Sessions 1-3 / 54 minutes. Session 1 / 12 minutes. My Title Is The Prodigal Son. ... I consider it an honor and a privilege to be here before you. I pray that your knowledge and faith might be strengthened. I would like to take a moment to speak on the inspiration for this message. My wife drug me into a book store. Generally I decide what books I want and I order them on line. While I was waiting for her to do her book shopping I found myself listening to a conversation between the salesman and a customer who wanted a book, for the parable of the Prodigal Son, for a speech that she was about to deliver. The salesman's response convicted me. His response was, when a writer writes a book, he means what he says. He puts a lot of work into how he expresses his thoughts. When we take his text, and say this is what his text means to me, and then go on to explain what the text means to us, we do a disservice to the writer. Particularly, when we do this without giving due consideration to what the writer said, the text meant to him. In this case the writer is Jesus. After reading the book, the salesman's meaning, leaped off the pages. Make no mistake, I am not saying that this is what Jesuses' text meant to the author of the book. After all what makes the author an authority. After reading the book I know that this is what Jesus's text meant to Jesus. A quote from Jesus is "He who receives him that I sent, receives me". Jesus sent the author, Timothy Keller, at least relative to his knowledge on this parable. Knowledge discovered is far more powerful then knowledge given. Keller was not a lazy reader. He had to prayerfully work to get the understanding from the parable that he received. This message will be taken from Luke 15, which is commonly referred to as, the Parable Of The Prodical Son. I have divided this parable up into five sessions of a two part series. Today I will address sessions one through three. I hope to shine some light on what the author, Jesus, ment by this parable. Particularly, what contributions the elder son brings to the story, which is almost always left out of interpretations of the parable. The title of this session one of this parable is: The People Around Jesus. - My text is taken from Luke 15, 1 to 10. First I will introduce the text. Luke 15 begins with the religious leaders noticing something, that Jesus seems to attract and befriend "tax collectors and sinners," moral outcasts of respectable society. We reed in verse 2 that they "mutter" to one another about this. We can almost imagine them saying: "He welcomes sinners! This kind of person never comes to our meetings. This must be because he is telling them what they want to hear. He is not calling them to repent or change." In response, Jesus tells them three parables. By listening carefully to all three parables, and especially to the last one, traditionally called The Parable of the Prodigal Son, Jesus challenges his listeners' fundamental assumptions about God, sin, and salvation. He gives them an entirely new way of thinking about God, themselves, and the whole world. Now we will look at the first two of these parables. Let us notice three sets of characters: 1) the unwilling listeners, 2) the lost things, and 3) the joyful seekers. -- The First Set Of Characters, Of This Session "People Around Jesus", Is:... The unwilling listeners. Let us turn to Luke 15, 1 to 3. - Here begineth the reading of God's Holy Word. -Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. -And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. -And he spake this parable unto them, saying, - Here endeth the reading of God's Holy Word. • There are two groups of people around Jesus, tax collectors and sinners are one group, and Pharisees and the teachers of the law are the other group. • The religious group is especially offended that Jesus eats with sinners. Table fellowship was considered a sign of acceptance and friendship. How, they thought, can he be so open to them? Doesn't he realize that they are the "bad people", who are the real trouble with the world? (And, therefore, that we are the "good guys"?) • Jesus does not give a direct answer. Instead, he responds with three stories or parables. It is important to realize that these parables were not spoken in a vacuum. The purpose of all three parables was to challenge the Pharisees' point of view. • When we get to the final parable, we will realize that both groups of people, "sinners" and "religious people", are actually in the parable. That is why the last story, the story of the prodigal son, is Jesus's final answer. But that is to come later. For now, let's notice how he begins to challenge the Pharisees' attitude, and categories of thought, in the first two stories. -- The Second Set Of Characters, Of This Session, "People Around Jesus", Is:... The lost things. Let us look at verses 4 to 5, and 8. - Here begineth the reading of God's Holy Word. -What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? -And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. -Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it? - Here endeth the reading of God's Holy Word. First, Jesus confronts their categories about sin. • In the parable of the lost sheep, the shepherd goes out to find the sheep. A sheep is a stupid animal that is completely helpless when lost. In the second parable the lost object is a coin, even more incapable of finding its way home. • The three lost "objects", the sheep, the coin, and (in verses 11 to 32) the son, all represent people who are spiritually lost, far from God. This is Jesus characterizing the people, the Pharisees view as "sinners." They are lost, yet they are lost in quite different ways. The sheep is lost through foolishness, the coin through thoughtlessness, and the son through willfulness. • Taken together, this is a multi-dimensional view of sin. • Here is an example. Mr. Smith has a problem with abusive anger, he often flies off the handle