Luke 16:14-18 First Things First - February 25, 2024

Luke 16:14-18 First Things First

Good morning! Let’s turn to Luke 16, verses 14-18, page 875 in the pew Bibles.

Last time we were together we looked at Jesus’ parable about the shrewd manager. The lesson from that passage was simply to use our earthly possessions for eternal purposes, to benefit the lost that they may come to know Christ.

Today we are going to look at a little section sandwiched in between two parables of Jesus that concern the right use of wealth that gets at the heart of the issue of the right use of wealth, and that is the heart itself.

I’ll warn you ahead of time that there may be some pitfalls ahead but I would encourage you to not lose sight of the point that Jesus was trying to make and not see the forest for the trees.

Let’s look at our text together.

14 The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him. 15 And he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God. 

16 “The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it. 17 But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to become void. 

18 “Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.

Let’s pray.

So Jesus had just powerfully said to this crowd of followers and Pharisees that they could not serve both God and money, that they could only be devoted to one and despise the other.

Now just imagine the Pharisees, who happened to all be rich, listening to this homeless wanderer, who was poor and was followed by the poor. What could He possibly know about the right use of wealth?

Verse 14 says, The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him.

They literally turned up their noses at Him. And to this Jesus replied, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.” 

Now here is where we run into trouble. The Pharisees existed long ago and far away, but the heart of the Pharisee is alive and well. It is the heart that creates a system of religion that excuses itself from guilt of any kind and exalts itself as pleasing to God and acceptable in His sight.

The problem with this thinking is that it ignores the Word of God and the Law of God.

It exalts what people find, not just acceptable, but desirable. The Pharisees believed they were rich because God was pleased with them and they He somehow owed them recompense for their devotion.

Jesus says to them, and quite possibly to you and me, that this kind of thinking is an abomination in the sight of God. We don’t get to decide what God finds acceptable or not, we don’t get to decide how to please God, He has already determined it, recorded it, and it will not change no matter what.

16 “The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it. 17 But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to become void. 

This is a question that is often asked: what do we do with the Old Testament, what is its purpose now, for us the church?

The whole Old Testament, that is what Jesus is referring to, the whole Old Testament up to John the Baptist constitutes a whole, fully complete within itself, which now gives way to the Word of fulfillment that is the preaching of the Good News of the kingdom of God through faith in Jesus Christ.

The whole Old Testament points to the person and work of Jesus. 

Alistair Begg said, “You are to read the Old Testament in light of the fact that God has made Himself finally and savingly known in Jesus.”

Jesus said in Matthew 5:17-19, 17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Have you ever looked at ancient Hebrew, the words and letters? It doesn’t look like English. There are all sorts of little swoops and dots and squiggly lines. Each of those tiny marks can change the meaning or the tense or the object of any of those words. Jesus is saying that not even the smallest stroke of the pen in the Law will become void, it would be easier to destroy the universe than to do that.

The Pharisees, who were supposed to be teachers of the Law charged with helping people to enter the kingdom were standing at the gates and trying to prevent people from entering by their teaching. People were having to force their way past them to enter instead of being welcomed by them into it.

The Pharisees were guilty of prodigalling, squandering, the Law and the Prophets. 

Instead of using the Law to expose the sin of mankind, they twisted it, added to it, to build for themselves their own little kingdoms on earth. A sin that unfortunately is still alive and well and disguises itself as churches.

The purpose of the Law is to expose sin and the need for saving.

The most well known of all Bible verses is John 3:16. You can see it in the end zone of every football game. There’s always somebody in the crowd holding up a sign that says John 3:16.

And John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever would believe in Him would not perish but would have everlasting life.”

Many of us consider this the heart of the gospel, but is it all of the gospel?

If all people hear is, “God loves you, and Jesus died on the cross for you,” are they hearing the whole gospel?

It is in the Law that it is written, without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin.

Leviticus 17:11 says, The life of every living thing is in the blood, and that is why the Lord has commanded that all blood be poured out on the altar to take away the people’s sins. Blood, which is life, takes away sins.

Alistair Begg said, “Until men and women are confronted with the Law of God which shows them to be sinners, the idea of a Savior dying on the cross doesn’t really make sense.”

It is the Law of God that says to make God our first priority, to not worship any idols, to not take His Name in vain, to keep the Sabbath holy, to honor our mother and father, to not murder, to not commit adultery, to not steal, to not lie, and to not covet. 

And we have all violated that Law, we have all sinned, and we all deserve the punishment that goes with our sin: death! That is the bad news that makes the Good News good! Jesus died that death in our place on the cross so that we don’t have to die, we simply trust in Him!

