The Father Loves the Two Lost Sons, Part II: Luke 15:11-32

With all those winds.

I think I've got enough voice to get through, but we're going to look at Luke chapter 15, verses 11 through 32.

Luke 15:11–32

We're in a sermon series.

This is our third week in Luke 15.

And Jesus is the storyteller, like nobody else.

Hear the word of God.

And Jesus said, There was a man who had two sons.

And the younger of them said to the father, Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.

And he divided his property between them.

Not many days later the younger son gathered all that he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living.

And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need.

So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his field to feed pigs.

And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.

But when he came to himself, he said, How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread?

But I perish here with hunger.

I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.

I am no longer worthy to be called your son.

Treat me as one of your hired servants.

And he arose and came to his father.

But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.

And the son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.

I am no longer worthy to be called your son.

But the father said to his servants, Bring quickly the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet, and bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us rejoice and celebrate.

For this my son was dead and is alive again.

He was lost and is found.

And they began to celebrate.

Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing.

He called one of the servants and asked what these things meant.

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.

But he was angry and refused to go in.

His father came out and entreated him, and he answered his father, Look, these many years I've served you and I've never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat that I might celebrate with my friends.

But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him?

And he said to him, Son, you were always with me, and all that is mine is yours.

It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead and is alive.

He was lost and is found.

This is the reading of God's perfect, precious word that we desperately need to hear.

Let's pray and ask the Spirit's work.

Oh Father, we thank you that you sent your Son not just to tell stories like this, but lay down his life as a sacrifice, as an atonement to pay the price that we can never pay.

Give us ears to hear this morning, whether it's the first time or again.

Give us fresh insight.

Lord, give us faith to believe and to receive.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Jesus is telling these stories to two very different groups, beginning Luke 15, verse 1 and 2.

Luke 15:1

On the one hand, he's got the religious leaders right there who are following him around, not so much to learn from him, but to find a way to trip him up.

Very skeptical, very cynical.

He's got that group.

He's got the religious leaders, but then he's also got the tax collectors and the quote sinners.

Two groups that would never get together for any reason.

But Jesus brings people from all walks of life together like no one else.

And these people that would not ordinarily hang out, they're together.

And remember, Jesus is primarily telling this story to these religious leaders.

We talked about that a little bit last week.

And so he tells us the story.

In the first week we looked at, we looked at the lost sheep.

The shepherd representing Jesus leaves 99 sheep out in the open country to go looking for one lone sheep.

And you remember what we learned.

It's crazy to leave the 99 to go for the one, unless you're the one.

Then it's not crazy.

He finds that lone sheep, he puts it on his shoulder and brings it back home.

We've been talking about that.

Within the last seven days, I've had the privilege of hearing four professions of faith.

The elders have heard several of them.

Isn't it interesting as we're talking about these things, as we're praying about these things, as we're preaching on these things, God is working in powerful ways.

What happens when one lost sheep comes home to Christ?

Heaven rejoices.

The sermon series is entitled Heaven's Joy, Heaven's Perspective.

We're trying to understand how to join in heaven's joy.

When people that are lost come to saving faith in Jesus.

That word prodigal, remember what it means?

Two vastly different meanings, but the same word, recklessly.

Recklessly wasteful, which is what most people who have heard the story remember.

The younger son who recklessly just spent all of his father's money that he gave him.

But remember there's another aspect, another side of that coin of that word prodigal.

Remember that?

Recklessly extravagant, recklessly lavish.

That's the part usage of the word that many, many Christians don't seem to still understand.

That there's a prodigal God as well as a prodigal son.

We're going to take a closer look at that again today.

Today, though, we're looking at the older brother.

Today, my older brother's here.

That doesn't happen very often.

Welcome, Chuck.

Welcome, Debbie.

We're going to talk about the older brother, the older sister.

That's a lot of us.

I wasn't the older brother.

I was the younger brother, but I was the older brother.

I'm going to explain that.

His life, his heart, how he sees himself, how he sees others, how he sees God.

The first point this morning is about the older son, a familiar path.

I say a familiar path because this is the life he lived.

We read the story.

The younger brother comes home after being away from a long time.

The father, remember, runs down that path and he runs down that path because he sees him.

He's waiting for him to come back.

