Duy Nhờ Ân Điển – Ngài Tiếp Người Có Tội

1 Hết thảy các người thâu thuế và người có tội đến gần Đức Chúa Jêsus đặng nghe Ngài giảng 2 Các người Pha-ri-si và các thầy thông giáo lằm bằm mà nói rằng: Người nầy tiếp những kẻ tội lỗi, và cùng ăn với họ! 3 Ngài bèn phán cho họ lời thí dụ nầy.

Lý do: Những người Pha-ri-si & thầy thông giáo lầm bầm khi thấy ĐCJC giao du cùng tất cả những người thu thuế và có tội. Thậm chí ăn uống với họ: Ma-thi-ơ 9 và Mác 2 cho biết sau khi đã gọi Ma-thi-ơ theo Ngài, ĐCJC & các môn đồ vào nhà ông để ăn thì có nhiều người thu thuế (bạn đồng nghiệp của M.) và những kẻ có tội cùng ăn chung bửa. Và nay họ đến gần Chúa để nghe giảng dạy.

Từ lầm bầm hay phàn nàn hàm ý họ xầm xì, to nhỏ với nhau và với nhiều người khác, đến nỗi Chúa nghe lời lầm bầm của họ. Những gì nói trong nơi kín cũng không giấu được ĐCT và rất nhiều lúc sẽ được lộ ra công chúng 17 Thật không có điều gì kín mà không phải lộ ra, không có điều gì giấu mà chẳng bị biết và tỏ ra. (Lu-ca 8:17) 2Không điều gì che đậy mà sẽ khỏi bị tỏ bày; không điều gì giấu kín mà sẽ khỏi bị phát hiện. 3Vì thế, những lời các con nói trong tối sẽ được nghe ngoài sáng; những tiếng rỉ tai trong phòng riêng sẽ được công bố trên sân thượng. (Lu-ca 12:2-3)

Người thu thuế là người DT làm việc, tai sai cho La-mã để lấy thuế của dân chúng. Đây là những người bị xã hội, dân chúng oán ghét, khinh khi.

Đối tượng: 4 loại người, 2 nhóm. Nhóm 1: thu thuế và có tội; nhóm 2: Pha-ri-si & thầy thông giáo. Dưới mắt người đời, nhóm 2 sẽ vào địa ngục, nhóm 1 sẽ lên thiên đàng!

Cả 3 ngụ ngôn đều dạy về sự lạc mất: 1) chiên lạc; 2) đồng tiền lạc; 3) người con đi lạc lối.

Tại thời điểm này trong câu chuyện ngụ ngôn, các thầy thông giáo và người Pha-ri-si cảm thấy tự tin rằng họ đã thoát khỏi sự phán xét của Chúa chúng ta, vì Ngài đã tập trung sự chú ý của Ngài vào công chúng và tội nhân, được hình dung bởi đứa con trai hoang đàng. Nhưng Chúa Giê-xu tiếp tục câu chuyện và giới thiệu anh trai, là một minh họa rõ ràng về những người ghi chép và người Pha-ri-si. Công chúng và tội nhân đã phạm tội hiển nhiên của xác thịt, nhưng người Pha-ri-si và người ghi chép đã phạm tội của linh hồn (2 Cor 7:1). Những hành động bên ngoài của họ có thể là vô tội, nhưng thái độ bên trong của họ là ghê tởm (xin xem Ma-thi-ơ 23:25–28).

Chúng ta phải thừa nhận rằng anh trai có một số đức tính đáng khen ngợi. Ông làm việc chăm chỉ và luôn vâng lời cha mình. Anh ta không bao giờ mang sự ô nhục đến nhà hoặc đến làng, và dường như anh ta có đủ bạn bè để anh ta có thể lên kế hoạch cho một bữa tiệc thú vị (Lu-ca 15:29). Anh ta có vẻ là một công dân vững chắc tốt và, so với em trai của mình, gần như là một vị thánh.

Tuy nhiên, quan trọng như sự vâng lời và siêng năng, chúng không phải là bài kiểm tra duy nhất của tính cách. Chúa Giê Su dạy rằng hai giáo lệnh lớn nhất là yêu mến Thượng Đế và yêu thương những người khác (Lu Ca 10:25–28), nhưng anh trai đã phá vỡ cả hai giáo lệnh thiêng liêng này. Ông không yêu mến Thượng Đế (được đại diện trong câu chuyện của người cha), và ông không yêu thương anh trai mình. Anh cả sẽ không tha thứ cho em trai của mình, người đã lãng phí tài sản thừa kế của gia đình và làm ô nhục tên gia đình. Nhưng ông cũng không tha thứ cho cha mình, người đã ân cần tha thứ cho chàng trai trẻ những tội lỗi đó!

