Sermon Tone Analysis

The Younger Son

/Luke 15:11-24/

You Can’t Out-Sin God’s Grace

 

 

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The Younger Son’s Request

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The Younger Son’s Rebellion

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The Younger Son’s Result

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The Younger Son’s Resolution

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The Younger Son’s Reconciliation

 

This weekend, we’re going to look at one of the most well-known and well-loved stories in the whole Bible.

This is a story that has been capturing my heart over the last 3-4 months, and the more I think about it the more it speaks to my heart.

The story is known as the parable of the Prodigal Son, but it’s really about “A man with two sons.”

That’s actually what Luke 15:11 says: “/There was a man who had two sons/.”

There are actually three main characters in the story, and we’ll spend a session on each of them.

We’ll look tonight at the younger brother, and then tomorrow at the older brother and the father.

The reason this story has been speaking to me and teaching me so much is because I continually see myself in the story.

There are times when I see myself in the younger son, other times when I see myself in the older son, and—now that I’m a dad—times when I see myself in the father.

The other reason that this story is so captivating is that it is a wonderful picture of the central message of the gospel—reconciliation.

To “reconcile” something is “to restore to friendship or harmony.”[1]

This is the central message of the Bible: that human beings have broken friendship and relationship with God because of their sin and rebellion but that God is actively working to reconcile people—to restore friendship and harmony—with himself.

The beauty of this story is that no matter where you come from, what your background is, how good or how bad of a person you’ve been, or how much or how little baggage you have in your past, you can be reconciled to God and experience the joy and blessing of that friendship for the rest of your life.

My deep prayer is that by the end of our time together this weekend that you would see from this story that God greatly desires to be your friend and that you can have a thriving, joyful relationship with him.

Let’s dive in.

The parable of the man with two sons is found in Luke 15, starting in verse 11.

But, like with any story, it’s important to understand the setting and context in which it’s found.

If you look at Luke 14, you’ll see lots of red words—places where Jesus is teaching—and you’ll see at the very end of the chapter that Jesus says, “/He who has ears to hear, let him hear/” (Luke 14:35).

In other words, those who are interested in hearing what Jesus has to say need to pay attention.

Then, Luke 15:1 tells us who responds—“/The tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him/.”

Tax collectors were the most despised group in all of Israel.

They were sellouts who were working for the Roman government and taking advantage of their positions to take money from people.

They were not allowed to enter the synagogue—they were hated.

The only people they could hang with were other thugs and lowlifes.

These were people categorized as “sinners.”

They were the scum.

They were the prostitutes and those who hang with that kind of lifestyle.

These people were excluded by society and thought of as hopeless and despicable.

And they are the ones who draw near to hear Jesus.

Because of this, many of the religious people criticized Jesus.

They made him out to be guilty by association.

After all, why would a good, law-abiding rabbi hang out with these disgusting people?

You see their criticism in verse 2, “/This man receives sinners and eats with them/” (Luke 15:2).

In that culture, to eat with somebody symbolized friendship.

It meant that Jesus was embracing these outcasts and scum as his friends.

As you read the rest of the gospel accounts, you’ll see that one of the things that Jesus is constantly criticized for is his friendship with the outcasts of society.

It didn’t matter if people were scumbags, sluts, sick, or stupid—he embraced them all.

This outraged the Pharisees and scribes—those who went above and beyond trying to be holy and good.

They avoided these kinds of people at all costs so that they wouldn’t be “contaminated” by them.

This is the setting in which the story of the man with two sons takes place.

Jesus’ parable is in response to their criticism.

After telling two other short parables (which we’ll look at in our third session), Jesus begins this story in verse 11.

The father represents God, the younger son represents those who are wild sinners, and the older son represents the moral religious people.

Tonight we’ll focus on the first part of the story relating to the younger son, and the point of the story is simple: “You Can’t Out-Sin God’s Grace.”

READ LUKE 15:11-24

 

*1.

The Younger Son’s Request (v.

12)*

 

The first thing we see is that in verse 12, the younger son makes a ridiculous request.

He goes to his father and he asks to receive his share of his father’s inheritance.

Now, the thing you have to know is that this story takes place in a middle-eastern setting where—in that culture—there is one dominant social motivator: honor.

In this culture honor is a big deal.

People would want to do things that brought honor to themselves and their families, and they would try to avoid anything that would bring shame on themselves or their families.

You could do nothing worse than to somehow shame or embarrass your family.

This is different than our culture.

We almost enjoy shaming or making fun of people in our family.

My dad has always looked up to my sense of style (which is really not particularly good), and I often like to encourage him to wear things that I know are stupid.

To me, it’s funny to see him make a fool of himself or be perceived as a dork.

And, even though it’s not very nice, it’s not a big deal.

But in that culture, a good son would never do something to embarrass his father.

And, if he did, it was culturally acceptable for him to be beaten publicly or worse.

Well, this son doesn’t just try to make fun of his dad or make him dress like a moron.

He does something much worse and much more shameful.

He asks for his inheritance now.

According to the Old Testament law, if a man with two sons died, he would leave two-thirds of his inheritance for his older son, and one-third for his younger son.

So, when his father died, this younger son could rightfully expect his father to leave him an inheritance—a smaller one—but an inheritance nonetheless.

But the younger son doesn’t want to wait.

He wanted his inheritance now, and he asks for it.

This is the equivalent of going to his father, looking him in the eye, and saying, “I wish you were dead.”

Nothing could be more shameful.

He’s saying, “I wish you were out of my life.

I wish I could be on my own.

You are holding me back from doing all the things I want to do for myself, and I want you to give me my share of the stuff and die.”

He wanted to be on his own, doing his own thing.

He wanted unrestrained freedom, no accountability, and no oversight.

He wanted to be the king and ruler of his life.

While this might seem extreme to you, you need to see that you have done the exact same thing in your life when it comes to your relationship with God.

You have had times when you have said to God—either with your thoughts or your actions—“I wish you were out of my life.

I wish I could be on my own.

You are holding me back from doing all the things I want to do for myself, and I want you dead.”

If you grew up in a situation far from God, then it’s easy for you to see this.

You know about all the ways that you ignored God, and rebelled against God.

Even if you didn’t even think about it in terms of God, you still know that you lived for yourself and lived as the king and ruler of your life.

If you grew up with a family that talked and believed in God, then it might be harder for you to see, but it’s still true of you.

This was more my situation.

I grew up going to church, with parents who were school-teachers and they watched me like a hawk.

I didn’t have a lot of freedom to do whatever I wanted or sin in wild ways.

But, in my heart, I still had many moments where I simply wanted to do my own thing.

I wanted to be king and ruler of my life too, even though it wasn’t through as obvious of sins.

You have done this to God, and you still do this to God.

Perhaps you even have this attitude here and now.

Maybe you’re thinking about how inconvenient this camp is or how much you’d like to be doing something else.

Or, maybe you’re really excited to be here and have been looking forward to this, but there are some areas of your life that remain in rebellion.

You still gossip about other people.

You still look at others with lust or sexual fantasy.