and is verbally abusive and sometimes physically so. Why? • Is his problem genetic? Is it a matter of brain chemistry? Is it just part of his inborn nature, as in the example of the sheep? • Or is his problem the result of a bad environment? Perhaps the result of poor parenting and family life? Was he, like the coin, mismanaged by his "supervisors"? • Or does his problem stem from selfishness and pride, as with the prodigal son? The answer is that usually, in varying degrees, it is all of the above. • Sin is deeply complex. It is inborn in you, it is magnified by sinful treatment, and it is deepened and shaped by your own choices. Jesus's view, of sin is more comprehensive and multi-dimensional than that of many psychologists, sociologists, and many religious leaders. It is certainly more comprehensive than the view held by the Pharisees listening to him. -- The Third Set Of Characters, Of This Session "People Around Jesus", Is:... The joyful seekers. Let us look at verses 6 to 7, and 9 to 10. - Here begineth the reading of God's Holy Word. -And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. -I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance. -And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost. -Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth. - Here endeth the reading of God's Holy Word. Here, Jesus confronts their categories about salvation. • Most people think of religion as "humanity's search for God." We like to think of ourselves as spiritual seekers, as honest inquirers. We look at the religions of the world and, while giving somewhat different directions about how to do so, they all seem to agree that if we sincerely search for God we will find him. Millions of people the world over believe that by believing and obeying God's law in the Bible, they can find God. • The problem is that anyone who feels they have searched for and found God will naturally disdain those who seem to be making no effort at all. They will look at "sinners" and say, "I found God! If you try, you can. I did." • But the Biblical gospel turns this idea on its head. The shepherd, whom Jesus obviously identifies with, must go out to seek and to save that which is lost. For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost (Luke 19 to 10). Likewise the coin cannot search and find its owner, the owner finds the coin. • And here is the first great blow to the world's categories. Every other religion says that we can search for and find God if we try hard enough. Only Christianity says, no, God had to come down into the world to seek and save us. Salvation must be by his grace, not our achievement. • The end of each parable challenges not just the categories of the Pharisees, but their heart and attitude. A theme through all three parables is, the joy of finding the lost. God does not look at spiritually lost people the way the Pharisees do. Because the Pharisees do not see themselves as lost sinners saved by grace. They disdain "sinners". They feel superior to them. But heaven rejoices when "sinners" are reached and found. • Jesus is the Great Shepherd, even more joyful than the shepherd of the parable. Jesus knew that he would have to die to bring the lost home, but "for the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame" (Hebrews. 12 to 2). In conclusion of session one, and in other words, the joy he had in doing his Father's will, and the joy he had in finding us, was so great that he was willing to endure the cross. This is Session 2. The title of this session two of this parable is: Give Me My Share. My text is taken from Luke 15 to 12, and 20 to 24. First I will introduce the text. The third of Jesus' three parables is the longest and most famous. It is a story about a family, a father, an older son, and a younger son. The story begins when the younger son comes to the father and says, "Give me my share of the estate." In ancient times, when the father died, the oldest son always got "a double portion" of what any other child got. If there are two sons, the older would get two-thirds of the estate and so the younger would get one-third. So the story opens with the younger son asking for his one-third share of the inheritance. Let us look at: 1) the meaning of the request, 2) the response to that request, and 3) what difference it makes for us. -- The First Issue In This Session "Give Me My Share", Is:...The meaning of the request. Let us look at verses 11 to 12. - Here begineth the reading of God's Holy Word. -And he said, A certain man had two sons: -And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. - Here endeth the reading of God's Holy Word. • The younger son's request was stunning, because the inheritance, of course, was not divided up and distributed to the children until the father died. • As Kenneth Bailey writes: "In Middle Eastern culture, to ask for the inheritance while the Father is alive, is to wish him dead." • The request would therefore have been a disgrace to the family name, because of the younger son's extraordinary disrespect for his father. It would have also been a blow to the economic standing of the family, since the father would have to sell part of his estate in order to give him his share. • In short, this request ripped the family apart. It was a relational and economic act of violence against the family's integrity. • Why would the younger son make such a request? • Here is a theory of why we do what we do, and especially why we sin. Here is an observation: "A man has murdered another man, what was his motive? Either he desired his wife or his property or else he would steal to support himself; or else he was afraid of losing something to him; or else, having been injured, he was burning to be revenged." Even a murderer murders because he loves something. He loves romance, or wealth or his reputation or something else too much, or more than God, and that is why he murders. Our hearts are distorted by "disordered loves." We