30th Mar 26 | 13:54
Studies by Book
Luke 15 11-32 To seek and the save the lost - The prodigal son 34 The elder brother in us
📖 Luke 15:11-32
16Mar2020 - *The elder brother in us* - _Luke 15:11-32_ - Bible reading: _Romans 3:26-28_
_Luke 15:29-30 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.'_
The father had just become joyful at the return of his younger son but his older son was now causing him much sadness. This is the narrative of us, called as believers, and claiming to be in the house of God. We resemble the elder brother.
1. The elder brother was wanting his father to see that his performance outweighed that of his brother. We saw yesterday, that we want our performance to count before God, whereas in our hearts, we are seeking after those things to which we are attached. ```God wants us to first let go of those things that we are attached to, only then can we truly be in a love relationship with God.```
2. The elder brother was causing sadness to his father by not being in tune with the pain of his father’s heart, which was to see that his son who was lost, be found. God longs for us to understand and be one with Him in His search to seek and to save the lost. Whereas, He finds that we are not being His co-workers and co-labourers in His work.
```We are more often coming to God with our own agenda. *We see God as a means to our end*. We have not made His concern our end. The church should be those filled with the burden of our Father's heart so that He can say, "I have my children, who will understand my pain and will partner with me in seeking and saving the lost".```
3. The elder brother did not understand grace. The younger son came back to his father and he was received, restored and reassigned, all by his father’s grace, and not by merit. The elder brother, on the other hand, thought that it was his merit that made him be who he was, in the family. ```So are we, we talk about God’s grace from our lips but our behaviour is about our merit before God. We are not realising that our service in His kingdom is because of His grace. We have been saved unto good works.```
_Romans 3:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. Romans 3:26-28 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (27) Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. (28) Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law._
4. The elder son felt that his father did not care for him, for, in his mind, if his father had loved him, he would have provided for him to make merry with his friends. How very sad that this elder son felt this way about his father, about whom, he should have never had doubt at all, about his love for him. ```Sadly, many of us, as believers, when we go through challenging experiences in life, allow the devil to sow doubt in our hearts, of our Father’s love for us.```
_Isaiah 49:15-16 “Can a woman forget her nursing child, And not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, Yet I will not forget you. (16) See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me._
5. Finally, we see that the elder brother had no love for his brother. ```Do we truly love our people? Are we willing to make choices in life to reach our people, for whom God has kept us or are our choices only for ourselves?```
Please allow me to speak specifically and directly to my dear brother and sisters in Christ, from India. We do not love the people of our land. Our nation is the largest in the world of those who are lost and who need to be found. Yet, look at the choices that we as disciples of Christ are taking. Our choices are largely for ourselves so that we and our children should be well settled in life. Often this belief has led us to leave the shores of our country to have a comfortable lifestyle in the west. Our commitment to missions in India is only out of our lips and from our purses but not from our lives.
Is it ever possible that we will truly repent and return home?
*Thought to ponder*
```The parable ends with the elder brother not coming back into the house.```