Dr. Mark E. Shaw's focus in part 2 of The Prodigal series is the father's role and how the characters in the parable relate to addiction within the family.
Podcast #26 is the focus on the younger brother.
The father is the focus of podcast #27.
The older brother's role is the focus of podcast #28.
The Addiction Connection's coming soon video series of Family Help for Addiction: A Care Group Study is where you can find Dr. Shaw's more thorough teaching on this Luke 15 passage.Find out more about how to obtain the study and all the supplemental materials as soon as it is released at www.theaddictionconnection.org. Obtain the book Divine Intervention: Hope and Help for Families of Addicts at www.focuspublishing.com or by calling 1800-913-6287.
Mark teaches how the father in this prodigal son parable of Luke 15 does so many shameful things--the ultimate of which is forgiving and establishing the position of his rebellious son.
This would have been unheard of in the Jewish culture of Biblical times-- both the shame the son exhibited and brought upon the family, and the shame that the father exhibited in forgiving him. The parable tells us that the father was looking for him when he returned, was ready to run to him, and did in fact run to him (another act of shame) to embrace him and kiss him. And the celebration begins.
The teaching of the Gospel message of God's justice being appeased through the sacrifice of His only begotten son Jesus Christ is what Jesus is teaching here.
God loves you!
He wants to radically restore you to a position of sonship.
He wants to adopt you into his family and to give you His robe of righteousness.
He desires to give you His authority so that you can represent him as an ambassador of Jesus Christ, and to lead other people to Him so they don't have to die and go to Hell.
You can be saved. You can be made righteous in Christ by grace, through faith and this is not your own faith --it is a gift of God, not a result of works so no one can boast.
