“The greatness of the man's power is the measure of his surrender.” ― William Booth

There are only two ways a sovereign king rules. The first is by forcing his subjects to surrender to his way of doing things. The second is by allowing his subjects to surrender their will to his because they want to. Freewill though, is a tyrant’s greatest enemy.

Which way does God prefer to rule in Prodigo’s life? The freewill choice of Prodigo to willingly surrender to God’s will is the heart and soul of the gospel of the kingdom message. God has the power and authority to force His rule upon Prodigo anytime He wants to, but that is not the way He chooses to operate His kingdom on earth or in heaven.

God preached this gospel of the kingdom message to Abraham two thousand years before Jesus was born. Let me connect an Old Testament verse with a New Testament verse to illustrate how God wants Prodigo to respond to Him.

       “And in you (Abraham) all the families of the earth will be blessed” (Genesis 12:3c)

“The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham saying, ‘All the nations will be blessed in you.’“ (Galatians 3:8)

The Hebrew word translated blessed here does not have the same meaning as the Greek word makarios. The meaning of the word blessed God spoke to Abraham is, to bow down in honor and respect as you would to a king. As Prodigo bows down in his nephesh, he should be saying, “As you wish” to God. This is the attitude God says one day all the families of the earth will have and He calls this good news. That is certainly not the attitude everyone on our earth has now but it will be in the future earth under God’s sovereign, righteous rule. And this surrendered attitude will be the free choice of all the subjects there – because they want to, not because they are forced to.

Let’s see how being gentle works in Prodigo’s life. The first thing he must do is relocate his bank account. Remember, Jesus said that wherever Prodigo’s treasure is will be the focus of his heart. So Prodigo needs to begin to change what is important to him. And what does Jesus tell Prodigo that needs to be the driving desire of his life?  

“Do not worry then, saying ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33)

The kingdom of God and His righteousness were certainly not the focus of Prodigo’s life before he heard Jesus preach the gospel of the kingdom, but they need to be now. Jesus wants Prodigo to willingly surrender his life to the sovereign, righteous rule of God and start focusing his nephesh on the righteous way he is supposed to be more than anything else in his life. This needs to become the focus of his life because whatever he values most will be what his heart is focused on. Food, drink and clothing are the basic necessities of life but Prodigo is not to be more concerned with them than he is with the kingdom and righteousness of God. One day everything will be perfect in the new heaven and earth and that’s where Prodigo needs to center his attention.

Here is an illustration I like to use that helps me keep my focus on the future rather than the present. According to the Bible we humans have lived on earth for almost six thousand years. If Prodigo lives to be 83 his lifetime is hardly even one percent of the total years that people have dwelt on earth.

. ___________________(eternity)____________________ ∞

For example, let’s say the dot at the beginning of the line represents the six thousand years that humans have lived on earth. If Prodigo lives to be 83 his life represents barely one percent of the total time humans have lived here, which is less than one percent of the dot. The line represents eternity. As you can see, Prodigo’s life span of 83 years represents basically nothing in comparison to life in God’s eternal kingdom.

The almost six thousand years that humans have inhabited the earth doesn’t equal even a penny’s worth of eternity. Whatever the amount of time Prodigo lives here on this earth, it is miniscule compared to the amount of time (i.e., forever) he will spend under God’s kingdom rule on the future earth. Changing his focus and concern is how Prodigo relocates his bank account. He needs to be more attentive to his future life than he is to his present one.

Let me talk for a minute about the concept of a bank account. Prodigo, like most of us uses a bank account to store the wages he is paid for working for someone else. This is exactly the way things operate in God’s kingdom. When Prodigo realized his awful condition before God and mourned for the image of God that was lost in his life, Jesus, the propitiation, begs Prodigo to come to Him and receive the comfort that justification can give to his needy soul. Realizing the depth of His transgression and the comfort Jesus offers, Prodigo surrenders to the Son of God who paid the enormous sum of punishment due for his iniquity. As a surrendered, forgiven subject under the kingdom rule of Jesus, Prodigo realizes he is no longer working for the material things of this world. He has a new employer and a new reason for living. This is the makarios life and what it looks like to be in the image of God.

“For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all,so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.”              (2 Corinthians 5:14, 15)  

“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price, therefore, glorify God with your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:19, 20)

When Prodigo responds to God with the attitudes Jesus talks about in the gospel of the kingdom, he becomes part of God’s family. As a member of God’s family he now has a new way of living. Prodigo is no longer expected to live for himself. He is now to live for Jesus, the one who died and rose again on his behalf. And while living for Jesus he will be building a bank account in heaven waiting for him in the future.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal.” (Matthew 6:19, 20)

Take a look at Prodigo’s bank account so far. He has the future kingdom, the sovereign, righteous rule of Jesus with the overwhelming authority and power to make everything perfect and right. Where everything wrong has been eliminated and nothing is out of harmony with God’s right way of doing things. He has the comfort of Jesus, the propitiation, which opens the door for God to lavish him with grace and kindness forever. He will also inherit the new earth in the future where he will experience the perfect life of makarios in the image of God. That’s a pretty decent bank account already but as Prodigo works for his new employer and King he continues to build up more treasures in heaven. That truly is good news!  