The Law shows us our sin and sends us therefore to Christ and then gives us a framework by which to live a life of gratitude to God for His grace to us.

But the Pharisees relaxed the Law of God where it suited them and enforced it where it suited them and Jesus exposes this in His last statement from our passage.

18 “Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.

The Pharisees, in their books, allowed a man to divorce his wife if she burned his dinner or if he found a prettier woman.

They twisted the design of God, which is one man, one woman, one lifetime, to suit their own desires and benefit themselves.

Now, as Alistair Begg reminds us, “This is not all of Jesus’ teaching on marriage and divorce but it is His teaching.” Allow the weight of these words to rest on your hearts because that was what Jesus was doing to the Pharisees. He was holding up the sanctity of God’s design and prescription in the Old Testament and confronting and showing those men how they had lost sight of it. Maybe we have too.

Warren Wiersbe said that, “Jesus is demanding integrity, total devotion to God that puts Him first in everything.”

And I would suggest to you no less: total devotion to God that puts Him first in everything, in how you spend your money, how you spend your time, who you associate with, what you allow in the windows of your heart. All of that must be in total submission to the Father, total submission to Jesus, by the help of the Holy Spirit.

The Law is our teacher. It teaches us who God is, who we are, what we have done, and how we need a Savior.

If you have never been confronted by the Law of God that shows you your sin and your need for a Savior until today and want to receive forgiveness for your sin all you need to do is ask Him for it.

Admit that you have sinned and turn away from it, and trust that Jesus’ death on the cross dealt with it and follow Him.

Amen. 

Luke 16:1-15 A Good Lesson From a Bad Example - February 18, 2024

 Luke 16:1-15 A Good Lesson From a Bad Example

Good morning! Turn with me in your Bibles to Luke 16, verses 1-15, and that’s on page 875 in the pew Bibles.

You may remember from last week we looked at the two prodigal sons in chapter fifteen. The word, “prodigal,” means, “squanderer.” This week we are going to look at another prodigal, the prodigal manager in Luke 16, and hopefully get a good lesson out of a bad example.

Let’s pray.

So our text for this morning is a continuation of the lessons that Jesus has been giving to this crowd of followers and Pharisees. The followers were made up both of the twelve disciples as well as the tax collectors and sinners that we were introduced to back in the opening verses of chapter fifteen. The Pharisees were those religious leaders whose power over the people was in jeopardy, threatened by Jesus.

So to His followers and in the hearing of the Pharisees Jesus tells this parable.

He also said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions. 2 And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’ 3 And the manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. 4 I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses.’ 5 So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 He said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ 7 Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ 8 The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. 9 And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings. 

Now I want to stop there and take a look at this. It’s really important for us to remember that this is a parable, an illustration used by Jesus to make a point and that point is not, how to be a greedy dirt bag.

The rich man had a manager, a steward of his property. This manager had charge over the rich man’s possessions and had been caught prodigaling it, wasting it and he got called to account for it.

This fellow may not have been a great money manager but he was no dummy. He knew that he had been caught and that he would be fired so he came up with a plan to keep him from digging ditches or begging on the street.

In verse three he has this funny little conversation with himself… ’ 3 And the manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. 4 I have decided what to do, so that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses.’

Before this, this guy had been busted for wasting the master’s possessions but now he decides to straight up steal from the master.

He sits down with some of the people who owed his master and starts cooking the books. With one debtor he cancelled half of his debt and with another twenty percent. His hope was that by discounting their bills these debtors would now be in debt to him for doing them a favor and they would give him a job and a place to live.

Now by my math this manager cost his master over four hundred gallons of oil, and five to six hundred bushels of wheat. He didn’t do that just because he was a jerk but to secure his future with one of these debtors.

And in First Century Judea one might expect that the manager would be thrown in prison for this treachery but that’s not how this story goes.

8 The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness.

He praised his cleverness, he made friends for himself by giving deep discounts and the master was impressed by his ability to deal with his potential incoming hardships by redistributing resources.

Both of these businessmen sound a little greasy to me.

But Jesus says, 8 The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. 9 And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings. 

Jesus isn’t praising the manager’s dishonesty, but rather his shrewdness, his cleverness. Not only that but he encourages his followers to be shrewd in the same way making friends by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails those friends may receive them into eternal dwellings.

Is Jesus teaching His followers to be shady businessmen? No.

Is Jesus suggesting here that people can buy their way into heaven? No.

