Luke 15 - The Older Son

Is self-righteousness as dangerous as being “lost” in sinful pleasure?

Who in here knows about the parable of the prodigal son?

What happens?

What is important about this parable?

What lessons have you learned from it?

Read Luke 15:20-32

When is the last time you went to the doctor?

Let’s say you just went to the doctor.

What is usually more concerning:

1) going to the doctor with an obviously broken neck, or

2) finding out through a doctor’s checkup that you have a virus in your blood that is slowly and undetectably infecting your body?

In a similar way as a blood-borne virus, self-righteousness often hides within our lives, yet it is as dangerous to our relationship with God as outright, blatant sin proves to be.

Self-indulgent sin of the younger brother and self-righteous sin of the older brother both grieve God’s heart.

What does it mean to be self-righteous?

Self-righteous people may not be guilty of the gross things that the younger son did, but they are still sinners, guilty of a critical and unloving spirit, pride, and an unwillingness to forgive (Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines).

Luke 15:29-30

In verse 29, the older brother speaks of how good and obedient he is compared to the younger brother.

“I haven’t been doing what he has been doing.”

Have y’all ever said anything similar to that statement?

In our lives we say things like:

“I don’t get drunk like my friends do”

“We don’t do the same things that other couples do”

“I don’t gossip like that group does”

Are these activities of getting drunk, gossiping, sexual immorality, and such glorifying to God? Should we simply indulge in these things?

No! By no means! (Romans 6)

But at the same time, it is not permissible to take on the attitude of being better than these friends/peers.

In verse 30, the older brother is bitter that the younger brother is treated so well after living carelessly.

“They don’t deserve to be forgiven. They don’t deserve that.” Etc.

In closing,

“The wonderful thing about the gospel is that Jesus came to deliver both the prodigals and the older brothers in their respective slavery to sin. It takes a miracle to be delivered from both blinding sinful self-righteousness and blinding sinful indulgence.” (Bloom)

The ground is level at the cross.

You are a loved person, a loved child.

You are not a juvenile troublemaker in Christ. In addition, you are not an indentured servant or a performer who earns a score in Christ.

You are a son or daughter who has received the unconditional love of God as a gift in Christ!

https://www.intouch.org/read/blog/3-lessons-from-the-elder-brother

https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/a-tender-word-to-pharisees