#137 Lu. 15:25-32  THE PRODIGAL'S OLDER BROTHER

Introduction:

    The scribes and Pharisees had criticized Jesus severely for
receiving publicans and sinners and eating with them in their
homes.  Jesus responded to their criticism by presenting three
parables which show clearly that God loves lost sinners and wants
them to be saved.  He presented The Parables of The Lost Sheep,
The Lost Coin and The Lost Son.
    We have covered the first two parables in their entirety.
Last Sunday we studied the first part of The Parable of The Lost
Son, which is better known to us as The Parable of The Prodigal
Son.  The first part of this parable deals chiefly with the
prodigal.  Today we study the second part of this parable which
deals chiefly with the prodigal's older brother.

I.  A look back at the prodigal

    The prodigal had gone to his father and requested that he be
given his portion of the family inheritance.  He was not asking
merely for an advancement on his inheritance.  He was asking for
the entire portion of his inheritance and that he get it
immediately.
    The prodigal son then took his portion of the inheritance and
went into a far country where he wasted it all in riotous living.
He wasted it on wine, women and song.  He blew it all.
    When his money was all gone the prodigal soon found himself in
bad circumstances.  He had no money.  He had no friends who were
willing to help him.  When he had money, he had friends--fair
weather friends.  But once the money was gone his friends were all
gone.  He had family, but they were all too far away to be of any
help to him.  He was in a bad condition.
    Then things went very quickly from bad to worse.  A famine hit
the land where he had gone.  There was very little food available
for anybody in that land.  The prices on what little food there
was available jumped sky high.  There were very few jobs of any
kind available.  The job that he finally did get was very
humiliating---especially to a Jew.  He managed to get a job
feeding hogs.
    But the humiliation was not the worst of it.  The job simply
did not pay him enough to survive on in that time of inflated food
prices.  He was literally starving to death.  He found himself
craving the food that he was hired to feed to the hogs.  In his
desperate condition he could eagerly fill his belly with the hog
food.  It was not good nourishment even for the hogs, but it was
food and in his desperate circumstances he could gladly snatch it
away from the hogs and eat it himself.
    Finally the prodigal awoke to his desperate need and he
returned to his homeland and to his father whom he had been so
eager to leave behind.  He confessed his sin to his father and
asked for his father to be merciful and to take him back in.  He
did not ask to be taken back as a son, but asked only that he be
given the privilege of coming back as one of the hired hands.  The
    father, of course, gladly took his son back in.  He was
overjoyed that his son had returned.  He would not put him on as
a hired hand, but he would take him back as a son.  He gladly
received him and poured out his love upon him.
    The point of this part of the parable is that God loves lost
sinners and wants them to be saved.  God wants lost sinners to
come to Him in repentance of their sins and trust in the Savior
that He has sent to this world.  He will gladly receive them and
pour out His love upon them.  He wants lost sinners to be saved.

