WELCOME HOME

 

         For many teenagers who run away, returning home isn’t all they hoped for. more a few 15 years of old have been confronted by a father who has snarled, I don’t know if I can ever forgive you.It’s a bad enough that you’ve given your mother migraines ever since you out grew the backyard. But you’ve done it. Coming home doesn’t change the fact that you’re just a dirty little delinquent.”
       Our attitude toward delinquent in the family of God be quite different.In 2 Corinthians 2, Paul told how to receive a repentant Christian back into the fellowship of the church .
(vv.6-8).
       From what he said, we draw this conclusion: When a Christian returns after falling into a sin and being separated from the  fellowship of God’s people, we must avoid a well you’ve really done it this time attitude.Instead we should covey love, acceptance, and desire to see Him fully restored (Gal. 6:1).That’s not to say we’re to take his disobedient lightly. We should long for his spiritual health just as parents want to see their child avoid the consequences of delinquent behavior.But when a person sincerely repents and come back to the Lord, the best way to help him is to give him  a warm “Welcome Home!”

 

Forgive and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with to much sorrow. as a brother and sister in Christ encourage and let him feel that still one in family of God.Give him an assignment in church good for him to immediate restoration. 

How God views repentance

The older son reveals a lot about human nature. When we read the story, most of us have a hard time disputing his reasoning. What’s fair about a wasteful son returning home to a banquet while the loyal son who did everything that was asked of him received no such honor?

Jesus reminds us through the father’s response that God’s ways are not ours (Isaiah 55:8). The father gently acknowledged to his older son that he was aware that he had always been with him, and that everything the father had was his older son’s. But they had to celebrate the return of "this brother of yours" (a reminder of the older son’s relationship with his brother). It was not just necessary, "it was the right thing. The father had to do it. Joy was the only proper reaction in such a situation" (The Tyndale New Testament Commentaries, vol. 3, page 268).

When we repent, God restores us to the full honors due a child of God, regardless of our sins (Acts 3:19: 1 John 2:1-2). This is hard for human beings to grasp. But the lavish mercy and forgiveness of God, made possible by the perfect, willing sacrifice of Jesus Christ, are truly amazing. Indeed, one could say they are prodigal. Because if any point stands out in this parable, it is how lavish God is in his forgiveness and mercy.

Throughout this parable, Jesus illustrated to the "sinners" (speaking to each of us) that, just as for the wayward son, the way to repentance was wide open for them. To the Pharisees and religious teachers (also speaking to each of us), Christ showed that the people they looked down on so much, the "sinners" and tax collectors, were part of their family, too, and a slavish obedience to the law brings no spiritual reward in itself (Isaiah 1:11; Ephesians 2:8-9). It is God, by his grace and mercy, who rewards us (Romans 9:14-18).

The father in the story reveals the humanly incomprehensible love that God our Father has for each of us, and the earnest desire he has to forgive us and have a relationship with us. Far from being the story of the prodigal son, Luke 15 is more aptly the story of the prodigal God—one whose lavish, extravagant, luxuriant love for us can only amaze us on the one hand and give us great solace and comfort on the other.