The Other Prodigal Son

Pastor Michael Getgen

Scripture: Luke 15:11, 12, 25-32

Themes: Jealousy, discontentment, and relationship.

Introduction.) The prodigal son.

          A.] prodigal- Spending money or resources freely and recklessly; wastefully extravagant.

          A person who spends money in a recklessly extravagant way.

                    i.] Prodigal son.

                              a.] A man who blew his inheritance on riotous living in a foreign country,

                              with no regard for his father.

                                        -Afterwards he returns home to seek employment in his father’s                                           house, and instead finds love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness.

          B.] What does this have to do with us?

                    i.] We all at one point or another have been the prodigal son, whether we’d really

                    like to admit it or not.

                              a.] And if we’re being really honest, some of us have been in that situation

                              on more than one occasion.

                                        -I know that I certainly have.

*I think we have all heard the story of the prodigal son many times, and I think most of us understand that it is a parable intended to speak to us about God’s love and forgiveness. But it’s also a parable about a man I like to call the “discontented son”. A man who was jealous and unhappy with his life. And today it is him that I would like to speak to you about.

15 Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. ² And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, “This Man ^[a]receives sinners and eats with them.” ¹¹ Then He said: “A certain man had two sons. ¹² And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood. 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 So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. ²⁷ And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.’

²⁸ “But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. ²⁹ So he answered and said to his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. ³⁰ But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’

³¹ “And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. ³² It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.’ ”

                              -Luke 15:1&2, 11,&12, 25-32

I.) The significance of Jesus’ audience. (Luke 15;1&2)

          A.] Tax Collectors and Sinners. [Verse 1]

                    i.] As Jesus so often did, he was spending time with worst of the worst sinners of                         the day.

                              a.] And as usual they were all ears.

                                        -Because Jesus loved so well people were always eager to hear what

                                        He had to say.

          B.] The Pharisees and teachers of the Law. [Verse 2]

                    i.] Also as usual, the religious leaders were present.

                              a.] And once again they were trying to find a way to condemn Jesus.

                                        -Here they were grumbling about who He was spending His time

                                        with.

                                        -Because in Jesus’ day, eating with someone was more than just

                                        sharing a common meal, eating with someone was a sign of                                                           recognition and acceptance.

*So by eating with these sinners Jesus was sending two messages: Sinners were never too far gone, and the religious elite were not above reproach.

II.) Relationship vs. no relationship. (Luke 15:11, 12, 25-28)

          A.] The Prodigals relationship to his father. [Verses 11&12]

                    i.] The younger son demands the share of his father’s inheritance he was to receive.

                              a.] It takes one of two things to demand such a thing of a father.

                                        -A lot of nerve, not a positive connotation here.

                                        -Or a relationship.

                    ii.] I’m going to go out on a limb and say that in this situation it was a relationship.

                              a.] For a couple of reasons.

                                        -One, the prodigal son had the good sense to go back to his father’s

                                        house to seek employment. He knew his father would give him a job.

                                        -And two, it almost requires a relationship to demand such a thing of

                                        another person.

                    iii.] Sort of a bonus reason here: The father grants his demand.

                              a.] If there had been no relationship between them things might have been

                              different.

                                        -The father might still have given him his inheritance, but made him

                                        remain at home to enjoy it. Or he might have denied him altogether.

                                        -But I think this father trusted his son enough to let him make

                                        mistakes.

                                        -Likewise, I believe our Heavenly father trusts us enough to let us                                             make some mistakes now and then.

          B.] No relationship. [Verses 25-28]

                    i.] Where was the older brother? [verse 25]

                              a.] He was in the field working.

                                        -It seems like a noble and responsible thing to be doing, right?

                    ii.] But where should he have been? [verse 26&27]

                              a.] He should have been back at the house.

                                        -Celebrating the return of his brother and rejoicing with his father!

                                        -Instead, he was doing his “duty”.

                    iii.] The bad attitude of the older brother. [verse 28]

                              a.] He was angry, bitter, and jealous. That’s the big one.

                                        -To the point of pouting; He refused to go into the house.

                                        -Basically he was throwing a big boy fit.

*None of us ever throw fits when things aren’t “fair”, do we?

III.] What the older son did have. (Luke 15: 29&30)

          A.] Obedience and respect. [verse 29]

                    i.] He had obeyed and respected his father his entire life.

                              a.] He had always done the right thing, but not with the right

                              motivations.