Khi bạn xem xét tội lỗi của anh trai, bạn có thể dễ dàng hiểu tại sao anh ta hình ảnh những người ghi chép và người Pha-ri-si. Để bắt đầu, anh ta tự xưng công chính. Ông công khai tuyên bố tội lỗi của em mình, nhưng ông không thể thấy tội lỗi của chính mình (xin xem Lu Ca 18:9–14). Người Pha-ri-si định nghĩa tội lỗi chủ yếu về hành động bên ngoài, không phải thái độ bên trong. Họ hoàn toàn bỏ lỡ thông điệp của Bài Giảng trên Núi và sự nhấn mạnh của bài giảng về thái độ bên trong và sự thánh thiện của tấm lòng (Ma-thi-ơ 5–7).

Kiêu hãnh là một trong những thất bại của anh ấy. Chỉ cần nghĩ rằng, ông đã phục vụ cha mình trong suốt những năm đó và chưa bao giờ bất tuân ý muốn của mình! Thật là một lời khai! Nhưng trái tim của anh ấy không có trong công việc của mình, và anh ấy luôn mơ ước tổ chức một bữa tiệc lớn mà anh ấy và bạn bè có thể tận hưởng. Hắn chỉ là một con drudge. Giống như Tiên Tri Giô-na, anh trai đã làm theo ý muốn của Thượng Đế nhưng không phải từ tấm lòng (Giô-na 4; Ê-phê-ra 6:6). Ông là một người lao động chăm chỉ và là một người lao động trung thành - những phẩm chất được khen ngợi - nhưng công việc của ông không phải là một "công việc của tình yêu" sẽ làm hài lòng cha mình.

Bạn không thể không chú ý đến sự không quan tâm của anh ấy đối với người anh trai mất tích của mình. Hãy tưởng tượng phải được nói rằng anh trai của mình đã trở về nhà! Người cha theo dõi đứa con trai nhỏ ngày này qua ngày khác và cuối cùng nhìn thấy anh ta ở xa, nhưng anh trai không biết anh trai mình đang ở nhà cho đến khi một trong những tôi tớ nói với anh ta.

Mặc dù anh biết điều đó sẽ làm cho cha mình hạnh phúc, anh trai không muốn em trai mình về nhà. Tại sao anh ta nên chia sẻ tài sản của mình với một người đã lãng phí tài sản thừa kế của chính mình? Tại sao anh ta thậm chí nên chia sẻ tình yêu của người cha với một người đã mang lại sự xấu hổ cho gia đình và ngôi làng? Các báo cáo về lối sống của thần đồng chỉ làm cho anh trai trông đẹp, và có lẽ điều này sẽ khiến người cha yêu thương đứa con trai ngoan ngoãn của mình hơn nữa. Không nghi ngờ gì về điều đó - sự xuất hiện của đứa con trai nhỏ là một mối đe dọa đối với đứa con trai lớn.

Có lẽ điều đáng lo ngại nhất về đứa con trai lớn là sự tức giận dữ dội của nó. Anh ta tức giận với cả cha và anh trai của mình và sẽ không vào nhà và chia sẻ trong lễ kỷ niệm vui vẻ.

Sân hận là một cảm xúc bình thường và nó không cần phải là tội lỗi. "Các ngươi hãy tức giận, và không phạm tội" (Ê-phê-vi 4:26, trích dẫn Thi Thiên 4:4). Môi Se, Đa Vít, các vị tiên tri, và Chúa Giê Su của chúng ta đã bày tỏ sự tức giận thánh khiết về tội lỗi, và chúng ta cũng nên như vậy ngày nay. Nhà thuyết giáo Thanh giáo Thomas Fuller nói rằng sự tức giận là một trong những "đường gân của linh hồn". Aristotle đã đưa ra lời khuyên tốt khi ông viết: "Bất cứ ai cũng có thể trở nên tức giận. Dễ thôi. Nhưng tức giận với đúng người, đúng mức độ, đúng thời điểm, đúng mục đích và đúng cách, không nằm trong quyền lực của mọi người và không dễ dàng."