Prodigo’s willing surrender to God’s kingdom rule in every aspect of his nephesh is the way for him to experience the makarios life now. This blessed life comes from Prodigo’s understanding and believing in the amazing truth about the future life offered to him by Jesus. This is essential. If he thinks heaven is sitting on a cloud somewhere in the sky playing a harp, it will be impossible for him to begin moving his bank account there. The wage he will receive from playing a harp is not enough to motivate him. On the other hand, if Prodigo begins to focus his attention on his future life in the kingdom of God and the wonderful life it offers him, this world and all that is part of it will lose much of its importance. Then Prodigo will not be so overwhelmed when things go wrong nor will he be crushed by the hostilities from a world that doesn’t like him or his heavenly Father. The clearer his understanding of God’s future kingdom rule on earth is, the greater Prodigo’s commitment to his future life will be.

The gentleness Jesus speaks about here needs to be understood in the way Jesus presented this attitude throughout His preaching of the gospel of the kingdom.

“Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matthew 10:28)

“Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.”  (Matthew 10:34)

“He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 10:37-39)

This is the gentle attitude, which accepts God’s dealing as good, and therefore doesn’t dispute them or resist them. This is the attitude Prodigo absolutely needs to have while surrendering his life to God. There should be nothing he allows to rule his life more than God’s purpose and will. The best way to describe this surrendering is that Prodigo needs to yield his nephesh to Jesus. Not just by saying, “Whatever you wish my Lord, my Savior and my King,” but by actually living his daily life through this gentle attitude of capitulation.  

Who can be both the powerful ruling Lord and King and the one pleading for us to come to Him for comfort at the same time? This can only be Jesus Christ, our comforter, savior, propitiation for all our failures, and the sovereign ruling King who can destroy both body and soul in hell. Jesus will never glare at Prodigo for falling down when trying to follow Him. He will never condemn Prodigo for the sins that flow from his transgression. Jesus will always be there to encourage Prodigo to try again. With great kindness and comfort Jesus is there to help him understand that there is no failure larger than God’s incredible forgiving grace.

At the same time the sovereign ruling King Jesus asks Prodigo to take up his cross and follow Him no matter what it cost. This is the gospel of the kingdom Jesus was sent to preach everywhere and the same message He told His followers to take to the world. This is the message that Jesus now asks Prodigo to believe and respond to because it is the only way Prodigo can be saved from hell and be restored to the way he is supposed to be.

The sovereign ruling King who Prodigo is to fear and the kindly, warm and gracious Comforter begging Prodigo to come to Him also honors Prodigo with a startling new relationship.

“But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying Abba! Father!”

The term Abba Father is as warm and affectionate a way to address God as there could possibly be. The relationship Prodigo now has with the sovereign ruling King is no longer distant and impersonal. It has changed through the means of adoption. Prodigo has been redeemed. The Greek word redeemed is often used of buying a slave away from their present owner with the new owner’s contract stating this slave will never be sold again. Of course he wouldn’t be sold again. Now he is an adopted son! Thus the gift of the earth Jesus refers to is a true family inheritance because Prodigo is now part of God’s family.

        “Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.” (Galatians 4:7)

“Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” (Matthew 25:34)

God says Prodigo is no longer a slave but an adopted son. He is now an heir and will receive all the rewards that come from being a son, of God. The Bible is the sovereign ruling King speaking and informing us of His will and His ways. So Prodigo needs to open the comforting sovereign Kings Bible and learn what He has to say to him. He will find it much easier to surrender to the God of the Bible than the God that existed in his mind before hearing the gospel of the kingdom. Prodigo’s new Father in heaven is magnificent and far greater than he can ever imagine. The apostle Paul understood Prodigo’s need to get to know and understand his Abba Father and sovereign ruling King and Comforter.

“for this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us. To Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.” (Ephesians 3:14)

Prodigo needs to take a prayer like this and talk to his heavenly Father about what is said here. And he should not stop talking to Him after just one prayer. He needs to continue talking with his Father until he understands all that is said in this prayer. When Prodigo does understand this then he will easily surrender to his King. It is impossible to have the gentle willing attitude of surrender without first understanding who this God is that he needs to surrender to.

The more Prodigo gets to know His Abba Father, the more natural it will be to have an attitude that doesn’t resist or fight what his Father wants to do in his life. This as you wish gentle attitude will give Prodigo the makarios life on this earth now, give him all the treasures waiting for him in the future earth, and best of all, restore his relationship with the sovereign King and comforter meant for Prodigo from the beginning of creation. What astounding good news message this gospel of the kingdom is. What an amazing life can be Prodigo’s if he will choose to live with an attitude of gentleness.

 

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