The Other Prodigal

Good morning!

I want to say another quick thank you to Carey for an incredible job teaching the first half of this parable last week.

As we begin today, let’s read the first half again to immerse ourselves in the setting of this story.

We will begin in Luke 15:11, read through twenty-four, and then have a brief recap of last week’s main points.

As you are turning there, just like Carey did, I want us to read the first two verses of Luke 15 to remind us of who Jesus is talking to.

Luke 15:1–2 CSB

1 All the tax collectors and sinners were approaching to listen to him. 2 And the Pharisees and scribes were complaining, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

Prior to telling this parable, Luke identifies the people Jesus was talking to: sinners and religious leaders.

Jesus uses this parable to show the contrast between the two sons.

Last week, Carey taught us about the first son.

Let’s read that portion again.

Luke 15:11–24 CSB

11 He also said, “A man had two sons. 12 The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate I have coming to me.’ So he distributed the assets to them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered together all he had and traveled to a distant country, where he squandered his estate in foolish living. 14 After he had spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he had nothing. 15 Then he went to work for one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to eat his fill from the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one would give him anything. 17 When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have more than enough food, and here I am dying of hunger! 18 I’ll get up, go to my father, and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. 19 I’m no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired workers.” ’ 20 So he got up and went to his father. But while the son was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him. 21 The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I’m no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 “But the father told his servants, ‘Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Then bring the fattened calf and slaughter it, and let’s celebrate with a feast, 24 because this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ So they began to celebrate.

Last week, we learned that prodigal means wastefully extravagant or lavish.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary Prodigal

prodigal

■ adjective

1 wastefully extravagant.

2 lavish.

■ noun a prodigal person.

▶ (also prodigal son or daughter) a person who leaves home to lead a prodigal life but returns repentant. [with allusion to the parable in Luke 15:11–32.]

As we will see today, the younger son isn’t the only prodigal in this story.

The main points from last week's message were as follows:

1. God doesn’t force us into a relationship with Him.

When the son asked for his inheritance, the father didn’t hesitate.

2. We were not meant to be separated from the Father.

“We were not meant to be separated from the Father. So He doesn't force us into a relationship, but He made us for a relationship.” - Carey Westbrook, Elder

3. God doesn’t need our restitution, we need His love.

God does the work of restoring because of His grace, not our efforts.

4. We need to be melted and moved by what it cost to bring us home.

The Father spared no cost when it came to restoring either the legal or relational status of his son.

One of the commentaries I read this week suggested that at this point in the parable, the religious leaders were probably feeling pretty good about themselves.

However, Jesus wasn’t done with His parable.

That is where we will pick up today.

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.’ ”

Now, the religious leaders weren’t feeling so great about this story.

As I said earlier, Jesus is drawing a comparison between these two sons.

He wants us to examine both of their actions: one that left and returned and one that stayed but was angry.

In the two parables that preface this story, we learn about a lost sheep and a lost coin.

There is a common reaction to all three lost items in these three parables.

1. There is great rejoicing when the lost are found.

Look back with me at the beginning of chapter fifteen.

Luke 15:7 CSB

I tell you, in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who don’t need repentance.

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.”

There are many other places in the Old Testament where God rejoices over His people.

Psalm 104:31 CSB

31 May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in his works.

Deuteronomy 30:9 CSB

9 The Lord your God will make you prosper abundantly in all the work of your hands, your offspring, the offspring of your livestock, and the produce of your land. Indeed, the Lord will again delight in your prosperity, as he delighted in that of your ancestors,

Zephaniah 3:17 CSB

17 The Lord your God is among you, a warrior who saves. He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will be quiet in his love. He will delight in you with singing.”

Isaiah 62:5 CSB

5 For as a young man marries a young woman, so your sons will marry you; and as a groom rejoices over his bride, so your God will rejoice over you.

Isaiah 65:19 CSB

19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people. The sound of weeping and crying will no longer be heard in her.

Jeremiah 32:41 CSB

41 I will take delight in them to do what is good for them, and with all my heart and mind I will faithfully plant them in this land.

Scripture is abundantly clear that God delights in His people and rejoices over them!

Life Group Questions: How does knowing that God rejoices over you make you feel?

Life Group Questions: How can your personal testimony help those who don't know God to feel the way you do?

Carey’s statement about God not forcing us into a relationship but us being created for one stood out to me so much because, as we have been learning, God’s goal since our creation was to redeem us!

Over and over again, we can read about God delighting in His creation and rejoicing over us.

God loves us!

He gave everything to us!

He rejoices when we are restored to Him!

This is why Jesus came!

Jesus is telling this story because some still don’t understand!

In our story, the father is rejoicing in the lost son being found.

