Sermon Cloud

TEXT

Luke 15:25-32:  "Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing.  26  And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant.  27  And he said to him, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.'  28  But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him,  29  but he answered his father, 'Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends.  30  But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!'  31  And he said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.  32  It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.'"

INTRODUCTION

Scripture is clear that God has no joy in the death of the wicked.  No pleasure in their destruction.  Jesus wept over Jerusalem and said, "How often would I have gathered together your children as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you would not!" (Mat. 23:37).

God finds His joy, not in the destruction of the wicked, but in the recovery of sinners.  We often miss the truth that our God is a God of tremendous and infinite joy.  It may even be hard for us to see Him in this way.  But you need to know that God experiences unending and infinite joy every moment.

We're told that God delights over us.  God rejoices over us because He loves to bring us to Himself and pour His grace upon us.  It brings Him supreme delight.  God finds His joy in the salvation of sinners.  The prophet Zephaniah says something astounding that is almost uncomfortable for us:

Zephaniah 3:17: "The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing."

The Contrast of God's Joy and the Pharisees' anger

The main point of this story is the contrast between God's joy and the Pharisees' anger towards God's joy.  God is fully satisfied in giving grace but this same grace makes the Pharisees' hearts hardened.  Religion never brings joy because there is nothing surprising to celebrate.  Grace brings joy because it's unexpected.  A worker can only expect his wages but a prisoner can only hope for freedom and then rejoice when it's given.  Those who've been forgiven much, love much (Luke 7:47).  Those who don't think they need to be forgiven love little. 

Jesus teaches us that only those who come to see the depth of how much they are in need of forgiveness will respond in loving much.  But those who still believe they are good, moral, upright people that aren't that bad and really haven't done anything worthy of needing forgiveness won't appreciate or understand grace and therefore won't love in return. 

Where we are today takes another turn, a turn which would have left the Pharisees either completely confused or incredibly furious.  There was no longer a middle ground.  This story has shown God's great rejoicing in saving sinners by granting forgiveness in such a scandalous and beautiful way.  The parable could end here on this happy note and all would be well. 

Suddenly, the entire tenor of the story changes as the camera moves off of the rejoicing father and son and now onto the elder son.  It now begins to move towards a conclusion no one would have chosen.  It is a scathing rebuke and attack of the religious elite.  Jesus uses this story as a way of driving home the centrality and most critical truth of the gospel, that it's by grace alone and nothing else that brings that Father's favor. 

There is not a historian worth his salt that actually believes that those listening to this parable would have moist eyes at how sweet this story was.  They would have been outraged not filled with sentimental love. 

This whole chapter is not really about prodigals.  It's a profound and deep warning to the Pharisees and religious.  It is a warning to good people. 

This is teaching us that nothing comes between you and God like your good behavior and deeds with which you think you can impress God.  It is a sharp critique to those who think they can earn the Father's inheritance and blessing by doing their duty. 

This is why whenever the gospel is recovered through the history of the church during an incredible revival, morality is shown for what it is and is preached against as a way of earning God's favor.  As a result, in comes the outcasts and out runs the religious and moral.  Good religious people not only don't want to be around outsiders, they don't want to be around the God who welcomes them in.  They would prefer to have a god that keeps sinners at a distance, just like they do.  They create a god in their image and become idolaters to a false god.

Jesus is teaching that those who attempt to relate to God in this way are actually worse off and farther from God than those who run away. 

You see, goodness makes you more lost because goodness masks your battle and distance with God.  The Bible shows us that sin is cosmic treason and attempting to be your own Lord and Savior.  When you are like the prodigal you are open about your sin and your desire to live your own life without God.  However, when you are like the elder brother, it masks your distance and battle with God because you look so close to him. 

But when you're an elder brother you don't repent unless you have no other choice to save your reputation.  You only pray when you're in trouble.  You only praise God when you feel like God is blessing you and giving you what you think you need.  You use your goodness as a way of trying to control God and this is what it means to try to be your own lord and savior.  Your goodness hides the deep darkness.  When a prodigal is in sin, the darkness is obvious to everyone, but when an elder brother is far from God, no one can see it.  Outwardly, you look great but inwardly God says that your heart is far from Him.

