Helping Prodigals Come Home: Pouting on the Porch
Helping Prodigals Come Home • Sermon • Submitted
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Prodigals, Publicans, and Piousness
Prodigals, Publicans, and Piousness
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.”
Luke 15
So the chapter begins. Jesus tells 3 parables here: the parable of the lost sheep; the parable of the lost coin; and the parable of the lost son. Our emphasis these last few weeks have been on the third parable, the parable of the lost or prodigal son. We have looked at what makes a prodigal prodigal. We have talked about the idea of prodigals not understanding their efficiency in Christ. We looked last week at the love of the Father and how we can learn to love that way. Today we are going to look at the elder brother, pouting on the front porch. Listen to this story:
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 men 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 men.’ 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.’ ”
The elder brother is often the forgotten character in this story, but the truth be known, there are probably a whole lot more of us that can be characterized as the elder brother than the prodigal son or the loving father.
The elder brother is often the forgotten character in this story, but the truth be known, there are probably a whole lot more of us that can be characterized as the elder brother than the prodigal son or the loving father.
This story, taken in context, is really about the pious attitudes of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law. Just before Jesus tells these three parables, we learn that they muttered “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them!” At this point out the end of the third parable, the Pharisees and the teachers feel like they have dodged a bullet. But just when that thought occurs, Jesus introduces the elder brother. If the prodigal son symbolizes the sinners, the elder brother represents the Pharisees and the teachers of the law. You see, there are sins of the flesh, but there are also sins of the spirit.
Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.
2 Corinthians 7:
These religious leaders may not have squandered their wealth in wild living, but they still were sinners guilty of having a critical and unloving spirit, pride and an unwillingness to forgive. Don’t you think it is interesting that we see all three of these in the elder brother?
I must admit, the older brother had some virtues that were commendable. Think about it. He worked hard and always obeyed his father. He never brought disgrace to the household or even to the village for that matter. He had enough friends that he could have enjoyed a nice cookout. He was good guy. Compared to his brother, he was a saint!
Did you hear about the old man that was the town scoundrel that died? He was known throughout the area being such a horrible person in his business dealings, getting rich of the poor and taking advantage of everything he could. Well when he passed, his brother went to the local pastor and said, “pastor, I want you to do my brother’s funeral. In fact, if you can some how call him a saint, I will donate one million dollars to your church.” The pastor was somewhat between a rock and a hard place, he knew that he couldn’t lie, but he knew the church could really use the money. So the day of the funeral came along and the pastor stood up and said, “here lies old Judd, the meanest, cheatin’est, rascal that our town has ever known. But compared to his brother, he was a saint.”
The elder brother was a saint compared to his prodigal brother!
However, as important as hard work, diligent obedience, and respect in the community are, they are not the only tests of character. Jesus taught that the two greatest commandments are to love God and love others.
Luke 10:2
On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
He answered: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
The older brother broke both of these commandments! He did not love God, represented in this story by the father, and he certainly did not love his brother. In addition to the older brother not forgiving his younger brother, the other brother was very critical of his father for forgiving his younger brother. A critical and unloving spirit does not bode well in the Kingdom of God. In fact, it is very much a contradiction to what God desires. We can see this same attitude through out the New Testament as a description of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law.
I have to stop right here and ask, “have you ever had this attitude?” I know that in studying this passage, I find that too many times I am just like the older brother. I can be very critical and have an unloving spirit. In fact, I can be very self-righteous. I can quickly point out the sins of another and refuse to look at my own. Just like the Pharisees, I can define sin in terms of outward actions instead of inward attitudes.
Oh that we might become a people that would examine our attitudes and strive for holiness of heart.
When we are critical and have a unloving spirit, you can be assured that there is always a hidden agenda. In this story, the older brother had a hidden agenda. He might brag about working hard, but he makes a slip here that shows it.
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!’
:
His hidden agenda was to have a cookout with his friends. Now there is nothing wrong with a cookout. I am all for it! However, the older son felt like he had earned such an event because of his hard work and good behavior. The older son’s dreams were shattered because the father had forgiven the prodigal.
What happens in your world when your hidden agenda doesn’t come to fruition?
What happens in your world when things don’t go the way you want and in fact they are rubbed in your face by the celebration of others?
In the Bible, Pride is defined as the absence of humility.
To fear the Lord is to hate evil;
I hate pride and arrogance,
evil behavior and perverse speech.
When pride comes, then comes disgrace,
but with humility comes wisdom.
Proverbs 11:2
Proverbs
Pride goes before destruction,
a haughty spirit before a fall.
In our story, the older son exemplified pride. He became hardened and had a spirit that was unwilling to forgive. Based on the verses we just read from Proverbs, that is not a good place to be.
The older son as well as these Pharisees and teachers of the law had a religion of good works. They fasted, studied, prayed, and gave all while hoping to earn blessings from God and merit eternal life! They knew nothing of grace. It was not what they did that alienated them from God, it was what they did not do: When they saw Jesus receiving and forgiving the non-religious, they rebelled against it, even more, they failed to see that they themselves also needed the Savior.
It is interesting to note as one writer puts it that “the same father that ran out to meet the prodigal son also came out of the party to plead with the pouting older son. How gracious is and condescending our Father is, and how patient He is with our weaknesses!”
We don’t see this in scripture but I am sure that the father explained to that boy that he would have been willing to host such an event for him had he only asked.
Yet, the older brother at this part of the story refused to go in; he stayed outside and pouted. What a dismal place to be in to miss the joy of forgiveness and the restoration of broken fellowship; the joy of pleasing his father and uniting the family again!
You know, if we are out of fellowship with God, we cannot be in fellowship with our brothers and sisters. And if we are out of fellowship with our brothers and sisters, we cannot be in fellowship with God.
There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.
When our brothers and sisters show true repentance, we must forgive as we are forgiven and love as we are loved. We should strive to restore them in grace and humility. Oh were it not for grace…where would you and I be?
The father had the last word in this story. So we don’t really know what happened to the older son.
In my years in ministry, I have seen many older brothers and sisters if you will, that have decided to fuel their anger rather than enjoy the fellowship of God and His people. Because of their unwillingness to forgive, they have alienated themselves from their church and their families. They are sure that they are so right and everyone else is wrong. They can talk about the sins of others rather loudly but they are blind to their own loud sins. They have a critical and unloving spirit, they are full of pride, and have an unwillingness to forgive.
Just like this story, the Father has the last word for those of us like that: He is pleading with you and me to stop standing on the front porch pouting. In fact, I can almost hear Him say, “Don’t stand outside. Come on in and enjoy the feast!”