What an amazing, glorious welcome he got from his father.

His father welcomed him back with open arms.

If you've been to my office, you know my favorite painting is hanging in my office.

The Return of the Prodigal Son by Rembrandt.

It just moves me, it grips me that scene.

The tender compassion of the father with his arms draped gently on the back of his son.

But today we're looking at another kind of path that the older son knew quite well.

He gets news from one of the servants that his younger brother is returned.

And he's not happy, is he?

He's really angry.

He just throws a temper tantrum.

He was angry, he refused to go in.

His father comes out, and the word that they used, he entreated him.

The father spoke kindly to the older son and said, Won't you come in too?

It's a party.

We want you here.

He was having nothing to do with it.

Because the path that he was walking didn't have room for that kind of reception.

His father comes out and treats him.

And like the younger brother, remember the younger brother had a speech he had rehearsed?

Remember the younger brother had a plan that he concocted in his own head how he thought the father should respond.

He'll pay off his debt eventually.

Well, it's not just younger brothers that have speeches that they rehearse.

Us older brothers do as well.

He had a plan.

He had a speech, and it wasn't a nice speech.

That word in the English, look.

I mean, when you read that word with an exclamation mark, I mean that's the tone.

Look, Dad.

I mean, it's that kind of tone.

What are you doing?

This isn't the way it works.

He blew it.

I never left.

I'm the one who's bearing the burden of the work here.

What are you doing?

Killing the fat calf?

Giving him your robe, your ring, your shoes?

Are you crazy?

That's the way it worked in his life.

Now it was time to point to his record, the older brother.

Older brothers and older sisters are very proud of their performances.

Whether they say it all the time or not, often they are rehearsing it in their minds.

How come I'm not getting the credit I should get?

How come I'm not getting the recognition I should get?

Why did they pass me over in that promotion?

Older brothers, older sisters rehearse a lot of things in their minds.

And sometimes they say it.

Sometimes they don't.

But you get the impact of their heart when they're thinking it.

He says, All these many years I have served, and he uses the Greek word for slaving labor.

And he probably wasn't doing that.

By now, surely he was a supervisor.

He wasn't doing the grunt work.

But he thought of himself as doing the major grunt work.

He thought of himself as really bearing the load.

And he just complains.

He's angry, he's bitter, and he lets his dad know it.

Yeah, he worked hard.

That's true.

That's true.

However, it becomes clear that his labor was not from love, but obligation and duty.

Now he demanded what he thought he deserved.

You know, friends, obedience for the sake of obedience is a heavy load to carry.

Obedience for the sake of obedience is a beast.

And when you feel that way, when I feel that way, it weighs me down.

And it weighs the other people around me down.

You feel that, don't you?

When you're around somebody that feels like they're entitled, when you're around somebody that feels like they've got something coming due because of their performance, it's not a pleasant feeling.

The weight of it is exhausting and it takes a toll on us and on others.

And we can easily spend so much time and energy focused on it that we get touchy.

We get touchy, don't we?

We get irritable when we're thinking that way.

Many years ago, I was introduced to an article that I read that had a great impact on my life.

The article is called The End of the Struggle by Stanley Vogue.

I still come back and read this at least once a year.

We read it in walking in the Spirit.

The struggle for righteousness.

Romans chapter 10, verse 4 says that Jesus is the end of the struggle for righteousness.

Romans 10:4

One way that we can struggle for our own righteousness is by struggling to reach some standard of perfection.

Of course, God's law holds up a perfect standard, but the danger in our lives is it's just one long, prolonged attempt to reach it.

Then we become Christians living under law instead of grace, under tension and guilt instead of the peace that Jesus offers us as a gift.

Sometimes we set the standard ourselves.

We picture in our minds the kind of Christian we think we ought to be, and then we chase after that image.

It's like seeing this person we ought to be standing on a high mountain calling down to us.

He urges us on as we struggle vainly to go up the mountain, but never offers a helping hand.

Or we may let other people set the standard for us.

People are forever telling us what we ought to be.

We hear good sermons and read how to books that show us what kind of Christian we should be, but it only makes us feel guilty if we're sensitive or self-satisfied if we're not.

People put us on pedestals, expecting this and expecting that of us, until life can become one long struggle to be what other people demand.