II.  The prodigal's brother

    The prodigal's older brother had not asked for his inheritance
in advance.  Instead he had remained at home and had remained
faithful to work in his father's fields.  In fact, he was in his
father's fields at work when the prodigal returned home and when
all the festivities began.  V. 25, "Now his elder son was in the
field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music
and dancing."
    When the older brother arrived home late in the afternoon, he
could hear the music and the noise of the dancing from a distance
and he wondered what in the world was going on.  One of the
servants was outside and was near enough by that he could inquire
of him what was taking place.  V. 26, "And he called one of the
servants, and asked what these things meant."
    V. 27, "And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy
father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him
safe and sound."  I want you to be aware of the joy in the voice
of the servant as he answered the older brother's question.  Even
now you can almost hear the joy expressed in his voice.  You can
picture the excitement and joy expressed in his face.  "Your
brother is home! Your father has killed the fatted calf!  Your
brother is safe and sound!  He is alright!  He is not dead; he is
alright!"
    I am sure the servant expected the older brother to be just as
joyful and the father was and just as just as joyful as he and the
others were.  He thought the older brother would be delighted to
get such good news.
    But he wasn't.  V. 28, "And he was angry, and would not go
in....." Can you imagine that?  He was angry!  He was angry first,
no doubt, at his brother for going away.  He was angry at him for
wasting his portion of the family inheritance.  He was angry at
him for returning.  He wished he stayed and would never come back.
He was angry at his father for taking the prodigal back.  He did
not at all understand the father's love and the father's joy at
having his son back.  He was angry about the whole affair.
    He was not only angry; he was jealous.  He was jealous of the
good things that the father bestowed on the prodigal.  He was
jealous of all the love and affection that the father bestowed on
the prodigal.  He was jealous of the festivities.  He was jealous
of the killing of the fatted calf.  He was jealous of all the
music and gaiety.
    He was so angry and so jealous that he refused to go in and
join in the celebration.  He was angry and he would let them all
know that he was angry by refusing to go in.
    When the father learned that the older brother had returned
from the field and that he was angry and refused to come in, he
went out to see if he could persuade him to come in.  (V. 28),
"...therefore came his father out, and entreated him."  His father
entreated him.  He did not scold him.  He did not rebuke him.  He
entreated him.  He very kindly urged him to come in.  I am not
sure what the father said.  Perhaps he said, "Now, son, after all
he is your brother.  Don't be angry.  Come on in and have a good
time with the rest of us."
    But the older brother would not come in.  V. 29-30, "Luke
15:29 And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do
I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment:
and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with
my friends:  But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath
devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the
fatted calf."  He was still critical of the brother for having
gone away and wasted his part of the family inheritance.  He was
still angry at the father for receiving the prodigal back.  He had
a self-righteous attitude and boasted of the good things that he
had done in the father's service.
    He was still jealous of the father's affections toward the
prodigal.  He complained that his father had never so much as
killed a kid goat so that he could make merry with his friends,
but he had killed a calf for the prodigal.  A calf was much more
valuable than a kid goat.
    He said, "...neither transgressed I at any time thy
commandment..."  He stretched the truth about his brother's guilt.
Indeed, his brother was guilty of a great deal, but he was not
guilty of all that the older brother said he was.  He said that
the prodigal had devoured all the living of the father.  He had
done no such thing.  The father still had plenty.  He had devoured
all of his own portion of the inheritance, but he had not devoured
the father's living.
    The father tried to reassure him of his love for him.  V. 31,
"And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I
have is thine."  He pointed out that there was no cause for
rejoicing at his return because he had never left.  As for giving
him special gifts, all that the father had would be his at the
father's death and was available to him now if he needed it or
wanted it.  He could have anything the father possessed even now.
All he had to do was say so.
    Never-the-less, the father still loved the younger son and
would not withhold his love from him just because of the older
son's anger and jealousy.  V. 32, "It was meet that we should make
merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive
again; and was lost, and is found."  It was too much to ask of him
to not show his joy and generosity to the prodigal son who had
returned.
    Let us look now to see what lessons are to be learned from the
older brother.  The first application, of course, has to do with
the scribes and Pharisees who were so critical of Jesus because He
received sinners and ate with them.  The love of the father in the
parable pictures the love that God has for sinners and His great
desire to see them saved.  It also pictures His great joy when
they are saved.  It would likewise picture the great love that the
Son of God has for lost sinners and would explain why Jesus was
willing to receive them kindly and eat with them in their homes.
The Son of God was sent to seek and to save lost sinners and,
therefore, He would rejoice when they come to Him to hear the
message of salvation.  He would rejoice even more when they would
trust in Him and be saved.
    The critical and self-righteous attitude of the older brother
in the parable pictures the critical attitude of the scribes and
Pharisees toward Jesus.  Even the scribes and Pharisees should be
able to see that the older brother was wrong in their own critical
and self-righteous attitude was wrong.  They were wrong in being
so critical of Jesus and they were wrong for being so critical
toward lost sinners---especially when those lost sinners were
turning to God in repentance.
    The second application of the older brother in the parable has
to do with God's willingness to receive Gentiles and save them.
Soon after Jesus was crucified, risen and returned to Heaven, the
gospel message was to be sent out to the Gentile nations of the
world.  Many of them turned to God in repentance and believed the
gospel message and were saved.  The Jews found it hard to believe
that God would have anything to do with the Gentiles without first
requiring them to be circumcised and become proselyte Jews.  This
was the attitude, not only of the scribes and Pharisees, but even
the Christian Jews had a problem with that.  The Apostle Peter,
himself, was severely criticized by his own Christian brethren at
Jerusalem when he went to the household of Cornelius and preached
the gospel to him and his household.  This parable portrayed in
advance their critical attitude and clearly showed that God was
very much willing to receive Gentiles.  God was overjoyed that the
Gentiles were turning to Christ for salvation.
    A third application of the older brother in this parable has
to do with those who seek to get saved by their won works of
righteousness.  The older brother boasted that he had never
transgressed his father's commandments at any time.  This is the
same self-righteous attitude which the scribes and Pharisees had.
They thought that they deserved to go to heaven.  They thought
they had earned the right to go to heaven by their good works.
Even so there are a lot of people today who have the same idea.
They believe that they have earned the right to go to heaven by
their works.
    But the Scriptures teach that salvation is not of works.
Ephesians 2:8-9 declares that salvation is by the grace of God
through faith.  It is not of works lest any man should boast.
Furthermore, Titus 3:5 says that salvation is not by works of
righteousness.  It is by the mercy of God upon lost sinners.
    The older brother in the parable even serves as a warning to
Christians.  Christians can sometimes become overly critical
toward others.  They can become overly critical to both the saved
and the unsaved.  If they become overly critical toward their own
Christian brethren, they will find it difficult to cooperate with
those brethren in carrying out the work of the Lord.  If they
become overly critical toward the unsaved, their critical attitude
will hinder them from carrying the gospel to the unsaved.
    Christians can also become overly jealous of the blessings
that come to others.  We can actually become critical toward God
as a result.  We probably would never actually say the words, but
we can take the attitude:  "Lord, you've never done anything like
that for me.  Why don't you ever do something like that for me?"
    Christians can also become unconcerned about the unsaved like
the older was unconcerned about the prodigal.  I do not mean that
we will get so unconcerned that we will ever stop praying and
asking God to save the lost.  Nor do I mean that we will ever stop
giving to the support of missions and the preaching of the gospel.
But we can get to the place that we do not get personally involved
in reaching out to those who are lost.  What we need to do is to
get personally involved and make personal contacts to spread the
gospel to the lost.
    We are about to enter into a revival effort.  This would be a
good time for us to renew our effort to win the lost to Christ.

Conclusion:

1.  There may be unsaved people here who would like to be saved.
    You would like to be prepared for eternity.  Turn to God in
    repentance of your sins and turn to Jesus Christ and trust Him
    to save your soul, John 3:16; Rom. 10:13.
2.  There may be unsaved people here who have been trying to get
    to heaven by your own good works.  You need to stop trying to
    save yourself and trust Jesus to save you, Eph. 2:8-9; Titus
    3:5.
3.  If you are saved, there may be lost people in your family whom
    you can seek to win to Jesus.
4.  There may be lost people in your neighborhood, on your job, in
    your school, etc.
5.  There may be change in your attitude that you need to make.