                                        -He’d done it out of duty, not love.

          B.] A holier than thou art attitude. [verse 30]

                    i.] Surely he could not have been sinless.

                              a.] But he had no problem pointing out the sins of his brother.

                                        - As if he had never done anything wrong himself!

                                        -Certainly we have never acted in such a hypocritical and dutiful                                           manner!

*You see this son understood the importance of the rules, but not the necessity of the relationship.

IV.) What the Father brought to the conversation. (Luke 15: 31&32)

          A.] Mercy, Grace, and Love. [Verse 31]

                    i.] This father certainly could have been angry with this rather ungrateful son.

                              a.] Instead he reminded him of his identity and the favor he had from his

                              father.

                                        -First he said, “My son”, reminding him of just who he was.

                                        -And second, he reminded him that he had always been with him and

                                        that he had access to anything and everything that was his father’s.

          B.] Admonishment bathed in love. [Verse 32]

                    i.] The father calmly and lovingly explained to his older son the importance of

                    celebrating the younger brother’s return.

                              a.] Because he was dead and is now alive.

                                        -Not literally, but rather metaphorically; his life had been hopeless

                                        without purpose. Now he had hope and a future.

                              b.] He was lost and now was found.

                                        -He had walked away from his father and had become lost in the

                                        world, but now he had found his way back home.

*This father, like our Heavenly Father, so perfectly dealt with the sins of both of his sons, with grace, mercy, love, forgiveness, and understanding.

The Issue:

          The issue here is with the older son. The younger son has realized the error of his ways and repented, but the older son is not even aware of his issues. And his issues are many. He is angry, jealous, bitter, and extremely ungrateful. He is angry at his father for welcoming his sinful brother back with open arms. He is Jealous that he has not been given his inheritance so that he could celebrate with his friends. And the years of holding all these feelings in have made him bitter. Worst of all, he is ungrateful, because all this time he had access to anything that his father had. He could, in fact, have asked his father for anything at any time.

The Implication:

          What I feel is implied here in the second half of this parable is really significant. This older son was angry, jealous, bitter, and ungrateful, as I’ve said. But why? what was causing him to feel these very negative emotions? Well, I think it’s simple: He felt these negative emotions because was discontented with his life because he was disconnected from his father. I’m going to say that again, he was discontented with his life because he was disconnected from his father. You see, he followed all the rules, but it wasn’t enough because he didn’t have a relationship with his dad. Let me give you a real life example from my life: My desire to Pastor a church. (Expound upon how I could be Jealous of Harry, but I’m not because I have a relationship with the Father).

The application:

          Okay, now comes the application, what do we do with this? For some of you I think this is going to be very helpful and convicting. For others it might just be a good reminder. In any case I want to be very clear that what I’m about to say is not meant to make anyone feel condemned or judged. It’s never my goal to make anyone feel that way from the pulpit. Okay, here goes. There are some of you in this room that right now are feeling very discontented with your life and I’m here today to tell you that it’s because you are disconnected from your Heavenly Father.

          And again, if that’s you, don’t feel bad, because we have all been there at one time or another. And the application is so simple too, we just need to get reconnected to God, right? Now let me give a reason why that’s so important that maybe no one else has ever told you. You see that older son had sin in his life, didn’t he? But you know what? Because there was a disconnect between him and his father, he couldn’t come to him and ask for forgiveness, at least not comfortably. If he had had a relationship with his dad, he could have come to him without any worries about judgment or condemnation. But because he didn’t he got defensive and angry, and put a wall up even more.

          It’s the same way with us and God. When we become disconnected from God we don’t feel like we can come to Him, but the thing is, we can. Satan just likes to try and tell us we can’t. But he’s a liar! We need to learn four things from this older son this morning.

          1.] We can always approach our Heavenly Father, no matter how much guilt or shame we

          might be feeling!

          2.] We are sons and daughters of the most high God!

          3.] Everything He has, we have access to!

          4.] We need to be content in Him, meaning whatever he has for us at this point in our

          lives, we need to be content with and not become jealous of what someone else might

          have. Because He knows what we need much better than we do!

Summary: We become Jealous, angry, bitter, etc. because we are discontented with life because we are disconnected from God. So we need to connect with God and then we will become content with our life so that we can respond to the world with love and fulfill our purpose in God’s Kingdom.

"The cure for the sin of envy and jealousy is to find our contentment in God."

                              - Jerry Bridges