So we labor on under their law, trying to live by their standards.

Are you a Christian living under law?

Do you live under a sense of condemnation because you feel all the time that you ought to be a better Christian than you are?

Who prays more, does more, gives more?

Are you chained to a moral yardstick and living under a burden that you can't lift?

All the while, Jesus says, Come to me and I will give you rest.

Another aspect of this struggle for righteousness is the quest for reputation.

All of us are reputation conscious.

Some of us have a reputation.

It may be for holiness, efficiency, leadership.

It can be anything.

Others of us wish we had a reputation.

But once you acquire a reputation, it can haunt you, dog you, beat you down, and wear you out.

Bondage to reputation is sheer slavery.

We need to see it for what it is, just another form of the struggle for our own righteousness, which makes us unwilling to be seen as weak or failing in anything.

Can you relate?

I sure can.

It's a beast.

Our struggle for reputation inevitably becomes a struggle for appearance.

Since at some point we end up being dishonest about who we really are.

Jesus said of the Pharisees, everything they do is done to be seen by men.

The motto for the state of North Carolina.

Anybody know that?

Not unless you're from North Carolina.

To be and not to seem.

That's a good motto.

What do we end up doing?

We want to be seen.

And not necessarily to be what we claim to be.

Image is everything, isn't it?

Reputation.

Even if I know something's going on inside my heart is not clean before God.

Why is that okay?

But if somebody else sees it, it's not okay.

That's crazy.

How hard we can protect and live to protect our reputation, what God sees.

It's almost like sometimes we don't really care what God sees.

But I don't want my neighbor, I don't want my friend to see it.

That was the Pharisees' game.

What a relief it is when we see Jesus at the end of all this.

He is the end of the struggle for righteousness.

He fulfilled the law for us.

He lived the perfect life.

He died the death that we deserved.

If that doesn't revive you, nothing will.

Older brothers.

In my own story, I I grew up not realizing I was the older brother because I was the younger brother.

Pretty superficial.

It took me longer, it took me years to see how much of the older brother I really was and can be today.

How many times the older brother sinned against my older brother?

Just because.

How many more articles do we have to read online about pastors falling into deep sin?

See, older brothers eventually crack.

Oftentimes.

Older sisters often crack eventually when they just can't bear the load anymore.

And then they find themselves committing younger brothers' sins.

Odd how that works.

J.C.

Ryle said, the person who really feels that we all stand by grace, that we are all debtors, and that the best of us has nothing to boast of, and has nothing which we have not already received as a gift.

Such a person will not be found talking like the older brother.

Did you hear that?

That's a great quote.

Will not be heard talking like older brothers.

In other words, the lips reveal what's in the heart, don't they?

Eventually it seems to come out.

What comes out?

I've got seven characteristics that I see in this story about older brothers and sisters.

Again, that I can relate to.

First of all, anger.

He was furious.

The word that he uses means an explosive anger, the brother had.

An explosive.

He couldn't keep it in.

He had to let it out, and it did a lot of harm.

It always does.

Ken Bailey, who we I've quoted this sermon series, theologian who lived in the Middle East much of his life, tells us a little background about this.

He compares the older son's outburst to a son starting a shouting match with his father at his sister's wedding reception.

It simply doesn't happen in that culture.

Would never happen.

Ordinarily, a father would receive such an insult, would ignore it, he would ignore his son entirely, or else he would have him restrained so that he could deal with him later.

The story that Jesus is telling to these people was radical.

That's what he was trying to do, to get their attention about real grace.

Piercing words spoken out of anger that do great harm.

They do, don't they?

Have you had those words that you wish you could take back?

Words that came out of a very, very grumpy, critical spirit.

Secondly, critical spirits.

Often not feeling like they get what they deserve in life.

They point out the flaws in others quite easily.

And yet I've noticed over the years how interesting, older brothers and older sisters who can be quite critical have a hard time receiving criticism themselves.

Have you noticed that?

Well, there's a reason why.

We'll get to that.

Thirdly, just insecure, revealed in their defensiveness, the need to put others down to boost themselves up.

Fourthly, unforgiving.

It's hard to forgive somebody else if you feel superior to them.

It's just hard.

