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Luke 15:11-32
11 And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. 14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to1 one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.
17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ 20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’2 22 But the father said to his servants,3 ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.
25 “Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ 28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, 29 but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ 31 And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’”
[1] 15:15
[2] 15:21
[3] 15:22
(ESV)
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
If you
Joel Brooks:have a Bible, I invite you to turn to Luke, chapter 15. Luke, chapter 15. It's so good to see a number of our families returning back. I appreciate it. I know this is not easy.
Joel Brooks:It is not easy coming here with, small children. I want you to know that anytime I hear a, a child screaming or a baby crying, I actually rejoice. Because I know that, you have every reason, every excuse to not be here, and you are here. And, and what you are providing is for your child, their earliest moments of their life, that they get to be part, of church. And they get to, to hear and to experience their church family worshiping the Lord together.
Joel Brooks:And, so I appreciate that. Thank you. Now the person next to you might not appreciate your baby screaming, but I do. I I just hear hallelujah. That's all I hear.
Joel Brooks:So this morning, Luke 15, we continue to look at the story of the prodigal sons. Last week we looked at the younger brother. This week we're going to look at the older brother. The one who went to the state college, got full scholarships, straight a's, lived at home, worked for the family business, deacon in the deacon at church probably sings in the choir. He likely drives a Camry.
Joel Brooks:Alright? So we're looking at that older brother this morning. Luke 15, beginning in verse 11. And Jesus said, there was a man who had 2 sons. And the younger of them said to his father, father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.
Joel Brooks:And he divided the property between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country. And there he squandered his property in reckless living. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs.
Joel Brooks:And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate. And no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself and said, how many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger? I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.
Joel Brooks:Treat me as one of your hired servants. And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.
Joel Brooks:But the father said to his servants, bring quickly the best robe and put it on him. And bring a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this, my son was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found.
Joel Brooks:And they began to celebrate. Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.
Joel Brooks:But he was angry, and he refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him. But he answered his father, look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command. Yet you never gave me a young goat that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.
Joel Brooks:And he said to him, son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It is fitting to celebrate and to be glad. For this, your brother was dead and is alive. He was lost and is found. This is the word of the Lord.
Joel Brooks:Yes, Jesus. If you would pray with me. Father, we ask that you would honor the reading of your word through your spirit. You'd allow that word to not return void, but to accomplish its work. I do pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore.
Joel Brooks:But Lord, may your words remain and may they change us. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. Jesus begins his parable by saying that there was a man who had 2 sons. 2.
Joel Brooks:Despite whatever heading you have in your Bible mine says the prodigal son, know that it's that is those headings are not the original text. They're certainly not inspired by God, because this is not a story about 1 son. This is a story about 2 sons. And it's obvious that Jesus wants us to compare and to contrast these 2 sons. And now I understand that it's the younger son who gets all the press.
Joel Brooks:It's easy to understand why. Because his story is sensational. It's it's the stuff of a tabloid news or or internet news now. It's also this beautiful story of forgiveness. And we can almost picture Jesus telling this story, and and the listeners being so moved by what he was saying.
Joel Brooks:They're they're passing around boxes of tissue to to dry their misty eyes. But if that's the picture we have, we would be mistaken. Likely, the people listening to Jesus, they didn't have the warm fuzzies as they heard about the story of forgiveness and reconciliation. They likely were angry. Very angry.
Joel Brooks:At the start of chapter 15, we find out who his audience was. The first verse says, now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to Jesus. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying this man receives sinners, and he eats with them. You see, it was the religious insiders of that day. They did not like Jesus eating with such immoral people.
Joel Brooks:And so Jesus tells them a story. The story is directed towards those who grumble, those who grumble at the grace that God shows towards sinners. This story is for those religious insiders to show them that they're actually on the outside. They think of themselves as insiders, but they are actually on the outside of the party that his father is throwing. So this story is primarily about the older brother, not the younger.
