There are two brothers in the story. The younger son, the more famous of the two, demands his inheritance from his father. Upon receiving it, he goes away and squanders all that he has in reckless living, ending up as a pig feeder, desiring to eat the pods that the pigs are eating! He gave up everything that he had - security, rest, love, respect - and settled for hunger and the company of swine.
What a picture of our own lives. Instead of being filled by the Bread of Life, we are content to live out our lives in desperate hunger, all the while knowing where to be filled, all the while refusing to do so, just like the dwarves in The Last Battle by C. S. Lewis. They sat and ate less-than-delicious food, refusing to open their eyes and see what was truly around them, what was truly possible.
The prodigal comes to his senses eventually, and decides that he can move home and be a slave at his father's house. Better to be a slave where you are treated decently than to be a slave, going hungry, who feeds pigs for a living. He wants to move from terrible slavery to better slavery.
However, the father sees him coming, and has compassion. He runs to him, embraces him, kisses him. The son begins to say that he wishes to be a servant, but the father cuts him off, declaring that his son was lost and is now found. The father wants to throw a celebration for the return of his son, whom he loves.
All that is preliminary to what hit me most in this chapter.
The elder son comes in from working in the field. This son has never left the father. He hears that his younger brother has returned, and that they are celebrating with the fattened calf.
He is angry, and refuses to go in.
Why? Because the prodigal son does not deserve this! He has taken his inheritance which the father so graciously gave to him, and squandered it! He has done nothing - not one single thing - to merit such grace.
Indeed, he has not.
So the elder brother refuses to celebrate his return.
The father comes out and entreats the elder brother: won't you celebrate his return?
The elder brother says, look, I have done so much, I have obeyed you, I have followed the rules. He says, "that son of yours". The message is clear: I am not affiliated with him.
In response, the father says, all that I have is yours, my son. Then he says, "this your brother". The message from the father is equally clear: Yes, you are.
My question today: are we the elder brother?
So often, in desiring to serve the Father, we do, do, do. We make mental lists of what constitutes appropriate behaviour. Often these things are noble, as we desire to follow the Word of God, to bring glory to God by our obedience, stemming from our desire to love God to the best of our ability.
Yet, because of our own sin, we turn these actions, this obedience, into something arrogant. We see other Christians who do not have exactly the same list as us, and we think, I am not affiliated with them.
We follow one denomination, one ancient creed, and we see those who do not follow the same and think, I am not affiliated with them.
We see those who believe speaking in tongues means something different from what we would define, and we think, I am not affiliated with them.
The list goes on, and on, and on. We refuse to celebrate with those who are, to our mind, lesser Christians. They have done wrong. They have this or that wrong. Their theology is wrong. Their orthodoxy, their orthopraxy is off. And so we are angry that they celebrate with the Father. We are angry that they receive the same grace that we do.
Yet the Father says, no, you are affiliated. You are equal to me for one reason: Christ Jesus. No matter our disagreements on doctrine or practice, we are one in Christ Jesus. We are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ because of the grace to be found in our Redeemer, Mediator and Propitiator: Christ!
There is nothing that we have done to deserve the feast that is laid out for us. There is nothing we have done to merit the Father's love. Christ has done it all for us. Our denomination, our creed, our practice, all of these things are done and believed according to our utmost desire to serve God in the best way we can. By no means should they be ammo with which to shoot our fellow believers. Our brothers. Our family. We ought to say, "I believe this, and you believe that, but thanks be to God in Christ Jesus, we can both celebrate with the Father at the table, brought there by grace in Christ Jesus. Oh to grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be!"
My pastor always talks about remembering grace, and he has often said something like this:
If a prostitute walked into church on Sunday, what would your response be? I should hope that we would say, praise God she is in church where she can hear the message of grace, rather than saying, get out of here and dress appropriately and change, and then maybe we'll accept you!
By all means, hold to sound doctrine. Live according to the glory of God. But celebrate Christ. Celebrate the grace of God that finds us and makes us alive.
It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’”
So often, in desiring to serve the Father, we do, do, do. We make mental lists of what constitutes appropriate behaviour. Often these things are noble, as we desire to follow the Word of God, to bring glory to God by our obedience, stemming from our desire to love God to the best of our ability.
Yet, because of our own sin, we turn these actions, this obedience, into something arrogant. We see other Christians who do not have exactly the same list as us, and we think, I am not affiliated with them.
We follow one denomination, one ancient creed, and we see those who do not follow the same and think, I am not affiliated with them.
The list goes on, and on, and on. We refuse to celebrate with those who are, to our mind, lesser Christians. They have done wrong. They have this or that wrong. Their theology is wrong. Their orthodoxy, their orthopraxy is off. And so we are angry that they celebrate with the Father. We are angry that they receive the same grace that we do.
Yet the Father says, no, you are affiliated. You are equal to me for one reason: Christ Jesus. No matter our disagreements on doctrine or practice, we are one in Christ Jesus. We are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ because of the grace to be found in our Redeemer, Mediator and Propitiator: Christ!
There is nothing that we have done to deserve the feast that is laid out for us. There is nothing we have done to merit the Father's love. Christ has done it all for us. Our denomination, our creed, our practice, all of these things are done and believed according to our utmost desire to serve God in the best way we can. By no means should they be ammo with which to shoot our fellow believers. Our brothers. Our family. We ought to say, "I believe this, and you believe that, but thanks be to God in Christ Jesus, we can both celebrate with the Father at the table, brought there by grace in Christ Jesus. Oh to grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be!"
My pastor always talks about remembering grace, and he has often said something like this:
If a prostitute walked into church on Sunday, what would your response be? I should hope that we would say, praise God she is in church where she can hear the message of grace, rather than saying, get out of here and dress appropriately and change, and then maybe we'll accept you!
By all means, hold to sound doctrine. Live according to the glory of God. But celebrate Christ. Celebrate the grace of God that finds us and makes us alive.
It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’”
(Luke 15:32 ESV)
True.
ReplyDelete"If a prostitute walked into church on Sunday, what would your response be?"
ReplyDeleteThat church would be a whole lot more interesting.
A loving Christian response would be to allow anyone to worship with us. Praise be to God for bringing another person to His flock!
ReplyDeleteIf converted, the Holy Spirit will convict anyone of their choice of employment swiftly if it's so blatantly against Gods Holy word. If after months of attendance the prostitute doesn't change her lifestyle, then there is no evidence of Christian fruit.
By Gods standard, she is to be cast out, we are not to wink at a continual display of sin.
In essence, before conversion we are like the prostitute...it is only through Gods grace and mercy we are forever changed and are being changed into the likeness of Christ Jesus! We still sin, but there is evidence of The Holy Spirit's work in us continually.