Digging Deeper – December 6, 2023
25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working. When he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house, 26 and he asked one of the servants what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother is back,’ he was told, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf. We are celebrating because of his safe return.’
28 “The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him, 29 but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. 30 Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!’
Luke 15:25-30 (NLT)
ELDER BROTHER LIVING
Have you ever thought about the older brother in the parable of the Prodigal Son? I think often we read the story and move quickly past the significance he carries in the story Jesus is telling. Timothy Keller does an excellent job of breaking down the role of the elder brother in his book The Prodigal God.
In my early years of college, this book opened my eyes to how easy it is for me to fall into performance-based thinking. Performance-based thinking is the idea that I can do something to earn God’s love or that God’s love for me is measured by what I do. The Bible explicitly contradicts that thought. In Ephesians 2:8-9 it reads, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast.”
In his book, Keller points out that the elder son is just as alienated from the father as is the prodigal, younger son. It is his self-righteousness (just like that of the pharisees Jesus is telling the parable to) that is keeping him from sharing in the feast. The elder brother, too, was more concerned with the father’s wealth than the father himself, and he didn’t even realize it! He was totally blind to his own sin. He was too focused on following the moral path.
Sometimes we fall into the thinking that it’s only when I “do my daily quiet time,” “go to church,” “fill in the blank” that the Lord is delighted in me. This thinking lends me to the deeper thought that there is actually something I can do to earn the Lord’s delight in me. His delight in me has already been freely given! In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus invites us into true rest by simply walking with Him. Our obedience does not get us anything. As Keller points out, our obedience is simply to love Him, resemble Him, know Him, and delight in Him.
Remember, before knowing Christ, we were once sinners. After receiving and trusting in Him, we are now His righteous children. His Spirit is within us. We can rest in knowing that it is not up to us. We are forever His! May you remember to find your satisfaction in God alone and know that you are welcomed into His family by His grace alone.
Courtney Miller is the Special Needs ministry Director at NorthStar Church. She was born a Texas girl, but has lived in Georgia the majority of her life (Go Dawgs!). She married her husband, Chris, in 2012. They have two children with a third on the way.