Joel Brooks:Jesus uses the story of these 2 brothers to show us that there are 2 very different ways that people try to relate to God. And he wants us to know that both of those ways are wrong. One son is going to try to get what he wants from God, from his father, by being really bad. And the other one's gonna get try to get what he wants from his father by being really, really good. But notice, neither son loves their father.
Joel Brooks:They both want their father's things, but neither actually want a relationship with their father. And what Jesus is doing by telling this story is he is redefining for the religious insider. He's redefining for us what lostness looks like. It's easy to see how the younger son is lost, because his sin is so obvious. I mean, the younger son, as we saw last week, he wished his father dead, took his money, ran off to Las Vegas, parties it all away with alcohol and prostitutes.
Joel Brooks:He's in and out of rehab. He can't hold a job. He voted for the political party, whichever one it is that you hate. I mean, he is the poster child for sinner, for someone who's lost. He knows it, and you know it.
Joel Brooks:But Jesus is telling us here that the elder brother is just as lost. He might be straight laced. He might do his chores. He might sing in the choir, But he was just as alienated from his father. And so what Jesus is teaching here is quite radical.
Joel Brooks:He says, you can be really bad and be alienated from God. And you can be really good and be just as alienated. So both the older and the younger brother are presented to us as lost. However, they're not equally in danger. They are both equally lost, but they are not equally in danger.
Joel Brooks:Jesus lets us know that the elder brothers of the world are in a much more precarious position. Notice how the story ends. The younger brother gets to go into the party. It's the elder brother who refuses to go in. The younger one gets into heaven.
Joel Brooks:The older one is excluded. The bad go to heaven? The good go to hell? What is Jesus teaching? Now Jesus, he's obviously not teaching that what the younger son did was okay.
Joel Brooks:Not at all. It's it's an obvious sin. But that's the point. It's obvious. When you wake up in a pig sty, you kind of know that your life is a wreck.
Joel Brooks:You wake up, you know, passed out in somebody's lawn, hungover, you have a tattoo of somebody's face whom you don't even recognize, you you kinda get the point that your life needs to change. You you know you're a sinner. But what about the elder brother? What does he look like? He looks like the type of person who might go to a parking deck for a worship service in the middle of a pandemic.
Joel Brooks:He looks like one of us, somebody whose life is put together. So how do we know if we are an elder brother or not? Jesus, he he gives us some clues as to what elder brotherishness looks like. Let me go through 3 or 4 of those. The first characteristic of what I call elder brotherishness is anger.
Joel Brooks:Elder brothers often are filled with anger, usually just under the surface. They might be able to keep a pleasant face. But underneath, they're just brimming with anger. When this older brother, he comes home from a hard day's work. He hears the music.
Joel Brooks:He sees the dancing. He asked the servant, what's going on? And the servant says, your younger brother has come home. And your dad has killed a fattened calf for him. Immediately, this older brother is filled with anger.
Joel Brooks:When he hears about the fattened calf being killed, anger. Why? When this day, You have to understand that meat was was not normally eaten at the meals. It was kind of an expensive delicacy. If you ever you did have meat, it was likely gonna come from a small lamb.
Joel Brooks:You certainly would not have killed the fattened calf. The fattened calf was reserved for only the most special occasions, because it would have not only fed your family. It would have fed the entire village there. Meaning, that this was going to be a party, an enormous feast, in which everyone is invited. Once again, in another parable, Jesus is describing His kingdom as a great feast.
Joel Brooks:And once again, he is saying there are some people who simply refuse to come to it. Even though the elder brother knows, this is the happiest day of my father's life. He couldn't care less. He will not enter in because of his anger. His dad hears that he is outside.
Joel Brooks:And so he actually leaves the party, and he goes out to him. Just like he had done for the younger son earlier. We see that there is a father running out to meet each son. Running out in the hopes of reconciliation. And Jesus is teaching us that this is what our father is like.
Joel Brooks:He runs to us. He doesn't wait for us to come to him, but he runs to us in the hopes of reconciliation. And the father pleads with his son, come into the party. But the older son just lashes out at him. He says, look, I've never once disobeyed you, and yet you have given me nothing.
