Grace Exposes

[oworm]

Luke 15:11-32 Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons.The younger one said to his father, `Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them. "Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything."When he came to his senses, he said, `How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' So he got up and went to his father.

"But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. "The son said to him, `Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. "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. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate.
"Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. `Your brother has come,' he replied, `and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.' "The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, `Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!' `My son,' the father said, `you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' "


Grace Exposes

(the reaction of the elder brother - a life built on his merits and not on grace)





I was never very good at arithmetic in school but I wonder if you know that there is one equation that where to add is to subtract?



It’s the gospel + anything.



The gospel + my good works.



The parable of the prodigal son is well known to us but notice that when Jesus told this parable he started with the words “There was a man who had TWO sons”



The story is about the relationship of both sons to the father and there is nearly as much time spent on the behaviour of the elder brother as there is on the younger brother. I want to concentrate on the attitude of the elder brother.





We know from the beginning of the chapter that there were two groups of people present when Jesus told this story. The scribes and Pharisees were represented by the elder brother and the tax collectors and sinners were represented by the younger brother. The Pharisees were grumbling that Jesus was associating himself and eating with sinners or “younger brothers” and this is why Jesus told the parable.

The parable often evokes feelings of warmth in us because we so often think of it from the perspective of the younger brother. I’m sure at the time of its telling it evoked anything but that kind of feeling among the “elder brothers” who were present!

There’s a warning here for all of us because I think we are all capable of falling into the attitude of what Tim Keller (An American minister) calls “Elderbrotherishness”



Even those of us redeemed from a life of “youngerbrotherishness” can fall into an attitude of “elderbrotherishness” when we fall into merit mentality that demands that God should reward us based on our service and consecration to Him.

The father in the story addressed the elder son as his child and reminded him that everything he had was his already.That’s not to say that we do not do good works but when we think our good works make us more acceptable to God then we have fallen into the attitude of the elder brother.



In vv 29 the elder brother belligerently demands that the father takes note of his slavish service and obedience and complains that his conduct has never been acknowledged. He was basing his righteousness on his merits!



He was also resentful of the fact that as he was the sole heir and his younger brother was now eating what was rightfully his.



We know from the story that the father longed for the younger sons return and peered longingly into the distance for his familiar silhouette. He should have been able to summon his elder son to go and seek out his younger brother and bring him home but the elder son was too busy in the field. It’s as if the elder brother had also left the father but without leaving the farm. He wanted all the benefits without the relationship just as much as the younger son!



Jesus parables usually have just one point to teach us. I think the point of this parable is that unlike the elder brother in the story, we have an elder brother

who, according to Philippians 2:6-8, “being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, and being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross!” this is the attitude of a true elder brother.







“If we rely on our good works to keep us in Gods favour then we limit God’s demands on us, because our merits can never meet his demands.

The gospel of Grace fully appreciated means that Gods demands on us are unlimited.

“ God can ask anything of us!”

 

[His]

 

[His]

Luke 15:11-32 Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons.The younger one said to his father, `Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them. "Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything."When he came to his senses, he said, `How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' So he got up and went to his father.

"But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. "The son said to him, `Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. "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. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate.
"Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. `Your brother has come,' he replied, `and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.' "The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, `Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!' `My son,' the father said, `you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' "


Grace Exposes

(the reaction of the elder brother - a life built on his merits and not on grace)





I was never very good at arithmetic in school but I wonder if you know that there is one equation that where to add is to subtract?



It’s the gospel + anything.



The gospel + my good works.



The parable of the prodigal son is well known to us but notice that when Jesus told this parable he started with the words “There was a man who had TWO sons”



The story is about the relationship of both sons to the father and there is nearly as much time spent on the behaviour of the elder brother as there is on the younger brother. I want to concentrate on the attitude of the elder brother.





We know from the beginning of the chapter that there were two groups of people present when Jesus told this story. The scribes and Pharisees were represented by the elder brother and the tax collectors and sinners were represented by the younger brother. The Pharisees were grumbling that Jesus was associating himself and eating with sinners or “younger brothers” and this is why Jesus told the parable.

The parable often evokes feelings of warmth in us because we so often think of it from the perspective of the younger brother. I’m sure at the time of its telling it evoked anything but that kind of feeling among the “elder brothers” who were present!

There’s a warning here for all of us because I think we are all capable of falling into the attitude of what Tim Keller (An American minister) calls “Elderbrotherishness”



Even those of us redeemed from a life of “youngerbrotherishness” can fall into an attitude of “elderbrotherishness” when we fall into merit mentality that demands that God should reward us based on our service and consecration to Him.

The father in the story addressed the elder son as his child and reminded him that everything he had was his already.That’s not to say that we do not do good works but when we think our good works make us more acceptable to God then we have fallen into the attitude of the elder brother.



In vv 29 the elder brother belligerently demands that the father takes note of his slavish service and obedience and complains that his conduct has never been acknowledged. He was basing his righteousness on his merits!



He was also resentful of the fact that as he was the sole heir and his younger brother was now eating what was rightfully his.



We know from the story that the father longed for the younger sons return and peered longingly into the distance for his familiar silhouette. He should have been able to summon his elder son to go and seek out his younger brother and bring him home but the elder son was too busy in the field. It’s as if the elder brother had also left the father but without leaving the farm. He wanted all the benefits without the relationship just as much as the younger son!



Jesus parables usually have just one point to teach us. I think the point of this parable is that unlike the elder brother in the story, we have an elder brother

who, according to Philippians 2:6-8, “being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, and being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross!” this is the attitude of a true elder brother.







“If we rely on our good works to keep us in Gods favour then we limit God’s demands on us, because our merits can never meet his demands.

The gospel of Grace fully appreciated means that Gods demands on us are unlimited.

“ God can ask anything of us!”

 

[repentandbelieve]

In the parable the elder brother had not been sharing the same anxiety and watching that the Father had for the one that was lost. He shares not, therefore, in the father's joy at the wanderer's return. The sounds of rejoicing kindle no gladness in his heart.

The elder son counted that he himself had been wronged. He grudges his brother for the favor shown him, and he plainly shows that had he been in the father's place, he would not have received the prodigal. He does not even acknowledge him as a brother, but coldly speaks of him as "thy son."

Yet the father deals tenderly with him. "Son," he says, "thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine."

Was the elder brother brought to see his own mean, ungrateful spirit? Did he come to see that though his brother had done wickedly, he was his brother still? Did the elder brother repent of his jealousy and hardheartedness? Concerning this, Christ was silent. It rest with His hearers to determine what the outcome should be.

In the parable the father's words to the elder son is Heaven's tender appeal to those steeped in legalistic religion today. "All that I have is thine"--not as wages, but as a gift. Like the prodigal, you can receive it only as the unmerited bestowal of the Father's love. They claimed to be sons in God's house, but they had the spirit of the hireling. They were working, not from love, but from hope of reward.

It is true that they claim to be childen of God; but if this claim is true, it is "thy brother" that was "dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found." He is bound to them by the closest ties; for God recognizes him as a son.. Deny your relationship to him, and you show that you are but a hireling in the household, not a child in the family of God.

Though he did not join in the greeting to his lost brother, the joy went on, the restored one had his place by the Father's side and in the Father's work. He that is forgiven much, the same loves much.