2016-04-24 Luke 15:25-32 Two Kinds of Prodigal (6): It's What's Inside That Counts

TWO KINDS OF PRODIGAL (6): IT’S WHAT’S INSIDE THAT COUNTS (Luke 15:25-32) Intro – (Read Lu 15:25-32). Harvey had just turned 110. A reporter asked, “How do you explain your longevity?” Harve replied, “I’m a health nut. I never smoked, never drank. Always in bed by 10:00. Walked 3 miles every day.” The reporter said, “Funny, I had an uncle who did the same exact routine and he died at 58. How come it didn’t work for him?” Harve replied, “I guess he just didn’t keep it up long enough!” The same is true with regard to working your way to heaven. Try forever, but it’ll never work. That’s because it’s not about good works; it’s about good news. Four items are lost in Luke 15. The first 3 are obvious; the fourth is not. In previous parables we’ve seen the lost sheep and the lost coin. The emphasis in those stories is that God seeks lost people. Then comes the parable of the prodigal son. It’s obvious that the young man who squanders his inheritance is lost. But Jesus gives as much attention to the elder brother as to the younger. Why? Because he is also lost. He is lost at home. He is even more lost than the younger boy – because he does not know he is lost! He has never strayed. He has done everything right. When he says in v. 29, “Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command,” he is not kidding. And yet he is just as lost as his brother. He has no more relationship with the Father than his brother. His brother was physically in a far country; he was spiritually in a far country. The younger brother is condemned by breaking the law; the elder brother is condemned by keeping the law. The younger brother comes to his senses and is saved. But the fate of the elder brother is left hanging. The younger brother represents the tax collectors and outcasts who repent and are saved. But the elder brother represents the scribes and Pharisees who have no repentance in them; who thought they did not need Jesus; who thought their supreme efforts to keep the law would qualify them for the kingdom. They failed to acknowledge that good was not good enough. So once more, by means of this parable illustrating their pride and selfcenteredness, Jesus invites them to renounce self and turn to Him. Will they? The parable leaves the question open. It’s a parable without an ending making clear that it is now over to these legalists to make their decision. That makes this part of the parable critical to us as well. The elder bro is us! We’ve done things we’re not proud of, but we are not the outward rebels who shake their fist defiantly in God’s face. We’re the church-goers. We’re doing 1 our best. We are apt to be the Pharisees who are condemned by keeping the law rather than by breaking it. So let’s ask, “Could this be me? Do I think I’m good enough God can’t say No? Or have I turned to God by grace through faith alone? Who am I? That’s the question. Six characteristics of the elder bro will help us identify if he is us. In that time, it was almost a capital offense to shame one’s family. That is what made the 2nd son’s actions so reprehensible. But he has repented. He has returned to the fold; and thru no merit of his own, he has asked for and received forgiveness. But the elder brother who did everything right is now the one who brings ultimate shame on himself and his family. Let’s see how. I. Shamefully Rebellious This is not immediately obvious. The young son’s rebellion is unmistakable. The whole neighborhood sees his defiance. That of the elder brother is much more subtle. At first glance you would never see it. It is inward rather than outward. The problem is, It’s what’s inside that counts! He’s just found out what all the commotion is – a party for his idiot brother who is back. Will he join the celebration? V. “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.” The father is just as gracious with his elder son as with his younger. He begs him to join the festivities. But this time he is met with stone-cold resistance. The inward rebellion that has lain dormant just below the surface all these years comes spewing forth – and the elder brother is revealed for what he is by his own words – a shameful ingrate, working only for his own advancement, caring nothing for father or brother or anyone but himself. The monster comes out. The elder brother went through all the right motions. He was considered a paragon of virtue by those around him. But he makes two telling comments – two exclamations that signal self-righteousness like a red flag. V. 29, “Look, these many years I have served you”. The word “served” is δουλευω – slaved. I slaved for you. The young prodigal had no relationship with his father, but neither did the elder brother. When the father planned the party, he made no attempt to involve the elder brother. Why? No relationship. And now we see why. “I have slaved for you.” There was no love in this relationship. He only worked for what he could get. He thought he must work to earn the father’s favor. He never thought to labor because he already had the father’s favor. 