The Other Prodigal Son
Introduction: Today is Christmas Sunday. The music and worship have drawn our attention to Advent in a special way, but if you looked at the sermon title and outline, you might wonder whether the pastor even knows it’s Christmas. Yes, and before I’m done, I think you will understand why I’ve chosen to continue with Luke 15 this Sunday. While not in itself an Advent passage, I trust that the message of Christmas will come through loud and clear.
Our Scripture reading today is Luke 15:25-32, but for the sake of those who were unable to be with us last Lord’s Day, I want to begin the reading in verse 11. The whole chapter is a series of three parables Jesus offered as a response to the religious leaders of His day who accused him of the dastardly deed of welcoming sinners and even eating with them. Jesus did not apologize; in fact, to the absolute consternation of these leaders, He claimed through these parables that God Himself searches out lost sinners and welcomes them into His family.
Let’s begin our reading in verse 11:
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.'””
We examined the story of the Prodigal Son last week. In studying it I am reminded of Phil Yancey’s recent book, What’s So Amazing About Grace? Just reading this one story tells us what’s so amazing about grace—God is willing to receive the most willful, headstrong, rebellious person alive if he or she comes to his or her senses and returns to the Father. But we did not have time last Sunday to consider the older brother in the story. He too was a Prodigal, though in a very different sense. If possible, he is an even more tragic figure than the younger son who dissed his Father and spent everything he had in wild living. The message of the older brother is simply this:
It’s possible to stay home and still be far from the Father.
The strangest thing has happened to me over the years. The longer I pastor and the older I grow in the Lord, the more I find myself drawn to wicked people and the less to good people. Please allow me to explain. I know some terrible sinners. I know some people who have violated the marriage covenant they made before God and man, and not only violated it, but abandoned their spouse and married their lover.
I know some women who have sold their bodies and some men who have frequented them. I know some teenagers who have used drugs, slept around, and stolen money. I know some individuals who have gambled away enormous sums and put their families in jeopardy. I know some alcoholics who nearly destroyed their families. I have known peeping toms and cross-dressers and people whose language has been so laced with four-letter words it would make a Marine blush.
And every individual I have just referred to is a member in good standing of this church or the church I pastored in Wichita. Some are even in leadership positions. Some sing in the choir. Some teach your children in Sunday School. Shocked? Dismayed? You shouldn’t be.
Let me tell you about some other people about whom you should be shocked and dismayed. I know a man who told someone in the congregation he hadn’t sinned in three years. I know a woman whose language is constantly laced with phrases like, “I sought God’s face,” “God told me,” and “I have fasted and prayed.” I know a high school student who goes on youth mission trips and is quick to speak of his commitment to Christ. I know an older person who smiles at everyone at church and is known for beautiful prayers. None of these individuals is in a leadership position in this church, and frankly I don’t think they are spiritually qualified to be.
You say, Pastor, you’ve really got things backwards. Do I? You see, I haven’t told you the whole story. Everyone in the first group has repented and is today walking in fellowship with the Lord. Some of these people are among the most faithful, committed people I have ever known.
There are also some things I haven’t told you about the second group. The man who claimed not to have sinned for three years is a man whose life has been characterized by legalism, self-righteousness, and judgmental attitudes. The woman who uses all the God-talk claims God recently told her to divorce her husband, even though she doesn’t have biblical grounds to do so. The high school student’s parents tell me he is completely rebellious at home and shows them no honor or respect. And the smiling older person of whom I spoke is also a world-class gossip and has an unforgiving spirit.
Now don’t try to figure out who these individuals are, because they may be in my previous church. But I have told you enough to encourage you to ask the question, “Which of these two categories do I belong in?” I suspect some of you are saying to yourself, “I don’t have to be in one or the other category. There must be a third category—good people who aren’t hypocrites.” I’m not so sure, and if you’ll hang with me until the end, I’ll show you why.
