The Ungratious Brother

Luke 15:11-32

Intro

Luke chapter 15. Today we are going to do a self-examination of our faith. Let's take a look at three measures so you can discover your relationship with God and your readiness to serve the Lord.

Sunday is a day of celebration in the house of the Lord, but some of us are not ready to celebrate. I want us to read here in Luke chapter 15 and start reading at verse 11 - I suppose it's one of the best known stories in the entire Bible:

Luke 15:11–32 (NIV)

Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.

“Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 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.

“The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

“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. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

“Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’

“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 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. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

“ ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 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.’ ”

This is a story that Jesus Christ told the Pharisees - Who were the Pharisees? The religious elite whose hearts have hardened. They had been complaining about the Lord Jesus Christ and criticizing Jesus for being in the company of sinners. And Jesus told this story. The story we are most familiar with is the story of the prodigal son. He was a rebel. He was a renegade. He was a troublemaker. He ended up broke. He ended up without an identity. He ended up without friends. He ended up without a home and without shoes. It's a beautiful story. And I think everyone knows it.

The sins of the prodigal son were the sins of the flesh. But there was another son, the son who stayed at home. On the outside, he was a good son. He worked a lot. Outwardly, he kept his father's commandments. He didn't do anything wrong that anyone could obviously see. And his sins were not the sins of the flesh. His sins were more the like the sins of the multitude that are here today. His sins were the sins of the spirit.

You see, there are some sins that are external and some that are internal.

There are some sins that are sins of the flesh, but there are other sins that are sins of the spirit.

There are some sins that are gross sins. There are other sins that are subtle.

People pay more attention to the prodigal son than to the older brother.

And you know why we don't pay much attention to the big brother and why we don't hear a lot of sermons about the big brother, the brother who stayed home and complained about the little brother who had gone away - complained when the father lavished his love about the little brother? I'll tell you why: because we are much more like the older brother than the younger brother.

Luke 15 It's a story of God's love, but you realize that the love of God, which melted one sinner's heart, hardened another sinner's heart.

I would like to do a self-examination of our faith. Because, First of all, there must be within us a pure, sincere and overflowing love for God. This love for God should lead us to serve the Lord. And this service to the Lord should generate great, wonderful and abundant joy in us. Love, Service and Joy must mark our lives.

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Today we are going to evaluate our love for God, I want you to evaluate your love and your service to God and I want you to evaluate your joy in the Lord. And I would like to tell you three things.

I. You can measure your love for the Father by your relationship with your brother

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First, you can measure your love for the Father by your relationship with your brother - you can measure your love for the Father by your relationship with your brother.

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Write down this verse: 1 Jn.4.20 “Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.”

Now, some puff up their chest to say I'm a "son" of God but don't want to assume the responsibility of a brother. And I will tell you that you are not ready to serve the Lord if your heart is filled with hatred for some brother, some sister, some child of God.

I'll tell you again: if you resent, envy, jealousy, hate, malice or contempt for your brother, your sister, I warn you, confessed and forsaken that sin! For you are not right with God.

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My dear friend, you will measure your love for the Father by your love for your brother. See, you can't see God the Father, but you can see your brother. So, in a very practical way, what we can see is what we can measure.

Downstairs, in our church cafeteria, we have a large coffee maker. On Sunday morning they put the coffee inside that container, and on the outside there's a glass tube, and you can tell what's inside by looking at the glass tube which is transparent, and how the liquid goes up and down in this glass tube. Do you know what I'm talking about? You know what's inside that container. You cannot see what is inside, but you can see what is outside. And, my dear friend, your love for your brother is what can be seen, that is the absolute measure of what is within.

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Now, think about this: this eldest son who was out in the field, when he came home he saw that they had killed the fattened calf, they were having a party, dancing, having fun, you would imagine he would have said, "Praise be to God! Hallelujah! Our prayers were answered! My brother came home! What a wonderful day! I wouldn't blame my dear father if he went a little overboard with the festivities." But he didn't act like that.

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Do you know what I think? I think this older brother was a little jealous of the good times he thought the prodigal son was having. He was a little jealous of those people who were doing things he really didn't have the courage to do. He was like that woman who prayed in a prayer meeting when there were only a few people in the prayer meeting, "Lord, be with us as we gather here with You, while so many of our members are out there in the world having a good time." You know, that's how he felt.

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And I'm telling you, dear friend, that you can measure your love for the Father by the love you have for your brother. “Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.”

