This would be similar to having a pastor who spent most of his time trying to reach the lost while neglecting those in the congregation who are just sitting around trying to be Holy. Often the people who are just in church to be served are the ones who complain when they don’t get enough of the pastor’s attention because he is focused on leading the church to seek the lost and making disciples as commanded by Jesus in the Great Commission.
Should a pastor serve his congregation? Absolutely, but he should not spend the bulk of his time serving people who have no intention of doing the work of the Lord, but are just in church to receive and criticize. That is the setting of Luke 15 and he speaks three parables to make one point, so I think it’s an important point. The point is that the work of a Christian, and why Jesus came, was to spend the majority of their energy seeking the lost and bringing them to repentance, because there is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over the ninety nine others who are righteous and have not strayed away from God’s commands, whoever that is.
That is what our parable of the prodigal son is about today as well. Many of you have probably heard many sermons on this parable usually focussed on the father and the prodigal, so I am going to try to present it from a slightly different perspective today, focussing on the older son who stayed at home with his father.
To set us up for application of this famous parable, I want us to look at the characters like this. The prodigal son represents unbelievers or perhaps those who have fallen away from the faith (I believe these are one in the same in that the one who falls away was probably never really a true converted Christian).
The dad obviously represents God/Jesus, and the oldest son represents the religious establishment of the day or in our case, long time believers in the church. So as we go through the story I think most of us should focus on the oldest son and take the application of this parable from him.
Jesus in this chapter is using this third parable to illustrate the point that God is more concerned with one person who is lost and destined for Hell, than the whole congregation of saved believers. Stop there for a minute. Does that bother you, or offend you? Does it bother you that God is more concerned with the lost than with you faithful believer? Or do you have that same attitude yourself? That we have what we need from God, and now we must focus on others getting it.
So the father agrees to divide his wealth between the two sons and both I. brothers receive from the Father. Now you might not know that in this division it was customary for the oldest son (the one who stays home here) to receive two thirds of the estate, a double portion, and the younger son’s share would be one third. This can be found in Deut. 21.
So right off the bat the older son who later complains, has already received twice as much as the one who he is jealous of later. And he wouldn’t have gotten it when the father died as was tradition, when dad already gives it to the younger son, he would have gotten his share at the same time. Basically two thirds of the estate was already his now. His dad would not have legally owned any of it anymore but remains the authority.
The youngest son leaves and goes wild with his inheritance, and to the Jews, losing the family’s property to Gentiles would be grounds for excommunication. He loses it all and can’t even get any pig slop to eat. He comes to his senses, notice nobody else has to point anything out to him, and look at his response when he comes to his father (this is real II. repentance) v. 18-19, 21…
Notice he acknowledges that his sin is against both heaven first and then his father. All sin is against God. He didn’t even get a chance to say what he had planned to say from verse 19, when he was going to ask to be taken on as a servant. That is the attitude of repentance, I acknowledge what I did, I am mortified by it, but it also has to go beyond that, because anyone can feel sorry about doing something wrong.
He realizes what he has done and what the consequences should be, but the key part of the attitude was his willingness to give up his rights as a son and become a servant. But the III. Father immediately forgives and says to the servants, not here’s another one to help you, but servants, we are going to treat this man as a king. Both the robe and the ring are symbols of authority, and the father is immediately affirming that this man is a son and an heir.
This is an insult to the older brother. Where was he when all this commotion was going on, out in the fields working? The older brother comes in and he was angry. As the hearts of the Father and younger brother soften, IV. the older brother’s heart is hardening. Did he have a right to be angry? The older brother is like the religious leaders of the time that Jesus always rebuked. They hated the fact that Jesus hung out with the sinners, it didn’t seem fair because they were the good ones. It also represents religious people today who give years of servitude and rigid obedience to God without any celebration. Obedience out of duty rather than loving relationship with Jesus, works without love.
I think any of us would probably be a little peeved if this happened to us. And it might take a while to get perspective on it. And this parable is left open-ended, we don’t know how the brother responded after this, and Jesus is pointing out to the religious leaders of the time that they also still have a chance to repent and respond to Jesus’ offer.
We must be reminded of Jesus words in Luke 17:3 “Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying I repent, you must forgive him.”
Notice while the father is affirming the younger brother’s status as a son, the older brother won’t even acknowledge that he is his brother. He says “this son of yours”. Then the father says to the older son, “Look dear son...”. The father is always willing to humble himself and even embarrass himself to show love. He begged the older son to come into the celebration, he is not excluding this son, and now he is again referring to him with great affection, he’s able to love both of them.
And he says everything I have is yours, what are you deprived of? Your brother was dead and has come back to life, that is worth celebrating. The brother’s response begs the question for the modern church. Have we become more focussed on God rewarding us for our ongoing devotion, and wanting to sit in his blessings, than to celebrate about our salvation and then seek to find the lost and bring them to the father?
Do we celebrate when the converted drug addict comes into our church, the divorced single mother gets saved. Or do we at least in the back of our minds treat them with a little distrust or even contempt. Is our church more important than lost souls? “I’ve been devoted to this church and tithed for years and now this sinner comes in and gets special attention”. Well, who’s going to get more attention in the emergency room at the hospital, the person with the head cold, or the one having a heart attack?
The older brother already had and has everything the lost son is receiving, other than perhaps the celebration. But nobody celebrates everyday, this is a special occasion. He’s sitting there with his arms crossed feeling entitled to something that he has already been given, his father’s love and a double portion of everything his father has, but he’s mad because he thinks his brother doesn’t deserve it. That person doesn’t deserve to be in our church. The rest of us were never that bad.
