Month: September 2023

A week or so ago I did a QT post on the Prodigal Son. I had mentioned I would do another post on the Older Brother, so here is that synopsis.

‘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.  But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ Luke 15:29-30 [ESV]

There has always been a lot of focus on the younger brother who returned to his father’s house after years of worldly partying and waste leading to homelessness and poverty. However, the story of the Older Brother is just as important for us to pay attention to.

Quick Recap:

When the younger son came home the older brother was in the fields working. When older brother came in from work and neared the house, he could hear the partying, music, and joyous celebration. In this case the party was not the focus because it is clear from the story that this was something that was out of the ordinary.

When the older brother heard that it was celebration for his returned brother, he became angry and resentful…even to the point of not participating in the festivities. His father pleaded with him to come and rejoice at the return of his lost but now found, brother. His response to his father (as stated in the verses above) was one of entitlement and expectation to be rewarded in the same way for his years of dedicated service and labor. His assertion was – why do you reward a son that has hurt you so badly and squandered what he had been given. For all the service and dedication, the older brother had endured, he was not recognized with even a goat killed so he could feast with his friends. [Interesting to me that the older brother was more concerned about celebrating with his friends rather than his own father.

Additionally, the older brother took aim at the past behavior of the younger brother bringing up his actions and mistreatment of his father.

The father then reminds the son of everything he had available to him all those years the younger son was gone…equal ownership of everything the father had and a constant closeness and covering he enjoyed with him.

The father then says that they HAD to celebrate the return because the younger son was once lost, but now is found…dead and now alive.

Application:

Dedication to service of the Lord does not set a person above or higher than the worst sinner who turns to God in their brokenness over their sinfulness.

Pride, selfishness, and entitlement lead to bitterness and resentment when a confessed Christian feels envy over the Lord’s obvious lavishing of His grace and mercy on a repentant sinner who is perceived to have not earned the Lord’s favor. Truth of the matter is that we are all worthy of death and eternal punishment for our sinful hearts regardless of our self-righteousness.

God delights and yearns for the joy of all of His children in the redemption of the most lost.

Those who are raised in a Christian home and have been sheltered from the worldly traps of a life of debauchery because of the protection of their parents should be thankful for what God has been gracious enough to save them from experiencing.

Celebrating the return of life lost is a testimony to the Love of Christ Who gave Himself as a sacrifice when while we were yet sinners.

…but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:8 [ESV]

...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!" Luke 15:22&23 [NIV]

Today I studied the “Parable of the Prodigal Son” and once again, as happens with almost all passages I read in God’s Word, the Holy Spirit reveals new biblical truths applicable to my life. Here are my notes from my quiet time this morning on this passage. [Reaction of the older son I will save for tomorrow]

The younger son is the one who left. The story focuses on the younger one at first. Is this message on potential pitfalls of spiritual immaturity?

The son sought after his own and the world’s desires which only led to loss, pain, and detriment: spiritual poverty and hopelessness. Forced to settle for slop for sustenance.

Son finally realized the place that following his own desires led him to. Resulted in a knowledge of what he could have back home even if he lowered himself to one of the servants. He started listening to the small voice in his head – in a spiritual sense he was hearing the Holy Spirit and call of God to return to a more righteous life which would also result in him getting his needs fulfilled regardless of the low status/position in his father’s house he would inhabit.

The son crafted a plan to return home and even practiced what he would say to his father…then he acted on that plan.

Upon his return the father saw him a ways off. The father had hoped for and anticipated his return. The father was waiting. When the father saw him, he rejoiced with glee.

The son humbled himself and accepted a place of the lowest position in the family. He acknowledged his own folly and poor choices.

The father immediately embraced and welcomed the son back and rather than accepting the lowly place the son petitioned, the father called for the finest robes, put the family ring on his finger, and sandals on his feet. The father then threw a celebration and feast; roasting the best fatted calf from his flock for the meal.

The celebration revolved around the dead son being alive again; the son that was lost had been found.

Application:

What an amazing picture of following our own choices and then realizing our hopelessness in absence of the protection of the Father. When we in our sinful state acknowledge the sinful nature of our own efforts, petition the Father for forgiveness by accepting what only His Son could do for us, He lavishes us with all of the rewards of heaven and an eternity as princes in His Kingdom. He gives us so many things we don’t deserve when we humble ourselves before Him.

