Good morning everyone and welcome to Cedarcreek church.

For those of you who dont know me, I am Jason, one of the
deacons here at the church. For the last few months, we have
been taking a close look at the story of Jesus through the eyes of
Luke. As you have heard us say repeatedly, Luke was a smart guy
who set out to write a careful account of Jesus life, death, and
resurrection and we have looked at a lot of what he had to say.
Today is our last day in this series on Luke and we are going to
talk about one of his best known storiesthe parable of the
prodigal son. This is one of the passages that is really fun to teach
about. Typically, when we hear this story, we hear about the
returning lost son or the lavish love of God, but today our focus is
going to be more on the older brother, who is probably the one
who we dont think about as much. Actually, today we will talk
about more than just the elder brother, but we will reintroduce
these others as well as we take somewhat of a broader view.
PRAYER
If you have your Bibles, you may want to grab them and turn
with me to Luke 15. Over the course of the morning, we will be
covering the whole chapter.
When you read stories in the Bible, they are always in the
storyline of the whole Bible. When Jesus spoke, his words were
always set in the context of Gods larger plan. The same thing is
true of these three parables or stories in Luke 15. I believe Jesus
shared them when and how he did for very specific purposes.
So first, we have to see who his audience was. The first two
verses tell us that Jesus was hanging out with sinners. Again. It
seems he was always hanging out with the outcasts, the people
church folks didnt approve of. Verse two tells us that the
Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling about Jesus receiving
and eating with these people. (Heres a spoilertodays topic is
responding to the elder brother, the Pharisees are the elder
brothers)
As a reminder, or if you dont know who the Pharisees were,
they were kind of the religious elite of the day. They were strongly

committed to pursuing holiness according to the commandments

given to Moses by God on Mt. Sinai. Pharisee means separated
one and most people assume that the term comes from their
zealously separating themselves from those who were unclean
and upholding a high standard regarding Gods law. They would
commit themselves to strict fasting, tithing, Sabbath observance,
and prayer. They prided themselves on doing this to perfection.
So it was no surprise that they were upset that Jesus was
eating with sinners. If he was actually a teacher of the law, or
rabbi, surely he would know that he was breaking convention by
not separating himself from unclean people. These Pharisees were
not grumbling because they were just mean spirited; they were
grumbling because they believed this guy Jesus was doing serious
harm to the reputation of God by whom he associated with. They
truly desired to see the honor of God upheld and didnt believe he
was doing it right.
Jesus, knowing their hearts, presented these three parables
to his listeners, which included not only the tax collectors and
sinners who were eating with him, but also the scribes and
Pharisees who were grumbling about him. In fact, it seems to me
that it was the Pharisees who were the primary audience for these
stories.
Jesus was so wise with his words. These werent three
randomly chosen stories; Jesus picked them carefully. The first
story is the parable of the lost sheep. (READ Luke 15:3-7). You can
picture Jesus looking around at the men and addressing them
directly. He gives them ownership of what is going on. What
man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of the,
does not leave the 99 in the open country and go looking for the
one that is lost until he finds it? What man of you? He wanted
them to think about what they would do if they experienced the
loss of something valuable. I dont know how many of the
Pharisees were Shepherds, I wouldnt think a lot of them, but I
guess I dont know. They werent religious professionals like
priests or scribes, so its possible they were just religiously zealous

shepherds. Regardless, they would have understood the loss of

something valuable and the need to go looking for it. They would
have identified with his words. They would know what it is to feel
joy over finding something lost. I suspect their brains were
spinning, thinking I think I agree with him, I would rejoice over
finding a lost sheep, but what trick is he playing?
Then Jesus says to them Just so, I tell you, there will be
more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99
righteous persons who have no need of repentance. When Jesus
said this, it kept them off balance. The Scriptures make it
repeatedly clear that the scribes and Pharisees did not approve of
sinners, but I bet they were drawn to the idea of repentance. If
these sinners would just be more like us, then we could accept
them. But Jesus also included that pesky over 99 who have no
need of repentance. They would have identified with that.
Remember, they prided themselves upon their perfection, their
ability to follow the law, their separatedness. They believed they
had no need for repentance and Jesus was using that reality to
get them thinking.
Then Jesus told a second story about a woman who lost a
coin. READ THE STORY. She lost one of the 10 coins she had. Ten
percent. This silver coin was about 2 weeks wages. If you were to
lose your paycheck, there is a pretty good chance you would rip
your house apart looking for it. Anyone here ever lose something
of value? I did. Last year, as a good Financial Peace University
graduate, I brought my dining out envelope on a trip and I lost
it. It had 77 dollars in it. I walked the full length of the Minneapolis
Airport looking for that silly envelope. For 77 dollars.
In the same way that his listeners would have understood
the value of the sheep, they would have understood the loss of
money. It seems that the woman in the story was a little bit
frantic. His hearers would have understood that sense of loss.
They also would have understood the joy of finding it again. Jesus
told his listeners that she called together her friends and they
rejoiced together over finding the coin.

