Prodigal Children - Faithful God (Part 2)

Introduction

Last week we began looking at Luke 15 and the story of the Prodigal Sons. We spent the majority of our time last week focusing on the younger son and the Father in the story and how the prodigal was rebellious, but repented, and was restored. This is the theme of Scripture: Rebellion > Repentance > Restoration and it’s all because of the power and grace of our Lord and Savior that we have this hope!

Last Friday I had the chance to speak at FCA at the high school and I asked them how many of them identify with the younger son in this story and how many of them identify with the older son and most of them said the older son. I’m sure this is true here as well tonight. Not all, but many of you have been rule followers and churchgoers for a long part of your lives. Whether it be the fear of getting caught doing something wrong, a personal conviction, or a simply being at the right place at the right time, some of you obey rules or at least you try your best.

What does the Bible tell us about our ability to keep all the rules?

We fall short

Romans 3:10 CSB

10 as it is written: There is no one righteous, not even one.

Regardless of how hard we try, we mess up!

What is the danger of believing that your works have the power to save you?

Mainly it’s unbiblical but also you make the opposite true too: Your works can un-save you too

I’ve heard so many people say the following statement, “You’re not a Christian and you never will be if you do ______ or if you’ve done ________.” In today’s world it’s political voting - seriously, you can’t be a Christian if you do this or vote for that person. You can’t be a Christian if you do this thing. You can’t be a Christian if you do that activity. Absolutely, there are right and wrong things that Christians shouldn’t do but legalism limits God’s grace as if it is impossible for God to forgive us whenever we make a mistake. That’s not the grace found in the Bible. There were people practicing legalism in Jesus’ day and there are millions who practice it in our world today and the problem today is that legalism can make you really rich with a really big platform and it can make you really likable to certain groups and certain churches… but it’s still as dead and cancerous as it was 2000 years ago.

Tonight we’re going to look at one of the biggest legalists there was: The older brother in this parable. Maybe you’re already getting defensive because you identify more with this older brother than the younger one, here’s some good news: the same father who welcomed home and restored the younger brother, welcomes home and restores older brothers too.

Luke 15:10 CSB

10 I tell you, in the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who repents.”

Luke 15:24 CSB

24 because this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ So they began to celebrate.

Let’s read tonight from Luke 15:25-32 to see the older brothers response to the Father’s forgiveness

Luke 15:25–32 CSB

25 “Now his older son was in the field; as he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he summoned one of the servants, questioning what these things meant. 27 ‘Your brother is here,’ he told him, ‘and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ 28 “Then he became angry and didn’t want to go in. So his father came out and pleaded with him. 29 But he replied to his father, ‘Look, I have been slaving many years for you, and I have never disobeyed your orders, yet you never gave me a goat so that I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your assets with prostitutes, you slaughtered the fattened calf for him.’ 31 “ ‘Son,’ he said to him, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ ”

Here’s our outline for tonight that we’ll follow and observe what the text plainly teaches

The Legalist, like the Prodigal, is Lost (25-27)

We begin in verses 25-27 with some background about this older brother.

Sermons from John Piper (1990–1999) The Blinding Effects of Serving God

This is a passage for people who don’t struggle as much with running from God as they struggle with condemning those who do. This is a passage for people who tend to think of other people who need this passage

What do you think first went through the older brothers head whenever he heard the music playing?

Something exciting is happening!

Here’s the problem - where is the son whenever the celebration starts? He’s in the field. Optimistically we’d say that he’s hard at work… but he’s not where he’s supposed to be. DA Carson shares this, “It seems strange that the older brother was not there when the celebration began… but his absence likely shows his distant relationship with his family.”

The Legalist, Unlike the Prodigal, is Upset at the Father (28-30)

The elder brother demonstrates his fundamental flaw here in verses 29-30. He knows his younger brother was lost… but he doesn’t view himself as being lost. The younger brother, rebellious as he was, knew he had messed up and he came home repentant. The older brother, though didn’t see his need for healing and forgiveness because he didn’t see himself as being deathly sick. If you don’t know you’re sick, you won’t go see a doctor… you’ll just end up dead. This is the elder brother syndrome.