love, rest our hearts in, and look to things to give us the joy and meaning that only the Lord can give. • The younger son may have lived with his father and may even have obeyed his father, but he did not love his father. The thing he loved, ultimately, was his father's things, not his father. His heart was set on the wealth and on the comfort, freedom and status that wealth brings. His father was just a means to an end. Now, however, his patience was over. He knew that the request would be like a knife in his father's heart, but he obviously did not care. • Here is a great irony, which we will return to later. • The two sons look very different, on the surface. One runs off and lives a dessolute life, one stays home and obeys and serves his father. • Yet at the end, the older son is furious with the father, and humiliates him, by refusing to go into the great feast. This is the older son's way of saying that he will not live in the same family with the younger son. So again the family's integrity, and the father's heart are under assault, this time by the elder brother. • Why? The elder brother objects to the expense of what the father is doing, as we will see. He shows that he has been obeying the father to get his things, and not because he loves him, since he is willing to put him to shame. Both the older and younger sons love the father's things, but not the father. -- The Second Issue In This Session "Give Me My Share", Is:... The response to the request. Let us look at verses 12, 20 to 24. - Here begineth the reading of God's Holy Word. -And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. -And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. -And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. -But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: -And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: -For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. - Here endeth the reading of God's Holy Word. • The younger son's request to the father would have shocked Jesus' listeners, but the father's response is even more remarkable. This was a patriarchal society, in which you were required to show respect and reverence toward those older or above you. This kind of contempt and insolence would have ordinarily met with outrage. The listeners would expect the father to explode in wrath, to drive the son out with blows. • Instead, we read the simple words, "so he divided his property between them." We need to put ourselves into the historical context. In those days, most of a family's wealth was in their land and property. Indeed, their family land was part of their very identity. It is likely that the father had to sell some of his land in order to become "liquid" and give his younger son his share. • This is reflected in the unusual Greek word for living used in verse 12 translated as "property." It is the word "bios" which means "life." It says, literally, he divided his "life" between them. Why use that word? Probably it was a way to convey what it felt like for the father to lose his land, his family's good name and status, and the presence of one of his two sons. The father is being asked to tear his very life apart, and he does. • The older son and anyone else in the community would have thought that the father was being foolish to give in to the younger son's request. But looking back, we know better. If the father had become embittered, and had perhaps beaten the young man or done something else severe to him, no restoration would have ever happened. The father's heart would have been too hardened to ever receive him back, and the son may never have expected or wanted the father to do so. • By bearing the agony and pain of the son's sin himself, instead of taking revenge, instead of paying the son back by inflicting pain on him, the father kept the door open in the relationship. The father was willing to suffer for the sin of the child, so that some day reconciliation would be possible. -- The Third Issue In This Session "Give Me My Share", Is:... What difference it makes for us. • First, it means that whether we are ir-religious, free-wheeling, "younger brother" types or moral, religious "elder brother" types, we have a problem with, what is sometimes called, "idols of the heart. • For example, imagine a wife who has a husband who spends hours with another woman talking about all his and her problems, and he goes traveling with this other woman, and talks and thinks about her incessantly. So the wife confronts her husband and he says, "What's the problem? I married you, didn't I? I pay the mortgage, don't I? I do all my duties, don't I? If someone asks, I say you are my wife. Why are you so upset?" The wife will say (rightly) that someone else has captured his heart and imagination. • Many of us are like the elder brother. We may obey all the rules, but our real heart and passion is something else, our career, or making money, or our children, or peer acceptance. If any thing has a controlling position in our heart, if any thing is more important to our happiness than God, then that thing is a "god" to us, an "idol of the heart." • Recognize these things for what they are. Do you see them in your own heart and life? Once we see these things for what they are, what can be done about them? • Second, it means that our Lord has done for us what the father in the parable did for his son. • When God came into this world, we would have expected him to come in wrath, to appear and drive us out with blows. But he did not. He didn't come with a sword in his hand, but with nails in his hands. He didn't come to bring judgment, but to bear our judgment. • Jesus went to the cross in weakness, and there, voluntarily, his life was literally torn apart. And for his only property left, his garment, they cast lots. But he did it so that, when we repent, like the younger son, forgiveness and reconciliation is now available. • And how does this help us with our "disordered