II. You can measure your service to the Father by your fellowship with the Father

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Now, there is a second thing: you can measure your service to the Father by your fellowship with the Father.

‌See, please, verse 25: "Meanwhile the older son was out in the field"

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- that is, he was not wasting his goods by a riotous life. He was in the field. He is working on the farm. He is tending the flock, whatever it may be. He's in the field.

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Lk 15:25-29Lk 15:25-29 ““Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 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.”

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Now, it's pretty obvious that he was a hard worker. He was in the field. And he says to the father and reminds the father in verse 29: ‘Look! all these years I have labored like a slave in your service - "Many years have I served you."

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But, my dear friend, you can measure your service to the Father by your fellowship with the Father.

There are people who have worked in this church for many, many years, but they have no fellowship with God.

This man, this older brother, was what we would consider a model worker. However, he did not know his father's heart.

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He did not understand what motivated his father, what pleased his father.

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I can almost hear his mind working. He's saying, "You know, I don't understand what's wrong with my father. We've never had such good harvest. Look at the cattle - how good and fat they are! Look at the barns - how freshly painted, how big and wonderful they are. ! Look at all the workers coming and going! Everything looks so good. I don't know what's wrong with my father. My father just seems to stand still. He never seems to be completely satisfied, no matter how wonderful the farm is, no no matter how beautiful everything is. My dad seems to have a faraway look in his eyes. I don't know what's wrong with my dad."

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I'll tell you what was wrong with the father. He was heartbroken over a son who was away from home.

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I want to ask you a question. What do you think God is primarily concerned with today?

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Do you think God is primarily concerned with how the worship performed today?

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Do you think God is primarily concerned with tithes, love offerings, deacons, sermons, fellowship, church breakfast, Sunday School attendance?

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There are people who think, "Well, you know, God must be really pleased with what we're doing for Him.

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See how we are running his farm ". But I wonder: are we really pleasing the big heart of God?

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You see, dear friend, here was a man who served God without ever really knowing the heart of God.

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It was simply legalistic service. Do you know what he was thinking?

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"Father, I served you and you did not reward me in kind."

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It is very obvious here that this was a man who was serving for a reward.

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His service was legalistic service, and he had no concern for his father's heart.

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You see, the Bible says, for example, about giving, in 2 Corinthians 9:7, “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

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I've said it before and I'll say it again: God doesn't need or want what isn't gladly, willingly given.

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We must give from a heart motivated by love. You can measure your service to the Father by your fellowship with the Father.

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If, you serve for reward, it won't take long to complain that you are not being blessed enough.

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And if someone else is more blessed than you, then you really will spit fire!

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But if you serve the Lord for the love of God and not for a reward, you will be truly blessed.

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Listen. This eldest son did not know what made his father's heart beat, because he had no fellowship as a father.

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He could have had, should have had. But he didn't.

III. You can measure your joy with the Father by your sharing of the Father's burden.

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I will mention one more thing, dear friend.

You will not only measure your love for the Father by your relationship with your brother;

not only will you measure your service to the Father, dear friend, by your fellowship with the Father;

but the third thing is:

You can measure your joy with the Father by your sharing of the Father's burden

Look again at verse 29. Listen to this man:

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Luk.15:29-32 “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. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ “ ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 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.’ ””

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The father said - ""we had to celebrate the return of this brother of yours and rejoice" But the older brother did not celebrate, and did not rejoice.

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The older brother was not happy. He did not rejoice because, dear friend, he is caught up in himself.

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He does not have the father's burden in his heart.

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See verse 29. He is not concerned about his father. In verse 29 he says "I", "I", .... He is full of self-righteousness. He is full of self-centeredness. He is full of self-pity. And he feels miserable. And you will be too, if you don't know the burden of the Father.

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My dear friend, listen to me. If you don't share the Father's burden, you will never know the Father's joy. Now, listen. If you don't love your brother, you don't love the Father. If you don't have fellowship with the Father, your service is worthless. And if you don't have the Father's burden, you will never know the Father's joy.

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Now he had everything, but he had nothing. See, if you like, how the father argues with him. Look at verse 31 - the father said to him, "Son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours".

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Now, watch this. He has it all and yet the one thing he wants most he doesn't have - and that is joy.

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He had position, because he was a son. Look this. He calls him son. He has privileges because he is with his father.

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He has possessions, because the father says, "All I have is yours."