John MacArthur puts it well as he shares that, “The older brother has no love for the father. He has no interest in the father’s love for his younger brother. He has no desire to share in his father’s joy. He has no joy period in anything. But he’s still perfect and needs no repentance… What a classic hypocrite.”

He became angry… He threw a fit… He obeyed as a slave, not a son…

Why do you think that the elder brother was so angry at his father?

He had obeyed faithfully

His younger brother didn’t

*Key Point: His Father had restored the other brother as a son again… meaning that he was back in line to receive his inheritance… again! Get this: The older brother in Jewish families was due for a double portion of the inheritance, meaning the older brother would receive 2/3 of the Father’s possessions and the younger brother received 1/3. The younger brother had already squandered 1/3 of the Father’s possessions. This left 66% left and all of this is supposed to go to the older brother, but now that the younger brother has come home, 1/3 of it will go to him. The only way for the younger brother to receive an inheritance was to cut into what the older brother legally deserved - legalists hate it when you take away what they feel like they deserve! The older brother threw a fit because instead of getting his 66%, he’s only going to get 45% and the younger brother will actually end up getting 55% of the Father’s possessions when it’s all said and done.

He’s upset! He’s stayed at home and worked hard but he’s never had a party thrown for him. Jesus is telling this story to arrive at a point: Why do you think the Father never threw the older son a party?

Because he still hadn’t come home. If Luke 15:10 is true and the angels throw a party whenever a sinner repents and here is the younger son repenting and coming home and there’s a party, what does that tell you that the older son has never had a party? He’s still lost! He’s there but he’s not there.

The older son thought that he was the model son… but he didn’t understand sonship in the first place because he said that he was slaving away for his father. Working for your Father isn’t being a slave! The older son is upset for understandable reasons… but they’re not the right reason.

Do you remember who was responsible to go search for the younger brother last week?

What does the younger brother need in this story - he needs a true and better older brother. This story is dynamic and powerful and it leaves us longing for a better older brother who seeks us when we’re lost. A brother who knocks us upside the head when we need it. A brother who is willing to pay the price for our restoration into the family… Do you see where Jesus is obviously headed with this? Who is the true older brother that we all need?

Jesus Christ!

Jesus came to seek and save the lost

Jesus came to pay the price owed by sinners

Jesus came to bring us to the feast of the Father

The Legalist, like the Prodigal, is Welcomed Home by the Father (31-32)

The father goes out to the son and what does he say after the older brother is finished talking himself up?

“My Son” - even whenever the older son is upset and angry, the father is tender. He is compassionate.

Still, though, this parable, with its faulty older brother, doesn’t have a very happy ending… In fact, it’s a bit of a cliffhanger. The Father reiterates that he had to have a celebration because the younger son came home. Why do you think Jesus chose to end this parable in this way?

The Father is waiting on these pharisees to come home?

Wherever you are, there is a challenge here for you to come home and experience the Father’s love. We might see ourselves as the prodigal who has been welcomed back home by God’s love… but we can also read this story and see ourselves in the older brother as we create a self-centered standard where we are on top and others fall woefully short. This is what pharisees often do and Jesus might be leaving this open-ended so that they come to see His standard.

Do you know any pharisee figure in the New Testament who was the chief legalist of legalists who was forced to stop being angry at God’s grace and enter the celebration feast of the Father?

Connection to the apostle Paul. Pharisee of Pharisee. While this parable is open-ended and the ending leaves us wanting more… Some argue that this is intentional as Paul serves as the flawed older brother who repented of his lostness and came home to the Father. He wasn’t present for this parable, but many argue that this parable has a delayed ending that is also authored by Luke in the book of Acts as Acts 9 details the legalist of all legalists coming to his senses, abandoning hope in his works of righteousness and coming home to the Father.

This is Philippians 3 in condensed form.

Philippians 3:4–7 CSB

4 although I have reasons for confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised the eighth day; of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; regarding the law, a Pharisee; 6 regarding zeal, persecuting the church; regarding the righteousness that is in the law, blameless. 7 But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ.