When a prodigal son's life is falling apart, the smoke points to the fire, but when the elder brother's life is falling apart, there is smoke but you can't find the fire.  Goodness masks the truth that you're trying to be your own savior and lord. 

Goodness doesn't just mask our battle with God; it is our main weapon in our battle against God.  We see the elder brother doing this in this passage.  If the elder brother would have had a tender heart, he would have said, "Father, I don't understand what you're doing, but I trust you.  Please help me see why you're forgiving him."  Instead, the son says, "I have obeyed, I have been good, I have been keeping all the rules and yet you still give this son of yours what rightfully belongs to me." 

Until your heart is changed and won over by grace, you will use goodness as a weapon against God and others to control them.  You will feel superior to other people.  You'll have an attitude that people owe you.  Most of all, you'll use your goodness to say to God, "You owe me!"  You'll falsely assume that because you're good, God owes you.  You'll end up frustrated and angry because you believe God shouldn't let things happen to you that you don't agree with.  C.S. Lewis illustrates this in his fictional book called The Great Divorce. 

Verse 25-27: "Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing.  26  And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant.  27  And he said to him, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.'"

This shows us something of the relationship between the father and son.  Instead of running to the house where the music and dancing was taking place, he stayed distant.  He was already heading to the house and instead of coming in he called one of the servants to ask what it meant. 

Jesus is showing the Pharisees and all religious people that they do the same.  There is no music and dancing to the Pharisees, just duty and work.  When they hear celebration, joy and laughter, they don't join in; they're suspicious and assume something is wrong.  They remain distant from others.  Instead of rejoicing with the Father, they grumble and complain.  Instead of coming to help throw the party, they stand and critique with a hard heart. 

Instead of being overjoyed that the son is back safe and sound, he becomes angry. 

Verse 28: "But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him"

To the Pharisees, this is the first honorable action in the entire story.  They finally are seeing someone stand up for what is right and becoming righteously angry at sin and the shame that this son and father have brought upon the family. 

They have no category for grace, they're too busy earning their place and have no time to stop and enjoy their Father.  They identified with the older brother because they were the older brother.  They stayed by and fiddled around at the Temple doing their religious duties.  Numerous sinners come to Christ, but the Scripture only records one Pharisee who came to faith in Jesus.  They simply couldn't accept a God like this.

Finally this older brother is going to protect the family honor and hold up what is right.  Finally someone is going to step in and do something about all of this shame.  The Pharisees finally are engaged in the story.  They have found their hero of the story.  They have found their noble protector of righteousness.

Instead of going in to be with the father, the father comes out and entreats his older son.  The Pharisees would have laughed at the shameful weakness of the father.  To them this father was disgusting.  He was utterly shameful and now continued his foolish and shameful actions by coming out to bring the older son in.  They would have smirked with their self-righteous nod as if they knew it all.

But, the father still entreats him.  The word means that he was pleading with his son.  He didn't just come out and request that his son come in, he could have sent a servant to do that.  Instead, the father comes out and tries to coax the son into the party.  This is such a tender picture of the father.  He leaves the party and comes out into the field to get his son.

Verse 29: "But he answered his father, 'Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends.'"

He shames his father by saying ‘Look...'  This was a harsh way of speaking to his dad.  This was the way you'd speak to someone out of anger and disrespect.  You would never call to question you father's generosity and you'd never address your father in this way. 

Verse 30: "‘But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!'"

He slanders his father's gracious actions. He belittles his brother and seethes with anger over the love his father has for his younger brother.

But the father responds with tenderness.

Verses 31-32: "And he said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.  32 It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.'"

He uses a loving term by calling him "son."  The word he uses is a tender term for his boy.  You can imagine his dad cupping his hand under this sons chin and saying, "My boy, you're always with me and all that's mine is yours."  This is such a beautiful picture of the willingness of our Father to entreat the religious and call them to come in.  Instead of blasting this older son, he shows patience and kindness towards him.