…getting my thoughts down in a post about my reading. This last week has been so ‘sun up’ to ‘sun down’ busy that getting the extra moments to write even a BITE was a challenge. I was in Silicon Valley presenting for 2 days to a very important demanding customer (they should be demanding, they are spending a lot of money 🙂 ). The prep work for that meeting was weeks in advance and it is good to have it out of the way and back into a sane schedule.

BELLA UPDATE: As you likely know, Bella is 2 weeks into her 9-month gap year missions’ trip to 4 countries (Cambodia, Thailand, South Africa, and Guatemala). These first 6 weeks are training in GA sleeping in tents and ‘bucket showers’. Rain has been upon them for the last several days and that has been a new challenge. Bella is doing awesome and was even picked for a key role on the team. She is doing great and growing ever closer to the Lord. So proud of her.

...there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away! Luke 15:7 [NLT]

I love this line of teaching by Jesus to the Pharisees. They were criticizing Him over the time he spends with sinners, tax collectors, and the like. This is one of those passages that I think is an interesting perspective for someone like me who is both in vocational work in the secular world yet also in a leadership role at church. At church I minister to pastors and saints as well as striving to win lost souls…but my day job is living amongst the sinners and desiring to be salt and light to a dark world. There is so much hurt, pain, confusion, and fear in a Godless society and I find myself in place of pastoral care over people serving God full time and living a testimony and witness to win the lost.

“Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and sweep the entire house and search carefully until she finds it? Luke 15:8 [NLT[

Jesus uses a second illustration of woman who loses just one of her ten silver coins. The thing that jumps out at me in this parable is the fact that all the coins are assumed to be equal in value.

Application:

I think I can have a tendency to see Jesus followers as more protectable and serving them as a higher calling…but with the 10 silver coins, if all of the 10 silver coins are equal in worth, then I must see the soul of each person I come in contact with (no matter their debauchery or world view) just as worthy of my time in investment as one of my life group members. If I am being honest, this is still sinking in a bit.

John said, Master, we saw a man driving out demons in Your name and we commanded him to stop it, for he does not follow along with us.
  But Jesus told him, Do not forbid [such people]; for whoever is not against you is for you. Luke 9:48 & 50 [AMP]

Today, I was going back through these latest chapters of reading in Luke just to re-read in a line straight through. Sometimes this is really helpful in seeing something in the greater context of a book of the bible and other times, something will jump out at me that I had missed before. Today was one of those days.

This small passage comes as the disciples are asking Jesus who the greatest will be among them. Jesus pulls a little child up next to Himself and says, “Anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me also welcomes my Father who sent me. Whoever is the least among you is the greatest.” Humility and Meekness are permeated through Jesus’ teaching. Pride, over and over, is condemned. It becomes clear that our Pride is one of the greatest sinful/evil behaviors we can commit and will quickly drive us away from the peace and comfort of the Living God.

To this point, John then asks the question in the passage at the top of this post. For these disciples it was not enough that this man should be able to do in the name of Jesus what they had so recently and so conspicuously failed to do (In verse 40 the disciples has failed to cast out an evil spirit in a boy). He had to ‘follow with them’. This has been the error of Christians in every age, and it is interesting to see it in the very first generation of Jesus’ followers. In this one little passage we see a uniting that comes from being united against evil. Jesus admonishes the disciples that essentially, we are all vessels for the Lord to do His work. When there are others levied in the fight against evil, they are with us.

I think this also translates over into things like churches or worship that happen to be more ‘Charismatic’ than you might feel comfortable with. There is sometimes an ‘us versus them’ mentality when it comes to talking about these differences. I am learning that a heart of judgement is also a dangerous prideful and self-righteous position. I may see things differently or may even feel uncomfortable with a behavior in prayer or worship – I don’t need join or repeat that behavior but I also should not condemn it either (unless it is indeed unbiblical).

I’ll finish with this. When the Ark of the Covenant was brought back into Jerusalem, David danced and did some, what appeared to be inappropriate, worship to the Lord in rejoicing of the return of the Ark. After this amazing worship of the Lord and rejoicing about the Ark, “David returned to bless his household. But Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David and said, “How the king of Israel honored himself today, uncovering himself today before the eyes of his servants’ female servants, as one of the vulgar fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!” And David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me above your father and above all his house, to appoint me as prince over Israel, the people of the Lord—and I will celebrate before the Lord. I will make myself yet more contemptible than this, and I will be abased in your eyes.” 2 Samuel 6:20-22