When our children were younger, we used to listen to audio recordings of A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket, the pen name of Daniel Handler.   Snicket likes to poke fun at our culture’s fascination with what is “in” and what is “out.”  Esme Squalor, one of the more colorful characters in the series, has her heart set on being the “inest” person in town.   She is fond of drinking Parsley Soda because it is “in.”  To get into the spirit of the fun, I used to go around saying, “Parsley Soda is in.”  Well, my kids thought Parsley Soda would be a fun Christmas gift.  So they concocted some awful tasting beverage containing club soda and lots of parsley.  It tasted terrible!  But it cured me of saying “Parsley Soda is in.”  I can tell you in no uncertain terms that Parsley Soda is not in. Parsley Soda is definitely OUT!

In virtually every culture and subculture, some things are in, and some things are out—even with regard to spiritual things.  People with the right kind of thinking and living are in, and those with wrong kind of thinking and living are out.  That’s why kids have to have a certain brand of tennis shoes, or a particular type of clothing.  They want to be part of the “in” crowd.

In Luke 15, Jesus tells the familiar parable of the Prodigal Son in response to the question the Pharisees put to him—“Why do you eat with tax collectors and sinners?”  In other words, “Why do you hang with people who are not ‘in’”?  The Pharisees saw themselves as the “inest” people around.  People like them were “in.”  People not like them—tax collectors and sinners—were “out.” We make the same distinctions, don’t we?  We approve of the right kind of people, and we disapprove of the wrong kind of people. Those with the right spiritual values are in; those with the wrong spiritual values are out. That’s how we determine who is in and who is out.  But how do we determine what the right values are?

We make that determination basically by running everything through one grid or another.  Tim Keller addresses this in his book, The Prodigal God.  The world has only two "grids" through which it understands spiritual issues, he says, the moralistic grid and the relativistic grid.

The Moralistic Grid    
                                                                                                                                 Those who process spiritual issues through a moralistic grid say that "salvation" is finding God by obeying his law, or by living up to standards of some kind.  It’s possible that God might forgive you if your repentance is very sincere, but you still have to do good things; you still have to be righteous.

The Relativistic Grid 
                                                                                                                              Those who process spiritual things through a relativistic grid say that "salvation" is not so much finding God as it is finding yourself, and you do that by following your heart. In this view, there may be a God or there may not, but if there is, he will accept you as long as you are sincerely seeking what you feel to be your guiding principles.  So, what does this have to do with the message of the Parable of the Prodigal Son?

If you approach spiritual issues through a relativistic grid, you say, "Alright, look at this! The young son returned home after all that sin, and he was just accepted! There was no need for punishment, no need for atonement, no need for payment.  So, there you go.  God accepts us no matter what we do."  But, if you approach spiritual issues through a moralistic grid, you could say, "Alright, look at this!  The young son ruined his life when he didn't do the father's will, but when he came back to live a good life, then he was received.  So, there you go.  God only accepts you if you are good."  But since the parable doesn’t end with the younger son enjoying himself at the feast, neither the relativistic nor the moralistic argument holds sway.  Neither the
moralistic grid nor the relativistic grid can save us.  Neither the moralistic grid nor the relativistic grid determines who is “in” and who is “out.”  Only the gospel of Jesus Christ can do that.