When the father says, "My son you are always with me..." some assume that it means that the elder son isn't lost.  But Jesus actually uses this kind of language when he speaks to Phillip.  He responds to Phillip's request to show him the Father by saying, "Phillip have I been with you so long and still you ask me to show you the Father..."  Jesus is teaching that you can be close in proximity, close by rules, and close by being around all the right teaching and be millions miles away from the Father.  You can be involved with the Father's concerns, the Father's business, and the Father's children and yet not be involved with the Father. 

This story isn't just showing us that the elder brother is lost; it's showing us that the elder brother is even more lost than the younger.  Jesus is teaching us that the elder son is lost not because of his lack of moral goodness, but because of his moral goodness. 

Here we have a son that instead of running away from the father by breaking all the rules as the younger son did, he stays behind and keeps all the rules and it makes him even farther away than his brother.  He keeps the rules and stays out of the party.  He obeys his father's commands and yet ran away in his heart years ago. 

Signs of being an elder brother:

It's difficult to find them because they're here, with us, they look just like us.  They're not outside the church on Sunday.  They're not in open rebellion against God.  They're you and me.  Here's how you can spot whether or not you're living as an elder brother.

1-     An elder brother is one who becomes angry or frustrated at God when they don't understand what God is doing or when things aren't going the way they want.

In v. 29, the brother is angry with his father because his younger brother received the fatted calf and he hasn't even received a goat.  He is comparing himself to his brother.  He is angry because his brother is filled with music and dancing and he's out in the field doing his duty.  The older brother is mad because he can't understand why someone as sinful as his brother is getting blessed when he isn't. 

An elder brother's deep misery comes from how he interprets everything that happens to him and others.  Elder brothers believe the reason they are so cynical and bitter isn't because of the circumstances of their life.  We all have things that happen to us that could cause us to become jaded.  The reason is not the circumstances; it's how you interpret those circumstances.  It's how you look at them.  Nobody's life is perfect.  But an elder brother sees everything through a self-righteous lens which tells him that he deserves better.  He looks at what he's done for others, he looks at what he didn't do to others in sin and says, "See all I've done?  Why won't things go my way?" 

Elder brothers slip into either an "I hate thee" or "I hate me mentality."  If you're living up and being good, you feel valuable and so when things go wrong you become angry at God.  But when you're not living up to your standards, you feel sinful and worthless.  You're not angry at God, you're angry at yourself.  You begin to punish yourself for not doing what you should have and you're filled with anxiety about how you should live. 

The gospel is an entirely different grid.  The gospel teaches that it's not that you're good and therefore valuable, or that you're a sinner and therefore worthless.  The gospel teaches that you're a sinner and yet incredibly valuable.  This helps you see things differently.  When bad things happen, you don't get angry at God because you know you're a sinner and so are others.  And because you know you're valuable when bad things happen, you know it's not a punishment. 

2-     An elder brother is someone who secretly hates the Law of God.

Verse 29 shows the brother being angry because he has served (slaved for is the literal meaning) his father all these years and never disobeyed his command. 

His heart is now made known.  He is following his father's commands as a slave.  This shows us much about being an elder brother.  Those who follow God out of duty on the surface look like they're doing it out of love and freedom for God.  But deep down inside they're obeying because they are enslaved.  They seem like they love the law, but in their soul they hate it.  They hate their Father's commands but never say it.  They do everything out of a slavish duty.  They despise God's commands.

Both the elder brother and a Christian keep the commands of God.  Truth be told, the elder brother often does a better job.  The difference between the two isn't really about whether or not you're obeying the law of God, but rather the reason for your obedience.  Why are you obeying God's law?  Is it because there is music and dancing because your Father has taken your shame and welcomed you in and is rejoicing over His grace poured on you?  Or is there a funeral dirge because you solemnly keep God's laws out of a kind of slavery to it? 