Then, the older brother is introduced into the story.

The older brother was out doing what he had always done.

He was working.

Coming home from a long day’s work, he was surprised to hear music and dancing coming from the house.

This is a pivotal moment in the story.

The first son represented the sins of the flesh, but the second son represented the sins of the spirit.

He didn’t make the same mistakes as the younger son, but that doesn’t mean he is innocent.

Paul talks about the different areas of sin in his second letter to the church in Corinth.

2 Corinthians 7:1 CSB

1 So then, dear friends, since we have these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from every impurity of the flesh and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.

There is another reference found in Matt 23 in which Jesus tells the religious leaders that the outside of their “cups” were clean, but the inside was dirty.

They should then clean the inside so the outside would be cleaned.

The father is rejoicing and celebrating the return of his lost son, and the older brother is furious because he did nothing wrong, as far as he knew, and the father has never celebrated for him.

This is the same reaction that Luke tells us the religious leaders are having at the beginning of this chapter.

Luke 15:1–2 CSB

1 All the tax collectors and sinners were approaching to listen to him. 2 And the Pharisees and scribes were complaining, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

These religious leaders are obviously representative of the older brother in this story.

Jesus is telling this parable to help them see that they should be rejoicing and not complaining!

But this is not their response.

They are acting like the older brother.

2. The self-righteous don’t realize they need grace but are angry when others receive it.

Rather than rejoicing at the younger brother's return, the older brother was upset with his father for redeeming them.

There should be no doubt that these religious leaders understood that Jesus was addressing their sins.

There is another person in the Bible who has a similar response to God’s grace and mercy.

God told Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach a message of repentance.

But Jonah didn’t want to go because he hated the people of that nation for the way they had treated the Jewish people.

Jonah 3:1–4 CSB

1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: 2 “Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach the message that I tell you.” 3 Jonah got up and went to Nineveh according to the Lord’s command. Now Nineveh was an extremely great city, a three-day walk. 4 Jonah set out on the first day of his walk in the city and proclaimed, “In forty days Nineveh will be demolished!”

That was it.

That was the entire message: repent or be demolished.

Look at how the people responded to this message from God.

Jonah 3:5 CSB

5 Then the people of Nineveh believed God. They proclaimed a fast and dressed in sackcloth—from the greatest of them to the least.

They heard God’s message and did what God wanted.

Jonah 3:10 CSB

10 God saw their actions—that they had turned from their evil ways—so God relented from the disaster he had threatened them with. And he did not do it.

This is awesome, right!?

God sent Jonah to deliver this message.

Jonah said what God had told him, and the entire nation repented.

This should be an incredible moment for celebration!

Life Group Questions: Have you ever found yourself responding like the Pharisees? Why do you think that is such a common response?

Jesus, through this parable of the prodigal son, is trying to help the religious leaders see that they, too, should rejoice!

God was doing exactly what the prophets had foretold that the Messiah would do.

This should have been a cause for celebration, but they weren’t.

They were responding just like Jonah did.

Jonah 4:1–3 CSB

1 Jonah was greatly displeased and became furious. 2 He prayed to the Lord, “Please, Lord, isn’t this what I said while I was still in my own country? That’s why I fled toward Tarshish in the first place. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in faithful love, and one who relents from sending disaster. 3 And now, Lord, take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

Jesus is leaving these religious leaders with the same question God left Jonah with.

Jonah 4:4 CSB

4 The Lord asked, “Is it right for you to be angry?”

Both Jonah and these religious leaders were so focused on the sins of others that they could not see their own.

Their hearts were not reflective of the heart of God that they were responsible for portraying.

We have just heard a heart-wrenching story of two sons.

Both sons were obsessed with the Father’s things but didn’t want the Father.

Life Group Questions: What has to change in a person’s life for their focus to shift from what God can do to who God is?

Life Group Questions: How can we help facilitate that change?

The first, wishing his father dead, demands his inheritance and then wastes it just a short time.

He then returns home and is welcomed back with open arms and restoration.

The second son is furious at the father’s love for his son.

Out of anger, he also disrespects the father by refusing to celebrate with him.

The first son walked away but came to his senses and was restored.

The second son is angry, and the story ends with him refusing to accept the father’s grace and invitation to join the celebration.

The father even points out to the older brother that everything he has belongs to him.

Luke 15:12 (CSB)

“The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate I have coming to me.’ So he distributed the assets to them.”

Because of his self-righteousness, the older brother doesn’t see that the father has also lavished his love on him!

The other prodigal in this story is the father!

He gave up all he had for both sons.

The older brother missed this because he was so focused on himself.

The irony is that this is why he is upset about the father’s prodigal actions towards the younger brother.

