Let The Prodigals Come Home

Can you ever be a perfect parent? Is there a guarantee that if you are a good parent your children will follow the Lord and turn out all right? After all, doesn’t the Bible promise that if you bring up a child right, he/she won’t depart from the ways of the Lord. Isn’t that the promise of Proverbs 22:6 "Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it."

I’m sure there are lots of faithful Christian parents who are scratching their heads over that one. They’ve lived faithful Christian lives before their kids, taken them to church, taught them godly principles and pointed them to Christ and have done everything they know to train up their children in the way they should go. Yet, their kids grow up and become prodigals who walk away from the faith. Some become agnostic or atheist and some live horribly ungodly and sinful lives. What happened? Were they bad parents? Was God unfaithful to His Word?

It may surprise many that the statement of Proverbs 22:6 is not an iron clad promise that God makes like the promise of salvation to those who believe. It is meant, like most proverbs, as a general statement of truth. That is, that generally speaking, if you practice good consistent godly parenting, your children will grow up and live according to the training they have received.

However, this is not absolute and therefore is not always the case. We cannot make our children come to faith in Christ, that is a personal decision and is a work of the Spirit of God. As children grow older they begin to make their own decisions and there are many other factors and influences at play in their lives.

Deuteronomy 6:6-9¹ tells us that a parent’s role is to faithfully live godly Christ-centred lives before their children and to train them in the way they should go. I have seen far too many godly and faithful parents of prodigals racked with guilt thinking they have done something wrong when their children have walked away from the faith.

As a Pastor I’ve wrestled with this when young people from my church have rejected Christ and have walked away from the faith. Some actually declaring they are agnostic or atheist. What could I have done differently? How could I have prevented this? I should have been a better Pastor, I should have ... I should have ...

Yes, its always important to see if there are any corrections we need to make, but for most of us who have sought to be good and faithful parents and pastors, more often than not, it has nothing to do with us. God has no grandchildren and every child, every young person, must decide for themselves whether or not they will follow Jesus. We must not burden ourselves with false guilt as a result of their decision.

I am thankful to God that all three of my children have chosen to be followers of Jesus. I have not experienced the pain I have seen in the faces of parents of children who have chosen to do otherwise. I cannot imagine the incredible pain, the confusion and the struggle. But, I have seen people in my church walk away from the Christ’ People I have known and loved and it has deeply pained my heart.

The question is, how do we respond to the prodigals that we so deeply love? How do we respond to their rejection of Christ? How do we handle their lifestyle that may be far from what we taught them. How do we welcome them home again? How do we love them without condoning their rebellion? What can we do to bring them home to the Father?

Rather than me trying to answer these questions, let me direct you to an outstanding article I read recently from Abraham Piper, the prodigal son of famous author and theologian John Piper who is among one of my favourites and perhaps the most outstanding living theologian. Abraham’s article is powerful and full of solid advice for parents of prodigals. Read it and then comment here to let me know what you think and to perhaps share your story.

http://www.billygraham.org/articlepage.asp?articleid=859

 God Bless Your All

Because of Calvary

Pastor Rick

Pastors Are Real -- Crazy

Listening To Sermons and Stuff

Do you remember when you were a kid how weird it was when you saw your teacher outside of class?  Somehow we had it in our minds that teachers were always dressed for school, always stayed at school and had no life outside of school.   It's kind of the same way with Pastors today.   We see them at church all the time but often wonder "What are they really like?  What do they do in their spare time?"  (Hint:  They don't have much of that).

A couple of weeks ago I was at the Moody Pastor’s Conference in Chicago.    No, it wasn’t a conference for moody Pastors but rather the annual Pastor’s Conference of the Moody Bible Institute which was founded by D.L. Moody the great evangelist of the late 19^th century. (More about him in a future blog).

I've been going to this Conference every year since 1984 and have enjoyed incredible fellowship with Pastors from all over the world and believe me they are very real.  Okay, okay, so the real story is we Pastors go to Chicago in May to have Giordano's world famous deep dish pizza and we take in the conference while we are there.  But, we are very real guys who like to have a good time and enjoy life.
   
We enjoy every day things like good fellowship with good friends, going to the ball game, or in Chicago to the Navy Pier like my associate Steve Norton (blogs for Hollywood Jesus).   So  Pastors are regular fun loving men who have very real lives and deal with many of the same issues of life that you deal with.

