Luke 15:11-31, 1 Corinthians 4:15

Steve Gambill reflects on his experience of losing his son and God's heart for His lost sons.

Steve Gambill

"Have you seen my son? He was just with me. He was just here. Where did he go?" I asked the security guard who was stood at the entrance of the clothing and skate shop. "Surely you must have seen him, he is about six years old."

After what seemed like an eternity, the security man slowly replied, "Nope, just too many people here to keep track." At that moment, the realisation hit me that my six year old boy was no longer by my side, and no longer in the shop, and suddenly fear shot through my soul.

"But, he was just here!" I exclaimed to the security man. Turning to what now looked to me like a sea of frenzied shoppers I shouted, "Where are you son?", there was no reply, my son was lost.

This is a true story. It happened to me in one of the largest shopping malls of Great Britain on one of their busiest days of the year. When the day began, my wife and I could never have imagined the outcome. We had planned to drive the hour and 15 minutes to Meadowhall Shopping Centre with our daughter and son for a fun family day of shopping, dinner and a movie. Yet, only a few hours later here I was desperately searching for my lost son. If you have ever lost or misplaced your keys or wallet, I can assure you that this is nothing compared to the feeling of not being able to find your child. I was desperate to find him.

Before I go on to tell you what happened next with my son, let me use this whole episode as a launching point to unpack one of my favourite stories of Jesus which is found in Luke 15:11-31. This is the story Jesus tells of a father and his two sons. It is frequently called the parable of the 'Lost Son'. Personally, this story had special meaning because it helped me understand that God was my spiritual Father. When I first heard it at age 19, it's impact on me was profound. It helped me understand my own "lostness" and drove me into the arms of a loving spiritual Father.

Yet, that day at Meadowhall this story found a whole new meaning to me. This was because I was no longer seeing this from a son's perspective, but from the perspective of a father. As a father, I felt a depth of emotion for my natural son that I previously thought impossible.

"Where are you son?" I shouted as I ran into the enormous hallways of the shopping centre dodging hundreds of shoppers who were focused only on their mission at hand. Shopping suddenly seemed so insignificant compared to finding my boy.

In Luke 15:20 When the younger son finally comes to his senses after wandering and squandering his wealth in wild living, and decides to come home, scripture reveals that the father was scanning the horizons anticipating the return of his son. Luke 15:20 "...While he was still a long way off his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him, he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. Then the father threw a feast for his son, declaring, 'this son of mine who was dead is alive again, he was lost and is found'".

What a hero the father is. Even after the wastage of wealth and sin, he welcomes his son home with such honour and grace. However the lost son's return is not the end of Jesus' story. In fact, Jesus has much left to say about the father of the two sons.

Luke 15:28 'When the older son realised that the younger son returned, he became angry and refused to go in to see him. So his father went out and pleaded with his older son.' The reality of the situation is that the older son was really just as lost as the younger son. The younger son was lost in the world of wild living, but the older son was also lost. He was lost in the house imprisoned by resentment of his work and responsibility.

The reality that we face in our nation and the nations of Europe is that there are thousands if not millions of lost sons and daughters. Some are lost in wild living, but there are also many lost that are still in God's house. The question we must ask ourselves is what are we prepared to do to reach them and bring them home?

From such a simple story that Jesus told, there is so much profound wisdom. So much the father has to teach us. Keys such as;

• Compassion


• Wisdom


• Forgiveness


• Work ethic


• Expectancy


• Patience


• Communication

These keys are essential to help ordinary men and women to become spiritual fathers and mothers to a generation. 1 Corinthians 4:15 says, '...Even if you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you don't have many fathers".