Luke 15:29–31 CSB

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. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your assets with prostitutes, you slaughtered the fattened calf for him.’ “ ‘Son,’ he said to him, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.

The Father distributed all he had between both sons.

Both sons have taken for granted what it cost the father to give all that he had to both of them.

They are both ungrateful for the lavish love of the father.

Jesus reveals that these religious leaders are also ungrateful for God's lavish love for them.

We are left with this tension between God and the religious leaders.

Previously in this book, when the Pharisees were trying to test Jesus, they asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was.

Luke 10:27 CSB

27 He answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,” and “your neighbor as yourself.”

What they failed to realize when they asked this question was that they were guilty, as were all others, of breaking these laws.

Jesus is trying to help them see that knowing much about God is not the same as being in an active relationship with Him.

3. The religious leaders were breaking the two greatest commandments.

There is a moment in this parable where Jesus reveals the older brother's heart.

He does this to call out the religious leaders and their stance on Jesus and his ministry.

Luke 15:28–32 CSB

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.’ ”

The older son refused to attend the celebration and refused to accept the younger son back as his brother.

He, just like the religious leaders, was refusing the love of the father and to love his brother.

Jesus wants them to realize the error of their thinking.

They believed that their external actions were what was important to God.

In reality, their internal thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes towards all those mentioned in verses one and two, as well as Jesus, revealed their hearts towards God.

Even though they appeared to have everything together in their lives, they, too, were lost.

We are going to see Jesus continue to teach about this as He moves closer to Jerusalem because He is trying to prepare everyone for what God is about to do through Him.

Jesus wants all of us to understand that our actions, our works, don’t define our standing before God.

Jesus’ actions, His work, changes our standing before God.

Life Group Questions: Why do you think we are so prone to focus on our behavior rather than God’s grace?

Life Group Questions: How can we help shift that focus for ourselves and others?

Tim Keller points out that Jesus leaves this parable open-ended.

There is no resolution or closure.

Jesus does this intentionally.

It leaves the hearer wondering.

It makes them ask questions of themselves.

Which brother am I?

How am I responding to God’s work in my life?

Do I get angry when I see others benefiting from God’s grace?

It is easy for the self-righteous to judge their external projections against the external sins of others.

If we are not careful, those of us who have grown up in the church are subject to the same attitude toward others.

The reality is that we are all the same; none of us are perfect.

Romans 3:9–20 CSB

9 What then? Are we any better off? Not at all! For we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin, 10 as it is written: There is no one righteous, not even one. 11 There is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away; all alike have become worthless. There is no one who does what is good, not even one. 13 Their throat is an open grave; they deceive with their tongues. Vipers’ venom is under their lips. 14 Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. 15 Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 ruin and wretchedness are in their paths, 17 and the path of peace they have not known. 18 There is no fear of God before their eyes. 19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are subject to the law, so that every mouth may be shut and the whole world may become subject to God’s judgment. 20 For no one will be justified in his sight by the works of the law, because the knowledge of sin comes through the law.

Romans 3:22–24 CSB

22 The righteousness of God is through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe, since there is no distinction. 23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; 24 they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

The only hope for redemption for the rebellious younger brother or the righteous older brother is God's grace.

The Father does something for both sons that was completely out of the norm for their days.

Carey talked about how the father reacted to the younger brother when he returned.

The father ran out to meet his son.

The father also goes out to find the older brother, who won’t come in.

Luke 15:28 CSB

“Then he became angry and didn’t want to go in. So his father came out and pleaded with him.

This is why Tim Keller says that we have received the lavish, reckless love of our Prodigal God.

God wants you to know Him.

He has done everything that is required for you to come home to him.

He is running toward you right now, ready to receive you.

There is no speech for you to make.

There is no restitution required.

Just like with the younger brother, there is no requirement for you to clean yourself up.

When the father gets to the son, he tells his servants to put his best robe on him.

His righteousness covers your sins.

He tells them to put a ring on his finger.

You are made a co-heir in the Kingdom of God.

He tells them to put sandals on his feet.

You are restored as a child of God.

Our God is prodigal.

He has lavished his love on us.

He has done everything that is required for us to reunite with the father.

Our legal and spiritual standing is restored.

This invitation is for each and every person.

Whether you ran off and lived lavishly or you grew up in church yet missed what God was doing for you, the offer is the same.

The Father has come to you today so that you can be received as a son or daughter of the Most High God.

All that is required of you is to accept the lavish love of God.

Let’s pray.

Announcements:

El Mason - pray for provision and direction for the next steps.

Baby Shower for Maria and Joe

Meal train for Chris and Sol Draper - Baby Finn was born. info is on the facebook group.