The Elder Brother

I've thought very similarly to you why why what's what's unique and I think there's a couple things one. It's artificial you've set an artificial place. I don't mean that at all in a negative way. I mean it in terms of Jesus taking Peter James and John to the Mount of Transfiguration. They're there for a short time. Peter says hey I want to make tents so we can hang out and the Lord says no. So it's a short time where there's a focus given that way. And another thought that I have that makes it so powerful is it is designed for the staff, both the Czech American team and the Czech Czech team to fix their eyes on Jesus. They're they're look they've got unified goals. Fun quality English develop significant relationships proclaim Christ. They have unified times of prayer and asking God to bless those things. And it makes me think of what the Psalmist says about being in the presence of God where he says in my presence is fullness of joy and I right hand there are pleasures ever more. And I think because as you were saying you're so focused on God and the things of God and aware of his presence that they're you're aware of the power that's going on. So praise God it it revived my soul to hear y'all share that testimony. We are the people of God gathered before the face of God in the name of Jesus Christ. And we listen to him and as I read the scriptures we know that this is God's word and so pay close attention to what God himself says in the reading of his word. Jesus continued there was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father father give me a 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 and wild living. There's the rest of the story that kind of fits in here as far as the son becoming feeding pigs becoming so poor that he's feeding pigs and coming to his senses and returning to the father and the father receiving him incredibly graciously and killing the fatted calf and there is this party going on so that we pick up at verse 25. 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 fatted calf because he has him back safe and sound. The older brother became angry and refused to go in so the 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 killed a fatted 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 his alive again he was lost and is found. We have been looking at the three parables that are in chapter 15 of the book of Luke and we find Jesus responding to the Pharisees and teachers of the law who complain this man welcomes sinners and eats with them and last week we looked at this parable from the standpoint of primarily the younger son and what repentance looks like. And next week even as David has said we'll think about the father and the love of the father and justifying and adopting grace these sorts of things but today I want us to look at the elder son and I'll give you the proposition it's not written down in your bulletin but this is what I want to try and get across today make sure to be found in Jesus your true elder brother. And to get to that I want to first just kind of review all three of the parables and then we'll talk about the duty of the elder brother the cost to the elder brother and how Jesus is the true elder brother as we as we do a little bit of review remember there's three parables the first one is about a man with a hundred sheep one of them is lost he goes out seeks it finds it puts it on his shoulders goes back rejoicing over his lost sheep causes friends and neighbors. To rejoice with him and that theological punchline that Jesus gives you I tell you in the same way there's more joy and heaven in the presence of God over one center who repents and over 99 who need no repentance the second parable the woman has ten coins loses one it's in the house she searches the house diligently until she finds the coin and then she rejoices and calls her friends and neighbors to come and rejoice and again that punchline of Jesus. About how much joy there is in heaven over a center who repents and then there's this third parable and it kind of has that same feel to it there's something that that's lost that has great value there's something of that is lost and is found and the finder rejoices and causes friends and neighbors to celebrate and rejoice over this lost valuable item it goes from sheep to coin to. The son and Jesus is giving these in response to the mutterings of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law because Jesus indeed welcomes sinners and eats with them and there are differences with this third parable that are important for us to consider as well there is in the first two that theological statement I tell you there is more joy in the presence of God or among his angels. There's no theological statement at the end of the third parable there is indeed in those two that that repentance is talked about this is what happens with the lost sheep in the lost coin there they're repenting and that's why there's joy in heaven in the third one there's no statement that way but there is this this repentance worked out it's what we looked at last week that repentance is coming to your senses verse 17 and in that thinking about the father how good he is, how righteous he is, how he treats people well and so on and so forth it's going to the father turning away if you will from the pig's die and the lifestyle and turning to the father it's being ready to accept the consequences to make restitution in terms of human relationships and to not presume on grace as it relates to God but then for an absolutely necessary it's accepting God on his terms. The son cannot earn his salvation it must be granted and the father gives it there's no you'll work for this it's just here's the robe here's the ring here's the sandal kill the calf it's hallelujah and the son accepts this he accepts the father's terms openly this is different it's it's worked out it's spelled out what repentance looks like that's a different difference between them but there's also a difference in the rhythm it's it's not so quick and short the first two or quick and short with a response the third one it's longer and it's different in a couple ways first of all the son's rude the younger son the lot you know the lost sheep is not rude it's just wandering the