Before moving on to the story of the prodigal son, I want to

highlight a couple of common themes between the first two
stories. In both stories, something of significant value was lost.
Whether it is a wandering sheep, or a misplaced coin, or a lost
homework assignment, or a runaway dognearly everyone has
experienced loss. I would venture to guess that everyone one of
us in this room has experienced the anxiety over something
missing.
The second common point between these first two stories is
that when the lost thing was found, there was significant rejoicing.
I never did find my envelope with 77 dollars, but I have found
things I have lost that have been at least as valuable. A couple of
years ago, I was coming back from a conference on a Sunday and
I was sitting in an airport when Heather called me. She was
weeping and frantic. She had gone to church with the kids and
she had a meeting afterward. When she came out of the meeting,
she could not find our daughter Grace anywhere. Some of you
probably remember that day. They looked all over the church and
grounds and they could not find her. There were rapidly
assembling a search team, the police had been called, and she
had called to me to break the news that our daughter was
missing.
As soon as I was able to make sense of my wifes
understandable frenzy, I cut her off because I knew something
she didnt. Grace had gone for a walk in the woods down the hill
and was down by the river. She couldnt hear anyone calling to
her over the moving water. BUT, amazingly, she had grabbed
Heathers cell phone before she went out for her walk and 3
minutes before Heather called me, Grace had called me just to
visit. I was able to say to Heather, I just talked to Grace. Shes
fine.
Do you know the sense of relief I am talking about? Have you
ever experienced that type of worry over something lost? Have
you ever searched frantically for something so important to you?
Have you ever experienced the sense of relief, of joy, over

something found? The profound sense of relief? Jesus was using

these stories, these parables, to help them connect with that
emotion.
So there was a search for something lost and joy over
something found, but I also want you to see this third component
because I think it is important to where Jesus was headed. If you
look carefully, in both stories, the person called together their
friends and neighbors to share. There is a shared rejoicing. Jesus
is very clear that this is not an isolated rejoicing, but a community
rejoicing. Jesus is about relating, about celebrating in community.
Jesus tells them that this rejoicingthis community rejoicingwill
take place around Gods throne every time someone repents from
their sins.
With these first two stories, Jesus set the stage. He was
speaking through these parables to these grumbling Pharisees. In
each case, he used the story to connect with his hearers. They all
would have understood a sense of loss. They all would have
understood a sense of relief and joy over finding that which was
loss and the desire to share that with others. But then he moved
on to the story of the two sonsthe longest and probably best
known parable in all of the gospels. Although the first two
parables could stand on their own, I think they merely served to
point spotlights on this final parable.
READ THE PARABLE.
Now, because I want to focus more on the response to the
elder brother, I dont want to spend a ton of time on the first parts
of the story, but I think we need to set the stage.
Right off the bat, we learn that the younger brother was
unbelievably brash and self-centered. He went to his father and
said, Give me the share of my property that is coming to me. He
doesnt ask his father. He doesnt provide any reasonable
rationale, he just says, dad, give me the money. It is hard to
overstate how much of an insult this request would have been. It
was essentially as if he said, Dad, you are as good as dead to

me. I want nothing more to do with you, but I do want my share of

the money that Ill get when you are dead.
The Father showed no sense of anger, no bargaining. It
simply says that he divided his property between them. This
would have been a significant sacrifice for the Father, but he does
it. The younger son went off and lived a reckless life. He
squandered all of his inheritance so that he had no money left.
If Jesus would have told this story to church people today, he
would have told of a son who took his fathers money, left home,
and spent it on a party lifestyle of sex and drugs ending up
bruised and battered in a gutter with a needle in his arm smelling
of puke and sweat. This was a hopeless kid.
When all hope seemed to be gone, the younger son began to
wonder what it would be like to go back home, to see if he could
work on as a hired hand for his father. He made the long journey
home, rehearsing his apology again and again to get his wording
just right. How does a son who has basically said, you are as
good as dead to me begin to make amends?
He never made it to the rehearsed speech. The Father, who
apparently had been keeping an eye out for his son spotted him
while he was still a long way off and ran to him. The Father ran to
his son. This would have been an undignified thing for a father of
any stature to do. But the Father had compassion on his son and
could not wait to reunite with him. They embrace and the father
calls upon the servants to bring the best of what he has. His best
clothes. His best jewels. His best shoes. And then he throws a
party. His drug-addled, emaciated, malodorous son has come
home and he can think of nothing better than to throw a
celebration. He orders the fatted calf to be killed and cookeda
sign of a major celebration. This was not just a small gathering,
this would have been a major deal.
Then, we come to the elder brother. In the previous two
parables, there was no elder brother. Jesus did not say that one of
the sheep was really mad when the lost sheep was found. It would
have been absurd to say that one of the coins was upset that the