Jesus is instructing His followers on the beneficent use of wealth as a powerful means of grace.

Martin Luther wrote, “It is not works that win us to heaven, but Christ bestows eternal blessedness out of grace on those who believe and have proved their faith in works of love and right use of earthly good.”

 Earthly wealth can’t buy us a place in God’s eternal kingdom but if we use earthly wealth shrewdly for God’s purposes we can ensure a good reception there by those who came to faith as a result.

Jesus said in Matthew 6:21, “Where your treasure is there your heart will be also.” Meaning, that there is a strong link between money and spirituality. 

When Jesus said in verse nine make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings, He is telling His followers to use money while it still has value. It is a temporary tool that can do some eternal good and it can be a powerful motivator.

Paul wrote to Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:17-19,

17 As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. 18 They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, 19 thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.

What we have been entrusted with, be it a little or a lot, has been entrusted to us by God as His stewards and we should use it to help people enter His kingdom through faith in Jesus.

Verse ten also shows us that we can view the use of money and wealth as an indicator of hidden character.

10 “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.

Not being a lover of money or greedy for gain, but hospitable and a good manager of his own household are some of the requirements the Bible gives us for eldership, it’s a standard we all should aspire to. 

When we regard what we have as belonging to the Lord, when we realize that what I call mine is really His, we will be faithful with what the Lord has given whether it’s a little or a lot.

Verses 11-12 also give us a potential explanation of the lack of spiritual power in our own lives.

 11 If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? 12 And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? 

I’m not saying this is you, I’m not saying it isn’t. I’m also not looking for a raise. I have no idea what the Lord has put in front of you to do with the resources that He has entrusted you with. I do know that he is calling us all to faithfulness and submission to Him as master, to recognize all that we have is His to will and to do with whatever he desires. And when we are faithful with what He has entrusted to us, He may just entrust us with more.

Verses 13-15 get to the heart of the matter of the connection between money and spirituality.

13 No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” 

14 The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him. 15 And he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

Warren Wiersbe said, “If God is our Master, then money will be our servant, and we will use our resources in the will of God.” Use it don’t serve it. As the songwriter said, “We weren’t born to just pay bills and die.”

One of the most often misquoted verses in the Bible is 1 Timothy 6:10. People say that money is the root of all evil, but that’s not what the Bible actually says. 1 Timothy 6:10 says, “For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and have pierced themselves with many pangs.”

Riches deceive, they make people think that they are something that they aren’t. Money, power, and influence was what the Pharisees were after and that pursuit hasn’t changed much over two thousand years. But no matter how much money, power, or influence anyone has in this life we are all equal at the foot of the cross.

The evaluation of God will come when we act not out of what we want others to see, but out of what we have actually become.

The Lord Jesus said in Matthew 25,

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ 45 Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Children of Light, let us be shrewd in dealing with our generation and use what we have been given to expand God’s eternal kingdom through the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Luke 15:11-32 The Parable of the Prodigal Sons - February 11, 2024

 Luke 15:11-32 The Parable of the Prodigal Sons

Good morning! Turn in your Bibles to Luke 15. This morning we are going to look at the crown jewel of the parables of Jesus in verses 11-32 and that’s on page 874 in the pew Bibles.

This is perhaps the most well known of the parables of Jesus, and I call it the crown jewel of the parables because in it is contained the whole gospel and it really is a mirror into which every person must look.

Let’s pray.

To set the context we must go back to the beginning of this chapter, to verses one and two.

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to [Jesus]. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

And Jesus addressed these religious leaders and their grumbling with three parables, the Parable of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, and the Parable of the Prodigal Son. We looked at the first two parables last week and today we turn our attention to the third.

11 And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. 14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything. 

17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.” ’ 20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate. 

25 “Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ 28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, 29 but he answered his father, ‘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. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ 31 And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’ ”

I’ve made comments about the headings we find in our Bibles before and the difficulties that they sometimes present but this one takes the cake.

Here in chapter 15 we have the Parable of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, and… The Prodigal Son. It shouldn’t be called that, it should be called the Parable of the Lost Son, actually, the Lost Sons, because there are two sons who were lost in this parable.

The Parable of the Prodigal Sons wouldn’t be all bad if we knew what the word prodigal meant. Do you know? We tend to assume it means someone who is lost and then found again but it doesn’t. The word prodigal comes from a Latin word that means to squander. This is the Parable of the Squandering Sons.

The youngest son, the one most often referred to as the prodigal son demands from his father his share of the inheritance. He boldly, and foolishly, says, “Dad, I want what’s mine, and I want to do with it whatever I want. I want to be free from your rule and live my own life on my own terms. I deserve to be happy.”