I got into martial arts at a young age.  The first few years, I wanted to push myself to get my black belt.  I worked hard, I learned all the right moves.  My motivation was to get something as a reward and when there was an injury or when there was something that kept me from testing for my next belt, I would get angry and frustrated.  However, when I finally received my black belt something strange began to happen.  At first I kind of lost my motivation to keep pushing myself, but then as I got older I realized that I was no longer training to get something but training because I already had it.  My disposition to working hard and learning all the right moves changed.  It became a joy to me and not a duty.  It became something I loved and looked forward to and not something to grumble about.  On the surface, I was still working hard and disciplining myself.  But inside my motivation for it had radically changed and there was a sweetness and joy to it.

I no longer obeyed because I wanted something; I obeyed out of the sheer joy of what I already had.  This is the difference between and elder brother mentality and a Christian.  A Christian no longer obeys out of a slavish duty to get something from God, but instead obeys out of a loving gratitude for what they already have.  Their disposition toward God changes and they become disciplined and obey out of freedom and not slavery.  They obey not to get something from God; they obey because of the sheer beauty of God.  They obey because they want Him, not because of what they can get from Him.  This is a huge difference and will radically reorient your relationship with Him. 

Do you believe that all the work, discipline and obedience has already been done by Jesus and that you're already accepted by the Father right now?  If so, then you're now free to obey Him out of sheer joy and gratitude.  You're free to handle suffering and difficulties differently.  And to the degree that you come to believe that it's all been paid by Jesus, to that same degree you'll come to find yourself more and more living for Him because you simply love Him and want Him. 

The mark of a godly man or woman is someone who delights in the law of the Lord and meditates upon it day and night.  He's like a tree planted by a streams of water who yields fruit...(Psalm 1:2-3). 

Psalms 119:102-103: "I do not turn aside from your rules, for you have taught me.  103  How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!"

These statements are impossible unless you have come to believe the gospel that teaches you that because the perfect elder brother, Jesus, kept all of God's law and kept all of God's precepts, and never disobeyed out of love and passion for His Father, by faith we're given that same record.  Because the Father sees us as He sees the perfection of His own Son, we can now delight and meditate upon God's law.  We can now say to God that His commands are sweeter than honey.  We no longer have to be angry at God's commands like the elder brother. 

Do you think the younger brother is going to now obey out of fear or out of gratitude?  His father has already accepted him in and has thrown a party for him with music and dancing.  This younger son will now obey his father because he's tasted and seen the goodness of his father's grace and loving mercy. He'll obey out of sheer gratitude for his father's love and kindness.  He won't have to obey to get something.  He'll obey because he already has something, the father's love.  You'll simply love him for who He is without any conditions. 

Elder brothers say "I've obeyed and obeyed, and yet I haven't gotten ______."  You fill in the blank.  What sets you off?  What causes you to get angry at others, angry at yourself, and angry at God?  What thing, if taken from you or simply kept from you causes you to want to give up on God and your faith?  That has become your ultimate.  That has become your God.  That has become your security and hope.  And if it's held back from you, you're not just sad, you're distraught and come apart. 

These are all signs of having an elder brother mentality.  If you have a conditional obedience to God like this, you'll never hear music and you'll never dance the dance of God for the rest of your days. 

3-     An elder brother has both a lack of joy and security mixed with a judgmental and critical spirit towards others. 

In v. 29, he says to the father, "You never gave me a young goat."  However, the father tells him in v. 31 that everything he has is his.  He had a celebrating father who has given him everything, yet the older son really didn't believe it.  The son never asked the father for a fatted calf or the father would have given it.  He didn't believe his father loved him that much.  He didn't believe that his father was that generous.  In other words, he didn't know his father. 

Alexander the Great

There is an incredible story about Alexander the Great.  He had a general who was about to get married.  He came to Alexander and told him the news and also said that he needed money to give the dowry and pay for the wedding.  Alexander said, "Sure, how much do you need?"  The general asked for an enormous sum of money, and those watching were stunned by the amount.  Instead of Alexander grimacing, he got this radiant look and lit up.  With incredible delight he said to the man, "Of course, go to my treasurer and he'll give you all that you've asked for."  Those watching came up to him afterwards and asked, "Why did you give him so much money, and why were you delighted to do it?"  Alexander responded with a smile and said, "This man has done me a great honor.  By asking for such a ridiculous sum, he shows that he believes that I am fabulously wealthy and incredibly generous." 