2 He represents many who will stand before Jesus one day and say, “Look, these many years I have served you.” “I slaved all my life for you, to earn your good graces, and now you are telling me it’s not good enough?!” And Jesus will say, “Not true. I told you long ago it would not be good enough. Surely you knew Rom 3:23, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” You memorized it in church! Were you not listening? Surely you read Rom 10:11, “No one seeks for God.” How could you have missed Isa 64:6, “all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment”? I’m not telling you now! I told you then. I warned you long ago in Mt 7:22, “On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ Well, folks, that day has arrived. And I don’t know you. It was never about the good works you could do for me; it was always about the good news of what I did for you. And you rejected the good news. Your good works have condemned you.” That’s the first phrase of inward rebellion: “Look, these many years I have slaved for you.” How about the second? The 2nd follows immediately in v. 29: “I never disobeyed your command.” Really?! Never?! “Well, okay, maybe once in awhile, but never more than anyone else, and less than most. I never disobeyed your command.” “Really, not even in your heart? Hearts count, you know.” Elder brothers. They look great on the outside; they’re a toxic waste dump inside – filled with resentment, anger, and bitterness. In their heart of hearts they know they have disobeyed and they are livid that God will not accept their good intentions. The self-righteous are rebels with a cause – the cause of being their own savior. And it simply will not do. Jesus was more direct later with these Pharisees in Mt 23: 25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.” You may be blameless outwardly, but hell burns inside. A father was teaching his son what a Christian should be. When the lesson was over, the father got his own lesson when the little boy asked, “Dad, have I ever met one of these Christians?” Jesus’ point in the parable was that the elder brother’s true colors came out when it was time to celebrate someone’s return. The inner rebellion of his heart was shown by his bitter reaction. So we must ask who am I – not on the outside, but on the inside? 3 II. Shamefully Obedient Sounds like an oxymoron, doesn’t it? How can obedience be shameful? The answer is in v. 29: “Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command.” When is obedience shameful? When it’s done out of a sense of slavery. That was the heart of the elder brother’s problem. He obeyed, but he hated every minute of it. His selfish, manipulative attitude undid any good he ever did. He was only in it for what he could get out of it – and you can bet he was cutting corners at every opportunity. While he seemed to be doing the right things, his obedience was a shame to both his father and himself. Everyone knew there was no relationship, no love, no caring – only someone going thru the motions with a grudging attitude to get a reward. This man’s supposed obedience symbolizes the Pharisee’s attempts to earn heaven by works. It is a dreary affair. And it is a useless affair. Shameful obedience leads to nothing. Good works are great to show love for a Father who has already saved us by faith. They are useless to earn His favor. There is a great story about Alexander Pope, the British poet (1688-1744). While lying on his deathbed, the doctor assured him that his breathing was easier, his pulse steadier, and anything else encouraging he could think of to say. Showing he hadn’t lost his sense of humor, Pope turned to a friend and said, “Here am I, dying of a hundred good symptoms.” That’s the elder brother, Beloved. Shamefully obedient – doing his level best – but in the end dying of a hundred good symptoms because in the end his best will never be good enough. It’s death by doing instead of life for the taking. III. Shamefully angry 28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him.” He won’t go in; he refuses his father’s gracious invitation. Why? Because he is angry at grace. It kills him that Dad is celebrating his undeserving but repentant brother. Pure grace. Legalism has no use for grace. Grace angers legalism. Legalism can’t stand to see someone accepted back unconditionally who has violated every law of God. But it is a shameful anger. It is anger at God’s grace. It is anger that depreciates the death of God’s Son that gives God the right to forgive those who turn to Him no matter their past. Anger is a key feature of elder-brother