other was rediscovered. But not in this story. In this story, we

finally meet the elder brother.
Apparently after the party has begun, the older son came in
from the field. He had been working hard. He always worked hard
because thats the kind of person he was. But as he drew near, he
heard music and dancing so he called a servant and said, Hey,
whats going on? The servant said, Your brothers back! Your
dad is throwing a party. But the older brother was angry. So
angry in fact that he refused to go into the party. So the Father
came out to him. Just like with the younger brother, the father
came out to him. He is the one who seeks. He is the one who
pursues his kids. Unlike the younger brother though, the elder
brother wont come in. Hes mad. Hes angry that his loser brother
has come home and dad has welcomed him back without any
consequences.
When his younger brother broke dads heart, he was the one
who had to stay behind. He was the one who had to work extra
hard to make sure dad didnt fall apart. He was the one who never
disobeyed, never strayed, never did anything wrong. In fact, he
said to his dad, 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. And now hes mad
because he got the short end of the stick. All of his good behavior
counted for nothing.
The always loving, always gracious father said to the elder
brother, you are 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. Just as the Father
could have been angry with the younger son, he could have been
with the elder son as well, yet rather, he reminded him of who he
was. He told himyou have always been my son. Everything I
have belongs to you. That has never changed. There is nothing
that can change that. I love you. Youre mine.
But Jesus left the story hanging. We never hear whether the
elder brother went into the party. We dont know if he reconciled

with his brother, or with his father. Jesus left that to the
imaginations of his hearers. I think the reason he left it to their
imaginations was that these parables were directed to the
Pharisees who we read had been grumbling at the beginning of
this story. He wanted to put it into their heads that they would
have to decide, do I come into the celebration with my loving
father, or do I stay outside with my self-righteousness.
This is one of those glorious stories that we could spend
months, even years, pondering. As I said earlier, Jesus was a
master with his words. In this series of stories, he carefully built
his case as to why he was consorting with the sinners. He started
by creating a way for them to see the benefit of seeking the lost,
then he switched to a story about an actual lost person, and
finally left it to them to make the decision for themselves. It is no
wonder that this remains one of the most popular stories in the
Bible.
So weve taken a look at what Jesus is saying in Luke 15.
Now where do we go with it? Let me suggest a few observations.
Before I get to those however, studying the Pharisees is a slippery
slope. I have often said I would like to write a book about
journeying from Pharisaism to freedom in Christ. I say that
because the Pharisees were not just an isolated sect of Hebrews
during Roman times. I suspect the majority, if not all of us, if we
truly search our hearts will see that we are all susceptible to being
elder brothers. We all can wonder how God can show grace to
someone that we dont think is deserving. We can all come to God
with a certain demandingness saying with the elder brother,
Look these many years have I served you So this is not just an
interesting historical lesson, this is for each of us.
Earlier, I suggested that the first two stories were joined by
common themes. First, something of value was lost. Second, that
valuable thing was sought and found which led to significant
rejoicing. Third, the rejoicing takes place in community. And this is
a picture of heaven. The third story has these themes as well.