Anh trai tức giận với cha mình vì cha anh đã ban cho đứa con trai nhỏ bữa tiệc mà anh trai luôn muốn. "Bạn không bao giờ cho tôi nhiều như một con dê," anh nói với cha mình, "nhưng bạn đã giết vì anh ta con bê định dối có giá trị!" Giấc mơ của anh trai đều tan vỡ vì người cha đã tha thứ cho thần đồng.

Tất nhiên, anh trai đã tức giận với em trai mình vì đã nhận được tất cả sự chú ý đó và nhận được những món quà đặc biệt của người cha. Theo như anh trai có liên quan, em trai không xứng đáng với điều đó. Anh ta có trung thành không? Không! Anh ta có vâng lời người cha không? Không! Vậy tại sao anh ta nên được đối xử với lòng tốt và tình yêu như vậy?

Người Pha Ri Si có một tôn giáo làm việc tốt. Bằng cách nhịn ăn, học hỏi, cầu nguyện và cho đi, họ hy vọng sẽ nhận được các phước lành từ Thượng Đế và xứng đáng với cuộc sống vĩnh cửu. Họ biết rất ít hoặc không có gì về ân điển của Thượng Đế. Tuy nhiên, đó không phải là những gì họ đã làm, mà là những gì họ đã không làm, mà đã xa lánh họ khỏi Thượng Đế (xin xem M XA 23:23–24). Khi họ thấy Chúa Giê-xu tiếp nhận và tha thứ cho những người vô tôn giáo, họ đã nổi loạn chống lại điều đó. Thậm chí nhiều hơn nữa, họ đã không thấy rằng chính họ cũng cần Đấng Cứu Rỗi.

Cùng một người cha chạy đến gặp thần đồng bước ra khỏi nhà ăn mừng để cầu xin đứa con trai lớn. Đức Chúa Cha nhân từ và hạ mình như thế nào, và Ngài kiên nhẫn như thế nào với những điểm yếu của chúng ta! Người cha giải thích rằng anh ta sẽ sẵn sàng tổ chức một bữa tiệc cho cậu bé lớn tuổi và bạn bè của mình, nhưng cậu bé chưa bao giờ hỏi anh ta. Hơn nữa, kể từ khi phân chia bất động sản, anh trai sở hữu mọi thứ, và anh ta có thể sử dụng nó theo cách anh ta hài lòng.

Anh trai từ chối vào; anh ta ở bên ngoài và bĩu môi. Ông đã bỏ lỡ niềm vui tha thứ cho anh trai mình và khôi phục lại mối thông công tan vỡ, niềm vui làm hài lòng cha mình và đoàn kết gia đình một lần nữa. Thật kỳ lạ khi anh trai có thể nói chuyện hòa bình với một cậu bé đầy tớ, nhưng anh ta không thể nói chuyện hòa bình với anh trai hoặc cha mình!

Nếu chúng ta hết mối thông công với Thượng Đế, chúng ta không thể thông công với anh chị em của mình và ngược lại, nếu chúng ta có một thái độ không tha thứ đối với người khác, thì chúng ta không thể hiệp thông với Thượng Đế (xin xem M LÊ-vi 5:21–26; 1 Giăng 4:18–21). Khi họ thể hiện sự hối cải thật sự, chúng ta phải tha thứ cho những người phạm tội, và chúng ta nên tìm cách phục hồi họ trong ân điển và khiêm nhường (M M MS 18:15–35; Ga 6:1–5; Ê-phê-ra 4:32).

Người cha đã có lời cuối cùng, vì vậy chúng tôi không biết câu chuyện kết thúc như thế nào. (Xin xem Giô Na 4 để biết một câu chuyện song song.) Chúng ta biết rằng các thầy thông giáo và người Pha-ri-si tiếp tục chống lại Chúa Giê-xu và tách mình ra khỏi những người theo Ngài, và các vị lãnh đạo của họ cuối cùng đã mang đến sự bắt giữ và cái chết của Chúa chúng ta. Bất chấp lời khẩn nài của Đức Chúa Cha, họ sẽ không đến.

Tất cả mọi người trong chương này đều trải qua niềm vui ngoại trừ anh trai. Người chăn chiên, người phụ nữ và bạn bè của họ đều trải qua niềm vui tìm kiếm. Đứa con trai nhỏ đã trải qua niềm vui khi trở về và được đón nhận bởi một người cha yêu thương, nhân từ. Người cha đã trải qua niềm vui khi nhận được con trai mình trở lại an toàn và lành mạnh. Nhưng anh trai sẽ không tha thứ cho anh trai mình, vì vậy anh ta không có niềm vui. Anh ta có thể hối cải và tham dự bữa tiệc, nhưng anh ta từ chối; nên ông ở bên ngoài và chịu đựng.