That’s a chief older brother - at least before Christ saved him… If there is room at the banquet for an older brother like Paul, there’s room for any older brother figure too! The Gospel message of rebellion, repentance, and restoration is true for older and younger brothers and one that we all must respond to! If you have responded to this message, then you have a resurrection story to share with other people and invite them to come home to the Father!

Conclusion

Think about God’s love and repentance. The Bible doesn’t tell us that God will only love us after we come home and demonstrate 3 months of acceptable behavior. The problem for the Pharisees in Jesus’ day and the legalists today is they expect sinners to act like saints and whenever they fail or reject, they refuse to help because they’re too busy smiling for the cameras of self-righteousness and working hard to look really good in the court of public opinion. The older brother in this story is undoubtedly a metaphor for the pharisees and scribes in Jesus’ audience and Jesus is telling them that they have missed the boat because they have failed to go and pursue their younger brother. They lack a genuine understanding of what repentance is and what it looks like.

What is repentance? How would you define it?

Textbook definition, “The act where one turns away from his or her sin and turns to God in faith.”

A pastor shared a story this week of a conversation he had with 2 men on Friday about salvation and repentance. The 2 men said this, “Whoever repents receives the forgiveness of sins.” They said that repentance is whenever you stop Committing the sin, you are repenting for. God will forgive you, but you must stop sinning first. The pastor asked, “Have you repented?” The men said that they have repented of some things – the pastor pressed deeper, “Are there other sins you’re still doing?” The men said yes.

In the Gospels, Jesus doesn’t say that you have to clean up yourself first, and only whenever you’re perfectly clean, then can you come to Him. Jesus shares that whenever you ask God for His mercy, then you are justified, forgiven and redeemed. That is repentance!

Whenever you and I see how sinful we really are, one of two things happens: Either we get really active trying to justify ourselves… or our feet hit the floor, and we pray that God would have mercy on our souls. The older brother in Luke 15 got busy trying to justify himself before his father, and this is what older brothers do today. Those who are genuinely saved, though, rejoice at God’s grace, and they walk in that grace as a changed person. Repentance and Faith lead to works. You don’t get your house straightened up, and then Jesus changes your life – Jesus changes your life and Jesus cleans up your house!

James Boice, “We are never so like God as when we rejoice at the salvation of sinners. We are never so like Satan as when we despise those are thus converted and think ourselves superior to them.”

Shame on us if we ever get to a point in our lives individually or as a church corporately where we despise seeing the lost become found. We never admit this - no one would! But our actions are like it. The Pharisee is the one who looks at the tax collector and says, “At least I’m not like that person.” “At least I don’t dress that way.” “At least I don’t listen to that music.” “At least I don’t do that thing.” “Praise God I’m better!” If you think that’s hyperbole - it’s literally what Jesus says 3 chapters later in chapter 18

Luke 18:11 CSB

11 The Pharisee was standing and praying like this about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I’m not like other people—greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.

We may not pray that way… but we’re all tempted to think that way. When we do this toward other believers or even non-believers, we demonstrate how much more room we have to mature or we demonstrate that we don’t even know Jesus in the first place. Look at the prayer of the tax collector

Luke 18:13–14 CSB

13 “But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even raise his eyes to heaven but kept striking his chest and saying, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this one went down to his house justified rather than the other, because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Jesus says that the tax collector, who admits his sins and shortcomings, is justified and the pharisee who appeared to be close to the Lord and have it all figured out, demonstrated that he really was lost. So it is in chapter 15!

How can we guard against the poison of legalism?

Remember your daily need for grace

Remember that Jesus delights in saving sinners

Remember that everyone matures at different speeds

Remember the difference between preference and principle

Never forget the joy of your salvation

During the Christmas season, one of the main themes is that of Joy. God is gracious and His amazing love leads to limitless joy. We don’t have joy because we try really hard to fake a smile… We receive joy because we experience God’s undeserving love. True joy comes in remembering what Jesus has done for us as sinners and walking in that truth each and every day. May we never forget the joy of our salvation as Jesus saves younger and older brothers from our lostness and our separation from Him for His glory, the good of others, and for our eternal joy. Praise the Lord that we serve a Faithful God.