TD Jakes - Overcoming Silent Frustration (09/16/2018)
In the parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15), Jesus reveals sins of both flesh and spirit: the younger son's reckless rebellion and waste, but also the elder son's quiet jealousy, self-righteousness, and filthy spirit—urging us to cleanse both, stay in the Father's house through trials, celebrate God's mercy passionately like the returned prodigal, and throw our own party when others won't rejoice with us.
Drawing Wisdom from the Parable
We need to get back to the Word of God, feeding ourselves and let the pastor come along and confirm the Word you have been studying. The Word is so much richer when it is confirmation down in your soul. And I think it is dangerous just to allow every revelation to come from the pulpit without something birthed in your own spirit. When Jesus begins to minister in this particular instance, He ministers a parable—not just a Bible story, not just a Sunday school lesson, not just a class for those who would like to be enriched with a concept or philosophy or theological dissertation. But He speaks to us that we might be able to extract story principles for godly living.
Principles. It is not enough to have the story line and the continuity of the text if you cannot draw from the knowledge of the text the wisdom of the text. It is actually the wisdom of the text that becomes applicable for your own life. Without the wisdom, you are just full of information. But you have no revelation to apply the information that you have collected. And so when He speaks to us, He speaks to us about a certain man who had two sons.
In the 11th verse, a certain man had two sons. I believe that is what He said. A certain man has two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me. So he divided unto them his living. One of them asked for it. But both of them got it.
Sins of the Flesh and Spirit
That is all by itself. Our problem is we become so preoccupied with the flaws and the failures and the fallacies of the younger son that we fail to appreciate the struggles of the elder son. It is indicative of a spiritual disease that is eating up the mentality of the church. Because we are so involved in dealing with obvious sins that we never start dealing with the not-so-obvious abstract sins. And we are being perfected in respect to habits and things we used to do we are not doing anymore.
There are still a whole generation of sins that are clustered in the crevices of our heart that go unchecked because nobody deals with sins of the spirit. But in 2 Corinthians 7:1 it tells us, in fact it challenges us saying having therefore these precious promises—no doubt about it, we do have them. It is given to us by grace. It does not withhold the promise on the basis of our integrity or spiritual development. The promise has been allocated. Having therefore these precious promises, let us cleanse ourselves from the filthiness of the flesh and the spirit.
In other words, He is saying since God is going to give you so much and He has already told you what He is going to do in your life, then the least you could do is prepare your heart and your life so that you are ready to receive what God has for you. Look at someone and tell them, God has something for me. You have to know that. You have to know that.
You have to drive to work telling yourself where I am is not as important as where I am going. Because if you do not keep that in your life you will become distracted by the noise and comfort of winds and distractions. Adversities and traumas will cause you to look to this or that and you will spend all of your energy trying to deal with something that you are going to pass through anyway. My motto: if you cannot fix it, outlive it. If you just keep on living, it will fall off of you after a while. You do not even have to fix everything, just keep living.
The Younger Son's Rebellion and Return
Living comes from understanding that you have a promise. And you begin to cleanse not only the filthiness of the flesh but the filthiness of your spirit. Thinking. Thinking. Negative attitudes hindering you from reaching your zenith in the spirit. Every sin that easily besets you, procrastination, low self-esteem, pity parties, mood swings—everything that is hindering you from walking into the full vesture of what God has done.
God has something for you. He brought you here tonight to analyze you, to draw you, to pull you in, to awaken you to the reality that many, many, many of the things you are worrying about are not even important because God is about to explode in your life. He is about to go off in your life. He is about to set your life on fire. And you are worried about something that does not even matter. It does not even matter. Touch somebody, it does not even matter. What are you upset about? Who are you mad at? Why are you upset?
He said, I know I have got it. I am exposed to it, but I want control of it. Put it under my power. Give me my portion so I can do what I want to do how I want to do. He was thirsty to get control of his life. He thought he knew better than his father. Give it to me so I can spend it the way I want to spend it without having accountability and having to live under your rules. Give it to me so I can go and do my own thing when I want to do it. I have more respect for my opinion than I do your opinion. And I want to do it my way. I am a Burger King baby. I want to have it my way.
That was the problem. But I came to defend him. I am tired of people talking about him. I know, I know it does not look good on here. But the church always has a habit to pick on people who have filthiness of the flesh. Any time it is a problem we can see—because we love things that we can readily see with our eyes—we do not have any trouble talking about somebody who has weakness in an area.
Defending the Prodigal's Passion
I know I am not excusing him. I am not trying to excuse him. I am not trying to get him a part. I recognize he has some problems. He did. He got a hold of the wealth and he could not handle it. He spent it. He spent all of his stuff. He spent all of his substance. Which I believe is more than money. He spent his integrity and his self-esteem and his affluence. He spent his poise. He spent his dignity. He spent his masculinity. He spent what makes him walk with his head up and back straight.
He was going to a basement. He was going down to nothing. He was being reduced to the common denominator. When he spent all there arose a famine in the land—speaking conditions on him. The enemy knows he cannot send a famine when you have food. He waits until you are broke, busted and disgusted and then he shows up. And that is when your kids act crazy and you are in a layoff and in a low moment.