Trong những năm rao giảng và mục vụ của tôi, tôi đã gặp các anh cả (và các chị em!) là những người thích nuôi dưỡng sự tức giận của họ để tận hưởng sự thông công của Thượng Đế và dân sự của Thượng Đế. Bởi vì họ sẽ không tha thứ, họ đã xa lánh chính mình khỏi hội thánh và thậm chí khỏi gia đình của họ; họ chắc chắn rằng mọi người khác đều sai và một mình họ đã đúng. Họ có thể nói lớn về tội lỗi của người khác, nhưng họ mù quáng với tội lỗi của chính họ.

"Tôi không bao giờ tha thứ!" Tướng Oglethorpe nói với John Wesley, mà Wesley trả lời: "Vậy thì, thưa ngài, tôi hy vọng ngài không bao giờ phạm tội."

Đừng đứng ngoài! Hãy vào và thưởng thức bữa tiệc!

We’re going to look at this great parable, this great story, one more time. Let’s tonight remember that in the very beginning of chapter 15, Jesus is speaking to religious leaders, teachers of the law, who look at him fraternizing with pimps and prostitutes and who they call “sinners.” They say to him basically, “Why are you hanging out with all these lost people? They’re spiritually lost. That means they’re far from God. They’re away from home, lost. They’re away from God. They’re alienated from God. Why are you fraternizing with them?”

In response, Jesus gives three parables, and they’re all about lostness. The first parable is about the lost sheep, right? The second parable in chapter 15 is about the lost coin. The third parable is about the lost son. What is Jesus saying? He is basically trying to get across a new idea, a better idea, than the Pharisees had of what it means to be spiritually lost. Here at the climax of the last of the three stories, we have the most amazing, shocking, category-busting message of Jesus about what it means to be spiritually lost.

All of the people who were actually listening to him would have been absolutely astounded. Jesus is giving us a new understanding and a new category for spiritual lostness. What I want to do with you tonight is just briefly show what that category is, how you can judge whether you’re in the category yourself (what the signs are of that condition), what do you do with it if that’s you, and lastly, what are some of the implications for Redeemer, our life together here.

1. What Is This New Understanding Or Category?

Do you now see since we can see the whole story of the father and the two sons that Jesus brilliantly as a storyteller is showing us that both the older and the younger son are alienated from the father’s heart? Remember the younger son, we said, wanted the father’s things, but he didn’t love the father? So to get the father’s things, get control of them, he just left.

Now look at the elder brother. How different is he? He’s not really different at all. Notice, for example, the elder brother refuses to go in to the greatest feast this father has ever given and celebrate with the father on the greatest day of his life. Because, you see, this was the greatest day of his father’s life. His son who he thought was lost to him forever was back. The elder brother surely knew this was the greatest day in his father’s life, and yet he doesn’t care. He won’t go in. He humiliates him. He argues with him.

What does he care about? What bothers him the most? It has to do with the father’s things, the estate. He is all upset about the fattened calf. Do you know why? Meat was not a normal dish at that time and place. It was a delicacy. A fattened calf was an extremely valuable, pricey, costly way to hold a feast. It would have been the most expensive and lavish feast the father could possibly throw.

That’s what this guy is upset about. He says, “Why couldn’t it have been pizza and Diet Coke? Why did it have to be a fattened calf? Are you kidding me? You’ve never given me a fattened calf.” What he is doing is he is all upset with the father (we talked about this last week) bringing the son back in and giving him the robe and the signet ring.

He is all upset with the father’s things, and he doesn’t care a bit about the father’s heart, which means what we actually have here is two sons. One of them looks very, very, very bad. He has broken the father’s rules, gutted the family fortune, run off and squandered the fortune on prostitutes.

Here’s a very, very good son who is out in the field because he is still working. That’s why he is out in the field. He is working hard. He obeys his father. He is very religious. He is very spiritual. He obeys the Ten Commandments. He reads the Bible. Here’s a very bad guy; here’s a very good guy. They’re both alienated from the father. They both really want to control the father’s things, and they don’t really love the father.

The father has to go out to each one. He has to go out to the younger brother and say, “Oh, please come in” and shower him with love to bring him into the feast of salvation. He has to go out to invite the younger brother, who is alienated from the father, into the feast of salvation. Now he has to do it with the elder brother, the good son, the one who is not disobeying the moral rules at all.