Now the Other Prodigal Son stayed home but was still far from the Father. He reveals to us this important truth:
A person can enjoy many privileges and still demonstrate serious spiritual deficiencies: First of all, …
Anger and alienation.[i] The story reveals that when the older brother learned that his younger brother had come home and his father was celebrating with a party, he “became angry and refused to go in.” He flew into a rage when he saw how good the father really was. It’s instructive that not once in the story does the older brother use the term “father” or brother” when describing his family. Even though he is formally at home, he feels no real kinship with those in the family. Second, he demonstrates …
Slavishness and superiority. “Look!” he said, “All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders.” He has no joy in working with his father; it is bondage to him. Home is an obligation, not a family. I think there are a lot of religious people who indeed view themselves as “slaving for the Father.” I have known Catholics who went to Mass every day for 25 years—I’m not just talking Sundays here—I’m talking every day of the week! I have known Protestants who have tithed religiously down to the penny—not just on their income, but on their bonuses, their interest, and their Social Security checks. When I was growing up in a pastor’s home, I knew people who would have missed the birth of their first child if it happened on Wednesday night during prayer meeting.
Is that level of commitment necessarily bad? No, in fact, it sounds a lot like the commitment Jesus called for in chapter 14, but if one is doing it out of a sense of legalistic duty or to keep God’s wrath off their backs, then they have not advanced beyond this other Prodigal brother.
Can you also read the superiority in his voice as he makes his other claim? “I’ve never disobeyed your orders.” I’ve never smoked pot, I don’t drink, I don’t dance, I don’t listen to the Stones. And, you see, the problem here is not that he should have done any of these things, but rather that he sees the essence of his relationship with his father as the things he hasn’t done. In addition the older son reveals …
Ingratitude and isolation. “You never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.” He accuses his father of never giving him the minimum, when in fact his father had given him everything. And he reveals the distance of his heart from the father in the isolating statement that he wants to celebrate with his friends rather than with his father. I wonder if he wasn’t so busy keeping his long list of rules and regulations that he didn’t have time to think about enjoying life. And finally we see …
Contempt and comparison. The last thing he says is, “When this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!” Notice that he has so much contempt for his younger brother that he won’t even refer to him as his brother, or call him by name. Instead, he says, “this son of yours.” Also, this is the first mention of prostitutes, and I rather suspect the older brother is exaggerating to make the sins of his younger brother look even worse than they were. The self-righteous do that, you know—try to build themselves up by tearing other people down.
Nevertheless, despite the sinful attitudes of the older brother, the Father faithfully searches for this Prodigal as well. Everyone is welcome in the Father’s house. And to demonstrate that, the father first shows initiative. Please notice in verse 28 that when the older brother refuses to join the party, his father goes out to him and pleads with him. God is not proud; He stoops to conquer. He reaches out not only to the rank sinner who repents, but even to the self-righteous person who refuses to repent. He loves them both.
Secondly, the father demonstrates availability. The Father says to the older brother, “My son, you are always with me.” He is living in the father’s house, he is eating the father’s food and drinking his wine, he is enjoying the benefits of being in the father’s family. You know, spiritually speaking there are many people who worship regularly in the Heavenly Father’s house, who eat and drink regularly at the Lord’s table, and who enjoy many of the blessings of the Father, but they no more enjoy the Father’s presence than this son did.
Thirdly, the father makes provision for this son, too. “Everything I have is yours.” The inheritance, you will recall, has already been divided between the two sons. The older is rich in one sense, but poverty-stricken in another. It is all available, but he has availed himself of none of it. And there is nothing about life in the Heavenly Father’s house that He does not desire to share with each one of us. Salvation, peace, joy, fulfillment, relationship—everything God has is ours.
By now we can see that the older brother is as lost as the younger ever was. The younger was once lost but now found. He was once dead but now alive. The older is still lost, still dead.
Now I want to contrast the sinfulness of the older brother with that of another sinner, but not the younger son. We spoke of the younger son last Lord’s Day. Instead, I want you to turn with me to 1 Timothy 1:12-17 where we read the first-person account of still another Prodigal.
“I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service. Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners–of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.”
The lesson we learned from the Older Brother is that “It’s possible to stay home and still be far from the Father.” The lesson we learn from this passage is this:
It’s possible to be far from the Father and still find one’s way home. (! Tim. 1:12-17)
What we find here in 1 Timothy is that …
A person can be guilty of great sinfulness and still experience God’s mercy and grace. How sinful was this man who is sharing his autobiography? Well, he was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence. Friends, we’re not talking misdemeanors here; we’re talking high crimes and felonies. A blasphemer is one who berates and vilifies the very Creator of the universe. As a persecutor in the early days of the church, this man was hunting Christians down as fast as they were converted. His violence is seen in that he wasn’t hunting Christians down to interrogate them and warn them; he was hunting them down to kill them.