If you really think that you're better than them and you've earned it, it's going to be really hard to forgive people.

I've been a pastor long enough to know a lot of people when they go to church don't know how to forgive.

Don't know how to forgive.

Happens way too often.

And there's reasons for that.

Because they don't see their own need for grace.

They don't have much grace to give anyone else.

Why?

They struggle believing and accepting God's forgiveness of them.

Older brothers and older sisters in that spirit can easily say the words, God forgive me, but it doesn't seem to reach their hearts.

It's hard to confess specific sins.

It's not just me a culpa.

God, I'm sure I've done stuff.

No.

When we come to the cross, when we come to Jesus, this sin I confess, Father.

When was the last time you did that?

Daily.

My words, my actions, my thoughts.

How about you?

Fifth, they struggle with the assurance of the Father's love.

Remember what he said outside?

You never threw me a party.

Well, actually, he does.

Come back in.

Come back in, and you're going to see and experience a party like you've never imagined one day at the wedding reception.

Every son, every true son gets a party.

Every true daughter gets a great party.

Can you wait?

He's saying, you don't really love me.

If you did, you wouldn't let these things happen in my life.

I like the way I heard Tim Keller say it one time.

Older brothers believe that if they live a good life, they should get a good life.

That says it pretty well, doesn't it?

If you really believe that you're living a good life, if you really believe that you're working harder than those guys, if you really believe that you're more obedient and you don't stray and you don't go far from the home, you don't really rebel.

God owes you.

Live a good life.

You should get a good life.

Which explains why many people stop going to church.

Many people stopped praying.

I tried that.

I tried that.

It didn't work.

Well, what's the it?

Well, this good life I'm living.

Many times they either leave the church or they sour the church with their grumpiness, with their critical spirits, complaining.

Complain about this, complain about that.

No, that's not for you.

Richard Lovelace, theologian, put it like this people who are not sure that God loves them for the sake of Christ, apart from their present spiritual achievements.

Did you get that, Clause?

Looking at what they're doing now.

How am I doing?

They're always checking on themselves.

Am I measuring up?

With God, with others, myself, are subconsciously and radically insecure people.

Their insecurity shows itself in their pride.

A fierce, defensive criticism of others.

Number six, joyless lives.

They're looking for their joy in their performance, which is never going to be enough.

They're looking for their joy in it, not him.

And that's why they're not much joy.

We've talked about this before in the sermon series.

Would people who know you well describe you as a joyful person?

The people who know you well, would they say, yeah, I sense the joy of God in them when things are going well and when they're not going well?

Or are we more like the murmuring, grumbling Pharisees that we read about in verse 1?

Look, when we make contact with this real gospel, we're going to have joy in our lives.

Number seven, little intimacy in their prayer life.

Older brothers, apart from the gospel, many older brothers do have prayer lives because they know it's important to pray.

And they do pray.

And they may pray a long time.

But there's seldom real joy and intimacy in their relationship with God.

Their prayers are more like shopping lists.

God, this is what I need.

Hope you can do something about it.

It's only when the gospel melts your heart.

It's only when the gospel opens you up to see not only your sin but the righteousness and the love of Christ that you have that intimacy.

Father.

We get to meet again.

It still blows my mind that his door is open to me 24-7.

It does.

I don't ever want to take that for granted.

That he would always be ready to listen.

May our prayers abound with gratitude, thanksgiving.

Like we're coming to the best father ever.

That's what it should be like.

Oh friends, I get this.

I've done this.

I've done all this.

Have you?

Does this resonate?

It's not very attractive, is it?

So in our remaining minutes, let's talk about the really good stuff.

The true elder brother.

A better path, not a familiar path, a better path that hopefully becomes more familiar to us.

Whereas the older brother stayed out and would not come in in the story, the father once again goes down the path a second time, reaching out to his other son.

This is a, I want to just go back to Ken Bailey, how he put this.

Once again, he demonstrates a willingness to endure shame and self-empting love in order to reconcile to his sons.

It's almost impossible to convey the shock that these listeners would have heard that must have reverberated through the banquet hall when the father deliberately left his guest, humiliating himself before everyone, going out into the courtyard to try to reconcile his older son.

