Another Chance at Life

By Warren Wiersbe

Have you made a mess of your circumstances? Jesus told a story about such a person-and the answer lay in his loving and forgiving father. If you've come to the end of yourself-or simply need a reminder of God's grace and love-this book is for you.

• Language: English
• Publisher: CLC Publications
• Release date: Mar 31, 2023
• ISBN: 9781619583740

Book preview

Prologue

The most successful people are those who enjoy satisfying relationships, give useful service to others and know how to make new beginnings, even after what looks like failure. They’re concerned about making a life and not just making a living.

When successful people fail, they don’t make excuses. They get up and start over again. They realize that failure doesn’t have to be permanent. And when they succeed, they don’t relax and start bragging. They find new challenges and start tackling them. They find people who need help, and they help them.

It’s a great way to live, but we can’t do it alone. We need divine help. We need Jesus.

This book is based on an ancient story Jesus told, the parable of the prodigal (or wasteful) son. It’s found in the New Testament in the fifteenth chapter of Luke’s Gospel. The story is so simple that a child can understand it, and yet it’s so profound that we can study it over and over and still learn new truths from it.

The story has a Jewish setting, but the characters and events in it belong to every generation of every nation. They belong to you and to me, and so do the lessons they teach.

Each of us is somewhere in this story. Therefore, we need to read it carefully, learn from it and act on the lessons we learn. By doing this, we take steps toward the new beginnings that will help us turn failure into success.

It’s always the right time for a new beginning—to start living a new life.

Warren W. Wiersbe

The Wonderful Teacher

(Luke 15:1-10) 

When was the last time you listened to what Jesus had to say about life?

Many people have written and spoken about life, but nobody ever did it better than He did.

No one ever spoke the way this man does! That’s what people said about Jesus when they heard Him in the temple courts in Jerusalem (John 7:46). Matthew wrote that the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law (Matt. 7:28–29). Luke the physician wrote that the people were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips (Luke 4:22).

Luke introduced the story of the prodigal son with, Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus (15:1). That’s the setting of the story. Now let’s get acquainted with the members of the cast, because each of us is in the cast—somewhere.

* * * * *

The tax collectors, or publicans, were Jewish men who had purchased from the Romans the authority to collect taxes from their own people, and for this treachery they were disowned by just about everybody. When tax collectors came to be baptized by John the Baptist, he warned them, Don’t collect any more than you are required to (Luke 3:13), which suggests that their dealings weren’t always honest. For robbing the Jewish people and fraternizing with the godless Romans, the publicans were a hated class. According to the rabbis, if a tax collector entered a Jewish house, he defiled it, and the house had to be cleansed.

Jesus welcomed sinners. He understood them and taught them what they needed to know.

The people Luke called sinners were Jews in name only. They had abandoned religious practices and lived more like Gentiles than Jews. They didn’t honor the feast days or the Sabbaths, nor did they attend the synagogue or temple services. They didn’t hide the fact that they cared little about dietary laws or ceremonial traditions.

Instead of trying to win them, the teachers of the law (scribes) and the Pharisees condemned them and gave them a wide berth. However, Jesus welcomed them. He understood them and taught them what they needed to know. He also died for them, just as he died for you and me.

The Pharisees and scribes were the religious leaders of that day, and Jesus didn’t have much good to say about them. The word Pharisee means separated one. They felt that they were better than other people and prayed, God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector (Luke 18:11).

In Matthew 23, Jesus called them hypocrites—play actors—and compared them to cups that looked clean on the outside but were filthy on the inside. He said they were like whitewashed tombs filled with unclean bones, and anyone who touched them would be defiled.

To Jesus, these men were blind guides who didn’t know the Scriptures and were leading people astray. You snakes! He said to them. You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? (Matt. 23:33). Jesus rejected their egotistical religious legalism, and most of them rejected Him.

There were a few Pharisees like Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea who trusted the Lord and followed Him (John 3:1–21; 19:38–42). But for the most part, the Pharisees rejected Him and opposed His ministry. However, Jesus loved the Pharisees and died for them, too.

The religious leaders were shocked when they saw large numbers of tax collectors and sinners gathered about Jesus. They kept muttering, This man welcomes sinners and eats with them (Luke 15:2). That critical statement is one of the keys to this story: Jesus attracted sinners. He welcomed the outcasts and the rejects and even sat down and ate with them. Why? Because He loved them and wanted to give them another chance at life. He said, I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full (John 10:10).

Jesus didn’t attract the tax collectors and sinners by catering to them, entertaining them, agreeing with their life-style or compromising His message. If you read Luke 14:25–35, you will discover that Jesus had just preached a stern message on discipleship and three times had used the phrase cannot be my disciple. He never adjusted His message just to get a crowd. He told the multitudes that to follow Him meant carrying a cross.

The publicans and sinners heard Him say this, and yet they wanted to hear more. Jesus said to the chief priests and elders, "Truly