The story of the prodigal son is a beautiful parable Jesus tells
to a group of religious teachers and an on-looking crowd. It is found in Luke
15:11-32. Basically, a son asks his father for his share of the inheritance
which the father gives him. He leaves his father and older brother at home and
runs off. He spends all his wealth in wild living and then becomes so poor that
he is forced to care for pigs and eat the food he is giving them in order to
survive. He comes to his senses and returns home hoping, at most, that his
father will allow him to work for him as a slave. Instead, he finds his father
running out to him, hugging him, and crying over him. His father forgives him, wishes him good
luck, and then sends him on this way to make it on his own penniless but
forgiven.

THAT IS NOT WHAT HAPPENED!!! But how often do we act like that is
our reality as Christians. The whole focus of our Christian life becomes not
sinning and then repenting from sin when we do mess up. We are constantly
crawling back to God hoping that he will accept us, at most, as a slave. But I
believe that God has more for us than that. His plans for us are so generous
that they blow our minds. He wants sons and daughters not slaves. The real end
of the story goes like this. After running out to is son with hugs and tears
the father not only forgives him but he reinstates him as a son, gives him the
signet ring of authority, gives him sandals and a robe, kills the fattened calf
and throws him a party.

His older brother hears about this and gets angry. He refuses to
join the party. His father comes out to him and asks him to come in. But he
refuses saying, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never
disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could
celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your
property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ The
father replies, “‘My son, you are always with me, and everything I have is
yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was
dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

The older brother refuses to go in to the party because he sees
himself as “slaving” for the father but not being rewarded. He resents sharing
his inheritance with the rebellious younger brother. The younger brother could
have stayed away because of guilt, thinking he only deserved to be a slave.

In “So Much More” I try to walk through the story of
redemption pointing especially to the end God has in mind for us. Christ is our
true older brother. He is not upset with the father. Rather, he has joined the party
and is ready to share his inheritance with us. The question is, are we going to
join the party and experience the riches God has for us? Do we believe God says to us like the father in the story, “everything I have is yours?” Here are some scriptures that inspired the song.

Ephesians 2:4-7

⁴ But because of his great love for
us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵ made us alive with
Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been
saved. ⁶ And God raised us up with Christ and seated
us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, ⁷
in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his
grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

Rom 8:14-17

¹⁴ For those who are led by the Spirit
of God are the children of God. ¹⁵ The Spirit you
received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the
Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” ¹⁶ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we
are God’s children. ¹⁷ Now if we are children, then
we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his
sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

Hebrews 2:11

Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are
of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.

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