lost coin it's not rude it's just misplaced it's lost somehow but the son is rude hey dad I wish you were dead how about you just not let's not wait for that just give me my inheritance now everyone who hears it hears my what a rude son that's different than in the first two kind of connected to that with the first two stories the listeners of Jesus's day would just say well yeah okay yeah lost lost sheep you go find it of course that's what you do yeah lost coin of course you go find it it fits them there's no moral feeling about it but when he talks about this younger son saying that to his father there would be among the heroes of Jesus all of them religious the Pharisees everyone there this kind of moral outrage that a son would talk to his father the way this son did there would be that moral outrage and there would be shocked when the father gave the son what he asked for that they would expect the father to beat the son slapped the son maybe put the son out of the house for such incorrigible behavior but in the parable they would be shocked not only by the son's rudeness but by the father's allowing such a thing and actually dividing it up the son would not be seen as getting any better he's not only rude but he's wasteful the words wild living really it's wasteful it's extravagant it's it's the idea that he's just spending ridiculous amounts of money and he's not paying attention at all that's what's communicated by our Lord Jesus I know the older brother says he wasted it with prostitutes and it's become part of our tradition to say his wild living was you know connected with the sinners you know prostitutes stealing all sorts of bad stuff but in the story Jesus told he just says extravagant living okay just just keep that in mind but that would again for the years that rotten son they're thinking I can't believe that son and but they also the people would be thinking okay this done stinks I can't believe it what the father gave him that stuff that's terrible to that son deserves to get his come up and you know he's this bad karma another religion would say you know what goes around should come around to him so when when Jesus says so there's this famine and he begins to be in what they would say yes here comes the moral story right they're thinking to themselves he's going to say something like yeah this is what happens to rebellious sons who disrespect their father and instead what what we have is the son coming to repentance and again the crowd is like whoa I wasn't expecting that ending but what sets the rhythm off even more is the father accepting that and then the older son complaining and and instead of you have one last thing it's found there's rejoicing that's party there's there's a lost son he's he's found let's rejoice there's a party but wait someone's ticked off about it and and now we have conflict we have conflict in the celebration this sets it off as well we may say that the first two parables are in response to the Pharisees and teachers of the law but Jesus saying yes tax collectors and sinners they're valuable to me I see them as lost children lost sheep lost coins lost valuables and I do go look for them I'll look where where they are I'll find them where they are and when they're found when they repent I'll rejoice and call the community of faith friends and neighbors to rejoice with me and it's really the third parable the parable of the son where he draws into his story not only the tax collectors and him seeking them but the Pharisees and the teachers of the law and they're represented in the older brother and that's just kind of on the face of this parable so let's let's look at this and let's think about it we it's presented really as two law sons and we're looking at the elder brother law son and I want to do so at the beginning on the basis of the duty of the older brother the duty of the older brother and in verse 11 when he starts the story Jesus says there was a man with two sons and in verse 12 the younger one said father give me my share of the estate but the second part of that verse says so he divided his property between them so there's the younger brother older brother showing up right there he has two sons and when the inheritance is divided it's divided between the two of them now in our American minds we you know we live with a lot more liquidity in our culture and so we just think okay the father liquidates and something like that but all of their property or most of their property wealth is in property it's an animal husbandry and in farming and agriculture and how the father divided it up we're not real sure but what the Middle Easterner would think remember we talked a little bit about this last week that in the village life in the community life there would be maybe five or six families but they would be extended families large families lots of uncles and lots of ants and lots of cousins and the families would be living in close proximity toward one and toward each other or with each other and there would be these families that are working together in the community and it would be understood in community life and family life that the older brother the first born would develop a relationship with his father that would be significant the first born remember he gets twice the inheritance he gets a double portion of the inheritance at the death of the father and it's assumed that the father will groom him to be the head of the house you know if the head of the clan the eldest the first born head of the clan is living in the community and he has four brothers the older brother the first born son to that to that head of the clan will have more authority among the extended family than his father's brothers because he'll take over when the father dies the father grooms him the father speaks to him and the first born son learns to think like his father thinks learns to manage the wealth like the father wants him to manage the wealth the younger son the first born son he learns to manage the family and do conflict resolution in such the way the father would have him and there's the idea of a close bond so that the first aspect of duty that the the heroes of Jesus would hear from just these first two verses is well the older brother should be looking out for the