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Now, in Bible times, the eldest son received two-thirds of the inheritance, the birthright.

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The youngest son received only one third. All that was left actually belonged to the eldest son.

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The father said, "Son, listen. You have position. You are my son. You have privileges. You are with me. You have possessions. Everything I have is yours." And yet he had no joy.

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And I'll tell you why. The same reason some say, "I just don't understand why I'm not finding joy in my faith."

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Well, I'll tell you why. Because they do not share the Father's burden.

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Because they don't see things from God's point of view. They feel that somehow the other person's blessing is their undoing.

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Now, what this young man needed to understand was that there is always plenty in his father's house. The prodigal son knew that. He said, "'How many of my father's servants have food to spare -(Luke 15:17)

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‌My dear friend, there is enough grace from God for all 8 billion people on Planet Earth.

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You can have anything you want, and they can have anything they want. What brings joy to the Father's heart?

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What brings joy in heaven? Again, what burdens the Father's heart? A child away from Him.

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What makes the Father's heart rejoice? Listen - Jesus said: Luk.15:7 What makes the Father's heart rejoice? Listen

- Jesus said: Luk.15:7 “I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”

Luke 15:10 “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.””

I used to think that meant the angels rejoiced - and I suppose they do - but that's not what this verse means. He does not say that there is joy among the angels. He says there is joy in the presence of angels. It is the Lord who rejoices when a sinner returns home.

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There is joy in the presence of angels, just as there was joy when the prodigal son returned home.

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What gives the Father joy? The fact that sinners return home.

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What will give you joy?

‌Psalm 126:6 “Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them.”

My friend, do you want joy? If you want the Father's joy, you must share the Father's concern. You must share the Father's burden.

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Have you ever stopped to wonder why he didn't share his father's joy?

Why was he so tough?

Why didn't he know how his father felt?

I'll tell you why. He didn't spend time with his father.

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Do you know what he should have done?

"Father, I want to talk to you. Father, you have a faraway look in your eyes.

Father, I can see that you are overwhelmed. Father, even though the crops are doing well, even though the servants are obedient, even though the granaries are well built. , even though the cattle are healthy and well, despite all that's good, Dad, I can see you're overworked. Be honest with me, Dad. Why do you look so overworked?"

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And the father said, "Son, it's your brother. You know, son, he wanted his inheritance earlier, and I gave it to him. And your brother left home. I think he's in a far country. I think he might be in trouble. I heard there is a very severe crisis going on in the country he went to. I'm worried about your brother. Let's pray for him. Maybe, son, you can go see where he is, see if he has any needs Maybe, son, you can go to your brother and my son and tell him that your mother and I love him, and that you love him, and that you want him to come home, and that we want him to come back. home. Welcome him home."

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He never spent any time with his father. He didn't know his father's heart.

Conclusion

As your pastor, spiritual leader, I want you to learn three things and learn them well.

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The Christian life is summed up in Love for the Father, Service to the Father and Joy with the Father.

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Your love for the Father will be measured by your love for your brother.

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Your service to the Father will be measured by your fellowship with the Father.

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And your joy with the Father is measured by the degree to which you share the Father's burden.

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Psalm 126:6 “Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them.”

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Heads are bowed. The eyes are closed. I want you to tune into your heart today and ask the Lord:

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Lord, have I served You legalistically?

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Lord, has my service for You been a substitute for my fellowship with You?

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"For no one can love God, whom he has not seen, unless he loves his brother, whom he has seen.

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Have I pretended to love you when I haven't loved those you love?

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Could it be that the lack of joy in my life, Lord, is that I don't have your burden on my heart?"

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Friend, when we learn to weep with Him, we will learn to rejoice with Him.

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I want to plead with you church - I mean to plead from the bottom of my heart: We are an island of plenty in an ocean of need, and I, as your pastor, am telling you, commissioning you, calling you, pleading with you , challenging him and asking him to place a burden on our heart, the burden of the Father.

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How would you feel if one of your beloved children was away from home? This is how the Father feels.

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That's what this story is about. God give us a burden for souls!

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May God stir up in my own heart a new burden for souls, and may the things that break God's heart break my heart!

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And may the things that give Him joy, give me joy!

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Will you make a pact with me that we will make our church a welcoming station for the lost?

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And when they come, and when souls are saved and multitudes are won, we will have a feast; I mean let's have fun when the souls come. And there is joy in heaven. There will be joy down here when people come to Jesus.