Note there the attitude of entitlement, some of us complain that the younger generation seems to have this attitude of entitlement without having to work for anything. But do we in the church maybe have a little of that attitude as well, not being too concerned about the lost being found, but more about getting my own needs met in church.
This is a very prevalent and toxic attitude in the church today. Dad says, son, if you are going to whine and wait for me to throw you a party, buckle to all your selfish desires, you can just sit there and sulk, but you need to see that everything I have has always been accessible to you anytime you wanted. In fact it’s yours. But your brother was lost and gone, this party isn’t so much for him as it is for me because I am so grateful he came back and I forgive him.
That’s how you should feel too, not that you’re more entitled than him, you’ve always had what I’m giving him, so stop waiting for me to give it to you and get up and start using what I have already given you. And rejoice when others get it from me too, there’s enough to go around.
Doesn’t that say so much about our human greed and attitudes? Everything is supposed to be fair, and we should get more because we behave better, have been more loyal, work harder, or have always lived a moral life. We have devoted more time and money to the church so we should have more say and more privileges. But that’s not how God’s economy works, that’s the world’s way.
If it was fair, we would all be going to hell. In the same way, isn’t it great that others can receive what we have through the Father, while we enjoy and use it to actually help others get it, rather than wanting to hoard it for ourselves? Do we think that God has limited resources so that we need to withhold them from people who we think shouldn’t deserve it? Do not judge, leave the judgment to the Father.
God is saying to us, “Are you going to stand outside the party with your arms crossed waiting for me to give you something you think you are entitled to, or are you going to come in and join the party? You can always go get a goat or a cow, you know where we keep them.
Have you ever asked God for joy? The Bible says rejoice in the Lord always and in John 16 Jesus gives us the reason we already should have joy, it’s because of what he did for us already on the cross, and the sending of the Holy Spirit. Christian, if you don’t have joy, it’s because you choose to focus on something other than Jesus. The joy is already there if you focus on Jesus and what He has done, and what your future holds. Does a mother focus on the pain once the baby is born? No.
God is not going to zap you with joy from above. What about peace? He said my peace I leave with you, it’s already here. In me you will have peace, not in the world, in me, because I have overcome the world so you don’t have to worry about it. Publishers clearing house is not going to come to your door and deliver any peace or joy. Do you remember I died for you and put the Holy Spirit inside you? If you want joy or peace, use what I have already given you and focus on that, rather than what you think you don’t have.
What about wisdom? I remember not long ago asking God for wisdom and He said to me, I’ve already given you wisdom, it’s in a book you have about 10 different translations of. Why don’t you get your nose in it?
Here’s a great example I heard from another preacher. Do your kids ever tell you they’re bored and you get very frustrated? You want to say, I have provided you every possible thing you could want to keep you busy and having fun, toys, electronics, videos, a giant doll collection. We have everything you could want and if you’re bored, that says nothing about what I have provided as a parent, you ought to be able to find something to do.
I remember when I was little telling my mom I was hungry, she says there’s an apple on the counter and some peanuts in the cupboard. All the sudden I wasn’t hungry, because I wanted a cookie.
Maybe you’re lonely, God says why don’t you find someone lonelier than you over at Bayside and spend some time with them encouraging them, and see if you’re loneliness doesn’t go away. Often what we feel we lack is what we need to give to show ourselves that we already have it.
This parable shows us a couple things. First of all as it says in 2 Peter 1:3, “God has given us everything we need for living a godly life”, and that should be our ultimate goal. We already have everything the Father gives, the question is whether we use it or not and are grateful for it that rather than wanting more.
Secondly, it’s about where our Christian priorities should be. Should we be focussed on ourselves and our privileges as Christians, or should we be more concerned about the lost getting found, the dead becoming alive, sacrificing for the Kingdom? Are our priorities the same as the Father’s? If not, is he really living in us, John asks? Have we spent years doing our religious duties but never really having a changed heart?
Are we always asking God for something but never really giving Him what He wants? We say God take this fear away from me, he says, I’m not going to take the fear away, I am going to be with you when you do what you are afraid of for my sake, and afterward you will never fear that again. You are going to have greater faith in me then. So if we’re going to ask, let’s ask that he would show us what he has already given us, and for the power and wisdom and courage to use and enjoy what he has already supplied us with. He is not our servant, we like the younger son should desire to be His.
Do you see what I mean? It’s all a matter of perspective. How do you see God, do you really know Him and what he has done already, and the resources that he has put in you through the Holy Spirit? Are you looking at what you don’t think you have, rather than what you know God has already given you? Are you jealous of what others have and can do, rather than realizing what you are capable of if you do what God has gifted you with?
Absolutely this is a story of God’s amazing grace, and the joy of seeing people come back to him. But we also need to learn about the older brother, and make sure that’s not us, because we don’t know what became of him, just as we don’t know what will become of us if our hearts have not been changed.
Assurance comes not only through knowing God’s forgiveness but also in experiencing the change that having the Holy Spirit in us brings about. An attitude of entitlement and selfishness should be getting torn down if you’ve been a Christian for any amount of time, and it’s never too late to repent as long as you are breathing. God cares more about attitude change, heart change, than immediate behaviour change.
So, if since you became a Christian you have never sinned, go ahead and judge the newly saved person who keeps slipping into their sin. Throw all the rocks you want. Or maybe you could come beside that person, celebrate their new life in Christ and help them overcome their sin.
The bible says we are being formed into the image of Christ, so if we are Christians, should we be more like the older son or the father?