He goes out, and he says, “My son …” By the way, the Greek word there is teknon, which means, “My child.” Very tender. He is not furious with him. He is not angry with him, though he should be. He goes out, and he says, “My child, you have always been with me.” Isn’t that amazing? He says, “I do appreciate all your hard work.” He is being so sweet. He is being so tender.

He is going out and saying, “Come on in! Humble yourself. Get rid of your anger.” What is Jesus showing? That both the bad son and the good son are both alienated from God. They’re both cut off from the father. They are both trying to control the father’s things, and they don’t love the father. One is doing it by going away. The other one is doing it by staying home. One of them is trying to get control of the father’s things by going off and breaking all the rules. One of them is trying to get control of all the father’s things by keeping the rules.

Jesus is saying they’re both alienated from the father, but the most stunning thing about this whole story is he ends the story this way. The younger brother repents, humbles himself, comes into the feast of salvation, and therefore, is saved. The older brother, the good man, the moral man, the person who doesn’t break any of the moral rules, remains lost.

By the way, I’ve had some people say, “Well, you don’t know that because maybe after the story ends, he comes in.” You have to remember this is not a historical account of something that happened. This is a fiction. This is a story which means if Jesus, who made this story up, ends the story here, nothing else could have happened after the story ends. They don’t exist outside the story. You can’t say, “Well, who knows?” Well, I do know. You know!

Jesus is making a point. He is a storyteller, but he is a teacher. He is making a point. The bad kid is saved, and the good boy is lost. Look carefully. The good boy is not lost despite his goodness but because of it. See, why is he so angry? Why is he staying outside of the father’s feast? Why is he furious at the father? Why is he alienated from the father? Do you know why? He says so. “I have never disobeyed you.”

In other words, “Because I have been good, because I’ve worked so hard, I’ve worked so hard for you, you should be doing things my way, and you’re not doing things my way. Therefore, I’m not coming in.” The younger son was alienated from the father through his wrongdoing, but the older son is alienated from the father through his right doing and his pride in his right doing. Therefore, Jesus says there are two ways to be lost, two ways to be spiritually lost, two ways to be going to hell. One is by being very bad, and one is by being very good.

You say, “What?” Yes, that’s right. I told you this was startling. Okay? I’m glad you’re startled. What? How could that be? Well, here’s how it can be. The Bible says you can either look to Jesus as Savior or to something else. You can either look to Jesus to save you for your salvation and to justify you, or you can look to something else to save you and justify yourself.

You say, “What do you mean by justify?” Well, do you remember that Chariots of Fire movie? There’s a place where Harold Abrahams, who is this sprinter, this runner, who is an Olympic contestant. He is trying to explain to somebody else why he is under such pressure to achieve and to win that gold medal. What does he say? He says when that gun goes off, “[I have] 10 lonely seconds to justify my whole existence.”

What does he mean? Here’s what he means. He is not doing anything we aren’t all doing. Everybody looks at something. “I’m a good mother. I’m a good father. I’m a good child. I’ve worked very hard. I have succeeded in certain ways. I’m pretty smart.” Everybody looks to something so you can say, “My life is justified. I have value. My life is worth something. I have a certain amount of significance.” Everybody looks to something.

The Bible says you can either look to Jesus to be your salvation and your justifier, or you can look to something else, like Harold Abrahams was, to be your salvation. Therefore, you’re into self-justification. You’re trying to be your own savior and lord. Now we see there are two ways to be your own savior and lord. There are two ways to be spiritually lost, to be your own savior and lord. There are two ways to try to get control over the Father’s things and not really love the Father. One is by being very, very bad. The other is by being very good.

“Why? By being very good?” Yeah, because if, in your heart of hearts, you say, “I have worked so hard. I have obeyed. I have come to church. I have obeyed the Ten Commandments. I have prayed. I’ve tried hard to serve Jesus. I’ve tried hard to be like Jesus. Therefore, you, oh Lord God, owe me to answer my prayer, to give me a relatively good life, and to take me to heaven when I die …”

In that case, Jesus is your model. He is your example. He is maybe your boss, but he is not your Savior. You are your own savior. Therefore, there are two ways to be lost. There are two ways to be your own savior and lord. There are two different kinds of self-salvation projects. One is by breaking all the moral rules. One is by keeping all the moral rules and saying, “Now, God, you owe me.”

Jesus ends the story with the younger brother, the bad boy, being saved and the good boy remaining lost. I don’t think he is trying to say that being a younger brother, being a wrongdoer, breaking all the moral laws, stealing money and squandering it on prostitutes and roulette wheels and things like that … He is not saying that’s fine. Of course not! You can tell by the story he is not letting you know that’s fine.