father's interest it's obvious that the father loves the younger son and therefore the older brother the elder brother ought to be seeking to bring reconciliation right about he ought to be talking to the younger brother saying younger brother what are you doing don't you see you're breaking the father's heart what are you planning on doing this is going to hurt not only our father but our whole family and the community and it would be the older brother's responsibility the first born's responsibility to begin to pursue the younger brother even at the beginning of the request and his heart would beat in line with his fathers and so the first duty we can say that he fails that is right there at the very beginning he silent and he receives his inheritance right along with his younger brother that gives us a lot of understanding that when the younger brother comes back and repents and has received back why is he so mad well he never liked the younger brother he never and he didn't care what the father liked how could he be so rude to his father well that's why if he's the one who's supposed to be the restore not just for the in the family but in the community this is another thing did you know that in the Jewish community during this time there was a ceremony in English it would be the cutting off ceremony and if there was someone so rebellious as the go feed pigs which was like I don't know this the thing that the Jewish man never did and they would have the cutting off ceremony and the community would be involved in it and there's there's hints of this in the Old Testament you know if a son is so rebellious he's to take him to the elder and say my son is rebellious he won't listen to me and if the son doesn't repent they would stone him that was in the law there was there was law about the cutting off and the Jewish tradition took that cutting off and that's what they would do and again it would be the elder brother's job either to bring it to resolution either see the younger brother come to repentance or if there is repeated hardhearted repentance to put together the cutting off ceremony and his father has already received him when it says when the older brother goes to the servant or calls the servants is hey what's going on and the servant says your father has received your brother back he has him back safe and sound what probably what's going on there the word used in the Greek is probably a translation for the for the aromatic for peace for Shalom and that idea of Shalom would be restoration reconciliation and so what the servant is saying is your father's received him back in his reconciled and the son's thinking well great there's nothing I can do now to keep him cut off his duty would be to reconcile him and he's upset that he's already been received he's already been reconciled and he can't have him cut off he's failing in his duty in these various areas why why is he failing why is he failing to welcome the son back why doesn't he understand the father's heart and seek to do the father's will like the first born is supposed to well we talked a little bit about this last week it's the it's a relational dynamic if we look at verses 29 and 30 he responds to 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 a squandered your property with prostitutes comes home you kill the fatted calf for him the alienation from between the older brother and the father is really stark in this passage you know the younger brother when he asked for his inheritance he says father the older brother when he talks to his father never says father never says dad he just says look there's no relationship there it's further defined when he talks about their working relationship in the working relationship he says all these years I've been slaving for you and that's the literal translation slaving not working not laboring I think of what Paul talks about when he writes in Philippians chapter two he he says this he's talking to the Philippians about sending a paphroditus and he says but I thought it necessary to send to you a paphroditus my brother and fellow worker there it is he takes a preposition fellow fellowship and he puts it with worker air air gone is energy will get the in air gay that sort of stuff fellow worker and that's how he talks about him the older brother says slaving and I think this is critical the older brother when he considers his relationship with this father he's in the house but he's slaving the relational aspect is he's a slave and he sees his father as a past master and he goes right from talking about slaving and the work relationship rather than working together to build the family name and the family household and to receive from my father and pass on to my son he sees it as slavery and then he says and I've never disobeyed him he never disobeyed a single order of yours and again he talks in terms of rules and lists and it's impersonal and there's nothing that talks about the love of the father it makes me think of what Paul wrote when he talked about the Gentiles struggling with maybe going back to the law and trying to be justified by keeping the law frustrated with him at the beginning of chapter five in nice words he says it was for freedom that Christ has set you free for freedom and yet he's slaving and keeping his rules as a slave Jesus teaching the Jews in Roman I'm sorry John chapter 8 verse 31 32 it says to the Jews who had believed him Jesus said if you hold to my teaching you are really my disciples you will know the truth and the truth will set you free I don't hold to his teaching they don't hold to the truth and they are not free there's an important thing we need to note as well and it's the historical context I think Luke has done this on purpose it's not by accident but if you remember back in chapter 14 you know Jesus is eating out of Pharisees house and different things and at a point in a conversation someone says you know blessed is the one who gets the eat in the future kingdom of God who's seated at that table remember if you don't look it up it's in chapter 14 and Jesus tells the parable of the great banquet as a result of that and he says you know the great man gives a banquet he invites all sorts of people he gives out the invitation the RSVP's come he kills the animals he