The Other Lost Son

Thank you for reading this sermon from Christ Fellowship. I hope and pray that this sermon will be a blessing of grace and truth to you. With that said, let me encourage you not to use this sermon as a replacement for your local church. Christ Jesus did not establish his Church simply for us to consume content. Instead, He calls us to be part of a real, covenant family. 

Last week, we started the parable of the lost son, and I told you that Jesus invented a character that would be equally despised by everyone in his audience, not just the religious leaders. Even the tax collectors and sinners would have hated the younger son.

He requested his share of the inheritance from his living father. He left the promised land to live among Gentiles. He wasted all of it in reckless living. He became the servant of a Gentile with the dirty job of feeding pigs, an unclean animal.

But there’s another character in this story and he’s about to be introduced to us. And really, he plays the key role because Jesus intends for his audience to read themselves into the story as this character.

25 “Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the older brother is hard at work. He comes to the house, probably dripping with sweat from his labors, and he hears the party.

His father wasted no time celebrating the younger son’s arrival. In fact, they started the party without the older son.

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.’

Remember also from last week, the gifts that were given by the father would have been given at the expense of the older son’s inheritance! How do you think he’s going to respond?

28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him,

Notice that the father pursues the older brother just as he pursued the younger brother. He goes outside to meet him… to love him… to invite him inside.

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.

This response tells us a lot about his heart. First, it reveals a sense of entitlement.

This translation uses the word “served” in English, but the Greek word is closer to “slaved” … I have slaved for you… but where is MY reward?! He feels entitled to more.

Second, it shows us that, deep down, the older brother wants the same kind of transactional relationship with the father that the younger brother wanted. He’s not serving because he loves his father, but because he wants his fair share!

And his opinion of his younger brother reinforces that interpretation.

30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’

“This son of yours…” he can’t even refer to him as a brother. His sin was inexcusable. He shouldn’t even be part of this family anymore! And yet, you have honored him with the best of everything we own! … …

The hook is set. The audience of Jesus in on the edge of their seats, because they completely agree with the older brother.

With the younger brother, Jesus had created a character they would all despise. But with the older brother, Jesus had created a character they would all empathize with!

No one listening to Jesus feels compassion for the younger brother. Much more likely, they are all feeling sorry for the older brother! They believe he’s right and the father is wrong! Even the tax collectors and sinners would have felt this way.

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 end of our parable. Your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found. In other words, I’m not going to apologize for celebrating repentance. And your brother’s life is worth far more to me than possessions!

What we have in this parable is an opportunity for the self-righteous to recognize that they are also in need of repentance.

I love this quote by Ralph Davis:

“Some sinners smell of the hog pen; but others reek of the church pew — and Jesus appeals to them as well.”

That’s the message of this parable. C.S. Lewis captures this idea in one of his lesser-known books, The Great Divorce.

It’s a story about a group of people from hell who take a bus ride to heaven. They get to talk to some people they knew in their earthly life, people that are now in heaven. But it doesn’t go very well, and everyone who came from hell chooses to leave heaven and go back down to hell.

Why? Because they can’t believe that the people in heaven got in! One of the men from hell meets a person from heaven who had actually been a murderer in his former life and the person from hell didn’t want to “go to any place where they let people like him in.”

Near the end of the book, Lewis writes: “Those that hate goodness are sometimes nearer to God than those that think they have it already.”

In Luke 5, Jesus says, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” In other words, if you think you aren’t a sinner, then you’re more lost than the people who know they are lost! Only lost people can be found!

If you ever find yourself lost in the woods, what do they tell you to do? Stay put and wait. Maybe start a fire. But if you start moving, you’re probably going to get more lost than you already are. The people that think they can get themselves to safety are more likely to never be found!

Spiritually speaking, the most difficult people to reach are the ones who think they already know everything… the ones who think they are already better than most people… this is clearly the attitude of the older brother and Jesus wants the religious leaders to see this as a look in the mirror.

I slaved for God! I never disobeyed God! Others may squander their time and resources on loose living, but not me! And yet, they were no different from the sinners they despised and compared themselves to, because they were still separated from the Father!

They are being invited to the party, but they refused to go inside. Why? Because they would have to repent as well. They would have to let go of their sense of entitlement. They would have to let go of their pride. They would have to admit their own need of grace.

Finally, I think it is important to consider the older brother’s perception of his father. Not only does he have the wrong view of himself… he has the wrong view of his father.

What kind of leader wants people to slave for them and obey orders with no reward? We call that a dictator!
The older brother doesn’t see his father as a father. He doesn’t see himself as a son. He sees his father as a tyrant. He sees himself as a slave. There’s no love here.

And I would ask you, how do you see God? Do you pray to him like a father? Or do you speak to him in pride when you do well and shame or fear when you fail?

You will never love God if you feel slighted by him, as if he is not rewarding you fairly for your efforts. You will never love other people if you are focused on your own worthiness and everyone else’s sin.

But if you have experienced the love of the Father… His pleasure in finding and restoring you… His joy that invites you into His kingdom, not because you deserve it but because He claims you as an adopted child at the cost of His only Son… then His love will spill over into your life. You will begin to find joy in His grace for you and for others.

We don’t know how the story ends. Jesus doesn’t tell us if the older brother went into the party. He leaves it open for his audience to decide – will they repent and enjoy the kingdom of God? Or will their pride keep them from the Father?