“hold onto your lug nuts it’s tiiiiiiiiime for an overhaul!!!”…
To people who have heard the story of ‘the prodigal son’ they might be doing the ‘doggy-head tilt’ huh? right now. Mariko, you’re crazy, 2 prodigal sons, psssshhh.
2 weeks ago our bible study did a study on a sermon by Tim Keller that was so convicting in so many different ways for me.
In Luke 15, Jesus tells the parable of ‘the prodigal son.’ Everyone looks at the younger brother as the one that is after the inheritance of the father, runs from him, is the one that experiences lostness and is the one that needs to return home. Tim Keller talks about how BOTH brothers were prodigal sons.
Jesus starts off the parable saying 11″There was a man who had two sons.” Jesus compares the two brothers, but it seems most tend to concentrate on the younger brother the most and seem to forget the older brother until the end. We always get so warm and fuzzy thinking about how God welcomes back the runaway, but miss the way that if we as believers are the ‘older brother’ we too are running, lost, and need to be brought back. Though there are two kinds of people/running/lostness…there is still only one way home.
There are two kinds of people Jesus addresses…the religious – Pharisees, Sadducees, ‘older brother types’, and the tax collectors, prostitutes-’younger brother types.’ The younger brother lives in depravity and the older brother refuses to see it.
Jesus shows the two sons, both are alienated from the father’s heart…the younger brother for his disobedience; the older brother for his ’goodness’. Keller talks about how both run from the Father.
“At heart both were absolutely the same. Both were trying to escape the authority of the father, both resented his control and rebelled. But one did it by breaking all of the father’s rules, and the other did it by keeping them.” – Keller
It’s crazy how we obey sometimes…and by we, I’m concentrating on me. I find myself obeying at times with an “Ok God, I’m listening to what you say, I’m being a good little Christian…when are you going to bless me?” ::BLEGH:: It’s so gross to think how many times it seems like I put myself in a position where it’s like, “ok God, you owe me.” Yet He owes me absolutely nothing, but gives me everything.
“The difference between a religious person and a true Christian is that the religious person obeys God to get control over God, and to get things from God, but the Christian obeys just to get God. Religious persons obey God to get leverage over God, to control Him, to put Him in a position where they think He owes them. Therefore, despite their moral and religious fastidiousness, they are actually attempting to be their own saviors.”
“Christians, who know they are only saved by grace and can never control God, obey Him out of a desire to love and please and draw closer to the One who saved them.”
He goes on to talk about how both brothers were after the father’s wealth. They wanted what the father had…and not HIM. Ouch. This hurts me, because I know I do it. So many times I want what God can give, not just Him. My joy can come from God’s blessings, not just God himself.
Keller then addresses the ‘lostness’ that the older brother experience:
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Filled with anger about how life is going – leads to anger if we ‘live up’ to God’s standards and something goes wrong; ‘living right’=anger at God; ‘not living right’=anger at myself
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joyless, mechanical obedience – obey God as means to an end; **Christians are filled with amazement at the grace of God and so obey out of a delight in pleasing Him for His own sake **
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coldness to younger-brother types- if I believe I am a sinner saved by grace alone, I will not feel superior to anyone else, not to other cultural or racial groups, not to other faiths, not to immoral people; I will treat others with hope
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lack of assurance of the father’s love – no intimacy, joy, closeness; if I try to earn my salvation through obeying and my own goodness, uncertainty in my relationship with God is inevitable
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unforgiving, judgmental spirit – lack of emotional humility and emotional wealth–> “I am no different”; “I am so loved and forgiven by my Father, what does it matter that I was slighted or wronged by him?
…check, check and check…any other takers?
…only one way home…
Not only must we go to the Father, but He comes to us. He meets us. He runs out to us and meets us where we are. God’s grace comes to us. (I know it’s not about US, but realizing the sacrifices God makes for a creation that has been disobedient for eons) Repenting of righteousness is important too. Realizing that I obey God out of loving Him and loving Him alone. It’s not like mowing the lawn or doing the dishes (which really shouldn’t warrant an allowance from parents either), but not to say “ok I did what you say…where is my allowance?”
Jesus is the ultimate older brother.
Though we tend to be older brothers a lot, we are also the younger brother. The younger brother spends every cent of his inheritance…so everything else the father has left belongs to the older brother. But how does the father bring the younger son back into the family?…with a ring, a robe, a party, a fatted calf…all of these belong to the older brother.
“Jesus Christ is the true elder brother. By way of contrast with this elder brother, he is revealed to us. He came to earth and truly obeyed his father and never disobeyed his orders. He truly has the right to all the father owns. But instead, he came out and searched for us, and found us in the pigsty, and carried us home on his shoulders singing with joy. And he gave us his robe, his ring, his place, his wealth…all at his own expense.”
Daaaaaaaang. Thinking of God is this way, thinking of Jesus in this way, and thinking of my brokenness and self-righteousness in this was was truly humbling and convicting. I was absolutely undone when we went over this. It also ignited something in me that also made me think of my own self-righteousness, but not to younger brother, but to other older brothers.
Man, my heart and my head are going crazy right now. More to come on this goodness…
In the meantime…OH SNAP Jesus, how you work through people. woot Tim Keller ma brotha.
…let me know what you think 