What he was saying is in the end, being a younger brother at least makes you know you are lost, you have a problem, you’re in trouble. The trouble with being an older brother is you don’t know you’re lost. You don’t know you’re alienated from the Father. If somebody says, “You’re lost. You’re alienated from God,” they say, “Are you kidding?” Therefore, it’s a more spiritually dangerous situation to be in.

Here’s the problem with this, everybody. We know what younger-brother lostness looks like, don’t we? You can see it. If you wake up in the pigsty with this incredible hangover and you’ve lost all your money and you have a sexually transmitted disease … In other words, if you’re a younger brother, these are the signs of younger-brother lostness, okay? Fine. “Okay, I’m a mess. I’m broken. I’m in rehab. All the problems.”

What are the signs of elder-brother lostness? Younger brothers are out in the pigsty. Elder brothers are here. Elder brothers are in church or synagogue. Elder brothers are here. They’re obeying. They’re obeying everything. They’re being very, very good. They’re praying. They’re giving their lives to Jesus. “That’s how I want to serve you.” We have a problem here. How do you know then if you have elder-brother lostness? Wow. It’s kind of a problem.

2. How Can You Judge Whether You’re In That Category Yourself?

Actually the text gives us three signs, three ways you know whether or not … By the way, there’s more than that, but there are only three I have time for here in the text. You can see them in verses 28–30. The first one is elder brothers have an undercurrent of anger throughout their lives. “The older brother became angry and refused to go in,” because, as he said, “I’ve never disobeyed you.”

That right there, that self-talk is what makes an elder brother heart run. If you believe in your heart of hearts that because of your goodness and your decency and your hard work God owes you a good life, you’re going to spend all of your life angry. Do you know why? Because life never goes the way you want it. You’re going to be constantly in this situation, exactly what you see there in verses 28 and 29.

You’re going to be so angry because, “I have worked so hard. I have not disobeyed you. I have done all kinds of things for you. Why isn’t my life going right? Why isn’t this happening? Why isn’t that happening? Why is that person over there …?” This is a perfect example. Here’s an elder brother.

“I went to school with my buddy. My buddy doesn’t care about God, doesn’t care about anybody, but my buddy is ruling … Gosh! He lives the way he wants. I’ve been very good. I’ve been really decent. Gosh! Look at what’s going on. Look at the medals. Look at all the kudos. Look at how much money he is making. I’m not doing … What’s the matter with you, Father? You’ve never even given me a goat!”

See, elder brothers are constantly angry, sometimes at themselves, because since they believe if they’re good and decent and hard working that means God owes them a good life, then sometimes you’re mad at yourself when life doesn’t go well. Because you say, “Well, maybe I’m not living the right life.” Most of the time you’re just mad. Period. You’re hostile. You’re angry. There’s an undercurrent of anger.

A second mark of elder brother-lostness is what I’ll call duty without beauty. Because notice he lets his slip show when he says, “All these years I’ve been slaving for you …” That’s interesting. You know, there’s a great irony here. One commentator said … Do you remember the younger son? He comes back, and he says, “I’m not worthy to be called your son. Make me one of your servants, one of your hired men, one of your slaves.”

Okay. Here’s a boy who comes in and says, “I’m not worthy to be called your son. Make me a slave.” When you say, “Just make me a slave,” the father makes him a son. Here is a man who thinks he is a son and yet, because of his spiritual condition, is actually a slave. When he says, “I’m slaving for you,” what he means is, “I’ve been obeying you, but it’s been all grind.” Elder brothers obey. Elder brothers pray. Elder brothers do all the right things, but it’s a grind. There’s no joy in it at all.

Pardon the illustration if you’ve heard it before (probably at least a third of you have), but I don’t have a better one. When I was a college student, I took a course on music appreciation because I was told, “It will help you get a better grade point. If you want your grade point to go up, take Music Appreciation. It’s an easy course.” In the course, I had to listen to a lot of Mozart because the professor wanted you to be able to identify Mozart and distinguish him from Haydn, which wasn’t easy. You know, that kind of thing.

I listened to a lot of Mozart. Why? Why did I listen to Mozart? So I’d get an A. Why? So I’d get a better grade point. Why? So I’d get a better job. I was listening to Mozart in order to make money. Now 30-some years later, I’m very happy to spend money in order to listen to Mozart. The reason is Mozart originally was a duty but now it’s a beauty. What is the difference? Well, see, elder brothers find God useful, but gospel-believing Christians find God beautiful.