Joel Brooks:He's being very disrespectful to his dad here. Notice, he doesn't call his dad father. He just says, look. You could translate that as, look you. Look you.
Joel Brooks:I've done nothing but obey you and that you have never once given me what I wanted. And that's really what is the heart of the matter here. He said, my obedience should have earned me what I wanted. Now, if he wanted a relationship with his dad, he had that. And he would not have been angry.
Joel Brooks:But he wants not his father, but his father's things. Hear me. If you think that God owes you something. He owes you for living a good moral life. He owes you for your obedience.
Joel Brooks:Then you will most certainly be filled with anger. You might be able to hide it from others, but you're not hiding it from God. Some of you, you expected that God would give you more money. Because you've always been faithful with the money that you have. You've been faithful to tithe to the church.
Joel Brooks:Or you thought that God would have given you a spouse because you've never compromised in whom you would date. Or that God owed you children because you've been such a faithful prayer or faithful church goer. Or that God should have given you a great sex life, because you waited, you waited, He owes you. Or that you should not get cancer because you have always trusted him. But if any of these things turned out differently than you hoped, you're gonna see that God wasn't keeping his end of the deal.
Joel Brooks:And because of that, you've been filled with anger. God, you owed me. Now, it's okay to be sorrowful about those things. Sorrowful or disappointed if life doesn't turn out the way that you had hoped or or even expected. But when it turns to anger, it's because you think that God needs to pay you back from some for something you have earned.
Joel Brooks:That's how the world relates to God. The elder's brother lets us know that he is just like the younger brother. He wants his dad's things. But he doesn't want his dad. His younger brother tried to get his dad's things by being really, really bad.
Joel Brooks:He tried to get his dad's things by being really, really good. But neither of them wanted their dad. Once again, this is the happiest day of his father's life, yet his he cannot he cannot, out of anger, he cannot go in to the feast. Alright. A second characteristic of elder brotherishness, it's related to anger.
Joel Brooks:And it's that your obedience feels like slavery. Your obedience feels like slavery. In verse 29, the elder son, he says, all these years, I have served you. You could translate served you as slaved for you. Dad, all these years I have slaved away.
Joel Brooks:And he very well I mean, he he likely did work hard. But he never had any joy in that obedience. His obedience, it felt like a duty. It was never really a delight. And this is once again, because he thought he should have earned something for it.
Joel Brooks:Elizabeth Elliott, she tells a parable to kind of teach us about this elder brotherishness. This is from her. It's not in the Bible. But she said that, one time, Jesus, he was with his disciples early in the morning. And he said, I would like everybody to pick up a rock and come follow me.
Joel Brooks:And 1 by 1, all the disciples are picking up different rocks. And and Peter's like, I don't know how long we're going. I mean, is this all day? I I'm not really sure. So he he just picked up the smallest rock he could find.
Joel Brooks:It was a little pebble and he just kinda put it in his pocket and he he follows Jesus. And he was glad he did so, because all day they followed Jesus. They didn't stop hiking or walking until nighttime. Finally, Jesus, he sat them all down and he said, I'd like everybody to bring out their rock, and they brought out their rock. He waved his hand and their rock turned to bread.
Joel Brooks:He said, there's your dinner. Once again, this is not in your Bible. Alright? This is this is a parable from Elizabeth Elliot. And, and and Peter's looking around and everybody's got this this big meal and this big meal.
Joel Brooks:And he looks at him and he's got like, half of a biscuit. That's all he has. He eats it and he's grumbling. He's angry. He just goes off and he sulks by himself, and then he goes to bed hungry.
Joel Brooks:The next morning, Jesus gets up everybody. He's an early riser. And he says, it's time to get up. Everybody pick up a rock. Come follow me.
Joel Brooks:Peter's not gonna make the same mistake this time. And so he's already hungry and he picks like this huge rock. One that he could barely carry and all day he's just carrying this big rock. Finally, the end of the day comes, and he thinks it's all gonna be worth it. So Jesus has everybody sit down and says, bring out the rock.
