# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_2016_S82
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

So, repentance is more than us getting serious
with God.
The first son, the prodigal, realized that his sinfulness
had landed him in a life-and-death situation, so he
took matters into his own hands and decided that he
would at least ask his father if he could be his slave.
He missed the whole point. He wasn’t a son because
of anything he had done, nor would he be a son again
because of that. He would be a son again because
of the grace, the mercy, the undeserved love of his
Father ALONE!
The second son missed the whole point as well. He
seems to have been more serious about his relationship with his father and family than the younger one.
But he missed the point that all of the father’s wealth
and blessing was a gift from the father to him as well.
To him, his foolish brother might have needed grace,
but not him. If he could have sung it, the verses
would probably go like this:
Annoying grace, how shrill the sound
That saved a wretch like thee;
I ne’er was lost, I’m always found;
Me, blind? Say, can you see?

Self-righteousness is just as sinful as unrighteousness, and just as deadly. He somehow thought that
his actions compelled his dad’s love and care, when
in fact, the father’s love for him also was undeserved
and freely given.
God calls us all to repentance, and repentance is
more than giving God even your best effort. Our
relationship with God is more serious than a life-anddeath situation. It is a death-to-life situation.
It’s something only God can accomplish, and He
does. In the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus
Christ alone, sinful, dead-in-their-trespasses people
can truly be made alive again.
Through Word and Sacrament, God creates in us a
new heart and a new mind that see our sinfulness
through His deconstructing Law; they also see our
salvation as a pure gift in Christ by faith!
This story is a warning and an invitation to all of us
longtime LCMS members. We can never forget that
we, too, are part of God’s family by His gracious invitation. And repentance, sorrow for our sin, and trust in
God’s mercy—those are God’s gifts in Christ alone too.
And we wouldn’t want it any other way! Amen.

Through many damsels, joints, and dares
You have already come!
Disgrace you’ve brought; Dad’s gone too far
And welcomed home a bum!1

Illustration from Sermon Central, sermoncentral.com/sermons/the-parable-of-the-prodigal
-father-a-parable-of-extravagant-love-joey-nelson-sermon-on-parable-prodigal-son-45752.asp?page=0.

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U P O N T H I S R O C K • Sermon

“Repentance—Not Life and Death, but Death to Life!”