What does it mean to find something beautiful? It means it’s an end in itself. I don’t listen to Mozart so people will think I’m cultured. I don’t listen to Mozart to make money or get a better grade point. I listen to Mozart because it’s an end in itself. It’s satisfying in itself. It’s not a means to some greater end.

See, elder brothers are obedient, and they’re faithful, and they’re diligent. They care for the poor, and they read their Bible. But it’s totally results oriented. As a result, it’s a grind. They obey to get things from God. If the things don’t come, that’s point one: they get angry. Gospel-believing Christians obey just to get God.

One of the ways you can tell the difference between an elder brother and somebody else is when elder brothers pray they petition, they ask for a lot of things, they confess their sins, but they do almost no adoration. They don’t spend lots of time contemplating God and adoring God and enjoying God, because prayer is a means to an end. See? Prayer is a results-oriented thing. It’s a duty! “It’s something I have to do in order to get things.” It’s not a beauty. It’s not something that just gets you near God and delights God.

You know, elder brothers are always saying, “I’ve been obeying and obeying. I’m not getting anything out of it. My life isn’t going any better.” See, a gospel-believing Christian thinks about Jesus Christ. He was completely faithful to God. He was completely faithful to us. Because he was completely obedient, completely faithful, it was a disaster for him. Everything went wrong because he was so faithful and obedient.

Why should it be different for us? You see, when Christians see the beauty of what Jesus has done for us, then we say, “I just want to obey, just to delight God and just to enjoy God and just to resemble God, not in order to get things.” Do you understand that? Elder brothers are absolutely … It’s all duty and no beauty.

The third mark of elder brothers is religious and cultural and class superiority. Why won’t the elder brother come in? “… this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes …” If you ground your self-image and value in your performance … In other words, if that’s how you justify yourself, remember … If you feel justified, if you ground your self-image and value in being a hard-working person, then you have to look down your nose and feel superior to people who you perceive as being lazy.

If you are proud of, if you ground and you root your value in, having been successful, then you have to look down your nose at people who you see as failures. See, this elder brother looks at this younger brother. First of all, he is poor. He is penniless, and he is not the deserving poor. He is a poor person who got himself into this situation. He is immoral. Religiously and economically and in every way, the elder brother wants nothing to do with him.

That’s because he doesn’t understand you can only be saved by grace. He is filled with works righteousness. He believes the father has to love him because he is such a good person, and that always leads to that. Here’s how you can tell whether you’re an elder brother. When you look at people of different races, when you look at people of different classes, when you look at people of different faiths, you feel so superior to them … in fact, you feel creeped out by them … then you’re an elder brother.

Richard Lovelace says, “Christians who are no longer sure that God loves and accepts them in Jesus, apart from their present spiritual achievements, are subconsciously radically insecure persons … Their insecurity shows itself in pride, a fierce defensive assertion of their own righteousness and defensive criticisms of others. They come naturally to hate other cultural styles and other races in order to bolster their own security and discharge their suppressed anger.” There are some signs of elder-brother lostness.

3. What Do We Do If We Find This To Be The Case Of Us?

Here’s what I need to say quickly before telling you the solution. Listen. There are people in every church who are baptized. They believe the gospel doctrines. They believe in all that Christianity teaches. They’ve come into the church. They’re living Christian lives.

Neither you nor I have the right to look at any individual like that and say, “I think you’re just an elder brother. I see this smugness. I see this causticness, this superiority, this self-righteousness. I see this undercurrent of anger. I see it’s all a grind. I don’t see you growing in spiritual fruit. I don’t see you growing in love and joy and peace. I just see it all being a grind. I just think you’re an elder brother.”

You don’t have the right to do that. I don’t have the right to do that. How do we know? I do know if you lift this message up in churches over the years, every year there’s a trickle of people who they themselves says, “Do you know what? I had never seen in my heart the things the Bible said should be happening in a born-again person.

Now I do because after years of giving my life to God and trying really hard and thinking I could make him give me all these things, I finally figured out the gospel of grace. I finally understand what it means. I’ve humbled myself. I’m experiencing a new joy. I’m seeing my heart change.” They can do it. I can’t do it. You can’t do it.

There are plenty of people, by the way, who are born-again, regenerated Christians but are characterized by what I’ll call “elder brotherishness.” You’re “elder brotheristic.” You’re “elder brotheristic!” Do you know what I mean? We have a spiritual paradigm. Though we’re really born-again Christians, we keep sliding back into it. What are going to do about it?