Joel Brooks:Peter brings out the rock. He says, I would like for you all now to go and throw it into the water. Good night, disciples. Peter's like, what? What?
Joel Brooks:And he goes and he throws his rock into the water. And and he just sits and he's angry. Once again, he's he's fuming. He's he's sulking now. And Jesus is just looking at him.
Joel Brooks:Finally, Jesus comes and sits down next to him and looks him in the eye and says, Peter, just who were you carrying that rock for? Who are you carrying that rock for? Some of you look like you're obeying the Lord. You're carrying around these huge rocks. You're like, look at the rock I'm carrying.
Joel Brooks:And it looks like radical obedience. But actually, it's nothing more than self centeredness. It's really all about you expecting to get something in the end. Has nothing to do with your relationship with the Lord, And for some of you, even even carrying the smallest rock feels like slavery, when you don't think you're going to get something out of it. Why do you obey the Lord?
Joel Brooks:That's the question Jesus is asking. Why do you obey him? Is your Christianity full of have to's? You feel like you have to go to church. You have to read your Bible.
Joel Brooks:You have to give your money away. You have to care for the poor? It's full of a bunch of have to's? Or does your obedience come from a joyful heart because you get to be with your father? That's where the joy and obedience comes.
Joel Brooks:Let's look at a final characteristic of elder brotherishness. And it's a sense of superiority. Notice how quick the brother is to point out how much better he is than his younger brother. Actually, he doesn't even call him his younger brother. Just doesn't call his dad dad.
Joel Brooks:He doesn't call his brother brother. He says, this son of yours, this this son of yours, he goes off and he just throws away your money. Wasting it on all those prostitutes. And now you're gonna give him a party. Elder brothers are quick to point out their own righteousness in other people's sins.
Joel Brooks:Elder brothers say things like, I would never do that. Or that person is just horrible. That person, well, they're greedy. That person, he's a racist. She's a racist.
Joel Brooks:That person there? Pervert. Gossiper. You realize that Facebook would cease to exist if we didn't have elder brothers? It would cease to exist.
Joel Brooks:Every post that seems out there is just another version of somebody saying, thank you, God. I am not like this sinner. It's interesting. Over the years or last 20 years, just who was the sinner has kinda flipped. How people who they would identify in this story.
Joel Brooks:It used to be well, it was the liberal left. They always kind of, you know, you always think of them. Well, they're the prodigal son who went off and party. And it was the conservative right. Well, they're the the elder brother, who's not really sinning.
Joel Brooks:And now both sides actually point to one and say, actually you're the one who's full of sin. It's you. Now we have a society that's actually full of elder brothers. But the shocking explosive truth of this story is that the younger brother's sins do not keep him out of heaven, but the older brother's righteousness does. You see, there there there are 2 different things that Jesus is spelling out for us that we need to repent of here.
Joel Brooks:We obviously need to repent of our sins. And we see the younger brother doing that. But we also need to repent of our righteousness. If we trust in our own good works, if we trust in our own righteousness, our own obedience in order to save us, we'll be sorely mistaken. Once again, as we have seen over and over again in these parables, it's not the good who get into heaven and the bad who are left out.
Joel Brooks:It's the humble who get in. It's the proud who get left out. Because the proud, they see Jesus perhaps as a inspiration. Jesus as a good example. But they do not see Jesus as a savior.
Joel Brooks:Because they don't see their need to be saved. But the humble do. The parable ends with the father telling the son he is always with him. And that all that he has is his. The father's not exaggerating here.
Joel Brooks:He's just simply stating a fact. Remember, the younger brother already got his inheritance. He got the third of the inherits and the inheritance. And the 2 thirds that was left, well, it now belonged to the older brother. But now, with the younger brother returning, the elder brother he's seeing, well, my inheritance is dwindling.
Joel Brooks:I mean, that's technically my fattened calf that you're killing. You should have at least consulted me on this. You're burning up you're burning up my inheritance. But it actually goes even more than just killing the fatted calf. When his father welcomed that prodigal brother of his back home, and he gave him that signet ring again, welcoming him back into the family.