loves"? Objectively, it means there is real, true forgiveness for them. Our guilt is dealt with by Jesus' blood. Subjectively, when we see the absolute beauty of what Jesus has done for us, it captures our hearts. Money can not die for us, popularity can not die for us. There is nothing more beautiful in all of reality than the picture of a perfectly happy Being, leaving all the bliss of heaven, and sacrificing everything for the sake of rebellious, undeserving, ungrateful people. The more you look at Jesus doing that, the more you will love him above anyone or anything else. He will capture your heart so that nothing matters more than he does. In conclusion of session two, when you see what he has done for you, it makes the worst times bearable and the best times leavable. Session 3. The title of this session three of this parable is: The Elder Brother My text is taken from Luke 15, 25 to 32. Let me introduce the text. Now this is the part that I want to lift up. Most people who read and study The Parable of the Prodigal Son concentrate completely on the character of the younger son, his repentance, and the father's forgiveness. And yet look at the text. It doesn't end with the return of the prodigal. Almost half of the story is about the older son. The story is about two sons, who are both alienated from the father, who are both assaulting the unity of the family. Jesus wants us to compare and contrast them. The younger son is "lost", that is easy to see. We see him shaming his father, ruining his family, sleeping with prostitutes, and we say, "yes, there's someone who is spiritually lost." But Jesus' point is that the older son is lost too. Let us learn from the text: 1) a startling new understanding of lostness, 2) what the signs of it are (so we can recognize it in ourselves), and 3) what we can do about this condition. -- The First Issue In This Session "The Elder Brother" Is:... A startling new understanding of lostness. Let us look at verses 25 to 28. Emphasis on verse 28. - Here begineth the reading of God's Holy Word. -Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing. -And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. -And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound. -And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and entreated him. - Here endeth the reading of God's Holy Word. • The elder brother would have known that the day of the prodigal's return was the greatest day in his father's life. • The father has "killed the fattened calf", a very expensive luxury in a culture, where even having meat at meals was considered a delicacy. • The older son realized his father was ecstatic with joy. Yet he refused to go into the biggest feast his father has ever put on. This was a remarkable, deliberate act of disrespect. It was his way of saying, "I will not be part of this family nor respect your headship of it." • And the father had to "go out" to plead with him. Just as he went out to bring his alienated younger son into the family, now he had to do the same for the older brother. • Do you realize what Jesus is saying to his listeners, and to us? The older son is lost. • The father represents God himself, and the meal is the feast of salvation. In the end, then, the younger son, the immoral man, comes in and is saved, but the older son, the good son, refuses to go in and is lost. • The Pharisees who were listening to this parable knew what that meant. It was a complete reversal of everything they believed. You can almost hear them gasp as the story ends. • And what is it that is keeping the elder brother out? It is because: "All these years I have been slaveing for you and never disobeyed." (verse 29). The good son is not lost in spite of his good behavior, but because of his good behavior. So it is not his sin keeping him out, but his self-righteousness. • Why is the older son lost? • The younger brother wanted the father's wealth, but not the father. So how did he get what he wanted? He left home. He broke the moral rules. • But it becomes evident by the end, that the elder brother also wanted selfish control of the father's wealth. He was very unhappy with the father's use of the possessions, the robe, the ring, the calf. But while the younger brother got control by taking his stuff and running away, we see that the elder brother got control by staying home and being very good. He felt that now he has the right to tell the father what to do with his possessions because he had obeyed him perfectly. • So there are two ways to be your own Savior and Lord. • One is by breaking all the laws and being bad. The other, is by keeping all the laws and being good. • If I can be so good that God has to answer my prayer, give me a good life, and take me to heaven, then in all I do, I may be looking to Jesus to be my helper and my rewarder, but he isn't my Savior. I am then my own Savior. • The difference between a religious person and a true Christian is that the religious person obeys God to get control over God, and things from God, but the Christian obeys just to get God, just to love and please and draw closer to him. -- The Second Issue In This Session "The Elder Brother" Is:... What the signs of this lostness are. Let us look at verses 29 to 30. - Here begineth the reading of God's Holy Word. -And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends: -But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. - Here endeth the reading of God's Holy Word. Some people are complete elder brothers. They go to church and obey the Bible, but out of expectation, that then God owes them. They have never understood the Biblical gospel at all. But many Christians, who know the gospel, are nonetheless elder-brotherish. Despite the fact that they know the gospel of salvation by grace with their heads, their hearts go back to an elder-brotherish "default mode" of self-salvation. Here is what the elder-brotherish attitude looks like. It is: • A deep anger ("And he was