So heinous were this man’s actions that when he himself was converted on the Damascus Road, the Christians who had escaped his sword had a very difficult time believing that the grace of God had reached even to him. They greeted his conversion with the same skepticism we might greet the conversion of Fidel Castro or Madonna or Louis Farrakhan. In fact, Paul claims to be “the worst of all sinners.” I don’t think this was just the hyperbole of a great orator. He deserved the title.
Nevertheless, even as one guilty of great sinfulness, Paul still experienced God’s mercy and grace. He says in verse 13, “I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief.” He did what he did because he was blinded by Satan. He did what he did because he allowed hate and fear and religious bigotry to control his life. He was like the skinheads of our day who stupidly follow their peers, believing lies perpetrated by hate-mongers, senselessly hunting down people who are different from them.
Now please be aware that by claiming that he acted in ignorance and unbelief, Paul is not trying to excuse himself. Even his ignorance was culpable. He was clearly guilty. In fact, he was doomed, were it not for God’s mercy and grace. But a person guilty of great sinfulness can only experience God’s mercy and grace if he first sees Jesus as the answer.
But he must see Jesus as the answer. Here is how Paul puts it in verse 15: “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: (there’s no stronger way to say, “Listen up, I’m about to tell you the most important thing you could possibly hear”) Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” If you stop and think about it, there is the Advent story as clearly as it could possibly be stated.
Christ Jesus came. He didn’t call. He didn’t write. He didn’t send a fax. He didn’t send someone else. He came Himself. When it says He came it implies that He was somewhere else before, which, of course, He was. He was with His Father, creating the world and ruling the universe with Him. He was enjoying all the prerogatives of deity and all the praise the angels could offer for all of eternity past. And then He came. Secondly, …
Jesus came into the world. He didn’t come to the moon or to another planet or to another galaxy; He came to the world, the earth. But He didn’t just come to the world. He came into the world, that is, He became a part of the very warp and woof of life on the earth. He became part and parcel of the human condition. He entered into a society that exhibited all the liabilities known to man—ignorance, apathy, prejudice, hate, deceit, you name it. So significant was this change for Him that Paul describes His incarnation in these simple terms in Phil. 2: “He emptied Himself.” Jesus came into the world. Not only that, …
He came into the world to save sinners. He didn’t come to condemn them; He didn’t even come to reform them; He didn’t just come to be an example to them. He came to save them. And He came to save sinners. He didn’t come to save the righteous; He didn’t come to make good people better. He came to save sinners of the worst kind. You want proof of that? Listen to the rest of our theme verse: “Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.”
And that leads us to a third point. A person can be guilty of great sinfulness and still experience God’s mercy and grace. But he must see Jesus as the answer, …
And he must acknowledge that he himself is a sinner. We cannot come to God playing the part of the Older Brother, claiming we have never disobeyed the Father’s orders, for it is patently false. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
I asked a question earlier, “But isn’t there another category besides the good person who is a hypocrite and the wicked person who repents?” Can’t one be a good person who repents? Well, certainly in order to be considered a repentant person, one need not have committed adultery, murdered someone, done drugs, and the broken the rest of the Ten Commandments.
But I think one’s perspective on sin must be essentially the same as Paul’s. We must see our sin, whatever it is, as awful, heinous, and inexcusable in God’s sight. We must see our self-righteousness as the sin He hates the most. We must see our gossip and our critical spirit, and our greed, and our pride as every bit as heinous as the next guy’s drunkenness, filthy language, homosexuality, or child abuse.
On the other hand, there may be someone here who feels he’s too bad a sinner to come to Jesus. Friend, the man who wrote these words in 1 Timothty had been a blasphemer, a murderer, and a man of violence. Are you any worse than that? No. You may be just as bad, but no worse. And if Jesus came to save someone as bad as Paul, He can save you too.