The devil knows as long as he is in the house he cannot do nothing to you. As long as you are praising God and blessing God and lifting Him up and clapping your hands and rejoicing. He waits until you are broke, busted and disgusted and tired and defeated and at the end of your rope and he attacks you. He attacks you. Touch three people, tell them, stay in the house. All you got to do is stay in the house. Might not feel good—stay in the house. Might be lonely—stay in the house. Might not have a husband, but stay in the house. May not have a boyfriend, but stay.
He attached himself to the people of that country and sent him to the field to feed the swine. And I apologize and he should not have done it. But I like him. I came to defend him. I came to defend him because he is a man of action. The same thing that made him very bad also makes him very good. He was a man of action. He was not the kind of man that sat back and looked at what he wanted and did not go after it.
If it was good or bad—if he wanted it, he went after it. Rather than keep trying to recycle some of the church folks I would rather get old sinner we pulled out of the sewer because when they get saved they go after God with a passion. While you are fixing your hat and doing your nails and trying to look cute they will lay prostrate on the floor and cry in the Holy Ghost because they are so glad nobody the number. High on Jesus as they were on crack.
The Elder Son's Filthy Spirit
They are so glad God brought them out. They do not care who is looking at them. They did not care who was looking at them when they were drunk and they do not care who is looking at them now. Pray, pray, pray. Look at somebody, say, I do not care what you think. When he got in the mud, he thought himself out. He did not wait on everybody to evangelize him out. He did not wait on anybody to pray him out. He did not wait on anybody to throw his coat on them, blow in his ear, bat him on the head with oil. He thought wait a minute I am better than this.
You do not need nobody to loose you, you can loose yourself. I dare you to give him, I am better than this. I do not know where I am going but I am getting out of here. Indecisive. Procrastinating. Self-righteous. Hypocritical. I know he does not have anything filthiness of the flesh. But he has a filthy spirit. I am coming after him tonight. A filthy spirit.
There he is sitting in the house. Wanting everything the other brother did that would not make a move. The younger brother went to the father and asked him for portion of goods that fell to him and the father divided unto them his living. The other brother has something he has not asked for. A problem with him. He is nice, he is neat, he is all dressed up and his hair is combed and he understands church protocol and church order.
He knows who to honor and who to recognize and he knows who the top ten preachers and everything about church service and everything about everything. But my problem with him is he is too quiet. He is just a little too quiet. He is a dreamer but he is not a mover. He is a want-to-be but he does not know how to make it happen. He wishes he could but he does not. And he walks through life silent.
Going through the motions. He did not leave when the younger brother left. He stayed at home. He has been in the church a long time. It is just he does not do anything while he is there. No accomplishment, no results. Going through the motions. Working in the house. Form of godliness. No power. No power.
Celebrate Anyway—The Party Is Yours
He does not speak through the bulk of the story. He does not have the faith to ask for his goods or grace to say thank you when he gets them. He is numb. He is placid. He is weak. He is mundane. And he does not say anything until his brother gets blessed again. He cannot stand to see his brother blessed. He has got a filthy spirit. He has got a jealous attitude. He is mad because God is merciful. He is upset because God would raise up somebody he knew something about.
There are some people who got a filthy spirit. And the moment you start to get blessed now they got a problem. The prodigal son comes home, gets his ring, gets his robe, gets his calf and throws a party. Ain't no kind of party like the party that goes on in somebody's life who knows they have no right to be blessed. They know they do not deserve to be blessed.
They are not sitting back trying to argue over who will be the president of willing to work and willing to get out of bed and willing to go on committee. They are just glad to be saved. They do not care who sits on the right side and who sits on the left side. They are glad to be a child. You ain't seen nobody dance until you seen somebody there who knows they should have been dead and gone. Could have lost their mind. Could have been strung out. Could have OD'd on the streets. Could have died in the car wreck. But God who is rich in mercy looked beyond.
Touch your neighbor, tell them, he is talking about me now. Glad to be in the number. Glad that I am in church. Glad I am not looking for the dope man tonight. Glad I am not cruising down the street. Glad I am not in the emergency room. I am just glad. Touch your neighbor behind you and say excuse me but I am throwing a party tonight. My row is having a party. Come over to my house.
The elder son heard the sound of the party. He is not glad. Have you ever got blessed, could not find anybody that was glad for you? Have you ever got a blessing or miracle and want to pick up the phone and tell somebody but you thought... You know when you cannot find nobody that is glad for you, nobody that will celebrate you, do not cancel the party because you do not have an attender. Throw your own party, bake your own cake, put on your hat and blow your own whistle and say this is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice!
Look at your neighbor and tell them, I am having the party anyway. Yeah, I invited some folk but they did not come. I am having the party anyway. I see you rolling your eyes but I am having the party anyway. You are talking but I am having the party anyway. Raising the child by myself but I am having the party anyway. I have been through too much I am not canceling this party. I cried for this party. I prayed for this party.