angry, and would not go in"). Elder brothers believe that God owes them a comfortable and good life if they try hard and live up to standards, and they have! So they say: "my life ought to be going really well!" and when it does not they get angry. But they are forgetting Jesus. He lived a better life than any of us, but suffered terribly. • A joyless and mechanical obedience ("I have been slaveing for you"). Elder brothers obey God as a means to an end, as a way to get the things they really love. Of course, obedience to God is sometimes extremely hard. But elder brothers find obedience virtually always a joyless, mechanical, slavish thing as a result. • A coldness to younger brother-types ("this son of yours"). The older son will not even "own" his brother. Elder brothers are too disdainful of others unlike themselves to be effective in evangelism. Elder brothers, who pride themselves on their doctrinal and moral purity, unavoidably feel superior to those who do not have these things. • A lack of assurance of the father's love ("you never threw me a party). As long as you are trying to earn your salvation by controlling God through your goodness, you will never be sure you have been good enough. What are the signs of this? Every time something goes wrong in your life you wonder if it is a punishment. Another sign is ir-resolvable guilt. You can not be sure you have repented deeply enough, so you beat yourself up over what you did. Lastly, there is a lack of any sense of intimacy with God in your prayer life. You may pray a lot of prayers asking for things, but not sense his love. • An unforgiving, judgmental spirit . The elder brother does not want the father to forgive the younger brother. It is impossible to forgive someone if you feel "I would never do anything that bad!" You have to be something of an elder brother to refuse to forgive. -- The Third Issue In This Session "The Elder Brother" Is:... What we can do about this spiritual condition. Let us look at verses 31 to 32. - Here begineth the reading of God's Holy Word. -And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. -It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found. - Here endeth the reading of God's Holy Word. • First, we have to see the uniqueness of the gospel. • Jesus ends the parable with the lostness of the older brother in order to get across the point that it is a more dangerous spiritual condition. The younger brother knew he was alienated from the father, but the elder brother did not. • If you tell moral, religious people who are trying to be good, trying to obey the Bible so God will bless them, that they are alienated from God, they will just be offended. If you know you are sick you may go to a doctor; if you do not know you are sick you will not, you will just die. • Moralistic religion works on the principle, "I obey, therefore God accepts me." The gospel works on the principle, "I am accepted by God through Jesus Christ, therefore I obey." • These are two radically different, even opposite, dynamics. Yet both sets of people sit in church together, both pray, both obey the Ten Commandments, but for radically different reasons. And because they do these things for radically different reasons, they produce radically different results, different kinds of character. One produces anger, joyless compliance, superiority, insecurity, and a condemning spirit. The other slowly but inevitably produces contentment, joy, humility, poise, and a forgiving spirit. • John 14:15 says "If ye love me, keep my commandments." Is this saying, if you keep my commandments that will cause you to love me? No! This was not the case with the elder brother? The elder brother did not love his father, although he kept his father's commandments (All these years I have been slaveing for you and never disobeyed). The elder brother loved the father's things. On the other hand is John 14:15 saying if you love me, it will cause you to keep my commandments. Yes! Which comes first, the chicken or the egg. Which comes first loving me, or keeping my commandments? This parable is saying that loving me comes first. The way that many Christians have interpreted this verse is an example of spiritual dyslexia, (that is a disorder, that can cause a seeming reversal of words when reading). Jesus did not say that keeping his commandments would cause us to love him, but rather loving Him would cause us to keep His commandments. The elder son kept the father's commandments. • If you call younger brothers to receive Christ and live for him without making this distinction clear, they will automatically think you are inviting them to become elder brothers. • Second, we have to see the vulnerability of Jesus. • Remember, again, whom Jesus is speaking to. Jesus is speaking to his mortal enemies, the men he knows will kill him. On the one hand, this is an astonishingly bold challenge to them. He is talking to those who want to kill him and telling them that they are lost, that they misunderstand God's salvation and purpose in the world. • But at the same time, he is also being so loving and tender. When the father comes out to the older brother, that is Jesus pleading with his enemies. He is urging them to see their fatal error. Jesus does not scream at his enemies, or smite them, but lovingly urges them to repent and come into his love. • And so we have a foreshadowing of that great moment on the cross when he says, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing". This love toward his enemies made him vulnerable and cost him his life. On the cross, instead of blasting his enemies, he lovingly took the penalty of their sins on himself. While we were his enemies, Christ died for us. • Knowing what he did for us must drain us of our self-righteousness and our insecurity. We were so sinful he had to die for us. But we were so loved that he was glad to die for us. In conclusion, that takes away both the pride and the fear that makes us elder brothers.