But why would he do so? Why would God save someone like Paul? There were thousands of people who hadn’t violated all of the commandments Paul violated. There were thousands who joined the crowds following Jesus, rather than persecuting his followers. Well, God reached out to Paul because he was so bad. Let me read our theme verse once again along with the verse that follows:
Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners–of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.
In other words, Paul became a trophy of God’s grace. When people saw Paul they would say, “Wow, if God can save Paul, he can save me too!”
If you have any doubt tonight that Jesus Christ can revolutionize your life, put those doubts away. I could point out dozens and dozens of lives in this very room which have been transformed from brokenness, depression, immorality, selfishness, addiction—you name it—by the saving power of Jesus Christ. You see, He didn’t come just to save sinners from Hell; He came to save lives from wreck and ruin right now. Jesus said, “I have come that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly.”
There is one more important message in our text today—one for those who have already come home to the Father, and it is this:
The one who is at home with the Father must share the Father’s attitude toward lost sinners.
Sometimes we come home but fail to adopt the Father’s perspective. Perhaps you have personally accepted Christ, but you don’t have much use for the grossly sinful people you see around you. Your attitude toward convicts and drug addicts and problem gamblers and AIDS patients and welfare cheats may be much like that of the Pharisees toward the tax collectors and sinners of Jesus’ world, or like that of the Older Prodigal toward his younger brother. “They made their own bed, so let them lie in it.”
But friends, those who reject repentant sinners are out of line with the Father’s will. Period. Just as the Father offers unconditional forgiveness, we need to as well. We need to reach out to those who have made horrendous mistakes and love them. Not only that; when they have demonstrated repentance, we need to restore them and quit holding their past over their heads like a hammer. The notion that a divorced person, or one who has committed adultery, or a recovering alcoholic can worship here, but he’d better keep a low profile, is completely incompatible with what the Scriptures say, as I read them.
I acknowledge that some very fine evangelical preachers take issue with me on this point. They argue that when a pastor, for example, has violated the trust of the people of God by conduct unbecoming a minister of the Gospel, he should never be granted that trust again. I don’t see Jesus saying that. I don’t see God enforcing that on the likes of Samson or David or Peter. The notion that there are certain positions in the church leadership that are forever closed to such individuals is incompatible with what my Bible says. The only relevant question is this: “Has he or she thoroughly repented and is their sin now part of their past rather than their present?”
In 1 Cor. 6:9-11 we read words that are at the same time frightening and joyfully freeing:
Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Should there be any problem with washed, sanctified, justified sinners serving in our churches? I hope not, otherwise you’d best appoint a Search Committee for a new Senior Pastor, because I am one.
In fact, the only sin that puts a person outside the pale of usefulness to God is the sin of self-righteousness. Strangely, however, the church has historically elevated the self-righteous quickly to places of leadership, while ostracizing many who are repentant but unfortunately have sinned in ways that are considered unpardonable by respectable Christians. Helmut Thielicke writes,
A person who cannot wholeheartedly rejoice with God when the icy crust about a torpid, empty heart begins to thaw, a person who is not himself inflamed by the glowing love of Jesus for the erring and the lost and is not impelled to rescue human souls–that person is alienating himself from God in a very subtle but dreadful way, no matter how consciously and determinedly he continues to dwell with him, even though he prays and reads the Bible and goes to church.[ii]
Conclusion: We have examined two individuals today—the Older Brother and the Apostle Paul. One claims he “never disobeyed” while the other admits he is “the worst of all sinners.” If you were God, which one would you accept? It’s not even a contest, is it? But God doesn’t see as man sees. “Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
The older brother kept his nose clean, but his heart was dirty. Paul violated every law in the Book, but he was willing to cast himself on the grace and mercy of God. It was Paul, not the Other Prodigal, through whom God chose to display His glory. And it was Paul who shared the Father’s heart toward the lost.
The Christmas message I want to leave with you today is that it’s time for all Prodigals to come home. Whether you have been in a far country or have stayed home basking in your self-righteousness, you are lost and the Father is looking for you. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom we are all prime examples.
Tags:
Prodigal
Mercy
[i]These four categories come from Joel Gregory, Gregory’s Sermon Synopses, 167.
[ii] Helmut Thielicke, The Waiting Father: Sermons on the Parables of Jesus.