prepares the feast it's all ready he sends a servant out saying okay tell him come on it's ready and they all start to make excuses remember we looked at that and they have all these different excuses and the owner of the house is mad and he said but he handles it with grace he says I want you to go out I want to show grace I'll deal with these guys they won't be at my banquet but go out to the highways byways go out to the foreigners where where there's all sorts of people and compel them to come into my feast that parable Jesus presents as hey look there's a feast going on and it's already going on it's not just the future it's already going on and I'm that servant of my fathers and I'm bringing the invitation come on and I'm hearing a hearing a bunch of excuses he then gives something of the invitation the very next thing Luke writes is if anyone wants to come after me and be my disciple he's got to hate his father mother sister brother sister spouse children his own life he has to take up his own cross and follow me there's the invitation to the banquet okay so you can understand maybe a little difficult but that is the invitation isn't it isn't it God saying look I am worthy to be worshiped and adored and to there's nothing else that you should give your life to it there's nothing else that's worth living and dying for like the Lord Jesus Christ and so it's it's really a gracious invitation to come after him to take up your cross and to die and it's the very next thing where we hear the tax collectors and sinners are eating with him eating with him eating with him and here's this parable and at the end of the parable you have the Pharisees you have the older brother and what's he doing he's making excuses I'm not going to eat with him you treat your your your prostitute spending money on prostitute son better than you treat me he's failed in his duty and it comes from a hard heart that has never been reconciled from the father to the father alienated in the house in the church it says he's a Christian if you will maybe teach a Sunday school or serves on the border leads a ministry or something but it's all law it's all rules it's all drudgery there's some really critical things here we can we can examine our lives I found myself guilty you know I identify so well with the younger son and my my early years but in my older years it's the older brother joyless service to Christ is an incredible evidence that you're alienated from the father's love judging others and saying I deserve better is an incredible evidence that you are alienated from the father looking down a judging a condemning spirit is an alienation from the father because if you were if you were connected with the father your heart would be like Jesus who's seeking to save the lost is going after the law sheep is looking for the lost coin that cares about the lost son we got to hurry up only so there is a cost he's failing miserably but but there is an incredible cost to the older brother there's a cost to looking what if he would have urged his brother what if he would have followed his brother what if he would have gone to the distant land not only would he not have time to be making money he would be spending money looking for his brother wasting time and what if he finds him what if he's there and he's pleading with the brother and and the brother comes to his senses and and the older brother says come on let's go home he's got a then he's got to deal with the community because remember the community has this cutting off ceremony for people to do what his younger brother does and he's got to bear the cost not only of going and finding the brother but of bringing about reconciliation with the community how's he going to do that it's going to cost him significantly and what about this patented calf who's patented calf was it all but what did the father say all that I have all that I have is yours for the father to be reconciled to the younger son the older son has to bear the cost his patented calf it's his money that provides for the maintenance of the son's clothing and ring and shoes and reinstatement the younger son has accrued an incredible debt and because of the spiritual alienation the older brother can't pay that debt there's no forgiveness he can't say and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors why he's alienated from the father you struggle with forgiveness at its root I do too so I don't mean to be picking on you at its root there is pride I deserve better I'm not getting what I deserve and there's alienation from the father I love him never mind all the sins of mine that he's forgiven me I love him I love what he loves I delight in what he wants

the cost is high and so we got to go to Jesus don't we he is the first born of all creation he is the first born of the resurrected he is the beloved son in whom the father is well pleased he is the first born the double portion the one who gives us an inheritance he's the one who says let me read my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work as he witnesses to the Samaritan woman he's the one who can say greater love has no one than this that he lays down his life for his friends he he's the one he's the elder brother who seeks the lost who pleads with the lost whether they be sinners and tax collectors or Pharisees and teachers of the law God the father made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ he paid the cost he left heaven to look for sinners to find them to plead with them to defend them in the community when they repent oh be found in your elder brother Jesus Christ be found in your elder brother Jesus Christ be restored to the father through your elder brother Jesus Christ and in that restoration learn to love the father like your big brother let's pray we thank you father for our Lord Jesus Christ the first born of all creation not time just preeminence the first born of the resurrected the one who has purchased our inheritance for us who gives himself and the wealth of heaven for us oh may we be found in him not having a righteousness of our own derived from the law not alienated but trying to keep the rules may we be found in him trust in his righteousness finding it a delight to do the father's will we pray this in Jesus name amen