lostness. A good sign of an elderbrother attitude is that when your life doesn’t go the way you think it should you become deeply angry and bitter. We’ll see this more next week, but here 4 is what elder brothers believe. They believe if they live a good life, they will get a good life. God owes them for trying hard. When things go wrong, and someone less deserving is getting a better deal – they become bitter. And when the bad news comes: “We’ve arrested your son on drug charges.” “Aunt Mary left all her money to the dog.” “It’s cancer.” “I’m sorry, we did all we could.” “Your life savings were in that fund that went belly up yesterday.” When the bad news comes, bitterness floods their soul and not only do they not accept the Father’s invitation to the party, they hate the Father. And why not? He is refusing to accept their best. Thomas Fuller, an old Puritan, said: "Be soonest angry with thyself." Selfcentered anger points the finger outward first, but God-centered anger points inward. Self-centered anger is proud; God-centered anger is humble. Selfcentered anger shakes its fist at God and asks, "Who are you?" God-centered anger looks at the heart and asks, "Who am I?" Until you first feel the grief and the anger over your own imperfections, you better be careful at itemizing God’s imperfections. Our anger must always be far more fierce over our own sin than over what we perceive to be God’s. Charles De Gaulle once said: “When I am right, I get angry. Churchill gets angry when he is wrong. So we were very often angry at each other.” That describes the elder brother perfectly. Thinking he is right and God is wrong he gets angry. Shamefully angry. IV. Shamefully Joyless With all that as background, is it any wonder that the elder brother is shamefully joyless. His whole eternal existence depends on being a little bit better than anyone else, so naturally he is not going to enjoy the Father’s grace to someone he considers his inferior. Elder brothers are naturally joyless. They are critical and mean-spirited – always picking to find the mistakes of others. Determined to pad their assets thru the faults of those around them. Perhaps you don’t find much joy in your life this morning. It may be because you are an elder brother. You can’t be joyful because you are never sure your good is good enough. And yet, you hang onto that goodness. You protest that you have done your absolute best. To hear that the Father might say, “It’s not good enough,” grates on your whole being. When the preacher quotes Isa 53:6, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way,” the anger flares up. When God says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” you are ready to boil over. You are mad right now 5 as you hear those words one more time. Why? What’s wrong? Elder brother lostness. But here is what you are missing. Please listen. What you are missing is that God isn’t saying those words to condemn you. He is saying them to get you to abandon your own efforts and throw yourself on His mercy where you can find forgiveness, acceptance, life and joy and peace. He is saying them because He loves and wants you. It’s His invitation to the party. But you have to decide – go in or stay out? Broad road or narrow road? Life or death? Elder brother joylessness is a hard way to live. Elder brothers are like the psychologist who had a patient run in one day – a guy who could never do anything right. He said, “Doc, I’m not a loser anymore.” The Doc said, “What makes you think that?” He said, “Well, I dropped an English muffin on the floor, and it landed butter side up. I’ve never had something like that happen. I’m not a loser anymore.” The Doc said, “Not so fast. You’re not there yet. You buttered it on the wrong side.” Elder brother joylessness. They have no joy, and they don’t want anyone else to have any joy. But it’s likely they have no joy because they have no Savior. Conc – Elder brothers – look great on the outside, but they are poison on the inside because they don’t really have Christ. There is a great story about James Thurber, the author. One night he attended a party after he had lost his eyesight late in life. As a certain couple departed, Thurber remarked to his host, “They’re going to break up.” The host was taken aback. He said, “That’s not possible. I’ve never seen such friendliness and smiling and attention to each other.” Thurber replied, “Yes, you saw them. I heard them.” Six months later the couple separated. What Thurber heard was the beginning of the toxins inside working their way to the surface where they eventually overwhelmed the outward appearance. So it is with elder brothers everywhere. Sooner or later what is inside will come out and destroy the outward façade. It’s not about good works; it’s about the good news of a Savior who remakes us from the inside out if we just ask. Let’s pray. 6