So, Pastors are real people with real lives.  But, we're also Real Crazy.   We spent 4 days at the Pastor's Conference listening to at least 3 one hour sermons a day.   Now, I ask you, what kind of person loves listening to 3 long sermons a day.   Well, Real Pastors of course.   We're real, but we're real crazy too.  The fact is we were blessed from the Word of God by some of the best preachers on the continent.  Still, here's a secret so don't tell anyone.   Guess what?  Preachers, also critique other preachers preaching.

That got me to thinking that I needed to discipline myself to listen to the message so that God could speak to me.   Then it got me to thinking that the average person in the pew,  Sunday after Sunday, has to learn to discipline themselves to listen so that their hearts are encouraged and challenged by their Pastor's sermon.   After all, he has spent at least 15-20+ hours preparing a banquet for you and it would be a shame to walk away from the table complaining about the meal God wanted you to have.   So here's some thoughts on how to listen ot a sermon.

How To Listen To A Sermon

•  Prepare Your Heart Ahead of Time

          Most people assume the sermon starts the moment the preacher opens his mouth on Sunday morning.    The fact is,  if you are going to get the most out of Sunday morning (sermon and worship) then you need to prepare your heart ahead of time.  Saturday night or early Sunday morning, just spend some time quietly asking God to speak into your heart and help you to respond to the worship service as you worship Him and nourish your own soul.   Perhaps even read through the passage the Pastor will speak from.    Then,  as you enter the Sanctuary,  bow your head and quietly ask God to speak to you through the morning message.

• Come With A Sincere Desire To Hear And Obey What God Will Say To You

         You need to approach the sermon with a willingness to hear God's voice and to obey what He says.     If you are part of a Bible and Gospel centered church,  your Pastor will not bring his own message but a message from God's Word, the Bible.   You need to approach the Worship Service as if you were having an encounter, an audience with God.   Be ready to hear His voice and be ready to obey what He says.

• Remember,  The Pastor Is But A Vessel

        Don't get too hung up on your Pastor, he's just a vessel.   He has his quirks and mannerisms and it may even be that you are not too fond of Him.   Don't focus on him, focus on the Word from God that he is bringing.   It is the Word of God by the Holy Spirit that will transform your life, not the Pastor. (1)    Don't miss the blessing God has for you because you've got issues with your Pastor.    Please, don't compare him to Swindol or MacDonald or Piper or MacArthur or anyone else.   He is the shepherd that God has called to feed and care for you.    Those other guys don't care for your soul like he does and they won't be there in the middle of the night in the midst of tragedy in your life.

• Put Aside All Distractions, Listen Carefully And Make Application To Your Life

         Listening takes discipline and if you focus, not only will time fly but you will be blessed.   Set aside all the distractions.   Turn off your cell phone unless you're using the Bible on it.   Don't text, don't blog, don't FB, don't do anything that distracts.    Focus on what the Pastor is saying (you're in the presence of God, you don't need to multi-task), look at the scriptures he's preaching from,  take notes,  be thinking about how it applies to your life.   The purpose of the sermon is not to fill your head with more information, it is to bring transformation to your life as you apply its message.

         By the way,  don't get distracted by one thing the Pastor says so that you don't get the main point of the message.  In Chicago, one speaker said something I wasn't sure I agreed with, some of us didn't get anything else out of the message because we focused on that one controversial statement.  If something is an issue,  jot it down and study it later, or if its a distracting introduction or video clip, let it go, but don't let it steal the other good stuff God has in that message for you.

• At The End Of The Service Give God Praise And Ask Him To Work The Message Into Your Life

          You didn't go to church just to go through the motions.   Every part of the service is designed to bring you into an encounter with God so that by His Spirit He can transform your life and make you more like Jesus.   Before you leave the Sancturary,  bow before God and surrender yourself to Him and ask Him to help you apply what you have just heard and experienced.   Be determined to walk in the Spirit in light of the scripture you've heard expounded.

It's way too easy to walk into a church service and walk out without having been impacted.  And its way too easy to criticize your Pastor, compare him to others, or think about how he should have done better.  In the end these will do nothing to conform you to the image of Christ.(2).   Just as it is hard work to be an expositor of the word,  it is hard work to be an expository listener. (3)

Real Pastors and real people are in need of being good listeners to the Word of God and they are not really crazy for having a passion for being transformed into the image of Christ through the Word of God.     God Bless You All !

Pastor Rick


(1)  1 Corinthians 1:12; 2:3-5
(2)  2 Corinthians 3:18
(3)  I have not read the book but the book "Expository Listening" by Ken Ramey is getting great reviews.  It would be a good idea for all of us listeners to read it.