The Prodigal God
Act Two: The Older Son
Inspired by and parts based on Tim Kellers book “The Prodigal God”
Luke 15: 25 "Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ’Your brother has come,’ he replied, ’and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ 28 "The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ’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. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ 31 "’My son,’ the father said, ’you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 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 person speaking: Jesus
The audience: Sinners, Tax-collectors, Pharisees, Teachers
The focus: Searching for what is lost… that it may be found
The theme: something lost, searched for, found
The Challenge: Jesus redefines sin/lostness and the challenge to us to take our place in the kingdom…
Now the lost/found theme works except in the last parable …
The story: Man has two sons…
o Last week we addressed the younger son…
His sin: I don’t need the Father – and through self-gratification and self-discovery he squanders his life and resource for living…
His repentance: he comes and surrenders back to the father…
20 So he got up and went to his father. "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. 21 "The son said to him, ’Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
The Father’s Prodigal reaction…
• 22 "But the father said to his servants, ’Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.
• The Father is representative of God…
Today – the Older son… which I will warn you… is the harder challenge to the church of today.
For here is the fear… if we don’t realize the older son sins just as much as the younger… we are missing half of Jesus’ lesson here.
The Older Son’s Sin:
Is the same as the younger – with a different vehicle or slant.
• Tells the Father I don’t need you… I have earned what you owe me.
• 28 "The older brother became angry and refused to go in.
Why is he angry?
• Couple things…
• The younger brother is back… and father is embracing him…
• In fact in the next verse he says… 29 But he answered his father, ’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. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
• Read between the lines… his motivation is … Selfish…
• FATHER – YOU NEVER GAVE ME…
1. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.
2. The older son is looking at what he considers is owed to him by the father…
3. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
4. The older son realizes that if the younger son is made a part of the family again, he is given part of the inheritance again…
Then the older son focuses his anger again…
• FATHER – LOOK AT WHAT I HAVE DONE…
• ’Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders.
• Telling the Father – YOU OWE ME…
• The older son is also not in relationship with the Father and doesn’t want the father… he wants what is owed to him… not concerned with the emotions or feelings of the Father…
• HE IS NOT CONCERNED WITH THE PAIN OF THE FATHER’S HEART… FOR HE HURTS FOR HIS LOST SON... scripture tells us the Father was looking out at the horizon for his son to come home… the older son had to have noticed this… or heard the fathers heart for wanting the younger son to come home…
• So rather than celebrating the return of the lost… and the heart of his father being restored…
• HE COMPLAINS… AND DEMANDS WHAT IS OWED TO HIM…
• The younger son sins through self-indulgence and gratification.
• The older son sins through extreme morality that demands the Father/or God owes him.
• Both sin the same way through different means… FATHER I DON’T NEED YOU… JUST WHAT YOU HAVE FOR ME.
THE OLDER SON IS NOT CONCERNED WITH THE HEART OF THE FATHER… OR THE PAIN HE HAS FOR THE LOST…
BECAUSE HE IS TOO BUSY THROUGH EXTREME MORALITY EARNING WHAT HE FEELS IS OWED HIM
We all need the EXTRAVAGENT GRACE of God… and thankfully He is The Prodigal God:
28bSo his father went out and pleaded with him.
31 "’My son,’ the father said, ’you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 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.’"
In each case with this man’s two sons… the Father goes out to them…
Now we need to ask…
what are the lessons learned and we need to find ourselves in the story
Lessons Learned:
1. Remembering the audience: who are we now in the grandstands of life as we listen to Jesus speak about the Kingdom of God… the heart of the Father… and his two sons? Which son are we?
2. Second lesson is the responsibility of the older son and hearing the heart of the Father.
LESSON ONE: Remembering the audience: who are we now in the grandstands of life as we listen to Jesus speak about the Kingdom of God… the heart of the Father… and his two sons? Which son are we?
Remember the audience…
Sinners, Tax-collectors, Pharisees, Teachers
Who is Jesus speaking to with the younger son’s story?
• Sinners, Tax-collectors,
• They have opportunity to repent and come home.
Who is Jesus speaking to with the older son’s story?
• The Pharisees and teachers
1. God I have done everything right, and you owe me.
Which brother are we?
Either through selfish decisions of self-discovery and gratification we squander life… OR
Through extreme morality we assume God owes us… and both sons LEAVE RELATIONSHIP WITH THE FATHER OUT OF THE EQUATION…
Second lesson is the responsibility of the older son and hearing the heart of the Father.
REMEMBER the theme of the other parables?
• Something lost, something searched for, something found…
• In this story, the younger son is never searched for?
1. Also a son who did know the father, but chooses to walk away…
2. But many historians also talk about the Responsibility of the older brother!
• To go search for the younger brother.
If the older son had really understood the heart of the Father, he would have gone searching for the younger brother… instead he was content in his morality to sit back, do his part, and be unconcerned with the lostness of his brother… yet he himself is lost because he is still refusing the relationship with the Father…
And here is the hard part of the parable… it ends with the Father pleading with the older son… and we don’t know if he comes in… we don’t know if he forgives the brother… we don’t know if he embraces the heart and desires of his Father… he might remain in his piety and morality and refuse to come home…
• Keller gives this challenge:
• Here is the fear: If our churches aren’t appealing to younger brothers, they must be more full of elder brothers than we’d like to think.
If we ignore the heart of the Father and sit back in our morality…
For in the final words of the story we hear the heart of the Father… 31 "’My son,’ the father said, ’you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 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.’"
What we celebrate is important… shows what is important to us…
To truly not be lost… is to want the Father more than anything else. Not just earning life through moral living… not destroying life through self-indulgence…
But an intentional life walking with the Father, the Prodigal God.
A responsible life running after the younger brothers not in judgment, but understanding the heart of our Father who hurts for them!
