04 - The Lost Brother By Pastor Jeff Wickwire Notes

Luke 15:20-32 “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. 23 And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; 24 for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.

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 So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.’

28 “But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. 29 So he answered and said to his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. 30 But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’

31 “And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. 32 It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.’” (NKJV)

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Luke 15 is about 4 things lost and found.

Remember, the context is that Jesus has received stinging criticism from the religious leaders of His day for eating and spending time with notorious sinners and social outcasts.

So His response is to bring a parable about 4 things lost and found—a lost sheep, lost coin, lost son, and a lost brother, which we’re talking about today.

The story contains three main characters—the father, the prodigal son, and the prodigal’s older brother.

THE FATHER is God.

THE PRODIGAL represents mostly everybody, as all of us have drifted from the father and sinned, and need his merciful forgiveness.

THE ELDER BROTHER represents self-righteous, religious folks who are all about rules, regulations, and love based on performance.

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Today I want to focus on this elder brother, for the “spirit” or “attitude” of this elder brother is alive and well in the church and we need to see it.

First, we see in the story that the elder brother has...

Confused service with relationship...

He was so busy with the work of the father, he never really knew the father of the work!

WATCH THIS: We see that He is IN the house, but UNLIKE the house.

He has grown up AROUND the father, but is not LIKE the father.

He has the father’s GOODS, but not the father’s HEART.

He is baffled by the father’s MERCY.

He’s infuriated by the father’s FORGIVENESS.

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The elder brother is a PERFECT PICTURE of what rigid, cold religion will do to you.

He illustrates the subtle trap of FORGETTING that you were once just like the people you now condemn!

The Bible says, “All of us used to be just as they are, our lives expressing the evil within us, doing every wicked thing that our passions or our evil thoughts might lead us into. We started out bad, being born with evil natures, and were under God’s anger just like everyone else” (Eph. 2:3 LB).

But now that you’ve walked with God for a while you’ve forgotten from whence you have come!

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This elder brother is a cautionary tale that you can be IN the father’s house, and not WALK IN the father’s heart!

You can be IN the church, yet become unlike the Lord OF the church.

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In this story, Jesus illustrates for us what our Heavenly Father is truly like, and thus us as well...

We see that He longs for the RETURN of His wayward children.

He is QUICK on forgiveness and LONG on mercy.

He REJOICES when a sinner comes home.

Yes, He HATES sin but desperately LOVES the sinner.

He is NOT the God the devil loves to paint for us—a God of anger, condemnation, rejection, impossible standards...

A sort of “gotcha” God who waits for us to make a mistake so He can squash us like a bug and hurl us into hell.

Yes, there will be a judgment day where all who have rejected God’s Son will be judged and forever removed from His presence.

But in the meantime, God chooses MERCY over JUDGMENT.

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Listen to what these verses say about God:

“The LORD is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made” (Ps. 145:9 NIV).

“For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!” (Ezek. 18:32 NIV)

God describes Himself to Moses as, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness,” (Ex. 34:6 NIV)

Jesus said, “His (God’s) sun shines on bad people and on good people. He sends rain on those who are right with God and on those who are not right with God” (Matt 5:45 NLV).

Compassionate, gracious, patient, loving, kind, faithful...that’s the Father!

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But here’s the deal: The elder brother never understood this about his own father...

Rather than becoming like Him, he instead became a RELIGIOUS stiff!——Right under the father’s nose!

Just like many of God’s children today develop a religious attitude in the way they deal with and view people.

And the religious Pharisees Jesus addressed this parable to were the worst of all!

Their attitude toward the people Jesus reached out to was,

“We’re above you.”

“We’re better than you.”

“We know God and you don’t.”

“We’re righteous and you’re not.”

But Jesus’s attitude toward the lost was, “They are like lost sheep without a shepherd. I will do all I can to reach and save them. I love them.”

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So the elder brother in this parable is just like the religious Pharisees—and many religious people today—who are IN the father’s house, but don’t HAVE the father’s heart!

Second, he was...

II. Unforgiving

The Bible says, “He was angry and would not go in” to the celebration party.

Rather than rejoice that his little brother had come home, he resented the father receiving him back.

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Now, let’s bring this home...

In the modern church today, there are people just like this.

When one of God’s children messes up, these “elder brother” types believe they should NEVER be allowed back into the church’s good graces...

They never let them off the hook.

They snub them in social gatherings.

They gossip their sin to others, even though God has forgiven them.

Look at how the elder brother threw his little brother’s sins right in the father’s face: “This son of yours...has devoured your livelihood with harlots...”—broadcasting the whole mess where everyone in the house could hear it!

But Paul wrote that we Christians should do the opposite: “Be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God has forgiven you because you belong to Christ” (Eph. 4:32 LB).

So the elder brother 1. didn’t catch his father’s heart, 2. had an unforgiving spirit, And lastly, He was...

III. Self-righteous

Listen to what he dumps on the father: “Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends” (Luke 15:29 NKJV).

Look at the “I’s” here——“I” have been serving you; “I” never transgressed.

Notice how his sense of righteousness comes from his own PERFORMANCE, not the father’s grace.

This elder brother was performance-driven, not grace-driven.

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And that’s the difference between RELIGION and true CHRISTIANITY.

Religion cracks a cruel whip saying “do, do, do” in order to earn God’s acceptance.

But Christianity places faith in what Jesus has already “done, done, done” on our behalf!

Sadly, this elder brother thought he had to EARN the father’s love.

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It’s so easy to think that God’s love RISES OR FALLS based on our performance.

We think, “If I do well today, He’ll love me more; if I mess up, He’ll love me less.”

But listen: God’s love is two-fold—He loves you just the way you are, BUT He refuses to leave you that way!

Yet through it all, His love is never EARNED by PERFORMANCE, it’s RECEIVED by His gift of grace...

The key verse that separates false religion from true Christianity is this one: “ For by grace you have been saved through faith, and not your own doing; it is the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8 NRSV).

The older brother TOTALLY MISSED one of the greatest things about the house he lived in—the father’s unconditional love!

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So the elder brother 1. Never caught the father’s heart, 2. had an unforgiving spirit, and 3. was performance driven.

I pray that the TPC family becomes like the Father we serve, that we’re quick to forgive, and are grace-driven!