This boy was already separated from his father inwardly and so he separates from him outwardly as if his father were dead. He gathered up all that was his and took off for a distant country far from his father’s watchful gaze so he could be free to live as he wished.

And seeking to be free he became a slave, a slave to unfettered freedom. In that distant country he squandered everything he had, he “prodigaled,” his inheritance in reckless living. This was bad news, but as often happens when things go badly, they got worse. A famine hit that land and he had nothing.

And what do we tend to do when we hit rock bottom? Be honest, we try to fix it ourselves.

So that’s what he did, he took a job feeding pigs. Now if you consider Jesus’ original audience, they were all Jewish and they all knew that pigs were unclean, they weren’t Kosher, and to be around them made you unclean and so you would not be able to worship or go to Synagogue on the Sabbath. For a Jewish person in the First Century feeding the pigs was lower than low. This was what JJ VanOosterzee called, “The inconceivable wretchedness into which sin drags a man down.”

So desperate and hungry he longed to eat the pig’s food but nobody would give him anything. 

Homeless, hungry, filthy, failure. Lost and as good as dead.

What had he really squandered? All his money and possessions yes, but what more than that? His home, his family, his father.

And then verse 17.

“But when he came to himself…” Like awakening from a dream he recognized the reality of his state.

17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.” ’

Just like his inward separation lead to outward separation from his father, now an inward change led to outward action.

VanOosterzee said “Now when the pride of his heart is broken, no false shame holds him longer back from considering his condition in its true light.”

The sin of the younger brother was pride. Proverbs 16:25 says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” That’s exactly where he was, on his way to death because he wanted his own way.

But when he recognized the reality of his state, in humility he repented, turned from that way that was leading him to death and turned from it back to his father. He recognized that he didn’t deserve forgiveness but was hoping that his father would have mercy on him and receive him as a slave.

He did have a great little speech prepared though. 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.” ’

20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate. 

The father didn’t even let him finish his speech! The father longed for his son’s return and watched the road daily expecting to see him and when he saw him far off he ran and hugged him and kissed him before he could even say a word.

He removed the beggar’s rags and clothed him with the best robe, a symbol of honor, a ring for his hand, a symbol of authority in the family, and sandals for his feet, a symbol that he was not a slave but was free, and the slaughter of the fattened calf, a symbol of rejoicing because the son who was dead was alive again, he was lost and now is found.

But there are two lost sons in this parable, two prodigals.

I told you before that this parable is a mirror.

The less we can recognize our own image in the description of the younger son, the more in danger we are of recognizing our image in the description of the older son.

Rather than watching and waiting with his father for his lost brother the older brother chose to work out in the fields. When a party is thrown without his knowledge he becomes angry. The killing of the fattened calf angers him. The return of his brother angers him. His father’s reception of his brother angers him.

 25 “Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ 28 But he was angry and refused to go in.

And just like the father went out to the younger brother, he goes out to the older brother as well.

His father came out and entreated him, 29 but he answered his father, ‘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. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’

The older son boasts of his longstanding record of outward obedience. But that obedience was merely mechanical obedience without the power of love.

Just as the younger son once thought he deserved his inheritance the older son thought he deserved a place of honor but by saying so he betrays his inward pride in his works that, in his mind, continue to go unrecognized and unrewarded.

In his pride he doesn’t even call the first prodigal his brother but instead says, “this son of yours…”

It’s true that the younger son squandered his inheritance on reckless living, but both sons were guilty of squandering the love of the father.

You can almost hear the heartbreak in the father’s words.

 31 And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’ ”

And that’s the difference between these two sons. One son counted on the grace of the father, the other counted on his own performance. One son recognized that he didn’t deserve to be called a son, the other didn’t recognize that he didn’t need to earn the title.

What’s most interesting about this parable is that it doesn’t end. Jesus didn’t say what the older brother decided to do, just as if he was leaving it up to those grumbling Pharisees and those who see their reflection in the older brother to decide for themselves how this parable ends; will you still refuse to join in the joy of heaven over the conversion of lost sinners?

And for those who see themselves reflected in the younger brother wallowing in the mire with the pigs and the pods, repentance begins when we come to ourselves and recognize our deep wretchedness and our inexcusable guilt. This knowledge of our sinfulness brings about an inward sorrow but as 2 Corinthians 7:10 says, “Godly sorrow produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret…”

Recognize your sinfulness, turn away from it back to the Father through faith in His Son Jesus.

Amen.