The same self-emptying sacrificial love is demonstrated visibly and dramatically on the same day, in similar ways for two different sons with two different kinds of needs.

Earlier in the day, the father paid the price of self-emptying love in order to reconcile the prodigal to himself.

Now he must pay the same price to win the older son.

If you're listening to the story closely, you know that Jesus leaves us hanging.

He doesn't tell us whether the older son went in.

Did the older son just stay out, rebuffing his father's gestures?

Older sons do.

Older sons don't always come in.

Unless you see the father's heart.

If you see the father's heart and you understand the father's love and you see the work of your truest elder brother, Jesus gave you the best elder brother himself.

Who walked down that path.

He goes down the path that the real brother in the home didn't walk because you were worth saving.

You were worth saving to him.

He'll go down whatever path he needs to go down to get you.

That's who he is.

His unconditional love to the sheep he goes after to rescue.

Jesus is our true elder brother.

He is the one who goes down the path to find us.

Whatever path we've gone.

He knows where to find older brothers.

He knows where to find younger brothers.

Has he found you?

He is the brother in the story.

Jesus is inviting us to imagine and long for what we need.

We need one who does not just go down a path, any path.

We serve a God right now.

You know he's listening in.

You know Jesus is hearing this.

Sometimes we forget that.

You know Jesus is watching.

You know he's listening.

And he may well be responding.

Waiting to see how you respond.

Jesus walked a path too, didn't he?

What path did Jesus walk?

He left heaven to come to earth.

He walked literally on a path from Jerusalem to Golgotha to Calvary.

He walked that path knowing what was going to happen.

Oh, I love how Hebrews chapter 12 puts it.

Hebrews 12 · chapter mention

Who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising its shame.

That's an amazing phrase.

Who for the joy set before him, what joy?

To get you, to have you, to forgive you, to love you, who for the joy set before him said, I will do this.

I will die a horrible death.

I will take in the anger, the wrath of God my Father.

I will experience the rupture with my father to have you and my family.

Come home.

Come home.

Who for that joy set before him.

Because he did that, that's why he also why he has so much joy when his lost sheep come home.

Do you share his joy?

A church that does not share the joy of heaven is not a gospel church.

If a church does not experience a join in the joy of heaven, it's not a gospel church.

How can we go on mumbling and grumbling and complaining about so many things when God is doing a beautiful work?

Let's join him.

You remember that verse I quoted two weeks ago?

Philemon?

I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith so that you may have a full understanding of every good thing that we have in Jesus Christ.

If you're not actively sharing your faith, if you're not joining in the search, is Jesus' under sheep, under shepherds, you're probably not going to have much joy in your life.

You're probably going to be paying attention to everything else, but get out of that.

Join him.

There's a lot of joy in heaven every day.

Lost brothers and sisters are coming to Jesus every day.

Praise God.

Just a moment, we're going to sing a song that was written by Charles Wesley shortly after he was saved.

I'm pretty sure there's not an older brother in this room that was as much of an older brother as Charles Wesley.

And his brother John.

They were members of a holy club.

Have you ever been a member of a holy club?

I doubt it.

I'm pretty sure he read more Bible than you've ever read.

He prayed longer than you've ever prayed.

He worked harder for God.

How can you do all that and not be saved?

He didn't understand the words of the song that we sang a little while ago, not in me.

He didn't understand that he had to not only confess all of his unrighteousness, he had to confess his righteousness, what he thought were his righteous deeds.

He was leaning on his good deeds, thinking that that would help.

Are you?

You don't become a Christian until you ask God to not only forgive you for all the bad things you've done, but you ask God to forgive you for all the good things that you thought you did that somehow are going to help earn his favor.

Have you confessed those sins?

That's where we find real joy.

He bore the burden.

All of it.

You're free.

Now live like a free woman.

Now live like a free man.

That's why he could write, Amazing Love, how can it be?

That thou, my God, shouldst die for me.

Father, we thank you.

We praise you.

We bow before you today.

We are your lost sons and daughters, younger, older.

It's all the same.

It's the load of sin that can be paid only by your son Jesus.

Jesus, thank you for coming.

Thank you for rescuing brothers and sisters like us.

To be part of your family.

Give us your joy.

Give us your peace.

Give us your love.

More and more we pray.

Amen.