This older son didn't believe that his father was incredibly generous.  Instead, the son simply continued to slave away instead of getting to know his father.  He hid from a relationship with his father by working for his father. 

C.S. Lewis said this in his book Mere Christianity, in the chapter titled "Nice People or New Men?"  In it he writes:

A world of nice people, looking no further than that, would be just as desperately in need of salvation as the miserable world and more difficult to save, for mere improvement is not redemption, though in the end redemption will improve you to a degree that you can't even imagine.  God became man to turn creatures into sons, not simply to produce better kinds of the old creature, but to produce a new kind of person.  It is not like teaching a horse to jump better and better, but more like turning a horse into a winged creature which is a whole new kind of being altogether.

Lewis is saying that what our Father has done for us in Christ is not intended to simply make us nicer, more moral, and better versions of the old us.  He's making us into someone new, someone free, someone who is redeemed, not just reformed. 

Don't you see without knowing this there will never be music and dancing.  There will never be rejoicing with the Father.   There will never be a party with the Father.  There will never be a heart open to welcome others in because you're too critical to let them in.  You don't want prodigals coming home because their rejoicing will make you angry and uncomfortable.  Elder brothers hate being missional.  They hate a church that is messy.  They hate opening up their lives and getting involved with each other because it's way too messy.  They prefer to keep Christianity as nothing more than mere propositions, just facts, just theology.  In other words, they hate the way Jesus welcomes these sinners in just like the Pharisees do in v. 2. 

Instead of judging and condemning others who are a mess, a Christian should be the most willing to welcome in and celebrate with broken people because you realize you were that broken person and the only reason you're in is because the father chose to throw a party for you out of grace not because you worked for it.

The Gospel of the Story

Then abruptly, the story ends in v. 32.  

This isn't an ending!  How could this story just cut off right here?  How can we move on to chapter 16?  Anyone who would have heard this story would have realized that this story wasn't balanced and wasn't complete.  There seems to be an ending missing.

One Middle Eastern scholar says that there are strophes or stanzas in how these stories were balanced at this time.  One scholar notes that there are eight strophes in the beginning but oddly there are only seven at the end.  In other words, it's off balance because the ending is missing the last strophe. 

Did Jesus make a mistake?  Did He simply run out of creativity to finish the story?  Of course not.  He's drawing attention to the ending by leaving it blank.  He wants us to pay close attention and to think about what is missing.  He wants us to stop and begin to ask questions about this whole story and why it ended so soon.

The question we're all left asking is: What was the brother's response?  What happened next?

Here's the ending that I'd like to write in:  "The older brother, hearing the music came in from a hard day's work.  He saw his father and brother dancing and rejoicing, and ran up to his brother and embraced him.  Then, turning his father with eyes of filled with tears, thanked his father for welcoming his brother home."  Then I'd shoot the scene with them around a fire drinking and eating, laughing and dancing as the camera slowly backed away until you couldn't see them any longer.

Now to me, that would be a great ending to the story.  This is what we'd all hope for, isn't it?  But we know the story doesn't end this way.  Here's how it ends:

"As the older son heard his father's words, he became more angry and embittered at him.  As his father was gently smiling at his son and turned to point towards the party to call his son to come and join him, the son picked up a piece of wood that he was working with in the field and in a fit of rage beat him as he cried out ‘You are evil.  You are evil.  You are evil and someone needs to uphold the law and justice.  Someone needs to end the shame and restore honor!' until the piece of wood was soaked with his blood and his father laid dead for all to see.  And in a horribly ironic twist, the father, who should have beaten his disrespectful son, is beaten to death by the wicked son in the greatest act of evil." 

It would be a few months after Jesus told this story when the Pharisees would have Jesus over to be killed.  They would take the wood and nail him to it and the wood would be soaked with Jesus' blood.  They would kill their only Savior.  They would do it congratulating themselves for protecting the Father's honor and righteousness.  They would kill Jesus believing they were protecting the Law. 

This is how Hebrews 12:2-3 can teach us to look to Jesus:

"the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame...3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted."