I had the honor to share this message yesterday during the memorial service for my Aunt:
Luke 15:11-24: The Prodigal Son
11And He said, “A man had two sons.
12“The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me ‘ So he divided his wealth between them.
13“And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living.
14“Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began to be impoverished.
15“So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
16“And he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, and no one was giving anything to him.
17“But when he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger!
18‘I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight;
19I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men.”‘
20“So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.
21“And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22“But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet;
23and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate;
24for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’ And they began to celebrate.
The story of the Prodigal Son was Gayle’s story…it is our story. A story of Amazing Grace offered by a loving Father, longing to see you and me walk back accross the horizon…returning to RIGHT RELATIONSHIP with Him!
We just sang a song in “Amazing Grace,” that is so familiar to many of us. So familiar in fact that the Truth it shares may not penetrate our hearts the way it should. However, I am confident that it’s Truth is now fully realized by our Mother, Sister and Friend Gayle.
The Amazing Grace that changed Gayle’s life and can change ours, flows from a cross where more than 2,000 years ago the Son of God poured out His blood and took the full wrath that we deserve to purchase forgiveness and right standing with God for any who will cry out to Him and receive it.
Many of you know Gayle’s story. It is a story with many parts that speak to the broken and fallen nature we live in, so much like the story of the Prodigal Son. However, those hard times, those moments of pain, are not the highlight of her story. A glorious light shines brightly on the part of her story when she surrendered her life, her will, her wants and dreams to Our Heavenly Father. That can be a part of your story also. A new chapter can begin to be penned today that will continue for eternity. Think about it. If you stand on a beach and take one grain of sand between your fingers, that is your life and the rest of the beach is eternity. How fleeting are our days. How permanent is what awaits us after we draw our last breath. There are only two options for eternity…
The First, endless joy in the presence of Our Creator. A returning if you will to Our Father’s house…where He awaits us with open arms.
The Second, unending sorrow a part from Him in a place we do not like to speak of in this day and age. It is a place that is as real as Heaven and immeasurably more painful than what we experience in this life. It is Hell.
Your future is already secured in one or the other. Do you know which one? Gayle does. Because she trusted the promise of her Savior, because she put her faith in Him, she is now free of all pain, all sorrow, all toil, and rest firmly in the arms of Christ Jesus himself.
Dr. Sidney Martin often told the following story about one of Scotland’s greatest preachers, Alexander McLaren. He was born in a village about three miles outside of the city boundaries of Glasgow. As a boy and a teenager and well into his later life, he was plagued by an inherent dread of the darkness. At age fourteen he found work in the city center of Glasgow in an office there. That office was some seven miles from his home and for his convenience it was planned that he should live with relatives in the center of the city throughout the week and come home for weekends.
Before he left home to begin his new job, Alexander McLaren said, “My father declared that I was to be home on Saturday night. We’ll have to be all here ready to worship in the House of the Lord on the Sabbath Day. When my father gave me that commandment, I began to cringe.” This was the November time of the year and there were no four-day weeks in those days. Alex had to walk on a Saturday and he didn’t finish work till five o’clock. By that time it was pitch black and he had seven miles to walk home in the darkness. And with that prospect in mind he said to his father, “Dad can’t I stay with my aunt and uncle on Saturday night and I’ll walk home Sunday morning and I’ll be home in plenty of time for service.”
The father said, “No Alex. Nobody travels in this house on the Lord’s day. You will be here on Saturday night.” Alexander McLaren said, “as I contemplated that walk, that seven mile walk in the dark, my heart failed within me. But, as I walked the four miles or so from the city center to the boundary, it wasn’t too bad. The city streetlights were lit. When I came to the boundary there was nothing ahead but black darkness. But I plucked up my courage and walked on until I came to a certain spot on the road. And at that spot the road dipped down into what was known locally as the haunted glen.” He said that even in broad daylight it was gloomy and eerie walking through the haunted glen. And he said, “that night I stood on the verge of the glen and every bit of courage I ever had evaporated. I stood there with my knees knocking. I dare not set another foot. And to add to my discomfort, I heard footsteps approaching out of the haunted glen. My fear knew no bounds until little by little I began to recognize something vaguely familiar about those footsteps and out of the gloom of the haunted glen there emerged the figure of my father. And he said, ‘Good evening Alex. I thought I’d just take a wee walk before supper.’”
But Alexander McLaren said later “I learned from my mother that that walk had been planned well ahead. My father was waiting for me in the haunted glen till he heard my footsteps. And that night as my father turned his heel and thrust his arm through mine, I’d have gone through the haunted glen had it been peopled with all the demons out of hell. My father was with me. And that night,” Alexander McLaren said, “I learned something about my dad I never realized before. To me he had always been a kind of a tyrant, a paternal dictator. But that night I realized that he was my father and he loved me. He knew my fears. He knew my weakness. He knew my inward shrinking as I contemplated what lay ahead.” (Grace for True Greatness, 10/17/04)
How many of you are in that dark place today? Paralyzed by fear…tormented by events in life that seem too much to bare? I would invite you to listen in the darkness for the footsteps of Christ who is never far off and always longing to walk with you on the rest of life’s journey into eternity.
Amazing Grace
How Sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now I’m found
Was blind, but now I see
‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace my fears relieved
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed
