The Path of the Prodigal pt 10
"But he answered and said to his father, ' Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends; but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.'" Luke 15:29-30
"But he answered and said to his father, ' Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends; but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.'" Luke 15:29-30
As we are coming near to the end of this passage, we come upon the response of the older brother to his father. In this response he lays out why it is that he is so angry. There are many things that can be gleaned from this portion of Scripture. As I stated before, it is my belief that this brother was just as far away as the younger son was. This response drives that point home.
First he tries appealing to how many years he has worked and how "faithful" he has been to his father's commands. Now, the problem with this is simply that if he has to keep pointing out how he's done "all this work" for "all these years," it means he certainly has not done any of it from his heart, but rather he's done it seeking something. This happens to us whenever we try serving God from our own strength, and not doing it joyfully.
Then he tries attacking the fairness of his father by saying that he never gets anything. This, he says out of jealousy. Had he been thinking clearly, he would possibly have remembered that when the younger son got his share of the wealth, so too did the elder. But at this point, in his anger and jealousy, he does not think of that, but rather that his father never "throws a party" for him. We can get this way whenever we look at what others have, and not what is on our own plate.
Notice also that the elder son never calls his brother "brother." He calls him "this son of yours" to his father. How much hatred he must be harboring in his heart to disavow the familial relationship he shares! Do you sometimes feel this way? I would be lying if I said I didn't. We see what some people did before they came to Christ, and we judge them for it. What if Charles Manson came to Christ? What if Saddam came to Christ? Would we be so quick to accept them as brothers in the Lord?
And how he even knows what the younger son was doing, I do not know. I think he probably just assumed, having known his brother. But even so, it matters not! The major lesson we can learn from this bit of Scripture is that we cannot judge someone on the basis of what they have done before Christ. If they have truly repented and come to Jesus Christ for salvation, they are our brothers. Period.
I challenge you to look at your heart and see if there is any of this in there. Let God search you and remove the offensive way in you.
First he tries appealing to how many years he has worked and how "faithful" he has been to his father's commands. Now, the problem with this is simply that if he has to keep pointing out how he's done "all this work" for "all these years," it means he certainly has not done any of it from his heart, but rather he's done it seeking something. This happens to us whenever we try serving God from our own strength, and not doing it joyfully.
Then he tries attacking the fairness of his father by saying that he never gets anything. This, he says out of jealousy. Had he been thinking clearly, he would possibly have remembered that when the younger son got his share of the wealth, so too did the elder. But at this point, in his anger and jealousy, he does not think of that, but rather that his father never "throws a party" for him. We can get this way whenever we look at what others have, and not what is on our own plate.
Notice also that the elder son never calls his brother "brother." He calls him "this son of yours" to his father. How much hatred he must be harboring in his heart to disavow the familial relationship he shares! Do you sometimes feel this way? I would be lying if I said I didn't. We see what some people did before they came to Christ, and we judge them for it. What if Charles Manson came to Christ? What if Saddam came to Christ? Would we be so quick to accept them as brothers in the Lord?
And how he even knows what the younger son was doing, I do not know. I think he probably just assumed, having known his brother. But even so, it matters not! The major lesson we can learn from this bit of Scripture is that we cannot judge someone on the basis of what they have done before Christ. If they have truly repented and come to Jesus Christ for salvation, they are our brothers. Period.
I challenge you to look at your heart and see if there is any of this in there. Let God search you and remove the offensive way in you.
posted by Charlie | 10:03 AM
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