smother him with kisses.  We believe that our God is always waiting for us to return to Him and embrace us with outstretched arms.  We believe that no matter how far we have strayed, God is always willing to welcome us back, when we are sincerely sorry.

The father directs his servants to put a robe on his son, a ring on his finger, sandals on his feet and kill a fatted calf for a banquet.  We believe that the robe covers the grime in our lives and that this represents Jesus’ blood shed on the cross to cover our sin.  We believe that the ring is a symbol of belonging,  a statement to the world that this is my child and that we become children of the living God by believing and trusting in Him.  We believe that the sandals were put on the son’s feet to say that he is no longer a slave, as only slaves were barefoot.  Through faith in Christ, we are no longer slaves to sin.

Salvation

We believe that there is a great celebration in heaven each time sometime comes back to God, just like the son in the story.

We believe that this is good news for all people.

Why not come along some Sunday morning and discover for yourself what it is we believe as we grow in our love for God and one another, together?