Joel Brooks:What he was doing was restoring his sonship. In other words, his dad was making the younger brother an heir once again, due to another inheritance. So now the younger brother had already gotten a third. And now, the younger brother is going to get another third. And so now, suddenly, the roles have reversed.
Joel Brooks:The younger brother has technically gotten 2 thirds of the inheritance. And the older brother has only gotten a third. He's no longer being treated as the first born. But the rebellious younger brother of his is. That's why he's so angry.
Joel Brooks:The father pleads with him. Do the right thing. Because this is the right thing for us to do, to celebrate your brother was lost, and he's found. He was he was dead. He's now alive.
Joel Brooks:It was worth the cost. But his brother doesn't think so. The the younger brother doesn't the younger brother did not have the older brother that we all need. The younger brother didn't have the the older brother he needed. He needed a brother that would love him like his dad did, one that would have left home and come looking for him.
Joel Brooks:He needed an older brother who would gladly lose his inheritance, have his life ripped apart, all for the hopes of reconciliation. He needed a brother who would gladly have the fatted calf slaughtered for him. This younger brother did not have the older brother he needed. The Christians, we do. Church, we do.
Joel Brooks:We have the older brother that we need in Jesus Christ, our savior. Because of the great love in which he loved us, he left his home. He left heaven, and he came out looking for us. He left all the glories he had there, and he came to this pigsty in order to find us. And when he found us, it would cost him.
Joel Brooks:And it wouldn't be the cost of just a fatted calf, but he would be slaughtered. He would be cut in 2. All that we might now be treated like the firstborn and gain our inheritance. That's the elder brother that we have in Jesus Christ, our lord. And that's actually what we're gonna come and we're gonna celebrate in this moment.
Joel Brooks:We're taking communion together. Jesus, he set aside a meal that he wanted the church to take regularly. A meal that would be in remembrance of his sacrifice. How he did come looking for us. He did rescue us at great cost to himself.
Joel Brooks:He has brought us in that we might be a part of the feast. And so if you would, take out your communion. I love that Jesus, he he set aside something that was a meal, something that we could actually taste and see and remember his goodness. So if you would peel off that top layer and grab the wafer. Remember that Jesus, he said, this is my body given for you.
Joel Brooks:You would take and eat. Then Jesus took the cup and said, this is my blood poured out for the forgiveness of many. Says, often as you eat of this bread and I heard Paul would later say, as often as you eat of this bread and drink of this cup, we remember the Lord's death until he comes. I love when Paul says that. When he says, it's often as we eat of this bread and we drink of this cup.
Joel Brooks:We remember the Lord's death until he comes. Jesus alludes to the same thing when he, has that last meal with his disciples. You'll you'll read these words in one of the gospels. He says, I tell you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine again until I drink it with you anew in my Father's kingdom. What he's actually alluding to there in communion, during the the Passover meal, you had many different cups that you would drink from.
Joel Brooks:And it was likely that 3rd cup, which was the cup of redemption, the cup of atonement. It's likely that cup that Jesus said, this is my blood poured out for the forgiveness of many or forgiveness of sins, that he would hold that up. But the final cup would be the cup of joy. That was the last cup of a passover meal. And it's likely at that cup that's being alluded to when Jesus says, I tell you I will not drink of the fruit of the vine again until I drink it with you and you in my Father's kingdom.
Joel Brooks:In other words, this meal we're having is going to be left unfinished. It's unfinished. But when I return, the party gets started. That's when the cup of joy comes and the real feast begins. So even as we take communion, we have this longing for the day when we come and we feast with our Savior.
Joel Brooks:Pray with me, church. Jesus, we love you. We thank you that you were the elder brother we needed. The elder brother at a great sacrifice to himself has come looking for us and gives us the inheritance. And we are now treated like firstborns.
Joel Brooks:Thank you. Thank you that the best meal is to come. And that we will someday feast with you. And our hearts long for that day. Maranatha.
Joel Brooks:Come, Lord Jesus. We pray this in your name.