You see the superiority. You see the “grindness” of it. You see the lack of joy in prayer. You see the undercurrent of anger because your life is not going right. You realize you’re sliding back into “elder brotherishness.” What are we going to do about it? Here’s what you have to do. You have to look at the radical vulnerability of Jesus Christ for you.

The very end of this story is wonderful because it is not really what … What you’re seeing at the end is not really just a father pleading with his older son. You’re actually hearing Jesus Christ pleading with his enemies. He is saying this to Pharisees, to the religious leaders. These are the people who are going to kill him! This is Jesus Christ speaking to his enemies, to the people he knows are going to kill him.

What does he do? Does he say, “You bastards”? No. Does he abrade them? Does he scream at them? Does he yell at them? Does he denounce them? No. Listen to it. “My son, my child, I know you’ve tried hard. I know you’ve worked very hard.” What is he doing? On the one hand, this parable is a punch between the eyes.

He is saying, “You don’t understand the very purpose of the Father. You think you’re close to God. You don’t even understand the very purpose of God. Don’t you understand everybody is lost here? You don’t have nice people and then lost people. You don’t have good people and then lost people. We’re all lost. The good people are lost. The bad people are lost. God has sent me to seek and save the lost. He loves the lost.

Only people who know they’re lost have any hope of being found. The people who think they are not lost are lost, lost, lost, lost, lost. You are alienated from the Father’s heart. You do not understand his purpose. You are lost unless you see it.” That’s pounding between the eyes. He is speaking to his enemies. He is not pulling any punches, and yet he is so tender. He is so patient. He is not screaming at them. He is not denouncing them. He is saying, “My child …”

You say, “Well, that’s wonderful. How nice he was with his enemies.” Are you forgetting something? Paul says in Romans 5, “… while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” If you see Jesus Christ dying on the cross for you, he is doing the very same thing to you. Do you know what?

On the cross, that’s the biggest challenge you could possibly have. The cross says to you and me, “You are so messed up, you are so lost, you are so hopeless, nothing less than the death of the Son of God can save you.” At the same time, he is saying from the cross, “I’m glad to do it.”

See, there is challenge and tenderness. There is humiliation and affirmation. Only when you hear Jesus Christ speaking to you the way he is speaking to these elder brothers will that blast you out of your “elder brotherishness.” Only when you see this incredible humiliation and this incredible affirmation through Jesus Christ dying on the cross for you, only when he humbles you so much you can’t possibly earn your salvation anymore and yet he affirms you to the stars so you don’t need to …

4. What are some of the implications for our life together here?

One last thing. Jesus Christ takes an outsider, a poor man, an undeserving poor man who screwed up his life, a sinner, a lover of prostitutes, and puts him in and take a good man, a moral man, and puts him out. That’s what the gospel does. You know that. Because Jesus Christ was the ultimate insider, the ultimate glorious … He was inside the Trinity. You can’t get more inside than that.

He came out in order to say, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” He was inside, and he was thrown out as far out as he could possibly go so we, who were absolute outsiders, can be taken in. One of the things that means here is this elder brother is a Pharisee who doesn’t want to mix with the pimps and the prostitutes. They don’t want to eat with them because that means to have a relationship with them.

One of the main purposes then of this passage is to say, if you are a gospel-believing Christian, you will love the poor. You will love the broken. You will not be creeped out or look down at or be paternalistic toward people whose lives are broken. You won’t look at anybody and say, “Well, yeah, you’re poor, but you brought that on yourself.” Wait a minute. Do you not know who you are? Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit …” You’re middle class in spirit.

Middle-class people say, “Well, I’ve worked very hard for my salvation.” That’s middle class in spirit. You should know better. Do you believe you’re a sinner saved by grace? Then when you look at a poor person or a broken person or a person who has been out of work for a long time or who is messed up, you know you’re looking in the mirror. You’re looking at somebody just like yourself. The only reason why you are in the feast of the Father’s salvation is because the ultimate Rich Man, Jesus Christ, became poor for you.

That means we ought to be deeply involved in the lives of broken people in this city. It means not just giving your charity, giving your money, though that’s very important. It means giving your time, giving your relationship, and entering into non-paternalistic relationships with people. Inside the church, you don’t hobnob with the people of your ilk, of your class, of your level, of connection, of power, of money, or of looks. Don’t you dare. Not when you know the parable of the prodigal son and the father who did this.

Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church.