Lost Son

Speaker: Michael Swearingen

Main Text: Luke 15:11-32

Description: In Luke 15, Jesus tells the story of a father and his two sons. One son runs from his father into a life of rebellion and eventually finds himself broken, hungry, and far from home. The other son stays home, works hard, and appears obedient, but his heart is just as far from the father.

Both sons are lost.

The younger son knows he needs his father’s grace. The older brother is so focused on his own goodness and what he believes he deserves that he doesn’t realize he needs the father too.

Through this story, Jesus reveals the heart of God toward those who are far from Him. When the lost son comes home, the father runs to meet him, embraces him, restores him, and throws a celebration. Jesus says there is this same kind of joy in heaven when even one sinner repents and returns to God.

This is the heartbeat of the For The One series: Jesus came to seek and save those who are lost. And as His church, we are called to have the same heart.

But the story ends with the older brother standing outside the celebration. It forces us to ask: Have we become so focused on our own righteousness that we have lost sight of the people who are far from God?

Michael Swearingen challenges us to recognize “older brother syndrome,” which develops when we stop having a “one.” Our ONE is someone who is close to us but far from God. The question is not simply whether we are lost or found, but whether our hearts look like the Father’s heart toward those who are still lost.

Lost → Found → Celebration.

Jesus is unapologetically bent toward the ONE. The invitation is for the prodigal to come home and for the older brother to come into the party.