We already talked about the younger son. When you read

the story of his life, it isnt hard to recognize that he was lost. That
makes sense to us. When we think of Jesus seeking and saving
the lost, hes the kind of person we have in mindsomeone
leading a blatantly sinful life doing all of the things that make
rated R movies restricted. That makes sense to us.
Whats harder to see is that the older brother is also lost. It is
hard to see that self-righteousness is just as effective at keeping
people from God as sex, violence, or drugs. In fact, selfrighteousness is one of the greatest barriers to grace that any of
us face. The elder brother in the story said, I never disobeyed
your command. And heres the thingI suspect he believed it! I
bet the Pharisees really and truly believed they were pulling it off
that they were actually obeying Gods commands.
In fact, for those of us who struggle with being Pharisees, it
becomes real easy to look at our own works as justification for
being a child of the Father. In our prideful moments, when we
think about our behavior, we think Im actually pulling this off. Ive
never murdered anybody. I dont swear. I dont look at porn. Ive
never stolen anything. I go to church every Sunday. I would never
watch Harry Potter. I would never get divorced from my husband.
Fill in your own blank. If youre honest, you have things like this
that you think you are doing pretty well.
Luke 18 is also deals with this self-righteousness. Beginning
at verse 18, there is the story of the rich young ruler who told
Jesus that he had kept all the commands. He believed he had
done it and then Jesus said, okay, go sell everything you have and
give it away and the man was sad. Jesus went after the heart.
Beginning at verse 10, there was a Pharisee praying loudly in
the temple that he is glad he isnt a sinner like the tax collector
and went on to lay out his good behavior. The tax collector cried
for mercy. He was the one justified.
I think Christian perfectionism is a dangerous idea. I have
talked with people who believe that it is possible to be perfect as
a Christianthe right prayer, the right quiet times, the right

church attendanceand eventually you can be perfect. Last fall,

in a teaching I did on joy, Jesus used the Sermon on the Mount to
show us how unattainable the law truly is. It is not simply a
matter of behaving in a certain waywe have to love God and
love others perfectly all the time with the right thoughts, right
emotions, right motivationsforever, or we fail. The only reason
elder brothers can say I never disobeyed your command is
because they havent been crushed by the weight of the law.
The elder brother was also joyless. There was no joy in his
relationship with his father. He put so much emphasis on his
following the fathers rule that he forgot to enjoy the Father. The
Father reminded him that everything was already his, but he was
so busy trying to keep working for the fathers favor that he didnt
realize who he was.
When you spend so much of your time focusing on managing
your life and improving your behavior, you forget to enjoy God.
When you spend so much time analyzing and judging the
behaviors of others, you forget to enjoy them. There is no
celebration.
Several months ago, a good friend of mine said to me,
youve really been on this grace kick for a long time huh? I dont
know whether I said it out loud or not, but I pray to God that I
would never treat his amazing grace as a fad or a kick. The
younger brother in the story was able to come in and celebrate
because he understood the depths of his sin and the heights of
his fathers grace. The older brother could not understand grace.
He lived out of a yes grace, but mindset. Yes, dad, I
understand why you want to be gracious, but he really messed up
badly. He treated you like you were dead.
I hear this all the time from Christians. Yes grace, but. Dont
get too crazy with this grace stuff or people will thumb their noses
at God and do whatever they want. Dont show your kids too
much grace or they will be out of control. Make sure to remind
people that they were saved by grace but they gotta work hard
now to stay in a state of grace.

How joyless! When you live under the constant fear of the
other shoe dropping you are going to be reluctant to celebrate. All
you can hope is that you hold it together long enough to make it
to heaven. Where is the joy in that? We have a savior who came
to seek and save the lost lost because we absolutely could not do
it on our own. Thats a cause for joy.
Finally, in the first two stories, the finder celebrated together
with his friends and neighbors. In this last story, the elder brother
refused to go in and celebrate. In his self-centeredness, in his selfrighteousness, he was willing to miss the party of a lifetime.
One of the truths of understanding the Trinity, is that God is
an eternal celebration of three personsfather, son, and spiritin
one. God is a holy party. Our God is a deeply relational God and I
think one of the most important things Jesus was driving home
with this story was that the Father is deeply relational and that he
longs to celebrate together with all who would come to him.
Perhaps one of the most important reasons God celebrates over
finding just one who was lost is because of restored relationship.
So the final message to our inner elder brothers is that we
need to ask are we fostering relationships with people? Are we
seeking to love others with an other centeredness or are we
seeking to only prop ourselves up and look out for our own needs.
In John 13:34, Jesus tells his disciples, a new commandment I
give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you,
so you are to love one another. God sent his son to earth to
reconcile relationships, with himself and with one another. When
he came to seek and save the lost, he came to bring straying
sheep back into the fold, to celebrate with his younger brother, to
restore relationship.
So whether you are a younger brother or an elder brother,
God is seeking after your heart. He sent his son to seek and save
those who are lost, both rebels and Pharisees. Jesus tells us that
there will be much joy in heaven over just one sinner who
repents, who decides to risk it and enter Gods party. Hes inviting
you. Will you come?