The Prodigal who Stayed Home
Notes
Transcript
Luke 15:25-32
Luke 15:25-32
“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.’ ”
Although, we most often focus our attention on the younger Son, I believe Jesus’ intent is for us to focus even more on the older son.
Although, we most often focus our attention on the younger Son, I believe Jesus’ intent is for us to focus even more on the older son.
We become so captured by the sentiment, warmth and emotion of the younger; his wanderings and the love with which he was accepted back home, that we will often finish reading the story at verse 24.
We become so captured by the sentiment, warmth and emotion of the younger; his wanderings and the love with which he was accepted back home, that we will often finish reading the story at verse 24.
Many of us can also recall a time when were were that prodigal or we had a prodigal come home to us.
Many of us can also recall a time when were were that prodigal or we had a prodigal come home to us.
But the story doesn’t end there and, in fact Jesus has the story reach it’s climax not in the homecoming but in the conversation between the older son and the father.
But the story doesn’t end there and, in fact Jesus has the story reach it’s climax not in the homecoming but in the conversation between the older son and the father.
How will the “older brothers/sisters of the world, the conventionally religious, respond to the grace of God, both as it is experienced by others who enjoy its benefits and as it is offered to themselves?
How will the “older brothers/sisters of the world, the conventionally religious, respond to the grace of God, both as it is experienced by others who enjoy its benefits and as it is offered to themselves?
Go back and review the story leading up to the conversation between the older brother and the father.
Go back and review the story leading up to the conversation between the older brother and the father.
Now look at the first mention of the older son.
Now look at the first mention of the older son.
Luke 15:25
Luke 15:25
“Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing.
What does this verse tell us about the older brother?
What does this verse tell us about the older brother?
1) He was industrious and working late was probably common.
1) He was industrious and working late was probably common.
2) Eager to use his time well and increase his holdings
2) Eager to use his time well and increase his holdings
3) He was weary at the end of a strenuous day
3) He was weary at the end of a strenuous day
4)He heard the unfamiliar sound of partying coming from his father’s home.
4)He heard the unfamiliar sound of partying coming from his father’s home.
How would this affect is emotions?
How would this affect is emotions?
Now What happens when he gets the news?
Now What happens when he gets the news?
Luke 15:26-28a
Luke 15:26-28a
Luke 15:26–28 (NIV84)
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.
What emotions are expressed?
What emotions are expressed?
What emotions might you have felt as the older son?
What emotions might you have felt as the older son?
The prodigal who stayed home and the father.
The prodigal who stayed home and the father.
Luke 15:28-30
Luke 15:28-30
“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!’
The father goes out to meet the other prodigal.
The father goes out to meet the other prodigal.
First prodigal didn’t feel worthy and second prodigal felt too good to go in.
First prodigal didn’t feel worthy and second prodigal felt too good to go in.
Look at the context the story was written in.
Look at the context the story was written in.
Now the tax collectors and “sinners” were all gathering around to hear him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
This is the third of a three parable set. What was the emphasis from all three parables? (Lost sheep, Lost coin, Lost son(s))
This is the third of a three parable set. What was the emphasis from all three parables? (Lost sheep, Lost coin, Lost son(s))
What happened to the older brother? (not just after the story ends but after the first son leaves)
What happened to the older brother? (not just after the story ends but after the first son leaves)
Luke 15:31-32
Luke 15:31-32
“ ‘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.’ ”
When the father gave the younger son his inheritance, how did that affect the older brother?
When the father gave the younger son his inheritance, how did that affect the older brother?
In that culture, the older brother was entitled to 2/3 of the property.
In that culture, the older brother was entitled to 2/3 of the property.
He was now the primary owner of the farm and it was on him to make it successful.
He was now the primary owner of the farm and it was on him to make it successful.
The three reason we call the older son the prodigal who stayed home.
The three reason we call the older son the prodigal who stayed home.
He, in some ways, in his heart, envied the young son’s freedom to live that riotous life. See verse 30 for that reason. Can you find it?
He, in some ways, in his heart, envied the young son’s freedom to live that riotous life. See verse 30 for that reason. Can you find it?
But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
He wasted his himself possibly as badly(just not as conspicuously) as the younger son. See verses 29 and 31. What ways did this older son become addicted, in his own way? How can the older sons in churches today become addicted to the church rather than in love with the creator of it?
He wasted his himself possibly as badly(just not as conspicuously) as the younger son. See verses 29 and 31. What ways did this older son become addicted, in his own way? How can the older sons in churches today become addicted to the church rather than in love with the creator of it?
Luke 15:29 “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.” Luke 15:31 ““ ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.”
Saddest of all, he never understood the love of the father.
Saddest of all, he never understood the love of the father.
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.’ ”
Someone once asked the preacher Friedrich Krummacher who the older bother was. Is it the pharisees, the Sadducees, the denominational leaders or gatekeepers of today? His answer was, “I learned it only yesterday, Myself. There is a chance the same thing might be said of you and me. Growing up respectable, moral, and religious, we may in truth be just as prodigal-just as far from home-as if we had gone to a far country of corruption.
Someone once asked the preacher Friedrich Krummacher who the older bother was. Is it the pharisees, the Sadducees, the denominational leaders or gatekeepers of today? His answer was, “I learned it only yesterday, Myself. There is a chance the same thing might be said of you and me. Growing up respectable, moral, and religious, we may in truth be just as prodigal-just as far from home-as if we had gone to a far country of corruption.
If so, there is good news! The Father will welcome us home. He’ll have a party for us too. “Everything I have Is yours,” he’ll say.”Come in and join the party. Better yet, come in and make it a party.”
If so, there is good news! The Father will welcome us home. He’ll have a party for us too. “Everything I have Is yours,” he’ll say.”Come in and join the party. Better yet, come in and make it a party.”